Project E39 M5, Part 2: Installing and Testing the Corsa Performance Exhaust

We weren't about to let a little bit of cutting and welding turn us away from our search for more power and manly noises, so out came the pneumatic cutting tools! The back section was cut off right after the O2 sensors, where the stock flanges “should've” been. From this point there was no turning back!

With the front section cut free from the stock mid pipes, Howard begins to unbolt the muffler sections from the car. Notice the shape of the trunk floor on the M5, there is no room for a spare tire. Yes, a rear battery relocation comes standard with all E39 M5s! The trunk floor of the M5 is actually quite different than the other E39s. A shitty deal if you ask me. Why? Because this means regular E39 owners can't even use this exhaust, so the only people who could use it are other E39 M5 owners…and who in their right minds would want to buy a stock exhaust? Looks like this is going straight to the metal recyclers…unless you have a use for it and I welcome you to let me know in the comments 😉

Now for the second unexpected part of the install. Since the factory mid pipes would have to be welded to the Corsa pipes, Howard needed to unbolt them from the headers in order to clean them up to ensure a perfect fit and a strong leak-free weld.

After spending a few minutes grinding off the old welds we were ready to start test fitment. The muffler sections of the Corsa Performance exhaust use slip flanges which will give us a little bit of wiggle room in the overall length department, but we still want to get as close to a perfect fit as possible before we start welding things together. We could have gone out and purchased some V-bands to make removal of the exhaust easier, but since we have more mods planned for the future of Project E39 M5 it just wasn't worth the time at this stage of the project. Once we decide on a set of headers, we will weld in some V-band clamps between the new mid-pipes and Corsa Performance exhaust.