Exhaust experts get in here (Plus stance tease)

[London_Gains]

Hello everyone,

I am looking into the final parts of modding my Z4 - with the Exhaust system being one of the major things left. I will make a separate thread about what can be done to go from a twin pipe on my 3.0 litre to turn it into quad pipes, and how cat back / straight pipes etc etc will go. But for now I have the following question.

Someone is selling the following secondary decat downpipes which have come off of a 35i. It is a custom job made from t304 grade SS.



Added info from seller:

"Here we have a custom secondary decat pipes made for a bmw z4 35i i drive and it was a 2014 reg
They are made to fit original flanges of the down pipe and all you need is double sleeves which will be provided in the sale for them to be connected
It is made from t304 grade stainless and has been used for about 3 months
Been tig welded by professionals
For that little extra growl. "

Does anyone know if they will slide in and fit onto a twin pipe set up on the 3.0? I really am not sure. I am planning to change to a split/quad pipe but thought I would ask. ideally I would want to install a straight pipes system removing all cats.

If it will all fit in I think I can pick up this bit of kit for a good price. Not sure how much it cost to have made - any guesses?

Plus, stance preview pic as promised:

[R.E92]

You're going to fail an emissions test with both sets of cats removed. Can be borderline with just the primary cats removed. Also going to have horrible rasp without any cats and a really bad smelling exhaust.

Next mod needs to be stronger number plate fixings. Current ones seem to have failed.

[London_Gains]

No need to worry about emissions testing. Several garages will be able to sort me out. I've driven without a front number plate for 18 months and it's not been an issue.

Do you have a link to any videos for a straight pipe set up so I can hear this "rasp"?

Furthermore, any idea if the part from the 35i will fit the 30I?

[Leesfarm07]

Loving the stance
Wheels look the dogs do dahs

[patriot66]

You may have driven for 18 months with no front registration plate and it has not been an 'issue' but it is illegal. You face up to £1000 fine, withdrawal of the registration mark and it will not 'legally' pass an MOT either.

[M1ghty_m0use]

Agree with the concensus , your ride looks amazing for an e89 with an appealing stance but please stop been a tw at and bang a front plate on, there's some point when style over stubstance crosses the line. Especially when it shouts, Burberry capped, 17yo, Chaved up corsa driver. And I'm sure your going for a more prestigious look than that

Looking forward to the write up and Pics of finished exhausts Keep going with it and welcome to the forum

[Angie4m]

You may have driven for 18 months with no front registration plate and it has not been an 'issue' but it is illegal. You face up to £1000 fine, withdrawal of the registration mark and it will not 'legally' pass an MOT either.

He seems to suggest that he can also flout the emmisions test with a dodgy MOT station so I think no front number plate is the least of his and the garages worries.

Ideal car to be in when VOSA pop along to do a spot check

[London_Gains]

Agree with the concensus , your ride looks amazing for an e89 with an appealing stance but please stop been a tw at and bang a front plate on, there's some point when style over stubstance crosses the line. Especially when it shouts, Burberry capped, 17yo, Chaved up corsa driver. And I'm sure your going for a more prestigious look than that

Looking forward to the write up and Pics of finished exhausts Keep going with it and welcome to the forum

You may have driven for 18 months with no front registration plate and it has not been an 'issue' but it is illegal. You face up to £1000 fine, withdrawal of the registration mark and it will not 'legally' pass an MOT either.

You may have driven for 18 months with no front registration plate and it has not been an 'issue' but it is illegal. You face up to £1000 fine, withdrawal of the registration mark and it will not 'legally' pass an MOT either.

He seems to suggest that he can also flout the emmisions test with a dodgy MOT station so I think no front number plate is the least of his and the garages worries.

Ideal car to be in when VOSA pop along to do a spot check

Thanks for all of the kind words ladies and gents. I can say I am truly touched that everybody is so concerned about my personal, financial and legal well being. Where would I be without your nannying? Oh yeah... right where I am now. I've had 18 months of ear bashing from a myriad of middle aged ponces on forums traumatized by my lack of front numberplate.

Initially I thought I would give it a drive without because it complements the aggressive lines on the front (as i've been complemented on many many times), and thought that as soon as i was pulled up for it, I would stick my plate on the front and be done with it. Well, 18 months and passing over 120 Police / Traffic cars (yes I counted), they've not given a toss. Clearly my local law enforcement (stretching from London to Nottingham) don't give a toss. I know the law and I choose to take this particular risk. For an MOT I stick a front plate on and legally pass to help the garage - I know, what sorcery!

Ultimately I bare no advantage of having no front plate apart from it looking 10x meaner (useful for tailgaiting the Civic driver doing 30 on a 40 which I am sure you've naturally presumed I do), and no other driver is disadvantaged. If somehow seeing a car without a front plate is going to make you veer off course on the road you have bigger issues to worry about

Regardless, I appreciate your concern - and with respect to going completely Catless i genuinely appreciate it may not be the best move due to smell / emissions testing, and will give it due contemplation once I get some help on the pipe in question.

I just turned 25 so maybe my overall outlook is a little naive But i'll stick with this for the time being.

(Queue being repeatedly pulled over and stripped of license plate / being called a chav and being given a Burberry hat for Xmas ).

[London_Gains]

Loving the stance
Wheels look the dogs do dahs

Thanks very much. I'm going to do a very detailed write up with a plethora of High res / sexy angled shots.

The car breaks necks the way it turns heads on the road. Pictures seldom do it justice.

[Z4M-2006]

Has you lack of front number plate not made your crash off the road in a blame of flames ?



If the pipes are cheap enough give them a go,if no fitment just ebay them and get your cash back...

