guy321

I have the borla exhaust, so this may be happening in differnt spots for differnt exhausts. However, the rubber doohickieys holding up the muffler shrink up under heat and cause my muffler to touch the heatshield.. evidenced by a rust spot on the heat shield where they touch.

When cold, there is no touching..

Tools:

Wire cutters
pliers
10mm socket and extended socket thingie and wrench.

Materials: (I used what I had handy, feel free to substitute)

popping cork rig from fishing tackle box
metal clippy from the front license plate holder


Instructions:

cut the wire from the fishing rig. Remove the snap dealie.

take the clippy and use the pliers to close the ends together.

loop the wire through the clippy and back trough he handy handy little loop in the end of the wire.

loosen ground strap bold on left side of car (that's where my rattle was)

attatch the clip to the heat shield so that the wire wraps down and under the shield and wrap it around the bolt.

Hold the wire to apply tension while pusing the heat shield back.. I had to push it all the way against the trunk.

Tighten the bolt while maintaining tension to the wire.

Snip excess wire.

Yay, no more rattle!

Omicron

Hmmm, I wonder if that's the rattle I've been hearing... it's been driving me nuts, and no one can find it.

So, great tip and DIY, guy! I don't suppose you could post a pic or two of where the bolt is on the heatshield and the fix you put in place?

guy321

I'll try to get a snapshot in tommorrow in the daylight.

You could drill a hole in the heat shield but I didnt want to do that..

Also, one of those black paperclip things would be a nice clip to use too!

mamccubbin

Woo hoo, hopefully this will solve the weird rattle I've been getting as well. Never had a problem in the winter, which would make sense. I will also join the plea for photos. Thanks Guy!

guy321

Good nes, I have pic..

Bad news.. I can't find the upload cable..

Also, as additional protection, I bought a pack of dynomat extreme "speaker kit" and cut one of those peices in half.. I stuck that to the exhaust shield.. incase the exhaust pulls up more , the weight will diffuse some of the rattle.. seems to work.

I have discovered a new rattle that happens when I travel over bumps tho.. at any temp.. Also happens when I slam the door.. I traced it to the exhaust. I can duplicate it when I bump the exhaust mount on either side. I'm going to trace that down when my exhaust cools.

mysql101

I don't have the rattle, but my left borla tip sticks out about an half inch more than the right. Any of you have this problem?

guy321

I did.. I pushed it back. the right will pop out a little.. jsut even it out. Do it when cold You might have to pull it from under the car.

Could you do me a favor and just look above the muffler at the heat shield on the left side and monitor it for rust spots ? If you get any rubbing that's where it would happen.. You may not notice the rattle if you dont accellerate alot with the radio off. I didn't notice it till I was testing out my rebuilt tranny.

mysql101

does the rx-8 get hotter than normal car engines? it took a long time to get cool enough to work on the exhaust yesterday... and i only drove it about 3 miles.

guy321

Yes, the exhaust is hotter..

It cools off quickly tho.. I run it HARD then stop for maybe 20 - 30 minutes and it's cool enough to touch .. still warm but you can touch it.

guy321

Oh, you JUST put your exhaust in? Ok next time you run it hot, look at the shield then look at it again when it's cold to see if your muffler moves please? I got mine early,, maybe it's fixed on yours.. wonder if borla could give me a newer one if that's the case!!

Check the distance from teh exhaust to the heat shield..

mamccubbin

All right, so I just fixed my heat shield rattle. We'll see how it holds up.

I drilled a small hole in the heat shield near the rear of the car on the same side as the ground strap (left side of car.) I then loosened the ground strap bolt where it attaches to the car and looped some safety wire under it, then tightened the bolt again to hold the wire. Next, I took one end of the safety wire and threaded it through the new hole in the heat shield. Finally, I joined the two ends of the wire and twisted them tight. That pulled the heat shield towards the trunk and off of the exhaust.

Hope that makes sense.

mysql101

hey, I'm not quite sure what you're asking me to do. My exhaust still sticks out a bit on the left... the borla itself is not touching the heat shield at all. The exhaust can be moved around a bit, but it tends to return to the exact same position it was in, and it doesn't touch anything that makes any noise. I almost always drive with the AC on 1 or 2 setting, and no music, so I'd hear something if it did.

I asked this in another thread, but maybe you guys will know - My borla had the bubbling popping sounds the first day, after a few days it went away. It's been on for about 300 miles now, and there has not been any bubbling noise. The only way for me to make it pop is to drive over 7000 rpm, then let the rpms drop down to 5000 range. It will make one or two bubbling noises and thats it. Would the hot weather cause it to not make noise?

guy321

It pops for a little when new.. then it doesn't pop anymore unless you ride it hard.

Omicron

The popping sound definitely decreases as you get more miles on the Borla. The tone mellows a bit more too.

Still looking forward to those pics...

spank1

I live close to borla and have the heat shield rattle problem
so i am going to go over to see them first hand



faster

Omicron

If you do, please let me know. I've worked with Dave Borla on other things, and if they come up with a fix for this, I'd love to let everyone know about it.

I don't suppose you have the Canzoomer high flow cat + resonator, do you?

guy321

I'll try to post that pic today! or tommorrow!!

Also, I fixed my second rattle by undoing the clamp tot he muffler, heating the car up, then tightening it.


I still get one more..

It's more of a clunk when the front weels go over a bump..

Could that be a shock or a motor mount???

Omicron

Ok, it's tomorrow... :D

guy321

As promised!

cgrx

Cool
That is what I pictured it would look like.
Thanks

spank1

my car is at borla. they are aware of the rattle problems
and are using my car to solve design flaw

Omicron

Really? Cool. Please let us know what they work out!

I don't suppose you have the Canzoomer high flow cat + resonator, do you?

spank1

got my car back from borla. they put a brand new system on it
saying that it was a manufachuring defect. richard amaro, jr is
the customer service manager who handled my car. toll free
877 462 6725 ext 212. he is a great person to work with.
no i do not have the canzoomer set up

The_Bean

my left borla tip sticks out about an half inch more than the right as well, but it does not rattle--it's just loud. I have the CZ Midpipe with resonator and high flow cat.

orbist

I've looked around the borla threads to see if there is anything later than this update but this seemed the best place to post. If its discussed elsewhere please point me to it!

Anyway, I've had the rattle for about 6 months, I can see the telltale rusty spot on the heatshield. It rattles mainly when I corner under acceleration to the right.

Its been at my dealers (who fitted the exhaust for me) several times to get them to raise the heatshield - but they haven't done it propoerly. Printed down this thread and will take it in to them next time.

But I was wondering if Borla are replacing the exhausts as standard - I see they re-designed them - but given that I'm in the UK, I doubt if they will entertain replacing it.