YYC53

Learning, thanks!

190Efan

In this case I would suggest contacting the MB Classic Center in California at 1-866-622-5277 or by email, classicparts@mbusa.com and see if they have the muffler parts you need/ A couple of years ago when my car went through its big rubber refurbishment, my local MB dealership told me that I was the one who had to request the parts from the MB Classic Center because the MB dealerships aren't able to do that. The MB Classic Center has better access to parts for our older MBs than the MB dealerships do. Why don't you contact the MB Classic Center and see if they can help you?

LauraS

Thank you for this but I had already purchased an Ansa rear muffler some months ago and think that it would be best if I could find an Ansa centre muffler to avoid any compatability problems. The best price I could find was at RockAuto so I have ordered one and also the cones for the flanges at the catalytic. Shipping to Canada was just a few dollars more than a drive to the border since gas is now at $1.74 per liter where I live.I just hope that iy all fits together and keep the Classic Center in mind when I need parts NLA at the dealers. That's good advice.

190Efan

Fingers crossed that it all works out for you.

LauraS

The center muffler arrived last week and the flange rings came today. I am confused about the flange rings. They are the same size. They fit snug in only one of the two inlet pipes that connect to the catalytic convertor. Are both flange rings supposed to be the same size and if so how does it all go together. I am no going to attempt to install this myself. I just no longer have the strength although I think I could do it with floor jacks. I want to take it to town but I want to have all the pieces correct so that thre will be no problems. Please help.

dolucasi

Sounds like you ended up with one ring being the incorrect part. Looking at my parts book they are 2 different part numbers in the picture. Where did you order the rings from Laura? They are also different shapes. One is flared the other on flat from the picture.

dolucasi

You probably need something that looks like this for the second one:

https://www.autohausaz.com/pn/HJ-1269970141

LauraS

The rings I ordered are from Rock Auto. They look like the flat one in the link you sent and that one indicates it should fit both sides Left and Right. The tapered one also says it fits the 190E and fits right and left also. I will measure the diameters and see what I need and I will check with the muffler shop next week and see what they think. This is confusing? Thank you.

LauraS

Without jacking up car to look I am wondering whether or not the two pipes from the catalytic might have different diameters also and the flange rings fit with on one on an exit pipe and the other on the entrance pipe of the muffler.

dolucasi

I have never been a fan of RockAuto for Mercedes. Their sight is not well organized but worse is they have wrong parts listed there sometimes as well.
If in doubt check AutohausAZ. They have the best parts search site. Beter than even FCP euro and pelican parts.

Autohausaz clearly states there is only one flared one per car, and they sell the other flat one too.

Also take a look at the parts photo's I got from the dealer I PM'ed you. It is pretty clear there are 2 distinct parts.

I would order that other disc before taking the car to a muffler shop.

-Cheers!

LauraS

This site won't let me post a photo I found on ebay that shows the cat passenger side exit pipe with a bulge at the end similar to the one on the muffler. I have to go to town anyway so I will take the 190E and see if the shop will put the car on the hoist to have better look. When they gave me the quote they only put one part number down for a flangeX2? I wish the picture would post.

LauraS

Update on my muffler issue. I took the car into the exhaust shop today. I showed the young technician the parts and he said it should be no problem. There was however an interesting problem. Either the exit pipes on the centre muffler or the catalytic were reversed so that it was required to cut the pipes from the muffler pipe and rewelt to the opposite sides which took some work. I am glad that I didn't try to install the mufflers myself. I noticed that when I compared the exit pipes on a cat for sale on ebay to the pipes on the center muffler. I wonder if this is the difference between a 1989 muffler and a 1990? Or perhaps Ansa got the pipes confused? The cat is an MB part for certain and is original to the car. Anyway its all installed and now running quietly like a Mercedes should. The cost of me buying the parts online was about 1/2 the cost quoted by the muffler shop so I didn't bother asking for a senior discount.

dolucasi

Too bad the muffler shop needed to cut and reweld. Hopefully they did a good job aligning the piping because tolerances are tight and if not perfect the resonator tends to hit the body, or the pipe tends to hit the driveshaft/poly coupling when making sharp turns.

The parts list I got from the Dealership for 1989 and 1990 were identical, so I'm thinking the ANSA silencer is reversed and recall they had two part numbers for 89 and 90. Maybe we should have stuck with the slightly more expensive 90 part number.

Seems you got a satisfactory result at the end though. That's great!

LauraS

[QUOTE=dolucasi;8964014]Too bad the muffler shop needed to cut and reweld. Hopefully they did a good job aligning the piping because tolerances are tight and if not perfect the resonator tends to hit the body, or the pipe tends to hit the driveshaft/poly coupling when making sharp turns.

