Exhaust manifold part 2

[polsta]

Can anyone shed any light on this

My old exhaust manifold had a crack in it i discovered after it was all apart, so i got that other one off Jimbo and had it blasted and painted it

It was noticed the 6 (to head connecting) holes on the new one were a bit bigger than the holes on the old one, HKF thought maybe the old one was a 2.0 manifold not a 2.5

So when it came to fitting today - it was then noticed that it didn't fit the down pipe, BUT the down pipe manifold gasket i got from BMW this week (via car reg/chassis number) was the same/correct fit for the old manifold , slightly smaller

Its a 3 piece system pre facelift

So - what is the difference between the 2 sizes ? Is it a 2.0 - 2.5 thing, or a pre face/facelift thing ?

Not sure what to do ?

Do i need to get another manifold ? (Anyone got one?)

Or do i get a different front down pipe and use this manifold ? And if so would it give a better performance bring bigger holes ?

Appriciate any help as I need to get this sorted ASAP to get the car running

[jimbom30cab]

can you read off the part numbers from them both?

[polsta]

Not now I'm at work

What car did this manifold come off jim ? Any idea if your old engine was 3 or 4 stud downpipe ?

Been reading about , the wiki says pre and facelift are different

The pre 87 cars have a 3 stud down pipe connection, and after 87 had 4 stud

Wiki here are also "big and small" types of down pipe 4 stud connections

My downpipe is a 4 stud "small"

But this manifold (I got from you) is a 4 stud "big"

So I'm a little confused , is this a pre or facelift manifold or as And as to what I do ? Do I look for a different manifold or a different downpipe ?

[polsta]

Adit took the manifold home to line it up to the down pipes he has

He has one that fits it , but its a 2 piece system one I think, he said maybe could cut the pipes on it to size ?

Would a manifold with slightly bigger holes be better ?

Its all a bit confusing

Wiki -

On M20 engines the exhaust manifold has six branches, ending in a twin-port outlet, with the same design being used on both 320i and 325i models. However, there is a difference between pre- and facelift vehicles; manifolds before 1987 had only 3 studs for the downpipe, while later ones have the four studs for the downpipe. TO make things even more confusing, there are two sizes of 4-stud manifolds; small and large. When building an exhaust system, it is not possible to "mix and match" between these parts.

[jimbom30cab]

The manifold came off the 2.7 engine i got from Ajay last year.

[gaszman]

mines the 3 bolt larger one have a gasket smaller one supplied by ecp bmw came good though