E30 Zone

After having a crap looking exhaust (wrong brackets) on the car for a month, I get the brackets, go to fit them and find that even with the new brackets, the back box still hangs rediculously low and looks stoooopid. It is driving me nuts and i'm beginning to wish I had stuck with a standard exhaust!

What exhuast is it?

Probably a Mongoose.....

I've fitted brand new Mongoose ones and have been very impressed.
How low is it? Would shorter mounting rubbers help / fit?
How did you fit it? I don't wish to insult your intelligence mind!
Best way usually is to fit it all on without tightening the nuts and bolts, get it in position then tighten everything up.

The only make of aftermarket exhaust I've had real trouble with was a P.C.S. system (are they still around?) on my Capri 2.8. It simply didn't fit!

mate your in gloucestershire bristol right??
go to longlife there, they will sort you right out. they will fabricate brand new brackets for you and weld them on.
i ran the carshalton longlife for a few years. we had this a lot with e30s, when people bought off the shelfe systems.
we would get so many u wouldnt believe! go down and speak to the owner of the company, robin abrey, or someone called pete. tell them tony pearce sent u, and recommended them to you. your most likely looking at an hours labour plus materials. i cant see them charging u more than Ԛ£60, but mention my name they might give some money off.
also chill winston stress and more shit happens. hows this:- the 2 weeks between xmas, i got my window broke and stereo nicked, then ex bird got some little dicks to kick my car in and jump on the bonnett and roof, THEN in all the stress i drive into the petrol station, and didnt see the big fat metal curb. its ok tho, the BRAND NEW alloys see it.

DRIFTBOY wrote:I've fitted brand new Mongoose ones and have been very impressed.
How low is it? Would shorter mounting rubbers help / fit?
How did you fit it? I don't wish to insult your intelligence mind!
Best way usually is to fit it all on without tightening the nuts and bolts, get it in position then tighten everything up.

The only make of aftermarket exhaust I've had real trouble with was a P.C.S. system (are they still around?) on my Capri 2.8. It simply didn't fit!

capris are bastards.. my mate had lowered his 1st one quite a bit, the only way to get the exhaust on, was to measure up some 2" tube and wedge it underneath, then lower the ramp so that the suspension lifted. you got roughly 5" clearance at the back between the leaf spring and metal bodywork. and dont start me on how it goes over the suspension... the v6 are even worse! you got two sides to do! (its ok tho, his v6 one eventually died. head gasket was gone and he didnt know it. was driving it without water at all for months. he kept wondering why his heater was always cold. lol still sold it. even blew up while the buyer was viewing it lol)

The sebring William?

Not had a problem with mine, and a perfect fit, who fitted it?

count to ten ,take deep breaths and relax....in the grand scheme of things is merely a minor inconvenience

The only make of aftermarket exhaust I've had real trouble with was a P.C.S. system (are they still around?) on my Capri 2.8. It simply didn't fit!

had the same issue with my XR4i system from PCS, William, can you post some pix up dude, fresh eyes and all that.

Thanks for all the sympathy/advice guys. Yes Simon, it is the Sebring. The problem seems to be that the rear-most rubber is allowing it to hang too low. With all brackets tight the pipes are still pretty much where they were before. It seems to me, either I need smaller rubbers, which would be impossible to get over the mounts, or the design of the bracket needs to change to shorten the gap between the silencer and the rubber. Even when I push the tailpipes up by hand, I can't get them into the right place, as if the center section or something else is preventing the whole lot from lifting. it was originally fitted by a guy I've been taking my car to for a long time, but Im slowly getting fed up with him, attitude seems to be pretty negative and everything seems to be a hassle which I dont need when trying to solve problems like this. Its going to see Onka at (forgotten garage's name) who had a stand at Gaydon to the right of the museum, been recommended by a friend and he used to own a Motorsport so that'll inspire confidence.

Ant, I will try and get some pics up at some point, as you say, fresh and knowledgable eyes are always a help. Simon, you seem to be the only one with a similar system, so if you could describe where your system is held and by how many brackets/type of bracket etc, it would be a huge help!

Thanks all again for the sympathy, I'm sure everyone knows when the little things compound on these old cars and just get you really p***ed off.

You can adjust the brackets to lift the box,
but since im not 'recommended' or have a stand
at gaydon this is a pointless post.

Andrew

William, sounds like it needs to be removed from the front and re-fitted, had a similar problem, undone all the bolts on the entire system (from the front) held the system up with stands, and re-tightened from the rear, this sorted the low hanging of the back box for me.

Great, thanks Simon, glad to hear I'm not the only one to experience the problem. Will give what you suggest a shot before I pay someone else to redo it.

