Ok, we all know how brittle these things are, and how hard they are to come by. When I got my car, the crossover had already been obliterated and cobbled back together by the PO in a very Macgyver way using resin, fiber glass, aluminum foil, some wire mesh, and a few screws.... it was very ugly on the outside, but kind of impressive on the inside when you realized that about a quarter of the original pipe was actually no longer there, haha.

Anyway, I continued to use it for a while till one day that I had to take it off. When I put it back on, I could watch it crack like a frozen lake in a cartoon.

I called Mercedes with the part number, knowing that it would be pricey, but I was not expecting a $1200 price tag! That's what I paid for the whole damn car! And lets face it, a new one will be made of the same material and will eventually crumble.

So, long story short, I have started working on a reproduction one for myself. I'm curious if anyone else would be interested in them if I'm going to be making a mold anyway.

Ok, so it won't be an exact reproduction. I'm making some changes. My crossover will be a little different. There will be no "3.6" on the top (mostly because I liked it better without it), no tabs on the front (mine were broken off long ago, and I kind of liked the smooth look it had) it will still have the tabs on the back for mounting, and I am planning on making these out of carbon fiber.

I am not sure yet what the cost would be, as I am still in the early stages of shaping the pipe, getting it ready for mold making, and it would also take me some time to make each one, as they will be hand made. But I can assure you, that IF I start making these, it will cost far less than the $1200 Mercedes wants for one, and it will be out of a better materials!

Either way I'll be making one for myself, but I wanted to see if there would be any interest in possibly making some more to sell.

 

Depending on the price I would be interested. Do you have any concerns of thermal breakdown of the resins from being over the header?

 

That hadn't really been a concern to me as there is enough distance between the exhaust and the pipe. Even with the plastic one in there, it has never been so hot that I couldn't take it out bare handed with the car at full temp. However, I was looking at using a high temp resin anyway since it will be going under the hood. The resin that I was considering is a 250*F resin, but there is also a 350*F resin available.

 

Excellent. I'm with you with the 250 resin. Think that would be adequate as well. But never against over building.

 

Depending on the cost I might be interested my crossover pipe is fine but I'm sure this would spruce up the bay a tad! Interested to see what you come up with.