Re: New muffler <mostly wob>

[SMILLER@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Hi Michiel, glad to hear of your positive DIY muffler install.  Just a couple
of sarcastic comments (I'm so good at that, you know):

1.  It took you 4 hours, but was a "piece of cake".  So, of course, I
envisioned 3+ hours to hack the old one off and clean up the mess, and
maybe as much as an hour to install the new one.  From my
muffler-changing experiences (not recent), this would be "normal".

Then you said removal of the old muffler was "easy".  So what took 4
hours?  Did your time estimate include actually baking the cake, just
eating the cake, or was cake only a metaphorical reference?

2.  For future projects, we measure work time around here in beer, not
cake, OK?  It is harder for us to relate to "cake time".   :^)

But seriously, I guess we've gotten spoiled by the fit of the factory
chrome tips on the factory muffler.  Too bad you had to bend up the
chrome tip to get it to fit.  The anti-sieze was a good idea. The extra
locking nuts were probably an oversight.  Or, maybe they use the same
installation kit for both the 325e and the 325i?  The "i" system uses dual
pipes.  Were there extra gaskets, too?

I'm gonna need a new muffler some day, probably sooner than later. 
There's a hole in mine that was really small when I bougt the car almost 3
years ago, but has grown larger.  It gives my car a distinctive sound that
my dogs recognize 2 blocks before I get home, thus allowing them to
bark and wake up the neighbors to alert them that I've arrived home. 
When I change the muffler, it's gonna mess up the early warning
system...

Scott Miller
Golen Gate Chapter
BMW CCA #44977
1990 325i/is hybrid w/ holey muffler and slowly disintegrating cat...

>Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 21:01:00 -0500
>From: Michiel van Wessem <jmvw@domain.elided>
>Subject: New muffler
>
>Ola Amigos,
<snip>
>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.
<another snip>
>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.
<and another snip>
>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. 
<yep, another snip>
>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. :)

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