Buying a Very Used BMW -- Part II

"Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin" (ulteriormotors)
08/02/2013 at 19:58 • Filed to: Adventures in German Engineering

Hello, Oppositelock!

As you may remember from my last post, I recently bought a 1987 BMW 535i. I'd been troubleshooting the exhaust in search of some rest for my ears, and I finally found the problem: one of the exhaust pipes had broken off at the exhaust manifold. This time, I'm continuing my quest for a fully functioning exhaust. So with a plan in my head, I headed out to the garage armed with a camera, a shred of hope, and the night stretching out before me.

So aside from all the crap on the bottom, you can see the two exhaust pipes. The one on the right is the problem pipe. If you follow it up, you can see carbon everywhere . That'll happen when your engine is just belching out into open air. It also explains why the vents smelled of exhaust every time the blower was on.

Unfortunately, that section of pipe was pretty wedged in place, so I had to enlist some help and wrestle the rest of the exhaust off the car. That muffler is deceivingly heavy. Wow.

A huge hammer and lots of brake cleaner later, I got the pipe out. The really nasty end is a pretty jagged broken edge. It's also caked in mud, rust, and carbon. Fun times.

And here's the flange it broke off of. Somehow, it's even dirtier.

But a quick trip to the sandblaster took care of that.

The two still fit together. In the interest of maintaining the alignment of the pipe (and also do to my laziness), I decided I would just weld the two back together.

It was not a good night for welding. I was shaking like crazy, and couldn't for the life of me get the torch to go in a straight line. But the end was in sight, and so I couldn't stop now.

So I didn't. And I ended up with a perfectly good pipe.

And then I got it all reassembled. Finally, just after 2:30AM, I started the car. And.... It was quiet. Like proper luxury car quiet. Which is weird, considering I drove it loud to and from Detroit, and suffered permanent hearing along the way. Driving quiet was a bit disconcerting. And frankly, I kind of miss the noise. Almost. There was just something so fantastic about that deafening gurgle. But now everything is normal. Until something breaks. Which somehow I don't think will take very long. And when something goes wrong, you can bet I'll be writing about it here. So until then, so long!

DISCUSSION (11)

Party-vi > Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin
08/02/2013 at 21:06

That's a nice shop - you work there or have access?

Axel-Ripper > Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin
08/02/2013 at 21:16

I could've sworn I had an H-pipe in there..... Also, did you put the O2 sensor back in that Mike left out?

Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin > Axel-Ripper
08/02/2013 at 21:28

There is an h pipe in it. It was a useful place to hold on to.

The o2 sensor is in. It's held in place with safety wire.

Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin > Party-vi
08/02/2013 at 21:29

I have access to the SAE garage at school. So when we're not building our racecar, I can fix my car!

Party-vi > Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin
08/02/2013 at 22:05

Sweet deal!

Poundingsand > Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin
08/05/2013 at 19:16

Are you sure it's now luxury car quiet? Perhaps you only think so on account of the permanent hearing damage. :)

Keep the stories coming. Loving the read, having just bought a BMW myself.

For Sweden > Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin
08/05/2013 at 20:12

I had the same question scrolling through the pictures.

"Old dirty BMW, old dirty BMW, old dirty BMW, dealer-spec garage, old dirt-wut"

Phil_L > Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin
08/05/2013 at 20:15

What welding equipment and techniques did you use?

Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin > Poundingsand
08/05/2013 at 20:19

Might be the heading damage, might not be. I'm not telling. :)

Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin > Phil_L
08/06/2013 at 09:09

I took great care to clean the metal thoroughly because I TIG welded everything back together. It's my favorite type of welding, both because of the versatility and the precision it offers.

WhatDaFunk > Jeremy Bloyd-Peshkin
08/06/2013 at 18:54

One of my first cars was a Ford Aerostar. One day the muffler fell off while I was driving, it sounded so much better without the muffler on I was kind if sad to have to get it fixed.