[BMWE90fan]

When you say the AFE's fail, what do you mean? I am thinking the cats are failing rite? What would be the cause of this? Isolated cases due to track driving?

[W37V]

Originally Posted by BMWE90fan

Yes i have essentially the old BPC tune, magnaflow cat back exhaust that i deleted the resonator on, the euro bmw performance intake and a high flow foam air filter.

I was almost certain about doing the headers but considering the MILVS. I wish I did them a few months ago when I did the eccentric shaft sensor replacement and valve cover gasket.

May I ask why you took off the headers?

I live in PA and while we do emissions and some counties do visuals; my county does not do the visual inspection.

As far as the smell goes it would depend on how bad it would be. I would hate to smell it and others as well; especially if it would make you feel sick lol. I still have the secondary cats in place though.

My other concern would be the exhaust being to loud. If i had to i would put back in the resonator that came with the magnaflow system.

Trying to find a exhaust note that sounds good with little drone is not easy. Though I like my exhaust sound now. I know with adding the headers the sound will probably change.

Dude, spaces between paragraphs (thoughts, ideas, topics). Much easier to read.

Anyways...

Headers are good. You will gain few hp on top. I took mine off because I was due for inspection. However, for daily driving, MILVS and tune are much better option. So much more rewarding. Cheaper too.

Where I live they do scan and visual. Scan was never an issue as tune takes care of that. However, I failed on visual. So, every time I failed, I would spend time swapping headers back with stock, then after the inspection, i would swap them back. It got old after about 4 years. Wife was getting annoyed, I was getting pissed... so headers had to go.

Going catless will make your car smell like those 50-60's cars. It just stinks. BUT, if you have secondaries, then you should be good to go. I had secondaries on for entire time while having AA headers. Other than cold start, it didn't smell much.

I can't comment on the sound, as I have stock exhaust. With the stock exhaust, headers did not change the sound much. Maybe just a bit when pushed, but that was it.

My recollection my be wrong, but: There were few instances (two) where AFE headers failed - catalytic converters fell apart. I think that in both cases, company offered to replace them after being notified about the failure.

[BMWE90fan]

Dude, my sincere apologies. I am in the process of switching cable and internet providers so I have been trying to message on my iphone. I wasn't trying to upset you in anyway. I sincerely appreciate you or anyone taking the time to respond and help me out.

I am thinking the AA headers are out because I do not want to deal with visual tests down the road as I plan to move in a year or so. The AFE's I will pass on because I do not want to worry about them failing and have to replace them possibly. I have looked at the Magnaflow headers but there isn't much feedback regarding those.

As far as the MILVS go; I am going to take your advice and get them. I will have my tune revised for them as well.

I guess the only question I would have is if anybody has heard anything about the Magnaflow catted headers? Wondering if I would need a revised tune for them?

[W37V]

Originally Posted by BMWE90fan

Dude, my sincere apologies. I am in the process of switching cable and internet providers so I have been trying to message on my iphone. I wasn't trying to upset you in anyway. I sincerely appreciate you or anyone taking the time to respond and help me out.

I am thinking the AA headers are out because I do not want to deal with visual tests down the road as I plan to move in a year or so. The AFE's I will pass on because I do not want to worry about them failing and have to replace them possibly. I have looked at the Magnaflow headers but there isn't much feedback regarding those.

As far as the MILVS go; I am going to take your advice and get them. I will have my tune revised for them as well.

I guess the only question I would have is if anybody has heard anything about the Magnaflow catted headers? Wondering if I would need a revised tune for them?

No need to apologize. But, thank you for implementing my feedback.

If you are chasing every last possible hp, then go catless. However, if you are not, then don’t worry about it.

MILVS is an excellent investment if you daily drive your car. Increase in TQ between 1 to 4K rpm is much appreciated. If you have a stick, it will make your daily driving much more enjoyable. It eliminates needs for downshifting just to pass etc.

However, I must say this: I tried all variations of tunes BPC had to offer (Bobs tunes) for n52 with 3im - catted 3im, headers 3im, catted 3im+milvs, catless 3im+milvs.

The best tune to get with milvs - even if you still have cats is catless 3im+milvs. I’m not sure what is the difference in parameters between catted and catless tunes, other than disabling o2 sensors and removing cat overheat protection. I am not sure what else could be different, but when it comes to power, catless tune yielded the best (most noticeable) results on my car. I have been running catless tune with cats installed for over 10k miles and no issues.

