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My Grandpa and Dad have always said the thing to do on our 76 530i was to replace our intake manifold with a bavarian manifold. Not sure where they got this but I havn't found much in the way of intake manifolds for our car. Wondering if any of you have heard of replacing the intake manifold?? What else could you do to gain power on these cars?

I know these cars pretty well and I have no idea what a Bavarian manifold is. More power doesn't come cheap, really the easiest way to more is to do a B35 transplant. That will get you about another 35 or probably more like 40HP. After that it's turbo time. Oh you can go bore and stroke and custom high compression pistons, a cam, headers etc, but that's not really cost effective.

oh ok yeah i havn't seen anything online about it, not really sure what they were talking about haha. what about exhaust, ours is rusted out and is full of holes, are there any companies that make a full header back exhaust. Or could I make one fit from a newer model mabye E28??

E28 exhaust will fit, but not well. The downpipe hits the steering idler arm. I'm not sure what options are out there I don't pay much attention to exhaust as most of them just make more noise and I want less. I like stealth performance.

Wait so will an E28 530i exhaust fit? what about headers, If the headers fit then I could just do a custom downpipe drilled for an O2 sensor.

Max; I'm not sure where you are, but, I've heard that if you can find some intake runners from a 2 litre 320, you'll notice a differance, albeit just a lil.
The runners are larger & let in more air, and you need all six.
You might get lucky by visiting your Pik-A-Part yards.
Two liter 320's were discontinued in 1980. So you'll have 3 years to get lucky! I'm not sure about the 1.8 litre motor, which is the size from '80 on.
Good luck,,,,Greg

hey Greg, yeah I just checked out the guide on the Tech FAQ section and yeah, this looks like a good cheap way to open some more power up. Im going to start looking just to see about prices and how easy it will be to find but thanks.

Max;
I went to a smaller muffler shop & we made a system from the 2 inch pipe they had.
Mine started at the catalytic converter & continued to the rear.
Make sure they put the front pipe inside the pipe going toward the rear, by standing around & watching them!
What this does is maintain the undisturbed free flow situation.
Then they installed a Magnaflow free flow muffler at the rear in place of the stock muffler.
The combination of the cat. with the free flow muffler makes a really nice sound that's not too loud.
On deceleration there's also a real sweet gurgle with lil small pops!
Mine cost, I think $150!!

The E21 320i runners get you less power, not more. But more torque right where you feel it. They're longer, not bigger, or at least that's what makes the difference.

maxmadill76530i wrote:My Grandpa and Dad have always said the thing to do on our 76 530i was to replace our intake manifold with a bavarian manifold. Not sure where they got this but I havn't found much in the way of intake manifolds for our car. Wondering if any of you have heard of replacing the intake manifold?? What else could you do to gain power on these cars?

I am guessing that they meant exhaust manifold. It is my understanding that the bavaria had two three-into-one manifolds, with two down pipes, where as the E12 had all six coming into one end, then split.





If your car had a thermo reactor system, then you might benefit from ditching that system, but otherwise, I would not bother. Mike has it right on.

BTW, I also tried doing the E21 intake runner upgrade on my stock 1977 530i and the difference was so subtle that I would argue that it is not worth your time.

Putting in a euro 3.5 liter motor made a difference

I have heard of removing the thermal reactor and I believe ours still does have it on. Would this mean getting new exhaust manifolds or headers??

Also interested in replacing the exhaust or at least up to the dump pipe as our muffler sounds like crap and the rest of the system is rusted and has holes. I have found new magnaflow systems for an e28 535i, would a cat back system made for an E28 fit? Would headers made for an E28 535i fit?

As a young guy I am also interested in keeping it fairly reasonable. I would rather buy a used exhaust system than get one made for me just cause of the price. Do you guys know of any used parts websites that I could look around for used exhaust systems? Thanks

I read a lot about people trying to adapt used E28 setups, and I don't see the value in this.

A nice mild steel system, a set of headers (optional) and a decent rear muffler will last you another 10-15 years, and you'll have the added performance benefits.

Cost? probably not far greater than sourcing, modifying and fitting a second hand exhaust.

This also depends on where you live. In California, you would have to pass smog, which could influence your exhaust choice decision.

maxmadill76530i wrote:I have heard of removing the thermal reactor and I believe ours still does have it on. Would this mean getting new exhaust manifolds or headers??

Thermo reactors are instead of exhaust manifolds, so manifolds replace them. However they are somewhat different in shape and size so parts that bolt up to them won't bolt up to manifolds.

I have found new magnaflow systems for an e28 535i, would a cat back system made for an E28 fit? Would headers made for an E28 535i fit?

Yes and no. A catback would fit the body without interference, but you would have to make hangers, they attach differently. On headers, who knows, the body and suspension it has to work around is different, but some may be universal. But I wouldn't count on it.

Sounds like I should try and get a system made up for me. I found a magnaflow system for an e28 and a couple others but they all exceed $500. Wondering if I don't have a cat now if I should include one in my new set up?