The parts list I got from the Dealership for 1989 and 1990 were identical, so I'm thinking the ANSA silencer is reversed and recall they had two part numbers for 89 and 90. Maybe we should have stuck with the slightly more expensive 90 part number.

Seems you got a satisfactory result at the end though. That's great![/QUOTE

The roads in my area hav lots of bumps, poorly repaired asphalt and potholes but so far I haven't heard any noise caused by the exhaust hitting the body. I would have bought a 1990 muffler if I could have located one. Every website I went to that listed the part # showed the 1990 not being available except Adsit at about $1000Canadian. The muffler shop which builds custom exhausts for hot rods and antique cars has a good reputation and If I am not satisfied they will fix it or so the owner told me. I am so far happy to be able to listen to the radio without the noise. Thanks for all your help.

dolucasi

You can shake the muffler tail violently from side to side, if you do not hear some parts hitting other metal body parts or driveshaft parts you are most likely fine and the muffler shop did a good job.

So what happened with the exhaust disc gasket situation? Seems they just use the same identical parts?

LauraS

Sorry for the late reply Both sealing discs were used. Bothe were the same 59mm diameter. It is so nice to once again have the silent ride.

dolucasi

Not sure what exactly happened because the original Mercedes flanges require one flared one flat disk from the parts list. Seems the ANSA was not an exact fit and perhaps two wrong's made it right. At the end it worked so that's great!

I will have to do what you did at some point. I purchased a new toy. An '88 pre facelift 2.6, 5-speed manual. I decided there is nothing left to do on my car any longer.
I will probably have to replace the new to me 88's resonator at some point. But there are so many little things to fix before that. Currently still assessing the health of the car.

190Efan

Nice W201 bookends! Pictures of the new to you '88 and maybe a booked picture?

190Efan

Glad this issue has been solved for now. There's a lot to be said for some nice quiet time.

dolucasi

So I replaced the silencer and the muffler on the new acquisition today. Very disappointed the ANSA silencer is oversized compared to the factory one, barely fits with 1/4 inch to spare on each side.
It is not knocking so far but it will in the future I'm sure. It is tight. The Mercedes one has a good inch to spare on both sides. I will post a picture when I get a change.

BTW, I did not need any modifications and indeed one of the disks is beveled, the other needs to be flat on one side and it is smaller.
The flat one is NLA at the dealer but available online. That flat disc is reusable. The beveled one gets pretty rusty.

Laura, I suspect your muffler shop just reused your old flat disk at the flange.

LauraS

I quite honestly don't know what the muffler shop did. The owner wouldn't allow me into the shop area (maybe because I am seen as a ditzy old broad driving an antique car?). Anyway it does appear tight under the car. I can take a photo if interested. So far no rattles and I am enjoying listening to the radio. Good luck with your restoration.

dolucasi

Yeah, it is tight all around. I would worry about the muffler being super close to the rear driveshaft coupling which is rubber.
My red one had a BOSAL resonator that was almost as big as this ANSA and that was the problem. The resonator would either hit the shield on one side or the coupling on the other even with careful hanger alignment.

Can't believe that ANSA got this all wrong. Shame...

In my case the cat was replaced and the aftermarket cat installation is about 1/2 inch too long when it was welded in because the dealer resonator was smaller.
So this adds to the problem.

Fortunately for me, if I run into issues, the impala car had a dealer resonator installed that was welded to what appears to be close to a straight pipe instead of a muffler.

I cut it at the weld point and can re-use it if necessary. It probably has 10 years left in it. Seems to be the second resonator in the life of this impala car.

Unfortunately ANSA is the only game in town now, and there are no other alternatives.

- Cheers!

Pierregirard

You should check out auto salvage yards, especially ones that focus on European or German cars. Even if you can't find a yard nearby, many of them are willing to ship parts to you.

dolucasi

I'm all set and won't need one for a good 10 years. One car has a brand new, last one sold in North America OE Mercedes resonator and my second car has one that is now usable.

Not sure about Europe but salvage yards have pretty much dried up in NA. Also in the States they remove the exhaust from CAT onward as the cars come in. I have not seen a silencer/muffler on a W201 salvage car in years.

4 years ago we would get a car every month in 4-5 yards around me, now we get maybe one or two a year. So junk yard hunting days are over I'm afraid.

I wish ANSA had just reverse engineered the Ebersprecher OE one and be done with it. It seems they designed from scratch and made a mess of it.

190Efan

Maybe an email to ANSA explaining the deficiencies of their replacement part might spark them to do a redesign? Maybe wishful thinking on my part but I guess you never know if you don't ask. Supposedly MB has promised to do better on future parts availability with the head of the MB Classic department now reporting directly to MB CEO Ola Kallenius. I wouldn't want to bet my car on it or hold my breath about it but it does look like there might be a glimmer of hope. I certainly hope so because nothing lasts forever and parts on our W201s will eventually need to be replaced no matter how much we baby them.