2.8L M20 9.8:1 stroker build: my 323i reincarnated

[betz]

I got an eBay / IE SS catback and a magnaflow, California approved dual in dual out catalytic converter. Welds are fairly shoddy on the eBay shit but its stainless and actually surprised me on quality for the price. I chose the IE exhaust to quiet it down seeing as the long tubes and future intake mods will be loud.

The plan is to put these guys in and y into the existing headers, smog it, and reconnect to the long tubes.

[digger]

I thought long tubes will give you better power/torque in the upper RPMs while shortys are better in the lower RPMs?

no, long tube primaries will work better at low rpm. shorties probably are never properly in tune on a lowish rpm engine due to being too short.

[Das Delfin]

Glad you could save it - and for only 200 bucks! You don't see original blue plate cars all that often

[betz]

came across your thread. I recognize that car! This is what it looked like summer of 2016. I grew up a few miles down the road

Holy shit! That's awesome, thanks for this. Man, the guy who owned it screwed it up quick...

It has a big dent on the passenger side now and there's a gap between the passenger grill and the fender. I'm suspecting it was another seperate collision besides the fender. It was also missing a bunch of trim. I'm going to get it all patched up though, better than ever. Hopefully I'm just really bad at aligning hoods cus it looks pretty good in your picture.

[AC_Schnitzel]

I thought long tubes will give you better power/torque in the upper RPMs while shortys are better in the lower RPMs?

[Das Delfin]

came across your thread. I recognize that car! This is what it looked like summer of 2016. I grew up a few miles down the road

[wworm]

this is really making me want to build an m20. Have you figured out a smog situation yet? I may have a few lines on lazy smog guys around oakland/san leandro if you need em

[digger]

those IE are longtubes. should make better torque than shorties lowend and midrange

[wworm]

glad you got long tubes. from what i've heard they sound super rad

[betz]

Just impulse bought IE long tubes because of the black Friday sale lmao.

Did my first full oil change. If anyone was curious this is what a magnetic drain plug looks like on a brand new motor...



It's got some shit on it. Not too exciting

[betz]

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays :)

[betz]

Do you necessarily need to place the cats in the stock location? Are you still considering ITB's for future modifications?

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...317505&page=10

California smog is very strict, by the book they won't let you touch anything from the intake to the catalytic converter unless it has a carb EO number. I could probably get away with it a little further downstream but it has to be a single cat if that's how it was factory.

As for ITBs, my car isn't even close to done right now so it's kinda hard for me to think about it lol. By the time I'm ready to do that I'll make sure I have a solution for smog beforehand I think.

I want to avoid redoing my exhaust like 3 times if possible. Are the shorty's just a total waste of money?

[zwill23]

Do you necessarily need to place the cats in the stock location? Are you still considering ITB's for future modifications?

I've always thought Digger had quite a nice exhaust setup on his car, and he runs two cats that seem to be placed a bit farther down stream. A similar setup might keep you within emissions and keep future performance goals in mind?

https://www.r3vlimited.com/board/sho...317505&page=10

[betz]

So I'm trying to get my exhaust sorted out.
Right now I have the 14815 magnaflow muffler, though it sounds great above 3.5k RPM, I just absolutely hate exhausts that have a resonance at cruising RPMs. More RPMs & more gas should equal more sound. I think I'm going for the IE catback instead (from eBay though...) but I would consider a nice muffler with custom tubing if it doesn't drone.

What are your guys' opinions for headers? My lazier than usual smog guy seems to have caught some heat for being lazier than usual, so I'm trying to find something friendlier for CA smog. I might settle for the IE shorty headers, because I can easily remove them come smog, get a shop to weld a flange so I can swap them out easily every two years.

It also dawned on me that long tube headers would make it difficult to install a cat, at least in the stock location. Not a fan of my car smelling like garbage and intentionally polluting just to gain like 1-2 hp. What's more, is it seems to be incredibly difficult to make them interchangeable with a stock system come smog.

I'd appreciate any input or advice. Anybody running the shorties? How do they sound?

[vasilis m3]

Nice work mate!!! ;)