325i new exhaust needed - please recommend some - thanks

[orangecurry]

title says it all really...

1989 325i, 65k miles with original exhaust at the moment - fantastic sound; but getting old.

thanks

[M5pilot]

Is your origional system dead? if not then can I buy it off you when its off the car?

As for systems, Scorpion are good if a bit loud. Mongoose very good also.

If you want the best sounding system in the world its the copy Alpina system costing Ԛ£500.

To be honest Scorpion is probably the best bet. You can get a half system which is the back box and the centre section. use origional downpipes and its about Ԛ£370.

There are offers in the group buys section for Mongoose systems.

[orangecurry]

original system not dead, but back-box starting to develop a few extra holes - I'm planning ahead!

thanks for the recommendations.

[Martinaston]

Euro car parts if you do it yourself
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecommerce/S ... esults.asp
no idea how local they are to you.
and if you go to quick fit you deserve what you get.
apparently there exhausts weigh less than half of the original manufacturers because they mysteriousely leave out most of the baffles.

[orangecurry]

thanks MA but what I'm after is recommendations of exhausts, not WHERE to get them from

ta

[Martinaston]

Well unless your replacing the manifold as well they all do the same job just that some are louder than others.

[orangecurry]

err all exhausts do not do the same job MA. Unless the back-pressure is correct an exhaust will cause the engine to lose great lumps of power, whether the exhaust is noisey or quiet.

An exhaust does a critical job, and anyone who fits one with large bore, DTM, fewer boxes or whatever will be slowing their car down if it aint right.

Mechanics please correct me if I haven't got this right.

[Martinaston]

Someone i know spent a fortune on a stainless steel side exit system for his cosworth 500, put it on with no improvement to the performance drove to the Birmingham motor show got kissed off with the noise and when he got home took it off and never used it again.

[Martinaston]

well you said it the back pressure has to be right so why deviate from the original?

[orangecurry]

my point exactly; his new exhaust was all form and no function.

An example is the Impreza - millions of aftermarket exhausts are available, and everyone (sensible) recommends the Scoobysport(? from memory) rear box. It is designed so well that it actually releases another 10bhp, and this is just the back-box.

[orangecurry]

why deviate from the original MA?

good point; I may well not, but BMW charge a lot of money, and someone else might have done just as good a job - which is why I asked for recommendations from you guys who might have actually tried them.

Also stainless-steel last forever (though are noisier) and if designed well can release a few more bhp.

Engineering is a compromise, and BMW as a company compromise like every other; there might be something better (and cheaper) out there.

[Martinaston]

You say thats just the back box so i take it there is a centre box as well.
How long would the centre box last if you mix and match like that?

[M5pilot]

The BMW exhaust is a very good design to start with and improving on it is hard. We are talking about origional BMW, not cheap nasty pattern stuff.

Alot of people find changnig to a scorpion loses them midrange power and smoothness.

Doing just the back box is a good idea though as this doesnt seem to detriment the performance at all. Stick with the origional Centre section.

[Simon]

Original all the way, boysen exhausts.

[orangecurry]

sorry MA I'm getting confused...

you said 'how long would the centre box last if you mix and match?'

do you mean the Scooby in particular? Any part of any exhaust system will 'last' if mixed; they just may or may not improve things - you only need to replace any bits if they start to fall apart. Quite a few people seem to change the O/E rear box on the Impreza BEFORE it wears out, simply because the Scoobysport rear is so good - it isn't to the detriment of the centre section.

[Martinaston]

Im not sure but from what you say about the extra 10bhp gained it sounds like the back box flow's quicker than the centre one was designed to and therfore i assume would just burn the baffles out quicker?