M42 China eBay header...thoughts?

[Erick]

I used the M20 turbo manifold from chinatown and it held up pretty well. I'm looking into doing an entire exhaust system for the M42 since mine needs to be replaced soon anyways.

I figure if the M20 turbo manifold held.... an N/A header should not nearly see as much heat to crack. Anyone has any experience with these?

- Erick

[Asbradley21]

Wasted money really. The stock M42 header was the one BMW actually got right.

[mattdk318i]

yea, i agree. Its already got a really good quality stainless header.

[Cobra Jet]

The stock M42 header is 409 stainless steel and is also mandrel bent - can't beat it and any aftermarket header listed on eBay is not going to gain you anything over the stock M42 factory header. Like others have said, use that $$$ for other functional mods...

[Erick]

Good to know. Thanks!

[manjambles]

yea i installed mine, great price did give me an increase in power, but i fried the o2 sensor wire cuz the bung is further down than the stock.

oh plus i broke 2 header studs and never got them out.

not worth it at all plus the stock one has plugs on each cylinder to test shit

[eugeman]

Aren't the ebaY ones long tubes as opposed to the short tube stocker? Would long tube give you a better powerband for the city?

[mattdk318i]

arent we still talking about a M42? lol. Powerband??? More like r3v the shit out of it and hope for some power.

[manjambles]

wuts wrong with yours then, mine moves

[carbon]

i would look for a good condition used stocker if yours is shot. The stock one is all you will ever need.

[Hey-U]

I recently had my stock header ceramic coated which helps keep heat out of the engine bay and looks pretty good also. I haven't seen the E Bay one but i can't imagine the quality is anywhere near OEM

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[carbon]

hey-u those look great. How much did you spend on them?

[3bvert]

matt
does the super turbo hang lower, my car came with a aftermarket muffler, and it hangs lower, has to so the pipe comes out the stock hole in rear apron, wil it use the stock hangers, or do you have to switch that out as well

yea that looks tits.

m42 exhaust is fine.


bottle neck is muffler, get a free flow muffler and your good to go


Taken from: http://www.r3vlimited.com/tech/318is/318is.htm

Muffler - The 318iS is equipped with a very free flowing exhaust manifold and center section with 2.25" stainless piping. The bottleneck in the system is the muffler. Thee are a few options for this. The first is a cat-back system, which replaces the piping and boxes behind the catalytic converter. Supersprint makes an excellent cat-back system that runs about $400. You can also simply replace the muffler. There are a variety of mufflers on the market but there is one that is very inexpensive, sounds great (not too loud, but throaty), and fits an E30 very well - it is made by Walker-Dynamax and is called the "Super-Turbo" muffler. It is available from Summit Racing at the price of about $40. We have had great success with these mufflers, and even use them in 3" size on our E30/S50 cars.