Looking for S52 exhaust ideas

[Shellback]

Hi everyone,
After my swap, I could not get the original S52 exhaust to fit nicely.
I went to a local muffler shop and they set me up with a Flow Master.
Well, as a DD, I can't stand it.
I'm looking for a quiet exhaust for my swapped compact. I do not want to use the original S52 exhaust.
Here's what I want:
- Good quality exhaust without the Tubi/Eisenmann price tag;
- Quiet, and I mean old dude quiet
What are my choices?
Thanks.

[1996 318ti NY]

DNA Motoring on Ebay is the AA track pipe rep + cat back Its beyond quiet with NO drone at all, above 4500 it has a beautiful sound i cant even explain. I will hopefully have some sound clips soon. I picked it up for 400 Shipped some fitment issues but since it needed to be cut to size i got it fixed/fitted for 120$. Not bad for a header back stainless system IMO.

[Shellback]

Update :big grin:

1) Tried the original S52 OEM exhaust but the fit is just poor. I just can't seem to fit it in nicely.
2) I recently went to a shop to fix the hack job done years ago. They recent did a really nice custom single from headers to exhaust, V-band the setup, resonator, then finished with a Borla. Butt dyno shows good numbers but after a few daily commutes the drone/noise is killing me.

What OEM mufflers will fit on our TI without having to bend/crimp/bash/mold anything underneath the TI frame or exhaust itself.

How about a E46 exhaust?
How about reverting back to a M44 OEM exhaust? Will it affect performance/reliability on the S52?

Really could use some help folks. I want a quiet/daily exhaust sound note.
Thank you.

[wolferj-RIP]

No other OEM exhaust with fit, that I am aware of.

I highly recommend my setup, as it is quiet, yet breathes well enough for the 6cyl. Single 2.5" pipe from the y after the manifolds, Borla turbo muffler, Magnaflow racing cat and resonator. I had a Magnaflow muffler on my 4 cyl and it had so much drone at highway speeds, couldn't have a conversation in the car. There are pics of my exhaust in several places here, let me know if you can't find them

[turbobaja]

Mine is running the Z3M factory exhaust and is very mild. Small amount of fab underneath but is solid and fairly quiet. The look of the twin tips is a big plus in my eyes.


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[Hakentt-MS41.1]

When I did my 2.8 swap all I did is buy 1997 z3 2.8L stock full exhaust and got the computer coded for 2.8 z3. All fits perfect, and quiet. but I don't think that it flows that good, the pipe is only 2 inch in some sections

[PlusOne]

Here is my solution. A stainless 2-1/2" Dual Pipe magnaflow. It flows free and is nice and throaty but not to loud. The side chambers are helmholtz resonator chambers i developed and had made custom to dramatically reduce the drone i had a about 2100 RPM. These chambers create a sound pressure wave 180 degrees out of phase with the drone effectively canceling out the drone at the design frequency. There is a second chamber on the other side. My muffler guy was blow away, when I got rid of the drone. I kept the factory two pipe headers, cats and mid pipe system. I had custom pipes run to the magnaflow muffler which fit nicely behind the axles. Its way lighter then the BMW 2.8L muffler which was way to big anyway.