Magnaflow Catalytic Converter for 325es? Photos?

[alpinewhite318i]

Anyone have any experience/photos of Magnaflow Catalytic Converters? The websites do not have any actual photos of them.

[TheStigg]

Here's an image for a current ebay listing:

s-l1600.jpg

I have used a few bare Magnaflow universal cats on an e32 and on an e34 and they work great.

[nick325xit 5spd]

Magnaflow cats have extremely poor durability in my experience. They work, but there's an excellent chance that they'll be basically used up by the time your next emissions inspection comes around. Net-net, I'd only recommend them if you can weld, because I'd operate on the assumption that you'll need new ones every two years. (But they are cheap enough that you can weld a generic one in every couple of years and it's not a big deal.)

Unfortunately, cats require precious metals to work. Magnaflows keeps their cost down by minimizing the amount of precious metal. (This is why an OE BMW cat will often get something like 10X as much at a recycler.) If you just need a cat, I'd try to find a used OE one. Before you install it, dunk it for a while in citric acid and then rinse it out. If it's old, you'll be amazed by how much crap comes out.