What M30 headers are people using?

[Bearmw]

Want to hear from anyone not using stock exhaust manifolds with you M30 swap. What type of headers are you using and with what motor mounts in what position, etc.? Any fitment/clearance issues and overall experience with particular headers.

Saw some Schmeidmann stainless steel headers that fit the e28 and e34 m30's that look nice and are under $400 shipped to U.S. but wonder about fit. Also IE has their headers that are comparable in price. Who else still sells m30 headers and any experiences with them?

[Garageaholic]

I have stock manifolds on mine. M30 Headers are really hard to find and not readily available unless you wanna buy stihl.

Motor mounts are position III as in www.e30.de

Look at my sig if you are interested in an M30 E30 swap.

[Bearmw]

You are right Frank it seems like most use stock manifolds but I've seen enough pics to know that some have gotten around the issues and probabaly not all were $1000 headers. Definitely think headers are worth the research especially if you have an upgraded cam and so on.

[browntown]

I switched from b34 manifolds to b35. They're bigger internally, and bolt right up. Then I had them ceramic coated for the prettiness.


I suspect what you do with piping back from the manifolds will change more than the manifolds themselves. Good time to go 2.5" all the way back

[Bearmw]

Already have B35 manifolds and could certainly coat them. Even considered porting them but the serious m30 motor guys I talked to said "don't waste your money" on porting them. They all strongly recommended headers. Problem is none of them have m30's in E30's.

[chadthestampede]

User alpinass on mye28.com sells m30 headers:

http://www.mye28.com/viewtopic.php?t=85866&highlight=

I pm'ed him about them once and he said they should fit in an e30 and was going to have someone test them but I don't think he ever did.

[Bearmw]

Thanks. Will have to get in touch with him. Anyone else?

[Jb325is]

I have Stahl long tubes with Otis' mounts in the rear-most position.

[Bearmw]

Stahl's fit with no modification? They have an O2 sensor bung and what kind of collector flange? Those are sweet headers but they sure look pricey.

[VinniE30]

^ He had to modify the Stahls to fit. I think the problem was with them hitting somewhere near the control arms.

[Bearmw]

I have Stahl long tubes with Otis' mounts in the rear-most position.

[/quote]

So what did you have to do to make them fit exactly and how did you connect them with the rest of your system? Any pics of what you did? I think those are great headers. Are they 1 3/8" primaries? Very nice but last I knew they were over 1G yikes.

[browntown]

Very nice but last I knew they were over 1G yikes.

The one thing this car and rebuilding my engine continues to remind me is that you have to pay to play.

[LJ851]

My M30 powered car had BAS longtube headers for an E28 and had clearance all around. The engine was not very far back, though.

[Jb325is]

I didn't have to do anything crazy to fit them, just smacked a divot in one to clear the control arm bushings and bent the collectors upwards a bit for clearance. No o2 bungs in the headers, I had a full exhaust made for my car so just put a couple in the pipes after the headers. I have the long tubes, Y-pipe, 2.5" straight pipe into a 14" magnaflow and it's pretty loud. Sounds cool though, very unique and not like your typical m30

[Bearmw]

Sounds like a nice setup What is the primary size on those headers?