E39 M5 - Russ Fellows Exhaust Install Review
Discussion
Hi All,
Well I thought I would post up my new exhaust for my e39 M5. I have had the car for many years and not used it all that much until last year when I decided that I wanted to use it more and I wanted to bring a few things on it up to my (quite exacting) specification. The e39 M5 is a great car but there are some aspects which show their age a bit these days. I wanted to create a more 'CS' specification to mine. With a slightly more performance orientated suspension and brake setup complete I wanted to top that off with a bit of extra rumble to highlight the V8.
Having carefully thought about then discounted anything too loud or brash for me the usual alternatives were discounted. I didn't want a cheap muffler delete and having discounted the Haywood and Scott system on the basis it is a disguised and expensive muffler delete (the back boxes are just for show and don't do anything) I opted for a system by exhaust guru Russ Fellows. http://www.russfellowsfabrications.co.uk
Russ was good enough to well package the system for transportation and ready for install at CPC Performance.
Here are 3 videos for your enjoyment on the process:
Detailed Fitment - https://youtu.be/DlNPJcXaQQg
Fitted & Looking Good - https://youtu.be/agUH5pC0hCs
The Sound - https://youtu.be/6gFRufnDwpo
Please note the videos are filmed on an iPhone using the standard mic.
My thoughts on the product are as follows:
Materials - 10/10
Fitment - 9/10
Sound - 9/10
Price - 8/10
Service - 10/10
The reason for the scores above are as follows. Materials can't really be faulted, stainless throughout and very high quality of welds. Fitment does take a bit of playing around if you are OCD like me to ensure that because of the shape of the rear bumper and cut outs every millimetre out is noticeable in alignment of the tail pipes. We ended up using a shim or two here or there to ensure the perfect fitment all round. The system is also significantly lighter than the standard system and I would estimate 5-10 KG difference in total which is the main performance benefit as the stock system is pretty good so replacements don't tend to yield any power gains. The overall sound is subtle even if the video would suggest not. Inside the cabin noise has gone up a couple of notches but nothing significant, in my view it could go another notch even. It now sounds like a deeper rumble and the sort of noise increase you might get if you opened the sunroof with the standard system albeit without the wind noise! I still need to drive a few more mile to fully bed it in. It is possible to pair it with an X-Pipe should you want more noise.
Price wise whilst a muffler delete or cheaper back box solution is possible to achieve a bit of extra thunder I felt it was worth paying the extra for a quality product which can easily be reverted to stock. So whilst not in the 'cheap' bucket at around £650 or so delivered I would say they are good value compared to some of the more exotic branded solutions on the market. The overall service from Russ was great with no hard sell and whilst it took 10 days to arrive (as they are made to order) that was not an issue for me as I was planning to book in for an install anyway. So in summary very happy with the product and fitted my requirements exactly whilst looking very nice on the car and giving it another notch of volume to appreciate the increasingly rare manual/V8 combo.
Well I thought I would post up my new exhaust for my e39 M5. I have had the car for many years and not used it all that much until last year when I decided that I wanted to use it more and I wanted to bring a few things on it up to my (quite exacting) specification. The e39 M5 is a great car but there are some aspects which show their age a bit these days. I wanted to create a more 'CS' specification to mine. With a slightly more performance orientated suspension and brake setup complete I wanted to top that off with a bit of extra rumble to highlight the V8.
Having carefully thought about then discounted anything too loud or brash for me the usual alternatives were discounted. I didn't want a cheap muffler delete and having discounted the Haywood and Scott system on the basis it is a disguised and expensive muffler delete (the back boxes are just for show and don't do anything) I opted for a system by exhaust guru Russ Fellows. http://www.russfellowsfabrications.co.uk
Russ was good enough to well package the system for transportation and ready for install at CPC Performance.
Here are 3 videos for your enjoyment on the process:
Detailed Fitment - https://youtu.be/DlNPJcXaQQg
Fitted & Looking Good - https://youtu.be/agUH5pC0hCs
The Sound - https://youtu.be/6gFRufnDwpo
Please note the videos are filmed on an iPhone using the standard mic.
