Fitting Catless Downpipes to 35i

M

mcbutler

Veteran
 Plymouth
Hi All,

So, I have a pair of beautiful VRSF 3" catless downpipes which I am planning to get fitted.
I was quoted £360 by my local indy, which frankly I was quite surprised at.

What do those of you who have had this work done think of the price, reasonable?

How long did it take?

Is it suitable for a DIY job?
 
£360 is a rip off.

Darren Woods did mine in 3 hours flat. They charged £215 all in. Make sure the 02 sensors are put back on the right way round.

It can be done as a DIY, but it is fiddly, and some places are hard to access, I would estimate a full day as a DIY circa 8 hours.
 
sunnydays said:
£360 is a rip off.

Darren Woods did mine in 3 hours flat. They charged £215 all in. Make sure the 02 sensors are put back on the right way round.

It can be done as a DIY, but it is fiddly, and some places are hard to access, I would estimate a full day as a DIY circa 8 hours.
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I thought so, quite disappointing to get such a quote from them. Thank you for your help..
 
I wouldn't trust any old garage with the install. It's a real s**t of a job with plenty of opportunities for mistakes. Personally I'd only trust the likes of Darren Wood or Birds with this job.

I went for the DIY option. The install was probably around 8 hours. I then realised that one pipe was touching the subframe causing a rattle and my vband clamps weren't on correctly. The second time around it only took 3 hours. It's pretty horrible without a lift, lots of scraped skin and swearing involved.

The common install problems are:
-vband interfering with wastegate actuator
-leaks from vband or gasket
-O2 sensors getting either damaged or replaced in the incorrect places
-pipes touching the engine mount heat shield or subframe

The right-hand drive Z4 install is probably the most tricky of any downpipe install for a N54 engine, there's not a lot of room and you have to be really aware of clearances to avoid rattles.
 
A garage will give a conservative guess on labour time, which will/could look expensive to you as a result. A BMW mod place will be cheaper as they prob do lots, a BMW mod place will therefor be cheaper than a BMW specialist garage.
 
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