E30 Zone

Hi,

Following a recent post on here by someone owning a batch of these beauties, I decided to approach RD direct to get a bulk buy price. I've just had a response and for 10 off, they would be $500 plus shipping direct from Italy. That's considerably less than the $849 + shipping from the guy who was posting on here recently.

At current exchange rates, that would be around £320 to £350 plus shipping. I dont believe there would be any duty payable if they're shipped direct from Italy.

Thing is, would there be 10 people willing to give these a go? I have heard it said on here that the are comparable or maybe even better than the BTB units - and considerably cheaper at this price!

So who would be interested? If I can get at least 10 names on here, willing to pay 50% deposit up front, I'll deal with the supplier. I'm taking no profit out of this - the price you see is what RD quoted me.

That does sound like a bargain if you can get them at that price; what's the price for the BTB in comparison? It would also be interesting to see the two manifolds dyno-tested, since the BTB design has improved a lot from its original, while the RD is still a 25-year-old design.

Other thing to consider is what pipework is required; does it bolt up to an existing E30 exhaust system or do you need to fabricate intermediary pipes?

Either way, good on you for offering your services.

Are these manifolds stainless steel if so i would be interested.

not to sound like a cunt but

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=237041

read this thread in its entirety as sounds familiar.

That's the thread that Pete mentions at the start. The same guy posted on here, in this thread:

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... t=dynamics

Yeah - this guy has already bought a batch and is going round all the BMW forums trying to sell them. I gather RD sold them to him at the same price as they quoted me ($500 each), so how this guy gets the price up to $850 is beyond me!!

I would definitely go for this deal myself as I cant afford/justify a BTB and the alternatives appear to be cr@p for aroun £200 on ebay. However, they wont even make them in batches of less than 10, so unless I get enough interest, this wont work and we'll have to pay the much higher price from the guy in America.

From what i can gather the transportation to america and the duty bringing them in is what has hiked the price, for anyone this side of the pond the price will be much less due to being inside the euro zone and the lesser transit cost.

If the price works out as above then that's really good. I did ask for some of the more basic dimentions so i could run them in a dyno sim to see the effect and what kind of spec they would work well with but haven't had them yet.
For the money they are worth it instantly, my only concern would be the collector merge looks a little basic and a proper merge would be better, however a proper merge would bring the price up.

That does sounds like a bargain. Only thing is I've never seen or heard of any dyno runs done on the original RD manifolds showing the gains they get. Would also make a huge difference if anyone knew whether they clear an E36 or E36 steering rack as well. If it did I'd buy one as it'd workout less than having my BTB2 upgraded to a BTB3.

My brother had one of these on his e30 2.7...sounded nice.

So are these manifolds stainless steel? If so I'll put my name down for one

I am buying a Magnex exhaust system upto the centre section and I gather the racing dynamic manifolds are just the manifold? No downpipe so which downpipe can I use??

Many thanks!

BTB3 group buy of 10 units was about 650 quid a few years back, working out at 43-65 pounds per hp, in terms of the cost of improvement.

So this manifold would have to deliver between 8-12hp in improvements to work out at the same "cost", even if it's a lower price. That seems like a reasonable expectation, considering the heritage.

If they would fit with an e36 rack fitted i'd be interested.

Ok, if we're going to make this happen, I need a show of hands. Unless I can get a solid 10, or perferably more, this isn't going to work.

1. PeteE30Tourer
2.

Also, if you have any specific questions, please add them below and I'll send them all off to the supplier in one go:

1. Will they fit an E30 with E36 steering rack?
2. Are they stainless?
3. Any proven gains from dyno runs?
4.

Mod's - I know there is a Group-Buy section on here, but I just wanted to guage interest in this more frequented section first. Feel free to move this to the Group Buy section if you feel it is necessary.

Interesting as that looks completely different to the genuine one I had, and that Simon13 now owns

1. PeteE30Tourer
2. lion_yo (providing its stainless steel)

As long as it is stainless steel count me in as number 3, also can you confirm it is for a right hand drive car.

Thanks

1. PeteE30Tourer
2. lion_yo
3. SukhSingh

From the original r3v thread:

They are European made, They are stainless steel, They are a thick wall .065" tubing

how about the x pipe? intersted if they're included

SukhSingh wrote:As long as it is stainless steel count me in as number 3, also can you confirm it is for a right hand drive car.