My thoughts on the product are as follows:
Materials - 10/10
Fitment - 9/10
Sound - 9/10
Price - 8/10
Service - 10/10
The reason for the scores above are as follows. Materials can't really be faulted, stainless throughout and very high quality of welds. Fitment does take a bit of playing around if you are OCD like me to ensure that because of the shape of the rear bumper and cut outs every millimetre out is noticeable in alignment of the tail pipes. We ended up using a shim or two here or there to ensure the perfect fitment all round. The system is also significantly lighter than the standard system and I would estimate 5-10 KG difference in total which is the main performance benefit as the stock system is pretty good so replacements don't tend to yield any power gains. The overall sound is subtle even if the video would suggest not. Inside the cabin noise has gone up a couple of notches but nothing significant, in my view it could go another notch even. It now sounds like a deeper rumble and the sort of noise increase you might get if you opened the sunroof with the standard system albeit without the wind noise! I still need to drive a few more mile to fully bed it in. It is possible to pair it with an X-Pipe should you want more noise.
Price wise whilst a muffler delete or cheaper back box solution is possible to achieve a bit of extra thunder I felt it was worth paying the extra for a quality product which can easily be reverted to stock. So whilst not in the 'cheap' bucket at around £650 or so delivered I would say they are good value compared to some of the more exotic branded solutions on the market. The overall service from Russ was great with no hard sell and whilst it took 10 days to arrive (as they are made to order) that was not an issue for me as I was planning to book in for an install anyway. So in summary very happy with the product and fitted my requirements exactly whilst looking very nice on the car and giving it another notch of volume to appreciate the increasingly rare manual/V8 combo.
Spinner: did you consider Russ's headers for your M5? I've heard it's a worthwhile performance upgrade.
I had a standard muffler delete (the back boxes replaced with twin tips/pipes) but found it woefully droney at motorway cruising speeds and reinstated the original back boxes . I also considered Russ's rear boxes set up but thought a homespun approach might give reasonable results. A few owners have taken the DIY approach to this which would be a little cheaper than Russ's solution to releasing more V8ness from the exhaust system but with minimal drone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDq3cPE_XeM
An American before and after video demonstrating different evolutions of the DIY approach:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIb8VzsvDUk
(Any owners with the original back boxes still on the car could avoid having to remove the entire exhaust system from the car to carry out this mod by just cutting the pipes downstream of the resonator then reinstalling the modified boxes with a couple of stainless steel exhaust clamps.)
I had a standard muffler delete (the back boxes replaced with twin tips/pipes) but found it woefully droney at motorway cruising speeds and reinstated the original back boxes . I also considered Russ's rear boxes set up but thought a homespun approach might give reasonable results. A few owners have taken the DIY approach to this which would be a little cheaper than Russ's solution to releasing more V8ness from the exhaust system but with minimal drone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDq3cPE_XeM
An American before and after video demonstrating different evolutions of the DIY approach:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIb8VzsvDUk
(Any owners with the original back boxes still on the car could avoid having to remove the entire exhaust system from the car to carry out this mod by just cutting the pipes downstream of the resonator then reinstalling the modified boxes with a couple of stainless steel exhaust clamps.)
I cartainly did consider the manifolds and still am! 25-30 bhp and a dollop more lbft is nothing to be sniffed at in a NA car. They also change/enhance exhaust noise.
I understand the 4-2-1's are a little fiddly to fit so definite garage job for me which adds to the cost.
The main consideration is do I need it for a bit of Sunday driving? The answer in an ideal world is almost certainly yes however I can run my track day mx5 for a 2 years on the cost of £1800 plus fitting.
In my opinion the design weak points of the e39 M5 are the brakes, manifolds, mafs and arguably clutch. My aim was to tackle these to create the perfect M5 so manifolds are still on the list having sorted the others.
I understand the 4-2-1's are a little fiddly to fit so definite garage job for me which adds to the cost.
The main consideration is do I need it for a bit of Sunday driving? The answer in an ideal world is almost certainly yes however I can run my track day mx5 for a 2 years on the cost of £1800 plus fitting.
