I have a 1998 c230 2.3 inline four.

I am looking for a nice sounding exhaust. AKA not a cherry bomb or flow master. I want a borla/ gruppe M style exhaust. Does anyone have experience with performance headers/ mufflers? I have seen the headers on ebay.

I am looking to buy a muffler/header and having the rest of the piping custom made.

Also, My 1998 c230's transmission is filled for life!? B.S. It shifts a little hard. I would like to service it, what fluid does it take?

Thanks
-Brian

 

Headers on ebay are fail. If you look at the piping where the first connects to the 4th, it's completely perpendicular! You think THAT's gonna be better than OEM headers? Talk about fail flow... Just warning you, but if you'd like to try, dyno results would be great :P

In 2001(more or less) MB rescinded the statement of lifetime transmission fluid. They said it should be changed every 30,000 miles from now on. But mind you, i've got 133,000 miles on my 98 c230 with no tranny flush or change and it still runs fine. But yes, a transmission flush would do great deals, or it could break the transmission too. Hit or miss.

With regards to hard shifts, is it on cold starts when you just started the car after a long period of time? That would be natural as the tranny holds low gears to heat up the cats and get the engine components warm. If it's during your daily run of the mill driving, you could try resetting the ECU to relearn and remap your driving habits. That too worked wonders for me.

And for exhaust, the c36 AMG muffler works nicely as i'm told. And i'm not too knowledgeable on borlas and gruppe exhausts. You searching for a low deep tone that's quiet on idle and loud on WOT, or muscly and loud all around? Details, details :P

 

Thanks for the response,

when I said I saw the ebay headers I meant that they are garbage and I hope no one refers me to them. I want to know if there are any real performance parts out there.

If the transmission breaks because of service it is so corroded from a lack of fluid changes in the past Either way it didnt have much longer to live. You are correct It holds lower gears when cold to warm the engine but it should still shift smoothly. The shifting gets smoother the warmer the tranny gets but, Its still a bit too jerky. I just reset it today, It did not help. I would like to know what fluid it takes so I can service it.

I want an exotic exhaust... ferrari like... normal idle screaming WOT.
I DO NOT want muscly tone yuk yuk thats what I meant by NO flow master or cherry bomb suggestions.

Thanks
-Brian

 

http://club202.com/forums/showthread...threadid=15759
^ The guy is selling Supersprint headers. Those are pretty legit.

Just youtube some w202 exhausts, and take your pick. Most of them have details on the modded exhausts.