2.5" exhaust max power

[dele30]

When picking my exhaust I searched around and found that most of the guys here are running a 2.5 single pipe back.
That information lead me to pick the current exhaust im running now which is: SS rep headers > Single 2.5" > 2.5" Highflow cat > Vibrant muffler
The power I'm putting out right now with my modded m50 the exhaust is fine and I love the sound of the virbrant muffler. So I was wondering since I plan to go higher power in the future what is the max hp I could put out with the single 2.5"

[Adrian_Visser]

Well it is enough for an s52 so you got a ways to go before you run out of exhaust.

[Mr Two]

I've never seen an e36 M3 run a 2.5" single. Custom singles seem to always be 3 inch.

I had great success with my dual 2.5" midsection.

[Adrian_Visser]

Seems to me its what most guys are using on e30 swaps these days.

[Mr Two]

I know, and that's what I don't understand - All the NA e36 M3 singles I've seen have been 3", so I'm not so sure you'd want to run that for an S52.

[matt]

2.5 is fine to 300whp or more.

[Mossman]

My s52 car has obd2 manis, front section of 93 m3 exhaust until it merges to 1 pipe, then 2.5 single to a cat, to 2.25 inlet remus and it pulls hard and sounds mean. The remus was meant to be temporary but if I can get it to fit a little better I think I'll keep it. I'll have to race a stock e36 m3 to see if my suspicions are correct but my car feels every bit as fast as my brother's old 98 m3. Mine's an OBD1 S52 running a stock S50 chip, so with slightly better exhaust and a proper tune I'm sure there are more ponies to be had but it's no slouch as it is.