In my opinion the design weak points of the e39 M5 are the brakes, manifolds, mafs and arguably clutch. My aim was to tackle these to create the perfect M5 so manifolds are still on the list having sorted the others.
That both looked and sounded very nice. Headers are on my conciderations list further down the road together with lighter belt pulleys and possibly a map aswell.
I have a Borla cat back x-pipe setup om mine, pretty much straight pipes after the cats into 4 small back boxes. It's loud on startup and on high load, but as quiet as my mates all stock one at motorway lugging.
Sounds like this, and apologies forthe state of the garage....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdg175mXuAk
I have a Borla cat back x-pipe setup om mine, pretty much straight pipes after the cats into 4 small back boxes. It's loud on startup and on high load, but as quiet as my mates all stock one at motorway lugging.
Sounds like this, and apologies forthe state of the garage....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdg175mXuAk
Very nice. A good few notches up on sound levels from mine for sure! I have found it difficult to research exhaust sounds on the interest looking at you tube clips as the idle/load/cruise can be quite different and ideally you would hear all 3. That coupled to generally poor phone mic's makes comparison tricky.
Love the red colour, always been a bit partial to that and so rare!
Love the red colour, always been a bit partial to that and so rare!
Spinner20 said:
Very nice. A good few notches up on sound levels from mine for sure! I have found it difficult to research exhaust sounds on the interest looking at you tube clips as the idle/load/cruise can be quite different and ideally you would hear all 3. That coupled to generally poor phone mic's makes comparison tricky.
Love the red colour, always been a bit partial to that and so rare!
I know what you mean, very difficult to judge on video. The fact that I started the car in the garage helps, it amplifies a little, but it's still rather loud on it's own, not obnoxiously so but loud. It's the 1-2-3 WOT thrash that are really loud Love the red colour, always been a bit partial to that and so rare!
Personally I would like to have a more stock looking system, don't like the look of the tips on mine, but If I'm honest I can't be arsed to change them, welded on as they are..
I love the red aswell, but, being an old fart (45) I would like to have a more subdued color, oxford green perhaps or my all time fave Royal red, but that's unicorn territory on these. Yours look carbon black? Lovely colour that.
Indeed Carbon Black. Which is a great colour.....when detailed nicely! Otherwise can look dull and not show the blue hue. Luckily I have the all black leather rather than the blue/grey insert stuff which I don't like in hindsight although looked jazzy when it first came out!
Got it detailed a few year ago (before any of the work above) so check it out here:
http://refineddetails.co.uk/2015/10/30/bmw-e39-m5-...
Not bad for a 15 year old
I very much fancy Oxford Green with Champagne Leather though but very rare! There is a company in the UK that do OEM leathering and can do a colour change to champagne leather which I really fancy but then again it's quite a lot of money especially when my black leather is pretty good anyway.
Got it detailed a few year ago (before any of the work above) so check it out here:
http://refineddetails.co.uk/2015/10/30/bmw-e39-m5-...
Not bad for a 15 year old
I very much fancy Oxford Green with Champagne Leather though but very rare! There is a company in the UK that do OEM leathering and can do a colour change to champagne leather which I really fancy but then again it's quite a lot of money especially when my black leather is pretty good anyway.
Wish I had found this thread sooner.
Recently had a full restore done and replaced but kept the miltek silencers (full miltek cat back) as I wanted thunder. With the h&s system it is just too loud, so swapping back for the mikteks whilst I decide what to do with the h&s.
Miltek produces a lovely understated burble, wanted a bit more got too much.
Quality of the h&s is superb mind you but for myself Ive gone too loud, that said i cant stop playing with the loud pedal!
Recently had a full restore done and replaced but kept the miltek silencers (full miltek cat back) as I wanted thunder. With the h&s system it is just too loud, so swapping back for the mikteks whilst I decide what to do with the h&s.
Miltek produces a lovely understated burble, wanted a bit more got too much.
Quality of the h&s is superb mind you but for myself Ive gone too loud, that said i cant stop playing with the loud pedal!
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