6 cyl swap... what headers to use?

[ja12ke]

I am currently swapping an m50 into my ti and want to get some feed back before i buy headers. Im leaning towards the raceland shorties but Im curious if there are any fitment issues. If you could comment on what you guys have used i would greatly appreciate. Then I would at least know what works and what doesnt

[Marv17]

hmm, never heard of any issues having them fit. Raceland and Supersprint are the most common ones too, i think.

[Bluebimma]

I'd get the with a y pipe and single 2.5-75 back

[ja12ke]

Originally Posted by Marv17

hmm, never heard of any issues having them fit. Raceland and Supersprint are the most common ones too, i think.

really?! i heard the main flange that meets the head doesn't line up usually. but i can fix that easy enough. Im more worried about long tubes haveing something in the way and having to pound part of them in and such.

[ja12ke]

Originally Posted by Bluebimma

I'd get the with a y pipe and single 2.5-75 back

Ive gone over your build with the m50 and thats some good stuff. i love the color of that car too! Im going to weld up my own exhaust from the headers on out. I was thinking the same size your talking with the y pipe and a resonator.

[ja12ke]

Okay guys Im thinking I will go with the JVT racing headers since they have much smaller runners than raceland (60 mm vs 50 mm from what ive heard). These are longtubes but has anyone ever used them on a ti to know if they will clear the firewall and everything?

[pdxmotorhead]

Just curious, what are you expecting to get out of long-tube headers?

If tuned with the stock tubes, you'll get great across the board performance, with long tubes your likely gonna lose bottom end... Just curious about your application...

Dave

[budget76]

There's a multi page thread on the ebay headers on bimmerforums, I'd reccomend checking it out.

I was actually looking last week. I had decided I was going to go with the ebay shorties, because they are direct replacement for stock. Don't want to deal with the long tubes. I have to pull my exhaust to fix a couple holes, and the only disconnect is at the manifolds. I have the stock M50 manifolds on there now. If I have problems and break off the studs of the manifolds, I'm going to pick up a set of OBD2 headers, they've got much better flow and just require plugging two oxygen sensor holes. Also, they bolt right in guaranteed.

That being said, if I was fabbing from nothing I'd probably go with the long tube off ebay.

[J!m]

Have you considered stock 3.2 headers and cat/midpipe?

On the S50, it is somewhat of an improvement in performance and weight savings. You need to weld up the secondary air pump holes, and only run one o2 sensor, but those are easy fixes.

Usually had cheaply at the scrap yard or the 'Bay...

I have heard a bit about these "eBay headers" but I don't know if there is s significant improvement over the stock 3.2 parts. On a 3.2 maybe; on a 3.0 I would be surprised to see much at all as compared to the 3.2 header.

If you have more data I'm all ears!

[hoveringuy]

Originally Posted by pdxmotorhead

Just curious, what are you expecting to get out of long-tube headers?

If tuned with the stock tubes, you'll get great across the board performance, with long tubes your likely gonna lose bottom end... Just curious about your application...

Dave

I went long tubes. Dyno before and after. Most of the power gained was at the lower end, not the top end.

[ja12ke]

hoveringuy- how much did u gain for hp and any torque gain? also what brand did u go with?

[hoveringuy]

This is on an M54 engine. I would need to pull the actual dyno plots but max gains were near 3000 rpm, about 15ft-lbs and 12 hp. At 5000 it was around 7 hp. I had OBD2 headers before.

M3 euro headers. They are only around $400, fit like a glove, sound great and are true equal-length.

[J!m]

Do you have a P/N on the Euro headers?

And, are they OBD-II compatible?

Finally, with your long-tube low-end gains, what was the rest of the exhaust system in each case? Was it the same? Did you run an 'H' pipe between the 'banks' (front three and back three)? What was your head pipe diameter? Length before the CAT (if you used one)?

Sounds interersting... Need more information.

My history is with big-blocks. They have no shortage of torque, so I go for HP (small blocks are another story). To get top end HP, I ran with 1-5/8 primary tubes (equal length) 4 into 1 collector (3 inch) with a 3 inch head pipe, 3" to 2.5" reducing cone (long cone from Flowmaster) into 2.5" flowmaster (small block) mufflers with 2.5" tail pipes. As the gas cools, it looses velocity, so running slightly smaller down-stream keeps gas velocity high, for maximum scavenging. I basically had no losses with this full exhaust system as compared to open collectors. No h-pipe with the big blocks. Small blocks always used them, and it did help give a bit of torque.

[hoveringuy]

...

Originally Posted by J!m

Do you have a P/N on the Euro headers?

No. Should be easy to find on realoem, though.

Originally Posted by J!m

And, are they OBD-II compatible?

I believe they came in 2 versions, the difference being that the 3.2 litre version has O2 bungs. Some good pictures in this thread:
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1279327

Originally Posted by J!m

Finally, with your long-tube low-end gains, what was the rest of the exhaust system in each case? Was it the same? Did you run an 'H' pipe between the 'banks' (front three and back three)? What was your head pipe diameter? Length before the CAT (if you used one)?.

1 5/8 primary into 2" collector. Primaries are all around 22" long. Ebay headers have primaries that range from 10" to 20". 100% stock e36 OBD2 cat section and OBD2 M3 muffler.

Originally Posted by J!m

Sounds interersting... Need more information.

Engine is M54 running OBD1 electronics. Still has dual VANOS and DISA. 220 wheel hp, but weighs 60lbs less than an S50. Perfect for a ti !

Originally Posted by J!m

My history is with big-blocks. They have no shortage of torque, so I go for HP (small blocks are another story). To get top end HP, I ran with 1-5/8 primary tubes (equal length) 4 into 1 collector (3 inch) with a 3 inch head pipe, 3" to 2.5" reducing cone (long cone from Flowmaster) into 2.5" flowmaster (small block) mufflers with 2.5" tail pipes. As the gas cools, it looses velocity, so running slightly smaller down-stream keeps gas velocity high, for maximum scavenging. I basically had no losses with this full exhaust system as compared to open collectors. No h-pipe with the big blocks. Small blocks always used them, and it did help give a bit of torque.

[J!m]

Got em. Don't think I could swing it (not new anyway)

Front 11621404694 $1,116.41
Rear 11621404695 $1,116.41

Might have to make some calls and see if I can source a pair used from Switzerland...