03 MCS with 100,000 and out driving and pulling into a parking spot and all of sudden the motor gets REALLY loud. Just jacked the car up and the weld toward the back of the cat is broken all the way around.

I searched and see this happens quite a bit.

So what are the best options to fix this? Am I going to have to spend the 1,000 dollars on a whole new exhaust mani??

 

Just weld it back together. I welded mine back and was good for another 60 k miles. It is still together and has passed smog 2 times since repaired. If you lived by me I would weld it for you for free. See if you can find a shop that will do it for you.

 

I had it welded by Sherwood Exhaust by my work which supposedly has a pretty good rep. He said that he had done it before but wouldn't warranty it because he said if there's any clogging in the cat, it COULD maybe pop apart again. He did it for $100 so I'm just gonna roll the dice and see how it goes. Better than $1300 for a new manifold... (BMW...seriously??)

Also, for anyone interested, I called ALTA performance and they have discontinued their Mini Header with Catalyst due to slow sales. I was actually considering putting that on there but apparently that won't be happening.

 

You should just ask around on the wanted forum. If I didn't have two minis, I would never keep the stock manifold I have. So many people replace the stock exhaust that there are literally hundreds of them in garages and some folks probably would give them away.

Just a thought for the future.

 

TIG welded $65.00! The welder cut the heat shield back about 2" to get to the broken seam. Works like a champ.