Is this a Borla for a Duratec Focus? The kits we had never cam with a pipe that bolted to the flex it self, It was designed to retain the second cat found on PZEV duratecs.

Sounds to me like you got a Zetec kit. In which case, I woul just go to an exhaust shop and have them throw on a new flange. Shouldnt coast more than 20-40 bucks max. You can find pre stubbed ( a flange with maybe 3" of tubing on it already) flanges where you could jsut cust off the existing flange and clamp the new one on... This would be cheaper and could be done yourself, but could be more prone to leakage.

 

Check out this thread:

Borla exhaust important info

Here's exactly what I did:

Borla modification

 

go with option 2, its what I had to do to get my Borla exhaust to hook up...

 

I did #1 and haven't had a problem with it since. Took a few minutes and cost $2 for the drill bit :thumbup:

 

I think I'll try option 1... move to 2 if that fails me and so on and so forth. Also there was no gasket for the stock exhaust at the flex pipe flange and same with the borla setup, keeping in mind I'm relatively new to this car but is this a bad thing? Don't you need or at least usually want a gasket?

 

I just used some exhuast sealant...think it was the orange stuff

 

Sounds like you got a SVT borla, it had a very large flange
at the flex pipe connection.

any Zetec exhaust will bolt up to the duratec flex!

 

Just the resonator piece is from the SVT kit :thumbup:

It's not the wrong exhaust, but instead, a very early Borla Duratec kit. Those early kits use the same round muffler found in the later Duratec kits that do not come with resonators, not the oval muffler found in the SVT kit. It is however, an SVT resonator pipe, the very same resonator pipe that confuses people to this day as to wether or not the Borla kits include a resonator or not.

Borla has not included resonators since soon after this kit was made. Borla made the mistake originally of thinking the secoind cat was a resonator because there was no OBD-II catalyst monitor sensor behind it.

I'm almost sure I've posted this info a long time ago, but obviously, it's still pertinent.

 

Well I did it...I drilled those holes out slapped some exhaust sealant on that mother and coaxed it in and around and then on. I haven't driven the car much, short drive to work this morning, but my first impression of the exhaust was good. it's not loud at all, which is great! it's just there enough to make a smile creep across my face. once everything is settled I'll see how if at all the tone of it changes. Definitley happy with the system as of the 15miles of experience I have with it