[goldbcfc]

leave the first set of cats in after the manifold and your car will pass mot fine people have done this on E46's for many years. I only have one set of cats on my Z4 3.0 and it smells like normal I also have back box delete which some may frown on but I love it used daily on motorway,crackles pops and bangs on over run. Lovely car mate some like their cars oem others like to mod oh well its your car and money cant please everyone. If I had to have a moan I'd only say why choose those CSL's?. Everyman and his dog buys CSL's for their BMW. I bought Z4 in January with gunmetal 19" CSL's on they were sold the following week for £600 but they do look good just EVERYONE has them.

Although it looks great all stealth in black I'm surprised you didn't go for a silver alloy on a black car or a polished face

[R.E92]

It's a nice looking car as you haven't gone too far with the stance with sideways wheels. The problem is that without the numberplate it does look like it's owned by a chav. You don't really expect much more from the standard hatchback modding community as most are unintelligent mouth-breathers but the E89 is a classy car and owners usually have taste. And this is coming from someone 3 years older than yourself, not an OAP!

With regards to the exhaust you need to do a little more planning. If you remove the primary cats you need to blank the error code from the ECU otherwise you will constantly have a warning light on your dash. The primary cats are the best to remove as they are the most restrictive and removing them will grant more power and faster spool.

Secondary cats really don't get in the way power wise, you only need to remove them if you're planning on shooting flames with anti-lag.
Removing them will also be much more obvious on visual inspection, I really can't see how any MOT station would get away with passing that, I would suggest that come next MOT they will have been shut down.

People elsewhere in the N54 community will fit resonators to get rid of the rasp. Most will advise against a complete straight pipe system.

[London_Gains]

leave the first set of cats in after the manifold and your car will pass mot fine people have done this on E46's for many years. I only have one set of cats on my Z4 3.0 and it smells like normal I also have back box delete which some may frown on but I love it used daily on motorway,crackles pops and bangs on over run. Lovely car mate some like their cars oem others like to mod oh well its your car and money cant please everyone. If I had to have a moan I'd only say why choose those CSL's?. Everyman and his dog buys CSL's for their BMW. I bought Z4 in January with gunmetal 19" CSL's on they were sold the following week for £600 but they do look good just EVERYONE has them.

Although it looks great all stealth in black I'm surprised you didn't go for a silver alloy on a black car or a polished face

Thanks for the compliments there Gold You've made some excellent points. I've had a stock set up which includes the 326M OEM wheels for over a year because I wanted to enjoy it as is for a sensible amount of time and soak in what i liked and loathed before making an informed decision. The wheels oh the wheels... took me a while before deciding on the CSL's because as you say, almost every Beamer owner has them. I chose them however, because they gave me exactly what I was looking for - HUGE Concave on the rears and a nice concave at the front with a great 10" & 9" staggered set up. Achieving this whilst still looking somewhat OEM - I don't want to stray to far from it's natural beauty, and the furthest I was willing to venture were a set of Breyton GTS's but the £2.5K price just for the rims was too much to take. The Satin Black paint and Conti's in 265/235 really filled out the arches perfectly and compliment the concave on the wheels. I was THIS close to buying Gun Metal grey but thought it just didn't look right on the car. I also have an issue with any Silver on a black car... my mother has a 320i with silver lining everywhere and I just hate it! E89 Z4 is one of the only cars you can black out and not lose all it's beauty due to it's aggressive and dramatic curves. Pictures speak a thousand words and all that .. some old pics (which I was saving for write up)





Regarding your exhaust- do you have any videos of it? Sound's like a sensible set up to my un trained eye

[john-e89]

Are you going to sell the 326's London gains?

[London_Gains]

It's a nice looking car as you haven't gone too far with the stance with sideways wheels. The problem is that without the numberplate it does look like it's owned by a chav. You don't really expect much more from the standard hatchback modding community as most are unintelligent mouth-breathers but the E89 is a classy car and owners usually have taste. And this is coming from someone 3 years older than yourself, not an OAP!

With regards to the exhaust you need to do a little more planning. If you remove the primary cats you need to blank the error code from the ECU otherwise you will constantly have a warning light on your dash. The primary cats are the best to remove as they are the most restrictive and removing them will grant more power and faster spool.

Secondary cats really don't get in the way power wise, you only need to remove them if you're planning on shooting flames with anti-lag.
Removing them will also be much more obvious on visual inspection, I really can't see how any MOT station would get away with passing that, I would suggest that come next MOT they will have been shut down.

People elsewhere in the N54 community will fit resonators to get rid of the rasp. Most will advise against a complete straight pipe system.

28 is boarderline ... haha kidding. Very much appreciate your help here, and though I see where you come from in terms of it potentially being considered a chav maneuver - the overall demeanor of the car - stance, styling etc means the lack of number plate blends in with it - instead of sticking out in a bright red riced up Focus. When you see it in person it just looks right (i'll try and capture this in the write up). when you see an adventador without the playe you barely notice it because of how bloody mean it looks overall....my E89 isn't quite there but it's kinda close

Now regarding the exhuast - thank you for that! I guess what I should make clear is that my car is Naturally aspirated Straight 6 and doesn't have the turbos, therefore power gains will be minimal. My goal with the exhaust is to get a greater boom. It needs to be throatier and more aggressive. It comes as no surprise that I don't mind shouty, but i'm all too aware there is a limit. So, though it's not to everyone's taste, I would appreciate any help on how I can modify the exhuast system from front to back in order to get the best noise (louder, more aggresive, shouty, scary etc ). should i decat the secondary pipes and buy an Eissenman Race ? Remove the muffler? so many options. Hopefully someone can help tell me which mod will help me achieve my sound goals.