[stressdoc]

We have the garden-variety stainless steels, even the occasional rare titanium, but no inconel alloy? You can reduce thickness by half, hence overall weight by ~ 40% (20-25 lbs.), close to titanium weight. At much less material cost.

[Forcefed3]

Originally Posted by TrackRat

Neither titanium nor inconel make much sense for street use. ~25 lb. weight reduction does zip for performance. A titanium exhaust is for bragging rights, not performance.

Well if someone is already doing some weight reduction it would matter.

[shifterboy45]

Originally Posted by shifterboy45

although all pipe looks the same -- they are not created equal
however, fitment and clearance is very critical

for a good performance exhaust chrome-moly tends to do a decent job.

there are other metal compositions are good too, they all have to stand the extreme heat variations associated with exhaust plumbing.

if you have some cash to throw away try a set of downpipes made out of Inconel 625 --

cause every one is looking for the best price --- but it would suit a track/special purpose car though

at least Motorsport thought so

[Tiago@VRSF]

What does inconel cost in comparison to ss304 or ti?

[Sniz]

same material the McLaren F1 uses for its exhaust/headers.

i'm not sure ive ever seen an aftermarket/consumer exhaust made of the material?

[Clap135]

Originally Posted by Sniz

same material the McLaren F1 uses for its exhaust/headers.

i'm not sure ive ever seen an aftermarket/consumer exhaust made of the material?

New 335i 44k, new turbo back exhaust 18k....but it looks pretty.

[Sniz]

Originally Posted by Clap135

New 335i 44k, new turbo back exhaust 18k....but it looks pretty.

lol....kind of my point, I dont even know where the price point would fall, which means more than you can afford pal.

[Tiago@VRSF]

Aluminum seems like the better way to go in terms of weight/cost.

[shifterboy45]

one of my friends just got the BMW Inconel-625 Motorsport exhaust on his M3 Friday --

its about 4grand MSRP --- but hes into getting the latest and greatest -- when we ride together ill try to get a sound clip ..

[Sniz]

Originally Posted by shifterboy45

one of my friends just got the BMW Inconel-625 Motorsport exhaust on his M3 Friday --

its about 4grand MSRP --- but hes into getting the latest and greatest -- when we ride together ill try to get a sound clip ..

well thats awesome, e9x M3?

please take pics and post them up with a video

[shifterboy45]

were pretty close, so next time hes in the shop -- ill get under the car and take some photos ---

and we do a lot of rides/drives together -- i do it as time prevails -- he in school now (law) -- so im on hold til he has more time

cheers !

yes 2009 E92 M3 6MT

[secretsquirrel]

4K??? I can't even bring myself to pay 1500 for an exhaust for the car because it provides such minimal gains. An exhaust for this car is mostly cosmetic. I can add a lot of "look cool" mods for 4K.

[shifterboy45]

Originally Posted by secretsquirrel

4K??? I can't even bring myself to pay 1500 for an exhaust for the car because it provides such minimal gains. An exhaust for this car is mostly cosmetic. I can add a lot of "look cool" mods for 4K.

granted you may not feel the need, but others have the assests to spare and choose a different road. Considering that its not offered for the 335i -- youll never have to make that awful decision

[Skydive]

Iconel is extraordinarily difficult to work with after it has been cast. It would be extremely difficult to use for parts of the dimension required for fulle exhaust on the aftermarket, given the variation in individual fitment from car to car. OE tolerances are much more consistant up at the motor that they would be toward the rear of the car.

APR uses Iconel for many of their exhaust manifolds in big turbo Audi/VW kits, as well.

[only1]

back in the day burns stainless made an inconel header for an all motor honda that ran about 4 grand if i remember correctly. It weighed about 7 lbs compared to the 15 - 18 lbs similarily designed headers....

Burns still sells inconel along with some pretty cool mufflers if anyone is handy and ambitious.

[ss134]

Originally Posted by Sniz

well thats awesome, e9x M3?

please take pics and post them up with a video

Here you go:

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=490873

Nice!

[XPO186]

IIRC, Eisenmann makes makes a race exhaust for the E9X M3s in inconel.

For regular street driving, it's hard to justify buying an exhaust made from such expensive materials (titanium or inconel), but the real value of doing something like this is not just the sound or the little hp gain but the weight savings.

