Most customers stumble upon us via our online exhaust shop ExhaustPartsUK. This was one of them cases where a quick answer to a phone call followed up by emails bagged us the luxury of being able to help complete the customer’s request, and being blessed with the opportunity to make our contribution to this daily driven sleeper.

The moment one of the reps heard “E30 with a supercharged V8” it was instant excitement mixed with curiosity to learn more about the customers journey on this project, which later resulted in the customer driving over 100 miles to have the job completed by us. Not claiming to know everything about BMWs we have enough knowledge and experience to be confident in offering honest advice particularly on the 80s models or M20, M30, M60 series engines.

It was apparent that the system currently on the car was adequate for the E30 Touring, but there was a wee bit of space for improvement. For example, ILOK Flexis to help absorb any vibrations or movement from the engine, X- pipe to help the V8 scavenge the gases and a need to tuck the system a bit higher to avoid ramps and bumps.

The fabrication started from the 2.5” Flanges on the down pipes followed immediately with our 100% stainless steel interlocked braided flexis. The donor engine was from an BMW E39 535 and therefore required lambda boss sensors to be welded in the primary pipes.

Having independent bank of cylinders on a V8 results in somewhat substantial difference in exhaust back pressure between each bank, we carefully design our own X pipes using mandrel bends in order to integrate a balance pipe in the system, as a result this helps balance any discrepancy of flow between the banks.

It was crucial to get the X pipe right, as there are many factors to consider to ensure the full protentional of an X pipe. Having a true X pipe balances the pulses into a more balanced pattern. The upshot creates a negative wave to increase the flow of the exhaust and possible increase in torque. Another little benefit to a cross over pipe or a X pipe is the reduction of possible drone.

Finding new mounting points for the exhaust allowed us to guarantee that we keep the system tucked away and sturdy. As and where it is necessary we reuse the factory rubber hangers, otherwise we replace them with our own sturdier exhaust rubbers and fabricate our own stainless-steel hangers.

We tend to use our newly designed Bullet silencers on cars that might have had ground clearance issues as the design of the silencers helps minimise any drag if caught on a bump or ramp. The middle section was completed using our quick release V Bands flange kits. Our flanges and the clamp sets are 100% Stainless Steels and have been designed with male and female flanges to ensure a gas tight joint. The quick release design is ideal for customers to easily remove and the flange kits.  Two 4” Bullet style silencers were fitted on the middle section completed with V Band Flanges to ease any future disassembling.

The idea of the rear silencers was borrowed from the same setup as the E39 with twin tailpipes. Which consists of two larger round silencers parallel to one another, tailed with single tailpipes on each silencer to give you a nice twin finish. The customer requested to keep the look as close as possible to that of the Euro E30 325, slightly angled refined tailpipes.  The 3” Straight tailpipe tips were made from 316 marine grade stainless steel tubing to weatherproof the tail pipe tips.

The mandate before we started the job was to get rid of the drone on the exhaust. After a test drive the customer confirmed that he was exceptionally happy with the outcome and awaits to see results on a dyno to see the difference the X pipe has made. The E30 already feels more responsive and is now more suited to cruise on motorways. Aesthetics of a system are appealing to the eye, the start-up and foot on the pedal were appealing to the ears and the test drive and overall improvement in the performance is appealing to the heart.  It must be noted that having a clean car with such a flawless set up requires the utmost attention when fabricating, as always, the response from the customer and the feedback left was motivating and pleasing to hear.