[FoFoJoe]

I appreciate the insight. I came to a similar conclusion before talking with the shop owner. I figured he's just doing his job and giving the "clean and 100% correct" answer, where in reality I could just have a cat (well, 2 cats) welded in to remedy the issue.

I'll take the car to a reputable exhaust shop and play dumb about the current exhaust mods. I'm thinking I go in for a quote on what it takes to pass emissions, and see what they throw at me.

Thanks, and I hope that E30 is treating you right. I had a short and aggressive BMW phase where I was dying for a 325ix. Ended up with a Miata lol.