C400 - Custom Exhaust Modification, Straight pipe, resonator/muffler delete -PICS!
 

Had the car for about a 5 days now and so far I love it, but the itch to mod started quickly. I visited my local exhaust/muffler shop called Zorro Muffler in Mississauga ON, Canada. my x-pipe on my w204 c300 was also done by them. They do amazing work and are a fun group of guys

All piping is done in-house, they do mandrel bends, etc.


http://i60.tinypic.com/2qurnd3.jpg

What the OEM setup looks like!
There are 2 resonators a mid-car and a rear!

http://i61.tinypic.com/2mz08bo.jpg

We decided to delete the rear resonator first

http://i60.tinypic.com/hvoyac.jpg

Started the car up, did a few revs did not hear any sound difference at all so we decided to delete the first resonator as well.

Each section that was cut out was replaced with Y-pipe up front and a straight pipe in the rear, After removing both resonators we started the car up and again no sound difference, could not get anything out of it. Few revs later and me nor the shop owner were satisfied.

http://i59.tinypic.com/259jrr9.jpg

As a test we decided to disconnect the mufflers to see what difference that made, What a crazy difference, the car was really loud and very aggressive.

http://i61.tinypic.com/nz25o5.jpg

I took it for a test drive and and although it sounded amazing during heavy load and acceleration (could hear Turbos spool as well) and the downshift blips were amazing, there was just too much interior drone at lower RPMS.

We then added angled resonators in place of the mufflers to tone it down a bit. (Zorro is one of the only places in town that have this)

http://i60.tinypic.com/2nqv5sh.jpg http://i60.tinypic.com/2ij3nlu.jpg

I left the shop and decided to drive the car around for a bit. I noticed under heavy acceleration the car sounded amazing, beautiful tone, etc. Even sounded like a baby GTR when "flooring it".

The negative was at 1500 to 2500 RPM, stopped, then getting go there was a lot of interior drone, it was loud and after a few KM's starting to get annoying and was over powering my music.

Re-visited the shop this morning, and we decided to put back the first resonator and to no avail, the drone was still excessive on low RPMS.

This is a work in progress and we are going to continue the R&D and experiment with both resonators in, and/or use performance mufflers instead.

Interesting experience thus far, on the w204 NA V6 it much much more simple but I for sure had some curious people :)

http://i58.tinypic.com/35mjm8g.jpg

I will keep everyone posted...

I for one am thankful there're people like you who are brave enough to experiment with their expensive cars like this.

I bet once you work out the droning issues, you will have an exhaust system that not only sounds good, but will reduce backpressure just as well as most aftermarket exhaust systems...all at a fraction of the cost!

Nice! Enjoyed reading this thread as I have been waiting for someone to go rambo with their exhaust system as I would be looking to take mine to a well reputable exhaust fabricator, As I cannot find any reasonable priced plug and play exhausts.

One thing which I don't want is for a loud car at low RPMs or be really loud inside the cabin on the motorway etc. Only for it to sound good/loud when under full acceleration.

Will be looking forward to when you perfect the exhaust system as I would be looking to go down the same route.

Have you taken any videos/sound clips?

I was wondering how bad the drone would be if the resonators were removed...Thanks for answering that question for me!

I did a muffler delete on my C300 a couple weeks ago at a shop in Downtown LA called, Mike's High Performance Exhausts. They, too, do their own piping/bending/etc and at a reasonable price.

After removing my mufflers, there was a significant improvement in sound. Granted, it's not the "AMG-like rumble" I'd want, however, what I wasn't expecting to get that sound from 1) a non-AMG car or 2) the simple removal of two pieces of hardware. Here's a link to my YouTube clip showing a cold-start, 3K rev, and a 5K rev. Overall, I've been very happy with the sound. As far as drone goes, I haven't noticed any. The reverberant noise that is there doesn't overpower my radio and doesn't prevent from having normal-volume conversations on the highway or on the side streets.


