FrankW

check out what hooley wrote when he made his long-tube header on the C55.

03MBC320

seems silly to me to take a pretty well built exhaust system and change it, lose your low end torque for a little bit of top end hp gain (for what... when we're all pushing 120mph on the highways? yeah right) all for a bit of sound. cut out the secondary cats or resonator and call it a day in my opinion, if you want duals tips and dont care about pipes (as it seems from this thread, messing with the pipes loses torque... i would never imagine paying $$$ to lose torque) then go to an exhaust shop and have them weld on another tip, if you want quads, go with (i think its FrankW, if not then its Mu9enX, whoevers got the BMWLOL license plate) setup, run additional pipes off the original muffler, around the spare and out the other side, put a rear diffuser on the back to hide the piping and your good

just my 2 cents, i'm no mechanic though and know very little about how exhaust systems work

besides... i didnt know people liked their benz's to sound like riced up hondas, had a C230 roll by me the other day with a fart can on it and couldn't help but laugh, now if youve got karos C350 w/ Remus exhaust.. thats a different story that sounds like pure sex.
also, any mechanic i've talked to told me i'd be crazy to swap the exhaust system on it (was asking some about it when i wanted to put tips on my exhaust, the 03 C320 doesn't have any tips, just a limp dick of a pipe coming out the muffler, hidden by rear bumper)

shoot, edit: if you want the sound, take a power drill and drill a few holes into your stock muffler =) now thats ghetto rigging for ya

nrg_mike

You could always remove the fiberglass baffling in the muffler like I did b4 my Renntech exhaust went on.

hanknum

Sorry, I did not mean to offend.

I don't think it is accurate to say lots of power will be gained. Most points have already been covered here. As has been mentioned:

- I do know that comparing large(er) displacement american V8s to our smaller V6s is like apples and oranges.
- Increasing flow typically will lose bottom end torque while gaining top end HP. This will differ with each application. So, it is desireable to have some back pressure.
- X pipes and H pipes can be beneficial but not in all cases. I have a 3 liter V8 with a flat crank and after researching have determined that a crossover would not have any benefits. Crossovers can provide scavenging effects as well as some sound wave cancellation, but there are a lot of factors involved.
- In a nutshell, exhaust design is a science in itself. When just replacing the muffler, it's not too big of an issue, but when redesigning the whole system, things can get tricky.

To the origninal poster, if you're not looking for performance or looks, what again is the reason?

Just my $0.02

timmynabenz

In case you didnt know i have gone through 3 different exhaust setups just on my 203 alone, spent literally a total of probably days doing exhaust research, and while i have not done a dyno, my current simple quad tip exhaust setup has yielded a very noticeable gain in passing power

Also keep in mind, exhaust systems are just one side of the coin, if an engine can breathe in better as well, an exhaust will go much further; that being said there is a big difference (let alone the obvious size and power) in the intake system and capability of a C63 and a C230, so its easy to achieve no loss of power even with an aftermarket/custom exhaust in a C63!

timmynabenz

and i think its also common knowledge that the 272 2.5L V6 is no beast nor is it easy to pull much more power out of it.

Without stepping on any toes, to say that you can gain anything more than a couple HP of an exhaust is ridiculous lol. On these cars (mine included) the purpose of an exhaust should be the sound. I get compliments left and right, even from longtime forum members about how good my exhuast sounds and I'm happy! The fact that ive also noticed a nice jump in passing power is just an added bonus

aigooalex

i was originally thinking about this to make some power but after hearing some comments i just thought maybe i won't make power but i was thinking it might sound different and just wanted something different. sound different meaning i want more of that mean sound. yeah just a muffler can do it but i just can't find any muffler with that big of a size inlet.
No i do not want no fart can and i have had my share with my acura long ago and went and changed to the magnaflow dual tip like what majority has on their w203's.
I don't believe the exhaust sound would be raspy or complete crap cause i was going to delete secondary cats and or the res.
If i get any gains from going this route then but i just thought it would be more free flowing yet having the back pressure needed with the muffler.

XsuperbeeX

I DID A TRUE DUAL EXHAUST

zerocover

So What are you running now?

zerocover

Well what type of sound would you like? Any examples?

timmynabenz

secret semi-custom magnaflow.

lets just say even the guy who did my work, who does exhausts for a living was jawdropped

03MBC320

^^ well lets see some pictures/videos hot-shot!

LILBENZ230

Gains in passing power? The weakness of the V6 cars are off-the-line pulling. I wouldn't do anything that required giving up some power down low on any of these cars.

timmynabenz

look at my threads, i think i made one for it, i am too lazy right now to dig it up HAHA

i did lose a little low end power, but i can still smoke a Kompressor 203 off the line so i'm happy haha

and the gains offset the loss IMO, if i floor it getting on the freeway at like 55-60 it literally throws your head back lol

howardyudoing

someone link the exhaust thread, cause i'm too lazy to STFF to find it.

aigooalex

i want that mean exhaust sound. not no ricey honda =/ kinda like the eisenmann race exhaust. very mean sounding that makes you jizz when you hear it

but yeah i wouldn't mind a lil loss of tq. but i the whole set up i was going to do was run two pipes instead of a two to one like on our cars.

Seriously timmy i want to see a pic of alternative routes!

LILBENZ230

I've definitely got to see this. Anyone have video? I want to see what it takes to make a 200hp car just throw you back in your seat.

hanknum

+1

XsuperbeeX

here is mine:
its straight pipe after the secondary cats
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cW8dLA53Xs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D_EI...eature=channel

timmynabenz

It takes a. the V6 version, not the I4K; b. the 7 speed which you hate so much, yet will drop my car into third gear even if it means hitting upwards of 5k rpm and c. the exhaust, it doesnt make much difference, but it does make little bit, and every little bit counts on these slow *** cars

of course im speaking relatively, it will throw you back, but not like an e55 will lol

bdgdl08

The car definitely pulls hardest from 50 in 3rd with the petal pinned - I still wouldn't say throwing your head back.

LILBENZ230

Ah yes, throwing your head back like an Accord four-cylinder. Gotcha. I've also never driven a car that wouldn't downshift to a gear that results in 5000RPM. The 722.6 5AT will downshift if it means 6000rpm (although it's kind of pointless that high).

bdgdl08

Yes, the 5speed would downshift into lower gears at higher rpms... it frustrated the heck out of me when it would shift to second, just to be above the power band making little power and then shift to third. The 7 speed, on the other hand, won't shift like that which is also frustrating because the M272 still makes good power that high up.

timmynabenz

i could be wrong,i dunno, to me it just feels like when your in AUTO (D) the 7G is much more willing to drop into high RPM's

LILBENZ230

A lot of things "to you" aren't reality at all.. in case you haven't noticed? Everyone else has.