I believe they are stainless and they fit both left and right hand drive cars I'm told by the supplier.

1. PeteE30Tourer
2. lion_yo
3. SukhSingh


1. Will they fit an E30 with E36 steering rack?
2. Are they stainless?
3. Any proven gains from dyno runs?
4. how about the x pipe?

Clearly no x-pipes in the picks on the US forum when they were delivered.

Might be worth getting the opinions on how good these are off the guys in the US, maybe even some dyno printouts.

Kedge wrote:Clearly no x-pipes in the picks on the US forum when they were delivered.

Might be worth getting the opinions on how good these are off the guys in the US, maybe even some dyno printouts.

Found this not exactly a dyno printout but does mention positives about the headers but seen that most people decide to give them a ceramic coating? http://www.strictlyeta.net/technical/rdheaders.html

And correct me if I'm wrong but does this thread mention a potential gain of 10bhp? http://www.bimmerwerkz.com/forum/3-seri ... 21279.html

Although not dyno proven

to be fair, it's not all about numbers.. if properly set up with an x pipe a good equal length manifold will improve everything throughout the rev range, and give more horses of course

as long people dont expect these to be the real deal interms of a RD manifold as they are probably outsourced by RD and the finsihed product does not come close to matching the original RD ones i have seen. still better than an ebay special

lion_yo wrote:

Kedge wrote:Clearly no x-pipes in the picks on the US forum when they were delivered.

Might be worth getting the opinions on how good these are off the guys in the US, maybe even some dyno printouts.

Found this not exactly a dyno printout but does mention positives about the headers but seen that most people decide to give them a ceramic coating? http://www.strictlyeta.net/technical/rdheaders.html

And correct me if I'm wrong but does this thread mention a potential gain of 10bhp? http://www.bimmerwerkz.com/forum/3-seri ... 21279.html

Although not dyno proven

Ceramic coating is a performance thing. Does the same thing as heat wrapping (keeping heat in the manifold so faster flowing exhaust gasses/reducing engine bay temps) but doesn't look gash

reggid wrote:as long people dont expect these to be the real deal interms of a RD manifold as they are probably outsourced by RD and the finsihed product does not come close to matching the original RD ones i have seen. still better than an ebay special

RD didnt make the originals themselves either, they were made by Ansa in italy.

If these are a hit then there will probably be a second group buy so I'll wait for the verdict ...

Cloggy Saint wrote:If these are a hit then there will probably be a second group buy so I'll wait for the verdict ...

There's not even going to be a first group buy unless I can get at least 10 solid takers on this. Only got 3 so far.

PeteE30Tourer wrote:

Cloggy Saint wrote:If these are a hit then there will probably be a second group buy so I'll wait for the verdict ...

There's not even going to be a first group buy unless I can get at least 10 solid takers on this. Only got 3 so far.

Maybe we should make a advert on eBay or something and direct people to buy a decent manifold rather than the cheap eBay rubbish?

do they do them for a m42 engine?

the m42 already has a BMW tubular manifold - albeit the RHD version is flawed, BMW will have spent more on R&D than RD/ansa I reckon..

^^ yes but with different goals in mind and very strict budgets and NVH requirements.

exactly.

everything, every single part on every car is cost analysed, even on e30s which some people will try and say were designed by engineers not accountants

i'm sure bmw could have got plenty more power out of the m20, (or m42, or any other production engine) but in the cost / performance / reliability balance they decided 170bhp and a cast iron log manifold was sufficient.

this doesnt mean it's the best solution and can't be improved with some knowhow. in the grand scheme of things it doesnt take that much money to knock up a few manifold prototypes and do some testing, but i expect it coast a huge amount to 'productionise' something similar.

would bmw be able to justify an extra £300 on the sale price of an e30 for an extra 5-10 bhp on a model which at the time already had adequate power? i very much doubt it. but can enthusiasts justify £500+ for a manifold which works well as part of an overall tuning package? many can and do.

Most multi branch manifolds are really difficult to make mass production friendly.
The shapes tend to make the welding process difficult or nearly impossible for a machine, however it is not impossible, ford have managed it as have honda and many others in the past.

No one interested in this group buy?

Yep i'll go in for one at that price, even if it is a bit of an unknown...

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