Also worth noting is I haven't noticed any change in acceleration or power (increase or decrease). Someone correct if I'm wrong, but the loss of back-pressure from the muffler delete is negligible on this turbo engine. Regardless, it's still pretty quick =)

I'll try to get some clips of the interior sound, as well as how it sounds when accelerating (from the outside) soon.

p.s. I didn't mean to high-jack your thread!

So you have drone or not? Thanks

Please share photo of muffler delete

Nope, no drone. My bad, just edited the original post to reflect that.

I forgot to take a picture after the new piping was welded. I'll see if I can take a few during my H&R springs install later this week.

Thanks! Hope you will post pictures + video :-)

Hi angeloxnet !
Great work!
I'm actually in the GTA on business until tomorrow (flying out of Pearson at 4pm). But I'm back next week from Monday to Thursday. You mind if we meet up so I can hear what it sounds like?
Thanks!
Mark

Decided to put the mufflers back as the drone was unbearable as most of my time is spent in 1500-2000 RPM.

Left the 2 resonators out and will drive around with that setup for a while.

We will test out performance mufflers next when I return.

Please make video while driving inside the car. thanks

OP, you should post videos of all the experiments... :naughty:

very good post.

on youtube i found a video where they fitted bypass valve mufflers on a c400. sounded great.

to the orginal post: did u think about converting to true dual exhaust using x-pipe in place of resonator?

actually i was thinking that might be the next thing, as I cant get any sound without removing mufflers :(

can u share the youtube link for that bypass setup?

Any Updates/progress on the c400 exhaust. Thanks

any update/progress on the c400 exhaust. Thsnks

Have not had a chance to go back,
currently driving with my OEM mufflers back and no resonators.
No real sound output/change from stock.

Most likely scheduling something in July

Thanks! Pls let me know.. I was thinking of getting carlsson exhaust. Any feedback on the brand.. I really wanted Brabus but i dont they are making for c400 :(

video of a modified exhaust C400






i like the sound.. but there must be an easier way to get this engine to sound good.

Heres mine with a catback exhaust:


Not loud enough for me, planning to get rid of the 2nd cat.

which catback exhaust did you get?

Custom mandrel bent exhaust system by emp performance in uk.

been doing a bit a homework on the exhaust.

Last time I checked the C450 and C400 will have the same Y set up .. not true dual exhaust piping.. which to me is silly!

The must of used different free flowing mufflers to get more sound.. but the above posts.. sounds like the mufflers are the key.

The GLE450 sitting at my dealer over the past week-end had a true dual exhaust set up.. with a X pipe in the middle. I could not believe it!!

But reviews from motortrend due to talk about drone on the GLE450 and far too raspy and loud sound coming from a MB vehicle.

I can say the 3.0TT is not the smoothest and best sounding engine in stock form.. so any improvement would be welcome.

I think I may due the dual piping and X pipe in the middle and leave the stock mufflers. That should yield some actual slight performance benefit.

F80/F82 I6 TT sound is not any better.. but that engine can boosted to insane levels.

Need a little help here..

So took mine back to the exhaust shop to get the 1st mid resonator removed after the 2nd one was removed and the 2 back silencers were changed to a single muffler.

Turns out what I thought to be as a resonator is a cat with a sensor.

So I'm confused because I've read people here removing the two resonators in the middle when out of the two in my car one is a res and one is a cat with sensor.

So they didn't remove it knowing the sensor would trip a engine light therefore have advised to remap the car then get rid of the cat.

Any thoughts?

any concern with the amount of back pressure? would a dual setup lose some torque?

Quite the contrary on force induction cars. This is my first MB with force induction with a restricted exhaust that coverts a perfectly good dual set up to a single mid muffler. Almost as to make it loose power output.

Lets not even talk about the tiny airboxe and intake piping. Again as if they wanted to nutter the engine.