C-Section

08 Mar C-Section

While something has been cut and removed, that’s not the kind of section that we’re discussing today. We mean the center section, a.k.a. a midsection.

Today’s exhaust work is unlike any other, in the sense that this is the first of its kind to show up in FMU’s fabrication shop. Bob’s brand new BMW 550ix Gran Turismo will be getting more pictures once it’s off the lift, but for now, rest assured he spared no expense to make sure this vehicle was loaded to the brim with just about every package offered by BMW’s factory. After being driven around for a bit and broken in, it went to get its calipers painted. The non-FMU-affiliated painters were nice enough to leave behind two presents for us: First, they left a whole lot of overspray on the suspension components (proof they didn’t remove the calipers completely, so the surfaces weren’t sandblasted or otherwise fully prepped to receive the paint); and second, they left the wire hanger (for hanging the caliper during paint) connected to the control arm linkage. How it managed to stay put behind the wheel is still a subject with many questions attached. But either way, enough smack talk for today, let’s get down to business. After chopping off the midsection (just before the mufflers in the rear, and it was just unbolted at the front, as it’s a slip-on connection) and retaining the slip-on connection for use in our system, we put the OEM exhaust aside to see what sort of clearances we had to work with. In short, we had plenty.

Without the midsection attached, Bob’s mufflers do a great impression of a sad face. Cue the sad trombone music!

Here is the OEM midsection, towering over everybody in fabrication. Except for our newest employee, who happens to be 13 feet tall. I believe his name is Bill Brasky. Not everyone will get that reference.

As with all good midsections, we start with the X-pipe. Which is, as you guessed, an x-shaped piece of metal created by welding two cut pieces of steel tubing together. And you know what happens when we start welding — the camera starts going nuts. So let’s see what our basketcase of a photographer managed to snap:

As you can partially see in the background of this next shot, we’ve chosen to use two bottle-style resonators in this system, to keep drone down while letting the V8’s grunt shine through the tailpipes.

So the last picture you see above is when the camera stopped snapping. After all, what’s the fun if we give away everything all at once? Stay tuned for the conclusion tomorrow!