Exhaust question... And a great way to make fun of me for working on my car

[ArtemLepilov]

Hello everyone, im back... kind of - I am forced to work on my car next friday... and I CANNOT WAIT TILL I DO IT

My current problems are:
DRIVERS DOOR!!! - I am starting to be a nervous wreck driving that car... even chillout music wont help sometimes *ding* "door open" *ding*....
Car is fully stock (im starting to not like the way it looks with the stock springs, esp front - so I need new springs);
Fluids are old (even oil)
Engine leaking oil
Rear wheels out of alignment (by about 1-1.5 deg.)
LSD is whining (but I cant do nothing about that...)
Speedometer needle was jumping around, problem went away after i filled up LSD with fluid - nopefully not going to come back
Rear shocks of unknown date
Main auxiliary belt of unknown replacement date
Green coolant inside the engine
Oil outdated (~5020 miles on it)
Exhaust leaking out of the center resonator
Cosmetically car is in fair shape... ill be honest - rust under the doors and at the bottom of fenders, fenders rusted through
Heater core leaking
Minor electric disconnections, etc..
My control arms were a temp fix... so right now i am tihnking, while im building a car.. basically - why not go ahead and replace those while im at it?
Erratic idle

What I will need:
Most importantly:
Exhaust (which i have a question about)
Rear view mirror on pass. side
Fenders
Valve cover gasket
Driver's side rear trailing arm (preferrably the whole assembly)
Fluids, Filters, belts (no timing belt :p - to all you M20s haha)
Heater core
Control arms (if i can get good ones for cheap)
Sport/lowering springs (if im lucky)
I really want to swap my transmission with a manual 5-spd (if anyone has a kit, give me a lead for a cheap one? ;))
Driver's side locking mechanism (the ENTIRE thing)
Rear shocks
Rear brakes
Guibo
Driveshaft bearing
LSD (maybe later)

REALLY BAD PART: My budget - $400.. $600MAX (if anyone can help me with used parts.. lemme know :) )

now for the exhaust question:
My exhaust is leaking out of the central resonator, a part which many BMW people recommended me to bypass in the long run. I want to find out what pipes are the best to use on my car. I looked around autozone and found a bunch of different ones. Can you guys lead me to a direction of a good one, and a best way to possibly put one on there without welding?

NOTE: I know that car has lots of problems, BUT I bought it for that purpose.. to learn everything aobut BMWs on it I just hope that it doesnt take that much money in terms of parts.. and I know if i do all of those repairs, I will be pretty much able to do anything to it. I am hoping to follow jon and SC or Turbo it at some point later on, once I actually get a steady income and/or get out of college.

Thank you all. This is my project :)

[Rigmaster]

Artem, I can help you with used parts- definitely the driver's door latch (we emailed about this previously...) and some of the other stuff like door mirror, etc.

Email or PM me for details.

As for the exhaust- I would not mess with it unless you have a welder, and are somewhat capable with it. If you don't know what to do- find a good local muffler shop (probably NOT a Midas or Meineke-type chain) and ask them to take a look at it and give you an estimate. Tell them that you are on a budget, and you are OK with non-stock parts. Get a couple of estimates, hopefully they will actually put it up on their lift so they (and you) can get a good look at what exactly is wrong with it....

Thanks!
Bret.

[ArtemLepilov]

Artem, I can help you with used parts- definitely the driver's door latch (we emailed about this previously...) and some of the other stuff like door mirror, etc.

Email or PM me for details.

As for the exhaust- I would not mess with it unless you have a welder, and are somewhat capable with it. If you don't know what to do- find a good local muffler shop (probably NOT a Midas or Meineke-type chain) and ask them to take a look at it and give you an estimate. Tell them that you are on a budget, and you are OK with non-stock parts. Get a couple of estimates, hopefully they will actually put it up on their lift so they (and you) can get a good look at what exactly is wrong with it....

Thanks!
Bret.


Ill send a PM in a minute... Muffler I will be able to weld.. maybe - i was just tihnking of other ways to possibly do it, like clamps, etc.. but i couldnt tihnk of a way to do it.

If i was to weld it - would Autozone parts be OK to put in there? - I mean i figured an alloy is an alloy whether you buy it from BMW or Autozone...

