Another "new boy" question... Sorry!

[eesbad]

Getting to know your first Wedge - week 6

Okay.... Exhaust manifolds on my '84 350i

Tubular steel, but the rear most two branches on either side of the Vee have been hammered flat to clear the chassis member. Worst is the off-side rearmost, which is flattened to half it's original diameter... Is this normal?? The photo of a new manifold on TVRcarparts seems to show progressively shorter branches, which would seem to be a much better idea!!

Advice please!!

[350zwelgje]

It isn't abnormal to make 'modifications' to an exhaust be able to fit it to a wedge. Depends on the exhaust (a bit) and a lot on the chassis. Mine has some strange folds over the rear drive shaft... And the area of the starter motor is never large enough for a round pipe.
What you have seen gives you an idea of what the exhaust replacement job would be like. If you are lucky a few hours only, or.....

SeriesII manifolds are sort of ok, could be that SeriesI is worse (don't know as own a II A-frame)


Rob

Edited by 350zwelgje on Friday 8th June 18:22

[eesbad]

Did they leave the factory like that??

[adam quantrill]

No - they are made round, but you have to whack them with a club hammer in that area until they fit.

The overall cross sectional area isn't compromised much, and in any case they perish first in other areas, so the whacking doesn't do any harm.

[eesbad]

They are close enough to have burnt away the powder coating on the chassis member... Don't want to heat wrap them because of the horror stories on here(!), so any ideas on what to recoat the member with? Aluminium Paint?

[adam quantrill]

Zinc paint would be good, and keep away rust.

I have some high-temperature paint but decent stuff is very specialised. The rubbish you get in car shops, e.g. halfrauds, won't cut the mustard.

[eesbad]

Hmmm... Got some special anti-corrosive heat-resistant paint for my BBQ last summer... I wonder if that's worth a try?

"Necessity is the Mother of Invention" and all that!

[ferlin]

Will be interesting to see if that paint takes the heat as i had my front pipes blasted and heat proof powder coated black and they looked great.... for about a week until it came off!

[eesbad]

Think I'll try a coat of zinc paint on the chassis member and a test patch of this BBQ paint... Watch this space!

[adam quantrill]

The proper specialised stuff I have lasts about 3 to 6 months hard driving. In fact it stays sticky until you run the exhaust up to temperature.

The best bit - it was free! I was working for a scientific consultancy at the time and asked a company for a free sample - got a 1 litre tin!

[eesbad]

Well, working for a roadsweeper manufacturer, we don't get many useful offers like that! But if anyone wants a set of front brushes fitted to their wedge...