Parts Used
- Bavarian Auto Header
- Mandrel Bent 2.25 inch exhaust
My exhaust has needed some attention for several years. Back
when I got the car it had a Stahl header on it that was over 25 years
old and rotten. I replaced it with a header for Bavarian Autosport.
This was a cheap knock-off of a Stahl header but it was within my budget
at the time. Other than the header I have been running a
completely stock exhaust on the car. The exhaust has been a
limiting factor for a while and it would have been even worse with the
2.2L motor. I have purchased a 2.25 inch mandrel bent exhaust system
from
Factory Works. As far as I know, this is the only mandrel bent
exhaust system made specifically for the E21. The quality of the
exhaust is first rate. This system was made for the 1.8L E21 but
can be adapted to fit the earlier 2.0L cars. The exhaust came with
a very nice stainless steal downpipe that I will not be using.
Instead, I will be using my current header for the time being.
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The approximate relationship between the header and the 1st section of the exhaust. I will cut the header immediately after the collector and it should match up to the exhaust pipe. |
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View of the exhaust system from the front. |
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View of the exhaust system from the rear.
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| When I went to install the exhaust system I discovered that
the Bavarian Auto header runs too close to the transmission to
use the front pipe from the Factory Works exhaust. I
decided that instead of cutting up the front piece of the
exhaust I would instead adapt the header to the remainder of the
exhaust. This way I keep the exhaust intact and I might be
able to use the front piece when I upgrade my header in the
future. I purchased a short 45 degree bend to fit in
between the header and the remainder of the exhaust. |
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I cut the flange off of the end of the header. A 45 degree bend will match up with the remainder of the exhaust. |
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The header runs too close to the transmission to use the supplied front piece of the exhaust and the front hanger location. |
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The O.D. of the header is a pretty good fit to the I.D. of the 2.25 inch pipe. The 45 degree piece fit into the header. |
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With the addition of the 45 degree bend, the exhaust went together pretty easily. |
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The joints in the exhaust slipped just enough for the pipe to hit the top of the fuel hose between the tanks (far right), or the rear cross member. |
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The early E21 lacks the rear hanger. I fabricated a simple hager from some 1/2 inch wide steel. This added support made all the difference. |
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The fit of the Factory Works exhaust is perfect for a
post-79 E21. On the pre-79 cars, the exhaust exits the
rear of the car in a slightly different location and there
is no rear exhaust hanger. This lack of a rear hanger
is important because the Factory Works exhaust comes in more
pieces than the OEM exhaust and the clamped joints slipped
and made it almost impossible to keep the exhaust from
sagging and hitting the rear subframe. I solved this
problem my fabricating a simple rear hanger. I should
have done this years ago. |
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