-Artem

[ArtemLepilov]

PS - Since the car has been in an accident, and I believe the airbag deployed.. My airbag is good, but the SRS light is on. What would be a way to reset it or what needs to be working in order for the light not to come on? What parts do I need to replace?

Thank you all in advance. PS - Body on the car looks great, nothing seems to be wrong with it really cosmetically, other than minor stuff that will be fixed anyway.

[Rigmaster]

PS - Since the car has been in an accident, and I believe the airbag deployed.. My airbag is good, but the SRS light is on. What would be a way to reset it or what needs to be working in order for the light not to come on? What parts do I need to replace?

Thank you all in advance. PS - Body on the car looks great, nothing seems to be wrong with it really cosmetically, other than minor stuff that will be fixed anyway.


SRS light could be several things. But, if the car has been in a wreck and the airbag deployed- you need to make sure the airbag has been replaced with a good one and not just a fake airbag. There are several sensors that sense when the car experiences an impact and make the airbag go off- once those have been activated, they must be replaced in order for them to be able to activate the airbag again. There is also an airbag control unit, or "brain" that needs to be checked and/or replaced.

The dealer has the equipment to check this stuff, not sure if it's common for independent shops to have it, but I don't think so...

Bret.

[ArtemLepilov]

SRS light could be several things. But, if the car has been in a wreck and the airbag deployed- you need to make sure the airbag has been replaced with a good one and not just a fake airbag. There are several sensors that sense when the car experiences an impact and make the airbag go off- once those have been activated, they must be replaced in order for them to be able to activate the airbag again. There is also an airbag control unit, or "brain" that needs to be checked and/or replaced.

The dealer has the equipment to check this stuff, not sure if it's common for independent shops to have it, but I don't think so...

Bret.

Sounds interesting.. I guess the first thing I pull is the steering wheel, and chekc the airbag. Just to check - what do you mean a "fake airbag" - can they put it together sloppily? Im just interested on how I would be able to tell if its fake or not...


-Thanks, Artem :)

PS - Anyone got a steering wheel I can use ;-)

[Gayle]

I was considering removing my resonator in the process of replacing the muffler. If you do a search on the the term resonator, most people think it is too noisy in the passenger cabin without one, although some think it is fine.

The thing that make me decide to replace the resonator were the comments by Gale, an engineer, about the function of the resonator. You can read what he said in this thread. There are other comments about the resonator issue sprinkled through out the thread even though it is more focused on the muffler.



http://www.bimmer.info/forum/showthread.php?t=16967&highlight=resonator

[ArtemLepilov]

Just read the post. Thanks a lot :) - I thought about it and I decided that since I have driven with the exhaust leaking out of my car for about half a year so far... It will be quieter already. Now I will try it and see how it works without the central resonator. See how that runs - and if it is still too loud... Ill try to find a resonator next time I do something to my car *cough* turbocharging this summer *cough* ;)


-Thank you all good stuff coming in. :)

[angrypancake]

yo homie, we got the welder. and damn, it's next friday already? can't wait, this is gonna be fun. note to all, pictures will be taken to document ALL procedures performed on Artem's (and my) ride, including hopefully an auto -> manual swap on a 535. helllllllllllll yeah

[ArtemLepilov]

yo homie, we got the welder. and damn, it's next friday already? can't wait, this is gonna be fun. note to all, pictures will be taken to document ALL procedures performed on Artem's (and my) ride, including hopefully an auto -> manual swap on a 535. helllllllllllll yeah


Thats what im TALKIN about... With the welder we are all set. I just need to reach Jason about the trailing arms and minor stuff... It is gonna be tight :D Esp if i get some killer springs :p

PS - Not just any Manual Swap... BMW swap!!! You can even turbo that sucker after!! ;) we will know so much about working on those babies..

Yeya! Pics will be all over the place!!!

[gale]

I was considering removing my resonator in the process of replacing the muffler.

Gayle, Did you ever decide on a new cat-back exhaust system? I was pleasantly surprised with the sound of my new headers with the stock exhaust -- gives it a very healthy growl. Not loud enough to be annoying but yet it still has a definite "I'm not a stock motor anymore" presense. At the moment I'm running without the cat's since the plumbing doesn't work with the stock cat's and the new universal shorties I ordered are still back-ordered. I 'spect they'll quiet it down a little but hoping not all the way. If I had a decent mike, I'd record a sound bite file & post a .wav

Cheers,