A new Perth Member

[MBan]

I've posted this information in a couple of other places but want to keep my 'home' post up-to-date so I'm adding it here as well.

A more detailed description is posted on babybmw.net:

http://www.babybmw.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=75666


Recently I installed a set of ARMA Speed exhaust manifolds.

Specs of the system: Manifolds ceramic coated, twin 2 inch pipes from the exhaust manifold to two Magnaflow cats (200 cell), merging into a single 2.5 inch pipe then through a Magnaflow 4 inch resonator and joining to the factory piping after that. Essentially I replaced everything from the exhaust manifolds to the stock resonator (inclusive).






I’m reasonably happy with the sounds although a bit more volume might be good. I need to listen to the car from the outside to see how loud it is – I don’t want to annoy my neighbours or attract police attention. So, down the track I may replace the back muffler but in the short term I’ll do the ‘golf tee’ mod.

Unfortunately, there was virtually no gain from the new headers:




I’m now wondering if the big gains the North American guys get with the SuperSprint and Active Autowerke headers are in large part due to deleting a pair of cats from the exhaust system. The ARMA header design looks worse for outright power production because it has shorter and more sharply twisting primary pipes than the SS and AA manifolds but I don’t know if they’re 14hp worse.

Anyway, a very disappointing result but it was worth a try.


Cheers
Michael