E30 Zone

Anyone know of who would be the best company to buy a full exhaust system for a 325i with a letter box style exit, apart from gettin a custom job from powerflow?

Any ideas of price? pics on an e30? including how much it might cost from powerflow although I think I'd prefer an exhuast from someone like supersprint/sebring. What do you reckon?

I wont need it for a while as I haven't yet got a 325i engine YET but interested to know.

Thanks!

Hey dude.
my mates dad owns a custom exhaust fabricating business, and i can get 25% discount.
where about are you? as if anyones near cardiff this is where it be.
L8rz
chris

Hartge design is a letterbox type...expensive though!

The letter box design from Hartge is actually a fabricated piece of stainless steel that slots over two single pipes and is clamped up under each pipe via a alen key bolt that pinches it on tight.

I was bidding on one on ebay.de the other week but gave up cos i didnt think i was gona have an e30 for a while longer. Went for about Ԛ£15 + p+P

This is what i had on mine... its a little lop sided but u get the idea.

Cheers guys!

So there's no off the shelf full system for the 325i that comes with a letter box exit then? I'll probably enquire again closer to the time but cheers for the input anyways.

How available are those Hartge letter box covers? Not very I should imagine?

The spoiler on the back of that Hartge looks smart!

Nick

thats a riger gts spoiler fella

Reckon I'm still gonna keep mine spoiler-less but I quite like that one.

Anyone got any more pics? Tried lookin it up on the net but couldn't find the right one.

what for the spoiler?

cookie325 Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 10:29 pm Post subject:

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thats a riger gts spoiler fella

Nope that is not a Reiger spoiler, its a Hartge spoiler. I know this because its stamped Hartge on the right hand side, underneath the spoiler.

Perhaps Reiger copied the Hartge design, but i can asure you it is genuine Hartge.

they must have then fella

cookie325 wrote:what for the spoiler?

Yep!

Preferably a pic from the side if possible

here you go fella

with



or without

Thanks mate! Appreciated!!

Still reckon I'm gonna keep mine spoiler-less tho, specially since I have no kit on mine. Its just a 318i...for the mean time

PS. watch out when you're takin pics not to include little girls

Cheers!

i never took the pic,s mate, i got the pic,s off someone on the planet

Cheers for posting them mate!

Haven't actually checked out the planet yet. Maybe next time the server goes down on here

nore have i properly , i will have to have a look though , one of my mates is on there all the time

I mean I've breezed over it not but actually signed in or gone past the front page really. First impressions are that this place is better, plus going on what others have said, e30 zone sems to be the place to be for e30 owners/enthusiasts uk and abroad.

well i never judge a book by its cover fella , nore on here say , im gonna have a look soon

fair dooz, although this place serves me well enough so im content

well its looking good so far

zaust wrote:

Saw These at Ace look even better in the flesh and its something different

spot on Zaust

Mason

personally, letterbox exhausts look and sound (how can i put it without offending) crap!

for a 2.5 the exhaust is twin all the way through, this if for a reason.
if you get the letterbox, make sure that at the back of the tail there are 2 holes roughly 1.75".

plus they sound hollowy.

what does look nice on the 325 is the twin slash cut or twin slash cut with inward rolled lips.

To be honest I cant say I could definetely define how a letter box exhaust sounds. I'd ideally want something quite deep but not chavtastic (unlike my current back box )

I think the look of a letterbox exhaust suits the shape of the e30. I mean the back of an e30 is pretty much rectangular. Plus I'd want something a bit different to the usual twin pipes.

Anyone got anymore pics of letterbox exhausts on e30s?

why not go for a powerflow? i got one for my porsche 944. you can choose what kind of note it gives, its s/s and best of all it was only Ԛ£330.

Thinkin I might do that, but have heard better things about the likes of supersprint not that I've heard bad of powerflow. Although I'm sure you could almost buy two powerflow systems for the price of 1 supersprint. Am I right?

Still would like to see some more pics first.

PS. Porsche 944, NICE!

