Advice please on what to do........exhaust manifold.......

[mason]

Hello peeps
need a little help please i own a 325i sport m tech 1 1987 the exhaust manifold had a large crack and was blowing so i brought a second hand exhaust manifold same 4 stud meeting down pipe from ebay that was supposed to of come off a sport so i thought i would fit it to day and every thing went fine old won off put the new one on bolted it up to the engine new gasket etc no probs then when i went to bolt back up the down pipe it dosent fit couldnt get the down pipe gaskit on the new manifold this seems ever so slightly wider apart same 4 studs just couldnt get the down pipe on to the manifold noticed that this new manifold has 2 bolts on the top of manifold where the old one did not but there is no differance at all over than being a few mil out on the down pipe
what should i do ??
i would much prefer to replace the down pipe to fit the manifold rather than taking the hole manifold off
sorry to go on but this has really pissed me off lol
any help would be great
cheers all

[TOURINGDADDY]

Hi there firstly welcome to the Zone

There are a couple of things u could do

1 try another manifold
2 replace the rest of the system
3 drill the holes a bit larger on the f/p if there only a couple of mm out (bodge it and scarper)

[mason]

Thanks touring
for your reply mate much appreciated oh well back to the drawing board lol it just puzzels me what my new manifold came off as i thought all e30 325i where the same but hey wrong again
cheers mate

[Guest]

There are two manifolds, they changed I think around Sept 1987. They are interchangeable as long as you also fit the corresponding downpipe. I had the same problem and sent two s/h ones back before I worked out what the problem was!

I also tried welding the crack but it didn't last long.

[mason]

Cheers Mike
your spot on found that out today they did indeed change over the 325i sport manifold in the middle of 1987 so i ordered the correct downpipe today and im glad to say it is all sorted
thanks for your reply
much appreciated