I had a titanium sec 2 and 3 exhaust on my car for awhile and I really didn't appreciate it until after I had sold the exhaust and went to another popular exhaust made of stainless steel. The car felt weighed down, heavier, and slightly more sluggish. Felt like I was sandbagging. I had gotten so used to the way my car felt (minus the 35-40 lbs over the rear axle) that without the weight savings you REALLY notice the difference. Handling was a bit sharper and the car just felt more nimble. I'd imagine if you track or canyon your car, you would enjoy the weight savings even more but for most folks who don't drive their cars at the limits it is just not worth the high price.

On the flip side if you CAN appreciate a quality super light weight exhaust (and have the money to burn on it), you can expect a very unique exhaust tone, improved handling, and better breathing for your engine.

But certainly, you get much more than just a nice exhaust note...

[Forcefed3]

Someone needs to go all out and take as much as they can off the car.

[Sniz]

Originally Posted by gbreeE90

Someone needs to go all out and take as much as they can off the car.

I agree, a full LTW 335 would be great. Add LSD and proper flow mods and you would finally have a proper little car from BMW again.

I'm so glad I went older with my last car purchase. The BMW's are getting a bit bloated thanks to the typical consumers need for luxury and the safety issues that need to be considered.

I weighed my car the other week w 3/4 tank and a few items in the trunk and it was 3195lbs. Getting into a new M3 it feels like a boat in comparison.

Weight is king.

[XPO186]

Originally Posted by Sniz

I agree, a full LTW 335 would be great. Add LSD and proper flow mods and you would finally have a proper little car from BMW again.

I'm so glad I went older with my last car purchase. The BMW's are getting a bit bloated thanks to the typical consumers need for luxury and the safety issues that need to be considered.

I weighed my car the other week w 3/4 tank and a few items in the trunk and it was 3195lbs. Getting into a new M3 it feels like a boat in comparison.

Weight is king.

Can't agree more.

At the end of the day BMW has to keep their target consumer happy in order to continue what it does. It's just unfortunate that options/accessories/luxury are become more prominent in their current lineup(s). And to compensate for the increase in weight, they add more power via larger displacement, FI, etc.

I'm shocked there aren't a lot more ppl that appreciate the virtues of a weight loss program for their cars. Ever have a few passengers in your car? Ever notice how much better the car felt once they got out?

[ss134]

One bonus of the emissions/fuel economy issue that is facing all car manufacturers at the moment is that weight saving will become even more important for new models.
Here in Europe where petrol is almost $9.00 per gallon fuel efficieny is critical to most mainstream cars success in the market. Customers want the best of both worlds with performance and economy, with bigger engines producing higher Co2 and guzzling more fuel the way to keep the performance and lower fuel consumption is to make the cars lighter negating the need for an even bigger engine to produce the performance - for example i believe that the next gen M3 will be lighter than the E9X M3 and will only have 30 bhp or so more power, in contrast to the change from E46 M3 to E9X which needed a 80 hp increase to better the old cars performance.

The biggest hurdle to weight saving in my opinion is the trend for new models to be bigger than the outgoing one, this obviously makes it a lot tougher to make the new cars lighter.

[stressdoc]

I will ask my materials science friends for specifics. It appears that inconel would be great for a high volume product, but is difficult to work with on small scale variable markets (aka the aftermarket exhaust business). So BMW could make exhaust systems stock with inconel for very little cost, maybe as little as $100 per vehicle, but the market would not support that. Would you pay $100 more for a car that weighed 25lbs less? Many of us enthusiasts would, but the average customer -- no way. And the economies of scale ramp up cost quickly, such that providing an inconel system in a M-sport would likely cost >$500 per. The M3 option is $4k.

I want to get my 335i under 3100lbs. Unsprung weight is the priority, but any weight loss is a good thing. Seats, exhaust, battery, wheels, suspension components, option deletes are fairly easy targets that can shed a couple hundred. But the next few hundreds in a luxury DD are pretty difficult. I can't justify carbon fibre body parts nor ripping out insulation.

I keep repeating the Z2 M mantra: >1000kgs, >1000kgs, >1000kgs....