Straight Pipes

[1996 328ti]

I had an exhaust which basically was non-existent. No packing material.
The car sounded like crap.
Rather, the car sound obnoxiously loud. I couldn't drive it through my neighborhood without being embarrassed and driving on the highway gave me a headache.
I replaced the muffler and now I have a s/s paperweight.
I don't know how different an M44 would be compared to a M52.
Doesn't an exhaust system need some back pressure?

[tiFreak]

I ran no muffler on my track rat, now it has a Cherry Bomb glasspack, sounds like crap, if it was a street driven car I'd definitely be running a real muffler but it's fine for a track rat

[cooljess76]

I should add that a custom fabricated catback exhaust with a nice magnaflow muffler can be had for a couple hundred bucks. IIRC, the magnaflow mufflers run between $75-$100 and most muffler shops will custom bend/weld an exhaust system for another hundred or so. It doesn't cost that much more to do things right, maintain performance and longevity of your engine and remain legal. I highly suggest keeping your factory cat. Most if not all aftermarket cats fail prematurely. The factory cat costs about $1500 for a refurbished one. If yours goes bad and you can't afford an OEM replacement cat, you can always pick one up from someone parting out a car on the forum. Junkyards are not allowed to sell used cats, so your best bet is a private party.

[Mr. Crow]

Who thinks I should put my resonator back in?

My thinking was that the DASC would perform better without it.....I really cant tell anymore if it performed better with or without it. I just know its obnoxious. Im not embarrassed about it however.

Running 2.5 from the cat to the exhaust, custom weld....it's sounds very tuned and throaty!

eh well, kids will be kids!

[xxxJohnBoyxxx]

I run two resonators and a flowmaster. Sounds great and no drone.

Straight pipes suck balls.

teen ti ~ I know you think it will be faster and sound cool but it won't. It will sound like a Yugo with no muffler and perform worst then it does now.

Please use your head for something other then a hat rack on this project.

[19742002tii]

Some of these guys were a little harsh. Many have gone through this phase, just look at all of the "performance" exhaust systems available. Some sound good, some not so. Your best bet is to leave it stock. It is what it is, an economical fun little car. Good luck.

[teen ti]

thanks for all your suggestions, i suppose in this light striaght pipes are a poor idea, i knew that there would be no performace gain whatsoever but i was hoping to achieve a better sound, seeing as that i had a friend who did it to his '91 318is (yes i realize they are different engines) which did not sound ricey at all and was not very loud but rather low and throaty. seeing as that i have a rather limited budget i figured straight pipes were the way to go, i suppose if i could find a decent aftermarket exhaust or muffler i would be comfortable with that, therefore i would appreciate ideas on an exhuast or muffler to put on

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by teen ti

i'm not worried about the value of the car whatsoever seeing as that i have no plans to sell it and its not exactly what you would call a valuable car in the first place despite having been optioned with everything possible with the exception of seat warmers. even if i do follow through with this i will probably just do a muffler delete and keep the resonator and cat. the only reason i considered straight pipes was because i had a friend who did a straight pipe on his '91 318is and it

Cool man, hey it's your car so the only opinion that matters is your own. I'm just saying, if possible save your old parts and don't hack things up because someday you'll probably regret this and want to return it to stock. There's no real performance or sound improvements to be had here. If your goal is a cheap and obnoctious sounding car, then straight pipes should achieve just that. My intentions were not to sound harsh, but when you say that you're "trying to achieve similar results as a sport exhaust" by hacking off your muffler and welding a pipe... Well one can see how this is somewhat comical

[teen ti]

don't worry about sounding harsh, if anything its beneficial, i'm just trying to accomplish the impossible, make my car sound decent for cheap, i like the sound of the ansa sport exhaust but that would run me close to $400 and while i do have plenty of cash to cover it i'm going to college in a year which will cost me over $35,000 a year and am looking to purchase another car, such as a 328is, on top of all this i've got an autotragic tranny which accomplishes nothing more than pissing me off and i figure if i could enhance other parts of the car i'd feel a little bit better about it

[xxxJohnBoyxxx]

Originally Posted by teen ti

thanks for all your suggestions, i suppose in this light striaght pipes are a poor idea, i knew that there would be no performace gain whatsoever but i was hoping to achieve a better sound, seeing as that i had a friend who did it to his '91 318is (yes i realize they are different engines) which did not sound ricey at all and was not very loud but rather low and throaty. seeing as that i have a rather limited budget i figured straight pipes were the way to go, i suppose if i could find a decent aftermarket exhaust or muffler i would be comfortable with that, therefore i would appreciate ideas on an exhuast or muffler to put on

If you like the way the 91 318is sounds then copy what he did. It is your car and what matters is what you like, your car is your style and when youu drive that is what people think of you. If it is the sound you want then do it.

[teen ti]

Originally Posted by xxxJohnBoyxxx

If you like the way the 91 318is sounds then copy what he did. It is your car and what matters is what you like, your car is your style and when youu drive that is what people think of you. If it is the sound you want then do it.

the only thing stopping me from doing that is i'm unsure how the different engines would effect the sound as well as how i would get by the legality of the thing

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by teen ti

thanks for all your suggestions, i suppose in this light striaght pipes are a poor idea, i knew that there would be no performace gain whatsoever but i was hoping to achieve a better sound, seeing as that i had a friend who did it to his '91 318is (yes i realize they are different engines) which did not sound ricey at all and was not very loud but rather low and throaty. seeing as that i have a rather limited budget i figured straight pipes were the way to go, i suppose if i could find a decent aftermarket exhaust or muffler i would be comfortable with that, therefore i would appreciate ideas on an exhuast or muffler to put on

I recommend Magnaflow, they have many different configurations as far as inlet/outlet diameters, tips etc. There's a sound clip thread floating around the forum, a lot of members have used magnaflow mufflers with good results. xxxJohnBoyxxx said he likes his Flowmaster, another reputable brand and 318_mzk2 recommended Borla. You can pretty much use any muffler, just find one that suits your taste in sound/looks and have it welded to your catback. I'd recommend using the flange off of your original catback so that it'll remain removable from the catalytic converter. 2.5" piping might be a little too free flowing for a NA 1.9L. Some members have used it without any noticable losses, but others have complained about decreased low end torque. I'd recommend 2.25" piping bent/welded onto a Magnaflow 14809 or 14816:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hX-S8t6oIOs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgbLwReVHBs

[teen ti]

another idea i considered was trying to put the same ansa exhaust on that my dad has on his '70 1602, however i have no idea if it would fit and how well it would fit seeing as it is a center tip exit and is dual tipped

[cooljess76]

Originally Posted by teen ti

another idea i considered was trying to put the same ansa exhaust on that my dad has on his '70 1602, however i have no idea if it would fit and how well it would fit seeing as it is a center tip exit and is dual tipped

Just about anything can be made to fit. There's step-up and step-down adapters, however I wouldn't recommend using a muffler with a smaller inlet. You may or may not want/need to trim your rear bumper opening. Most muffler shops will know what to do as far as mounting the hangers and bending/welding the pipes. Basically if you walk in and hand them a muffler, they'll put it on your car. Now your dad's 1602 might have a smaller inlet, so you probably won't want to do that as it may be too restrictive.

[teen ti]

so i like the magnaflow 14809, the muffler itself costs about $115, but i would like to have an approximation on how much everything else would run me