My 1988 e30 325ix - Garage'd

[jeenyus]

Looks like it's sitting pretty close to your T case bushing cross mount?
Is it possible to move your cat backwards a bit? I think this would give you some more play room to get all the angles nice and smooth

yea i think what i'll do it chop it at the catalytic converter and route it from there. I needed to set this up to see exactly what changes needed to occur before buying piping. i will also need to add the mount to the y-collector that i removed off the stock portion. It will be a good amount of welding ahead of me, but once it's done I should be done and be able to drive the car. I will be taking in the headers this week to get ceramic coated, but I cannot decide on a color. I was thinking of a 50/50 mix of black and gold, but now i'm kind of leaning toward just a silver since that's the general theme in the engine bay already. What do you think?

[D.Martijn]

Looks like it's sitting pretty close to your T case bushing cross mount?
Is it possible to move your cat backwards a bit? I think this would give you some more play room to get all the angles nice and smooth

[jeenyus]

Working on the exhaust. I'm gonna need to puzzle this together. I can cut back to the cat and then from there I need to figure out what looks like two 45 degree angles and the straight to get this connected. I shouldn't be the worst thing I hope. Cool picture of the 6-2-1 exhaust.

[jeenyus]

I got these little morsels installed. Biggest pain in the ass to get the sheered off bolt out. I ended up just having to drill the whole thing out and retap the remaining bolt out. They are in now and look pretty. Lubed with all the molly, lol. Gonna take the headers in for cerakoat this week.

[jeenyus]

I considered putting the vband after the merge on mine and using bolts instead of studs so the headers could be removed. I ended up doing the offset vbands instead.

The internet makes this all seem so easy! I think what I am going to do is band clamps where the y collector attaches to the headers and then a vband on the 3" single outlet. If it comes to it I can probably add in the vbands for the collector as well, but I don't think it will be necessary. I'll keep you posted. I just ordered the vband and clamps to get it all mocked up.

[AWDBOB]

I would but I feel like that would make it impossible to remove the headers if necessary.

I considered putting the vband after the merge on mine and using bolts instead of studs so the headers could be removed. I ended up doing the offset vbands instead.

[jeenyus]

The headers are just mild steel, so if you don't coat them they'll just rust. And most "header" paint doesn't last. I'd ceramic coat them after you have your flanges welded on. You should just weld the Y to the collectors and put one VBand after the Y pipe

I would but I feel like that would make it impossible to remove the headers if necessary.

[AWDBOB]

the Y collector is offset I think for this purpose. I don't know if I am going to ceramic coat them. Should I? if i don't do it now can I not do it later?

The headers are just mild steel, so if you don't coat them they'll just rust. And most "header" paint doesn't last. I'd ceramic coat them after you have your flanges welded on.

You should just weld the Y to the collectors and put one VBand after the Y pipe

[DrJosh]

you can do it later but now is the best time

[jeenyus]

If you vband the collectors, they need to be offset for clearance, like so (photo stolen from digitalwave)

Are you gonna ceramic coat them?

the Y collector is offset I think for this purpose. I don't know if I am going to ceramic coat them. Should I? if i don't do it now can I not do it later?

[AWDBOB]

If you vband the collectors, they need to be offset for clearance, like so (photo stolen from digitalwave)

Are you gonna ceramic coat them?

Untitled by Bobbie Morrone, on Flickr

[jeenyus]

That seems to fit pretty good. A regular U bolt could work although that's pretty shitty. Wouldn't it be possible to use a V band clamp?

Can't notice and wondering how easy it wil be to remove the oil filter with those headers? They seem to sit pretty tight against the filter?
Or is this just the angle from where the picture was taken?

the filter is a tight fit, but the tube actually goes over the top of the filter. I most certainly won't be able to do it on a hot engine without gloves.

v band has crossed my mind a few times. I would probably need to have someone more skilled than me weld it on though. I do worry about the clearance with v bands though because it does sit pretty close to the body. On the Y-collector i will also need to fit an 02 and i believe the bracket that attaches to the transfer case. it's a busy area on the IX, as you know,.

[D.Martijn]

That seems to fit pretty good. A regular U bolt could work although that's pretty shitty. Wouldn't it be possible to use a V band clamp?

Can't notice and wondering how easy it wil be to remove the oil filter with those headers? They seem to sit pretty tight against the filter?
Or is this just the angle from where the picture was taken?

[jeenyus]

I've been trying to figure out the exhaust and getting it mated up with my old exhaust that was there before I bought the car. It's a 3" magnaflow muffler with a magnaflow high flow cat. I ended up getting a Y collector that is 2.25" to 3" and hopefully get that to match up with the preexisting 3". It fits fine which was a relief. Now to find a way to connect then all together. I like the idea of being able to remove all of this without having to deal with the manifold coming off and also I need to get the Y connected with an o2 bung.

[jeenyus]

I'm gonna have to figure out the O2 sensor situation because it doesn't have a bung, but the good news is it fits properly!