Too easy (golf tee mod)
Just did my own version of the golf tee mod last week, and it’s much better than I would have expected. Really, anyone with a stock exhaust should do this to make it the sound what it was always supposed to be, and it only takes two zip ties. I didn’t even disconnect the vacuum hose 😂
I still will be getting either a cat back or headers sometime in the future, but this is a good holdover.
Comments
Will it work on a e60 530i 2004??
I do believe so. You can confirm by looking in the tailpipe some time before you start the car. In one of the outlets, there should be a valve. Connected to the muffler where the valve is, you’ll see a solenoid with a vacuum hose connecting to it. Basically the goal is to interrupt that vacuum pressure differential. The original mod was done by using a gold tee stuck in the hose once disconnected (hence the name), but I had enough hosing to simply kink it and pull two zip ties tight enough to keep it kinked off without even disconnecting it, thus the valve isn’t pulled closed. People talk about disconnecting a wire harness instead but that’s way more difficult and you’ll throw hidden codes or worse from what I understand.
I disconnected the wire harness. Just push the metal tab down and pull apart and that’s it. Valve always stays open and it sounds great. I do get a shadow code that I can see when I scan for codes with mhd but who cares it doesn’t affect anything
Fair enough. This way only took me about 45 seconds all in. Sounds like it’s pretty simple either way. It’s crazy how much of a difference that little flap makes.
Yes! My e92 came with an x pipe instead of a resonator like e90’s did so if you ever get the chance then replacing your resonator with an x pipe should get you a much better sound without being obnoxious
Noted. Thank you!
I’ve been looking into headers with the stock exhaust (to keep volume from being overwhelming but still get some flow and power gains) and haven’t found much on it, but the stock exhaust really seems pretty decent. I’ll have to look into that x-pipe resonator delete too.
Headers are so expensive around here. Do you have any emissions testing to worry about?
They are around here too, unless you go with OBX’s from eBay, which I’m not so sure about. I’m in PA, so they do an OBD check and a visual at most (but usually not, and headers are easy to overlook. I’d definitely prefer some catted headers to play it safe and legal, but the only ones I’ve found so far are afe’s for just shy of 1500. That’s about the same as a good cat back anyway. The struggle is real.