Andrew, I'm not quite sure of the point you are trying to make but the remark seemed a little venemous given that all I was suggesting that I was fed up with the guy doing my car, and a friend has recommended someone else to me, how on earth does that render your post useless??

the bmw rubbers actually help in acting as bump stops also. their complete dodgy one off shape are good at their job when on. trying to get them on is another situation, ive had all my weight on a really awkward one before with a hook to get it on.

when you push up on the tails u say it physically wont go where you want it to. is there clearance between the heat shield and the top of the back box to move it any more? there is a rubber grommet on the heat shield to stop knocking when the box is sitting close, also a bump stop.
so are the brackets adjustable? how much clearance is there under the subframe between the two pipes before they go up into the back box? ideally it should be hard to get ur finger in there, if there is any more of a gap then something can be done

tonyppe, thanks for all you help. When I push the tailpipes up, I am fairly sure there is plenty of clearance above the backbox. I think the problem is coming further back, perhaps with the center section or maybe even further back than that. The two halves of the bracket are fully tight together so the box cannot be raised any more on the rear bracket. I am fairly sure again that there IS a decent gap between the pipes before the box and the subframe, the reason I am unsure of all this is because by myself, it was difficult to get the tailpipes as close as I could to where i wanted them, AND go and see where the problem was!

Hopefuly though the right bloke will be able to help me out on this!

if you got tins of food in ur house, wedge a few of them under your exhaust, that would help u out.

if there is a lot of clearance under the sub frame as it is now then its most likely the back box hanging too low. there is only one bracket on the centre section apart from the solid mounting to the gear box at the base of the downpipes. take some pics if you can?
because of the way the exhaust goes, and the length of the back box, if the centre is a cm facing the wrong way then the tails will be miles out!
another thing that can be done about this is: where the two pipes go into the back box, is usaully quite soft as the back plate on the back box is usually 1.5mm thick and spread over the 10" x 5" (usually larger) area. what we have done before is wedged somethign on top of the back box, and grabbed the tails and pulled them upwards. this will position them higher, but only do this if you determine that the system is not bent correctly. if it can be adjusted then obviously thats the way to go.
pics would be helpful

Ok, given that I couldnt get the car up again, these are the best I could do with the car on the ground:

Firstly, the problem I am trying to resolve:



A full length view:



The center section bracket:



The rear bracket and rubber hanger:



As you can see, my slightly dubious mechanic welded a bracket onto the center section to join with the existing bracket on the car from the old 2 part system. All advice appreciated, thanks.

That bracket that has been welded on is doing the system no favours at all, it's holding the system on a lean for a start. I would have left this bracket off, 3 piece systems don't have it, so I'd remove that for a start.

My best advice, get the car on a ramp, loosen the entire system, adjust and re-tighten.

you can see the whole thing is twisted right from the front. what you will need to do is loosen everything and start over.
them twin pipes will twist a little and rotate. you have a strap bracket like the original boxes on the rear. as long as this is not welded to the box, you can loosten this off so that you can raise the silencer up, then tighten it back up and it should hold. you have loads of clerance between the subframe and pipes so you definatly have room to adjust it.
try just loostening the brackets first, dont completely take them off at the back just undo them so its really wobbly. if it wont budge then u will need to undo the other 4 clamps. you will be able to do it best on a ramp using exhaust stands, or gearbox stands

now to watch the bullrun

Just looking at the pics, shouldnt there be 2 straps around the backbox?

i cant remember now, its been such a long time since ive looked at a standard one..
i know there are 2 brackets at the rear that are on the silencer but i cant remember if they were on one strap or not. i think ur right, thats probably why its twisting. the one between the bumper and silencer is a propper pig to do..

JUST HAD A LOOK AT MINE

theres two straps on the back silenser one superting it from the left and the other from the right i unhooked the one and it looked the same as yours (droped down and twisted the the side)

Maby yours only got one strap >?

i think the bracket you got on is good enuff but it seems that it only suports the exhaust on the right and thats way it twisting down on the left !?

just get one more bracket made up for the left side of the silenser and im sure it will lift it right up and twist it back !

Simon wrote:That bracket that has been welded on is doing the system no favours at all, it's holding the system on a lean for a start. I would have left this bracket off, 3 piece systems don't have it, so I'd remove that for a start.

My best advice, get the car on a ramp, loosen the entire system, adjust and re-tighten.

All E30s have that bracket, M3's/320is have two.

Looks like a right bodge on the hanger on the last strap on the rear box. That upper part which is spot welded to the spare wheel sphere looks like its been welded on.

Andrew

Demlotcrew wrote:
All E30s have that bracket

Sure?


I've never seen a 3 piece system with the bracket.

From what I can gather the extra bracket is a late edition on the E30.

You might want to run an eye and finger down that metal brake pipe though - they normally rust the most next to the rear backplate though - mine just fell apart there. Sorry I can't help about the exhaust, mine is standard.