exhaust options

[grib]

Wow, there's a story of custom exhaust gone wrong. Not to monday-morning quarterback but I can't believe you paid him and left the shop with it in the first place. (I'm sure that's easier said than done.)

I am using the eBay OBD2 knock-offs with a an OBD-1 down-pipe/cat and UUC cat-back. I paid ~$250 to have an exhaust shop modify it to clear, and also create a custom merge to eliminate the 2" bottle neck in the OBD-1 merge/Y before the O2 sensor. They didn't do a very good job on the hangers, which I have replaced with some universal stuff.

All in all, there is no rubbing and it sounds very good. The UUC system U is a little loud for me taste, but the car is not a daily driver. I have seen some great, clean custom exhaust set ups (I'm sure Surebimmer will chime in) and I have seen some really bad ones, too. If you don't have a *good* exhaust shop to take it to try to stick to modifying the stock parts as much as possible - this is probably an easier job for mediocre exhaust places.

[BingM3]

Don't waste $, ebay thing is good ----if you think about it, the gains you get with headers whether $$$ or not is very minimal

Look for the T304 SS made

[matt]

I wanted a fully custom 3" SS exhaust

That was your first mistake. 3" exhaust doesn't make sense until there's a turbo involved. Clearance is a real problem on a lowered e30 with a 3" exhaust.

[FredK]

If you really wanted to gain as much ground clearance as possible, you could transition the part that goes underneath the rear subframe into an oval cross-section like the Gp A M3 exhaust.

However the real problem was not that he decided to go with a 3" exhaust. The problem is that the exhaust was not tucked up close to the heatshielding underneath the car, which is solely the fault of the fabricator.

[BeirBrennerE30]

That was your first mistake. 3" exhaust doesn't make sense until there's a turbo involved. Clearance is a real problem on a lowered e30 with a 3" exhaust.

As designed by me... but not exicuted, the very front of the exhaust was removable via vband so it could be replaced when i did go turbo (on the way). The exhaust was supposed to do double duty as a NA and turbo exhaust and to have easily removable sections. That didnt happen so I will need another turbo exhaust soon.

A 3" isnt hard to do on an e30. Surprisingly if you know what you are doing and tuck the exhaust close to the body it wont scrape when very low. The exhaust as it stands now doesnt scrape at all in its 3" form, its just a shitshow though. It also helps if you dont put the vbands at the lowest points on the exhaust.

[kroberts]

What amazes me most about these stories is that the business owner (muffler shop in this case) always acts like he just cant understand why the customer is unhappy. What fucking assholes! As his tech was fabbing this exhaust, they all knew it wasn't going well. He expected you to believe that everything just magically turned to shit after they took the car off the lift? They didn't notice the pipe clearance? It's all about minimizing loss. The tubing cost him more than standard steel tubing and he'll be damned if he was going to start over! He probably told the tech "Dont fuck this up!!!" That's also why it was built in sections. They could just scrap a short segment instead of an entire 7-foot pipe.

Have you ever watched a really good custom system fabrication from start to finish. There are guys who can work magic with the hydraulic bending machine. They make a little bend and check the fit. Then they bend some more and check again. A lot of back-and-forth. It may be time consuming, but the end result is worth the wait

What really sucks about the situation is that he had your keys. In a perfect world, you could have told him to take his shitty pipes off your car, and you could have loaded it back up on the trailer and not paid him shit.

I get riled up when I read stuff like this...mostly 'cuz I was screwed over bigtime once before ($10k) and hate to hear of it happening to anyone else.

Rant Over,

kr

[FredK]

$10K! Was it bodywork?

[cheades]

That was your first mistake. 3" exhaust doesn't make sense until there's a turbo involved. Clearance is a real problem on a lowered e30 with a 3" exhaust.

I have about 1/2" less clearance less than stock but that is up front at the dual 2" cat, otherwise lots of clearance for 3". There is nothing wrong with 3" exhaust without a turbo, means if I do more motor work I don't have to do another exhaust.

My setup is ebay headers to dual 2" magnaflow cat, 3" back into two borla mufflers (one pre subframe, one in normal muffler spot).

[matt]

You will not do enough motor work to take advantage of a 3" exhaust NA.

I know the clearance issuse can be handled, but still. Anyway, its not my car so you guys can do what you want.

I think we need to see some pics of this shite exhaust.

[BeirBrennerE30]

ok... here are 3 of the better pics. I can go take more of as it stands now but this was version A. Notice the ground clearence, or lack there of. Also notice the dirt and scores in the cement of my garage that the exhaust did.

From the front looking under airdam... look how low the front vband is and its poor placement

From the side of the door... i dunno what he was doing with the routing here. Notice all the random welds and the angle of the muffler and the distance the tubing is away from the car.

Last pic im gonna show you guys is from the back. Notice again the lack of clearence and also how the guy missed the point for the turn under the subframe. it is SOO much lower than the mcoupe diff cover

[BeirBrennerE30]

Not too much rust under there for a 20yo new england car ;)

[FredK]

That is pretty low!

I don't remember where there's room to tuck crap in because I haven't been under an E30 in around 4 weeks, but that is ridiculous! your car IS pretty low, though.

[surebimmer]

Here are some pictures of what I'm running. OBD 2 tube manifolds, I welded the ports closed but then used a cover from a E90 330i to cover the hole. The cover had to be ground down a little to sit flush. Part number for the cover is 11727511542. Rest is dual 2" into Magnaflow cat to 2.5" single out. With a 18 inch rear Magnaflow muffler. With the sleeper 318i looking tip.

[golde30]

kyle, who did your setup? how much did it run you? the work looks very clean.

[matt]

Wow.

I definitely agree, that's awful.