Exhaust Upgrade

[Kobe Diesel]

After making an inspection underneath my old 525, one of the many problems I discovered is an exhaust system looking to be on its way out.

The rear silencer has a big rusted hole in it (hence the nice tone)
The cat heat sheild was rusting away, so I pulled the shield off, but have to do something about this before summer.
Found the typical rusty and dirty flange connections
Rubber hangers gone! (squeeky squeeky)
The mid silencer/muffler is by "walker", never heard of the make, any good?

So at this point Im researching as to which avenue I should take.
- go with stock front to back?
- upgrade front to back? Remus, Ansa, Borla? and can a whole upgrade package be purchased rather than piece by piece

If I upgrade, will I have problems with passing emissions in NY and will I also have to upgrade the headers?

Ive set up a good budget for this vehicle, so Im willing to go up to $800 for the exhaust.

What are your suggestions and experience?

[DanDombrowski]

Yes, you will have to upgrade the headers, because with a new exhaust you will enjoy driving the car more, and therefore want more go-fast goodies.

I wouldn't worry about the cat heat shield unless you have a habit of driving through tall fields of dry grass or live in a climate with a lot of salt.

Other people on here will tell you where to buy exhaust packages, there are a few.

[Kobe Diesel]

The rear muffler is the worst out of everything so Ill most likely just replace that. I can live with the missing heat shield on the cat.

After doing some research, Ive decided to go with an Eisemann Sport unit, stainless, 83mm tips.
The next thing to figure out...
-replace the cat, resonator and rear silencer
or
-replace the resonator and keep the existing cat.
or
-run pipes straight back to the muffler with no resonator in between.

I have found performance headers too expensive and not really needed since this will not be a super track racer.

It never ends!

[Kalevera]

The cat will probably be fine for many years without the heat shield, don't worry about it if it's not rattling. Cut the bolts at the rear section junction if they're rusted out. You'll notice that one of the two pipes has a critical, not easily replaceable flange, so it helps to simply cut the bolts and be done with it. The current rear section has no hangers because it's aftermarket Tuffy or Midas quality stuff. Surprise surprise.

best, whit

[McWatters]

Yes i have many problems with my exhaust, where are u purchasing the Eis. from and cost?? im thinking about doing the same soon enough.

cheers

J.McWatters

[Kobe Diesel]

Looking at vendors and pricing at the moment. Im leaning towards eliminating the resonator and running two pipes from cat conv. straight back to rear silencer. Just have to figure a way to make sure the piping is properly supported using the original hanger locations.

Will update as soon as I find something.

[McWatters]

I am thinking of the exact same thing let me know :D

cheers

J.McWatters

[Kalevera]

I think you will find that the car is uncomfortably loud without a resonator between the cat and the rear box, especially with a performance box.

best, whit

[Gayle]

I have an eisenmann on order. My indy couldn't get the local rep to return his call for about 10 days so he finally had to contact the national rep. My understanding is each one is custom made and it takes about 8 weeks. Since I didn't hear those words directly from Eisenhaus I don't know that it true, but 4 weeks later I still don't have my ss exhaust.

I wrestled with the same question about do I need a resonator. Read Gale's post # 2 in this thread addressing this question.


Help me pick a stainless steel exhaust (http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=16967)

[willobmw]

The rear muffler is the worst out of everything so Ill most likely just replace that. I can live with the missing heat shield on the cat.

After doing some research, Ive decided to go with an Eisemann Sport unit, stainless, 83mm tips.
The next thing to figure out...
-replace the cat, resonator and rear silencer
or
-replace the resonator and keep the existing cat.
or
-run pipes straight back to the muffler with no resonator in between.

I have found performance headers too expensive and not really needed since this will not be a super track racer.

It never ends!
The 83mm tips probably will require some cutting.

[Kobe Diesel]

The 83mm tips probably will require some cutting.

too long?

[willobmw]

too long?
Too wide. I have the 70mm and it is close.

[Alan_525i]

Yes, it will require cutting. I have Racing Dynamics exhaust which is 80mm wide x 2 I think and it required a pretty decent chunk to be cut out from each side of the exhaust cutout.