If a manufacturer such as Scorpion go to whatever measures it is to create and design an exhaust, then Powerflow takes 4 hours to build a 'stainless' exhaust from scratch then surely that says something?

Jimbob wrote:If a manufacturer such as Scorpion go to whatever measures it is to create and design an exhaust, then Powerflow takes 4 hours to build a 'stainless' exhaust from scratch then surely that says something?

Hit the nail on the head there jimbo me old m8

Jimbob wrote:If a manufacturer such as Scorpion go to whatever measures it is to create and design an exhaust, then Powerflow takes 4 hours to build a 'stainless' exhaust from scratch then surely that says something?

i hardley belive scorpion spend too much time developing each individual modles exhaust system, they have a stack of silencers and boxes and a fair ammount of experience and then put together, and they do it well, but realisticly a system from powerflow if done by an experience person and a good welder will do it well, they have list of what boxes are suitable for engine sizes, and know what sort of bore size to go for. never ever had any prob with them, and been using them for 8 years now, same branch same fitter.

Whereabouts is the one you use Kos? Zaust said he uses one in St.Albans - Top Gear.

Cheers

ok secrets out
top gear london/battersea is now owned by my former boss, has been for the past year or so. i have ran that place on odd days. the people there are good at their work.

i ran longlife carshalton for 2 and half years. our owners were the same.

i could go on and on about exhausts and my opinions. but obviously i will be slightly biased. at the end of the day it all comes down to the fitter which are trained by the same persons, but each individual is different.
i have seen off the shelve exhausts, and you would think that if they were made to the same specs off the computer then they would be 100% the same each time. not true all the time.
i have never fitted a supersprint. so cant comment.

these are the facts:
powerfow use mig welding
longlife use tig.
the difference being the mig has a continous flow of rod as soon as u push the button. so can pierce through the molten mettel or bubble up on top.
tig is a tungsten that we would sharpen to a fine point on the end of the torch. this would give a lot of control over the arc. when the metal was hot enough the rod is then added to taste. tail pipe welding and lower heat stuff does not need a lot of rod. they use tig to weld aeroplanes together. the weld comes out like fish scales. neat and flat. unless the metal is contaminated. but if this is the case mig will still look a lot worse and most likely not weld.
materials are generally the same. longlife is 304 stainless.
304 stainless is chromium and zinc with a small amount of iron. the zinc oxidises and forms a strong molecular barrier to prevent further rusting. this always stays stainless, and is used on marine stuff too.
powerflow generally use 409. it has more iron and forms surface rust. no good for shows! but apparently they offer the option for 304 at an extra cost.

the silencers are 100% hand made at longlife. this could be a good or bad point lol.
longlife weld theirs, so it would take a lot of scraping on the floor to put a hole in. powerflow get theirs sent in and they are pressed.

all stainless changes colour with temp. my tails have now gone gold. but 10 mins with auto sol will bring this back to chrome. surface rust does not go back to chrome.

with longlife, the exhaust is done and thats it. no yearly checkups or whatever. there is no need. they offer lifetime guarantee. whichever car its on, whoever owns the car. if u sell the car, but keep the exhaust and fit it yourself. fine, the garantee can be changed over provided they inspect first. there is a small fee tho.

powerflow, you have to go back each year to have it checked. otherwise the garantee is void. (this is what other customers have told me so dont quote!)
top gear battersea offer same as longlife

I'v said it before but the manifold is the only part that is going to make a differecne. if you are just having a system use who you like the note of.

Top gear did 8 of my motors and one of them was 6 years ago and is still
looking and sounding the same as when it went on..

scoripon i never use due to the fact when we used to put them on cossies they tend to blow and rust too easy.. mongoose have stoped making for the e30's which is a shame coz they were spot on.

By ther way on my current motor top gear only did the back box. the rest was done by sids rally fabricators in walsall. and is hand made from manifold to box...

thats a propper one too. has original strap brackets that bolt on to the 13mm on the rubbers.

bargain