New muffler

[Michiel van Wessem <jmvw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ola Amigos,

Despite the fireworks, another repair report. 

Today I installed a new muffler on my 87 325es. It took me about 4 hours
and it was a piece of cake and very rewarding. A fun job.

About two weeks ago, my started making muffler noises, ie loud *BLAAT*. At
night I looked under the car and I thought it came from the catalytic
converter.

I called Bavarian Autosport to find out what a muffler costs there. After
that, I went by Midas (a brake/muffler shop) to get an estimate from them.
They put it on a lift and found out that it was the muffler, not the
catalitic converter. Standing underneath, it was clear where the sound was
coming from. Good thing I hadn't already ordered the catalitic converter!

Comparing prices, it turned out that I would save about a $150 by doing it
myself with the muffler from Bavarian. In addition, I could use metric
hardware, while Midas would probably use US nuts and bolts. Maybe it's
obsessive, but I like it.

So I ordered a Bosal muffler, installation kit and chrome exhaust tip for
about $200 including postage. I bought a tube of anti seize compound at a
local auto parts store.

Taking the old muffler off was easy. Fortunately, the last installer had
used anti-seize compound, so I could unscrew those bolts and nuts. For fun,
I started the car without muffler. Heheh! Nice *RUMBLE*! It sounded like my
Mopar was ready for a drag race.

Well, installing the new muffler was easy too. It was very nice to have the
installation kit, which consists of new nuts and bolts, catalytic converter
gasket and brackets to hang the new muffler. It also included extra self
locking nuts to fasten the muffler to the converter - I assume so you have
extras if you do it wrong the first time. 

Because I couldn't get my torque wrench in there, I fastened nuts and bolts
to what felt good: nice and tight.

Oh yeah, I had the car on jack stands at all four corners so I had room
under the car.

I started the car and it's wonderful. Quiet. A bad muffler really makes a
car sound like a POS and I had been driving this around for a couple of
weeks. I'm very happy now. I can recommend changing your muffler yourself
to anyone. It's a neat DIY job.

The only thing I regret is getting the chrome exhaust tip. This gimmick
cost me $10 and once I managed to force the sucker onto the exhaust, it was
all loose. So I squeezed it out of round so it would hold on to the
exhaust. I could have saved $10 here. But it's not a big deal - I have a
new muffler and I put it on myself. :)

Now I'm going to update my web page.

Michiel (87 325es http://www.vramp.net/~jmvw/cars/BMW/ )

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