[DJBrand1]

Here is a writeup on installing the BMW performance exhaust. Mine was for a E92, however, E90 and E92 the process is the same. Sorry for the lack of pictures, hopefully someone can fill them in later. Brought my videocamera/camera and of course forgot to bring a blank dvd for the video camera.


Major thing to be prepared for if your going to install this yourself. CUTOFF wheel or sawzall blade to cut the stock exhaust off.

1. Drop the stock exhaust. a. Remove the cross brace from the car (you will need some 16point bit and socket to remove the rear bolts) b. then you'll need to heat up the bolts holding on the secondary cats to remove those as well as another torx screw holding for the bracket holding the pipes together. c. drop the whole exhaust out from under the car after taking the hangers out of the rubber mounts (these are a BI*CH), a little WD-40 will help wonders.

2. With the stock exhaust off, go ahead and make your cuts on the pipes about 6 inches or so after the secondary cats. It is muuuuuuuch easier to cut with the exhaust off the car. Use the new performance pipe to mark off where you need to cut. The new clamps will give you a couple inches of "wiggle" room.

3. Put the cut stock piece back on (the part that bolts back to the header section, and the t-clamp obviously).

4. Now mark on the performance mid pipes where the clamps should be when they are half on the new pipe and halfway on the old stock pipes. Line everything up, slide the clamps onto your marked spot, so they are halfway on the old pipe and halfway on the new pipe. NOTE* make sure you slide the clamps on right so that you have access to the bolts to tighten them up. Tighten em up!

5. Put the next clamp on the mid pipe section and hang the new muffler onto the rubber hangers (again, quite a pain in the butt). After the muffler is on the hangers, line up the pipes and slide the clamp up onto the muffler section. There is kind of a kink in the piping to where you should slide it up to. ***IMPORTANT*** Line up the tips where you want on the bumper, then tighten down the last clamp.

Hope this helps the DIY'ers out there. Seems like most people pay to get this put on, when really it's a piece of cake after cutting the stock exhaust off.

Exhaust sounds great, not as loud as I expected. For being one of the louder exhausts, it's really not obnoxious at all. Revving in neutral sounds almost stock with a noticeable "bark". Under load and driving it sounds great, with a nice burble between shifts and deceleration.

[FCP Euro]

Nice write up. Do you have any pictures of the job? It would make this easier for people being able to see what you did instead of just reading and trying to visualize the job.

[DJBrand1]

Yeah, brought the video camera and forgot the blank dvd-r. If your looking underneath the car and you have this write up, it'll make perfect sense.

[elfhearse]

I'll add a few pix, doing the install tonight on my E91:

Loosen the copper nuts on downpipe, soaked in PB Blaster first. (It helps to have a car with only 70 miles on it from the factory)



Remove rear diff. brace and center brace along with rubber hangers, I supported the front cats and rear muffler with floor jacks while lowering it -- way too heavy for one person to handle without them.



OEM removed, next to Performance exhaust muffler and center-pipe:



Center pipes:



Where to cut (?):



Comparing center pipe at rear..all the bends and flat spots match:



and now the scary part, making the cuts and slapping it back together..

[FCP Euro]

Nice write up. I never thought about putting the car on blocks so you have room underneath. Much better and safer then jackstands.

[klipseracer]

Originally Posted by FCPGroton

Nice write up. I never thought about putting the car on blocks so you have room underneath. Much better and safer then jackstands.

I've seen concrete blocks break. Its not to difficult honestly.