twin outlet exhaust on E39 540I?
Discussion
Although my 1998 E39 540I sport is a great car with the V8 engine, It just dos'nt sound the part with the large mid and rear double barrel silencers doing their best to quiten the beast!
I have been looking into having a conversion done to deepen the sound and bring out the lovely growl of the V8 with a single exit on both sides of the rear valance. It has the M-Sport rear bumper and valance.
Been talking to one of the Powerflow exhaust places who manufacture custom stainless steel systems and have given me two options.
The first is to remove the mid silencer after the cat and replace with a smaller custom item, leading to another smaller silencer replacing the existing rear one. This would have a double exit at the back and one would come straight out while the other would be extended to the right side of the car inside the rear valance with a tip existing on the other side.
Im pretty reluctant to go for this option as it means the smoke exitiing the tailpipes would be uneven logically. It would also mean the exteded pipe to the second tailpipe would would run under the rear valance and may foul or rattle against the underbody.
The second option involves modifying the rear floorpan in the boot on the opposite side to the current silencer to enable a small silencer to be fitted to this side with a tailpipe exiting straight out. This would mean that the pipes could split from the middle silencer and be semmetrical coming under the rear suspension on both sides of the car with equal small rear silencers at the back on both sides. This seems like the proper way of doing it as the car will smoke and sound the same from boththe rear exhasut tips.
The major job with this is modifying the boots floorpan and possibly moving the battery, Powerflow would not do this and I would have to find a good welder/bodyshop to do this seperatly.
Has anyone ever done this or and advice or ideas on how I can do this much appriciated.
I am not after making it look like an M5 which has a quad exit exhaust but really like the look of single tailpipes at either side of the back of a car, especially with a nice V8 rumble. can't think why BMW did'nt do this in the first place with the 540I as it surley deserves it.
>> Edited by carlito on Wednesday 8th March 16:51
I have been looking into having a conversion done to deepen the sound and bring out the lovely growl of the V8 with a single exit on both sides of the rear valance. It has the M-Sport rear bumper and valance.
Been talking to one of the Powerflow exhaust places who manufacture custom stainless steel systems and have given me two options.
The first is to remove the mid silencer after the cat and replace with a smaller custom item, leading to another smaller silencer replacing the existing rear one. This would have a double exit at the back and one would come straight out while the other would be extended to the right side of the car inside the rear valance with a tip existing on the other side.
Im pretty reluctant to go for this option as it means the smoke exitiing the tailpipes would be uneven logically. It would also mean the exteded pipe to the second tailpipe would would run under the rear valance and may foul or rattle against the underbody.
The second option involves modifying the rear floorpan in the boot on the opposite side to the current silencer to enable a small silencer to be fitted to this side with a tailpipe exiting straight out. This would mean that the pipes could split from the middle silencer and be semmetrical coming under the rear suspension on both sides of the car with equal small rear silencers at the back on both sides. This seems like the proper way of doing it as the car will smoke and sound the same from boththe rear exhasut tips.
The major job with this is modifying the boots floorpan and possibly moving the battery, Powerflow would not do this and I would have to find a good welder/bodyshop to do this seperatly.
Has anyone ever done this or and advice or ideas on how I can do this much appriciated.
I am not after making it look like an M5 which has a quad exit exhaust but really like the look of single tailpipes at either side of the back of a car, especially with a nice V8 rumble. can't think why BMW did'nt do this in the first place with the 540I as it surley deserves it.
>> Edited by carlito on Wednesday 8th March 16:51
You serious ? you'd rather cut and shut the boot floor 
and move the battery (to where 
?) than have an exhaust that "smokes incorrectly" ?
Walks away shaking his head in disbelief
Have a listen to an Alpina B10 V8 and fit one of their rear boxes, or check out Racing Dynamics, Schnitzer or one of the other BMW tuners.
Failing that, speak to Milltek, BTB or someone similar.
But whatever you do don't start cutting the boot floor
and move the battery (to where ?) than have an exhaust that "smokes incorrectly" ? Walks away shaking his head in disbelief
Have a listen to an Alpina B10 V8 and fit one of their rear boxes, or check out Racing Dynamics, Schnitzer or one of the other BMW tuners.
Failing that, speak to Milltek, BTB or someone similar.
But whatever you do don't start cutting the boot floor
Guess you guy's are probably right. I was not really keen on the idea of butchering the boot florpan either so need to find another way round it.
Appriciate your suggestions to go for a BMW tuner box but do not want to just replace the backbox and have a single outlet. would rather keep it standard. I suppose the first option with the pipe tucked under the rear valance is the only way to get the twin outlets???
Can anyone out there reccommend a good custom exhaust place that the've used?? or any other ways to achieve this.
Appriciate your suggestions to go for a BMW tuner box but do not want to just replace the backbox and have a single outlet. would rather keep it standard. I suppose the first option with the pipe tucked under the rear valance is the only way to get the twin outlets???
Can anyone out there reccommend a good custom exhaust place that the've used?? or any other ways to achieve this.
I recently fitted a stainless Supersprint exhaust to my E36 328.
It simply replaces everything from the catalyst backwards and uses the original hangers.
The tailpipes are bigger than standard, but it fitted perfectly into the standard valance with no chopping.
It sounds deeper and more mellow at low revs and howls nicely at high revs.
It is noticeably louder than standard, but unobtrusive on the motorway and is not loud enough to upset neighbours or set off car alarms.
It cost £220 + VAT.
I fitted it myself in less than 2 hours.
I'm well pleased.
Why make life complicated?
It simply replaces everything from the catalyst backwards and uses the original hangers.
The tailpipes are bigger than standard, but it fitted perfectly into the standard valance with no chopping.
It sounds deeper and more mellow at low revs and howls nicely at high revs.
It is noticeably louder than standard, but unobtrusive on the motorway and is not loud enough to upset neighbours or set off car alarms.
It cost £220 + VAT.
I fitted it myself in less than 2 hours.
I'm well pleased.
Why make life complicated?
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