The only person who I recall getting magnaflow headers was CobraMarty. He has been banned on this forum; but there are ways to reach him. (His website, other forums, etc). You can reach out to him and ask him about his experience on them.

[BMWE90fan]

Great info regarding the tunes. That saves me a great deal of time sorting through the best tune combo. I am assuming without asking for it my current tune from Bob is just what he normally offers for a catted/3IM car. I think the stock manifold cats seem pretty bulletproof for handling a "hotter" catless tune; something the AFE's and possibly the MAGNAFLOW's cats can not.

I was wondering if the website selling the MILVS was Marty's. That answers my question in how to contact him about purchasing MILVS.

As always thanks W37V for all your help!

[Savedamanualse90]

A few months ago I installed my AFE Headers and programmed my AA header tune. Suddenly after a 400+ miles i was also getting the 2d59 limp during wot. I'm not sure if this was a coincidence with uncovering the AFE header failing as well, lol. Both cats were loose but AFE did replace them, this was after 8 months of purchase.


According to AFE this was not common I've yet to install the replacement, I have also removed the AA o2 delete header tune and my car has been running great.

This whole experience was a nightmare, chasing that damn 2d59 code. Replaced plugs, coils, tune, header, solenoids and camshaft sensors. Only made sense since i was hitting 100K miles anyways.

In the next few weeks i will be replacing valve cover and eccentric sensor. Then I'll install the AFE headers with the current AA non header tune for 600miles. If I have no problems I'll try the AA header tune with the AFE headers.

[W37V]

Originally Posted by Savedamanualse90

A few months ago I installed my AFE Headers and programmed my AA header tune. Suddenly after a 400+ miles i was also getting the 2d59 limp during wot. I'm not sure if this was a coincidence with uncovering the AFE header failing as well, lol. Both cats were loose but AFE did replace them, this was after 8 months of purchase.


According to AFE this was not common I've yet to install the replacement, I have also removed the AA o2 delete header tune and my car has been running great.

This whole experience was a nightmare, chasing that damn 2d59 code. Replaced plugs, coils, tune, header, solenoids and camshaft sensors. Only made sense since i was hitting 100K miles anyways.

In the next few weeks i will be replacing valve cover and eccentric sensor. Then I'll install the AFE headers with the current AA non header tune for 600miles. If I have no problems I'll try the AA header tune with the AFE headers.

You are in different boat than what I had described in my previous post.

Since you don't have MILVS, stick with appropriate tune. If you have cats on, use cat tune. I don't know why Bob's tune acts differently when you combine it with milvs, but sice you don't have milvs, stick with your appropriate tune.

Heck, maybe AA tune runs a bit richer in their headers version, causing your AFE to fry and fail.

[yupetc]

The 2D59 code is torque measured above target value. You'll get this due to the AA tune. Contact them and have them work on it. Be aware that they may be able to fix it, but you'll get a slightly less powerful outcome from the fixed tune. At least that's what I've gone through.

[hassmaschine]

Ditch the AA tune. Crippling your tune to "fix" the 2D59 error isn't a solution.

[BMWE90fan]

When I contacted AFE asking them what they concluded as to why these are failing, they told me it was an isolated incident attributed to a faulty batch of cats. They said they assure there is no issues with there product. Hmmmm isolated?? Hasn't this been happening for a few years now LOL

Anyone know where the best place is to find a used set of the euro version bmw manifolds?

[BMWE90fan]

For anyone wondering what the magnaflow headers look like I contacted them requesting pictures since I could find very few online. Here is what they sent me.

[Biginboca]

Originally Posted by BMWE90fan

For anyone wondering what the magnaflow headers look like I contacted them requesting pictures since I could find very few online. Here is what they sent me.

Ok those don’t look so hot. Short tubes and booger welds. I guess if you need cats you can’t do long tubes, but those don’t look any better than the stock euro headers.

[BMWE90fan]

I thought the same thing. I don't know much about the euro style headers that were used on the N53 I am guessing, but these don't look even as nice as those. Is there anyone out there that have used the euro headers that can share there feedback.

I am assuming the EGR tube has to be capped and welded.