GHAZAN

jesus christ thats the worst dyno I've seen in my life...get something legitimate. I dont get the interior was stripped so we couldn't keep it in gear either or the "Car taking matters in its own hands". What does that mean you guys couldn't strap the car down right, it's not like it's making monster power to overtake the dyno...You made more rwtq than rwhp, I don't that happening either. I could've made something prettier on an etch-A-sketch. Otherwise, the piece looks half decent besides the million welds. What's the price?

Sincity

I understand the time constraint and I am not sure of the price of the MHB brace. But, it would seem to me that a lot of work went into the "hump" with measuring, cutting and welding all of those pieces. But on a production unit, I am not convinced that it wouldn't be cheaper using a single straight pipe (like MHB's X) and using a modified brace like they did.

Great gains. Hopefully George has a baseline on a DD and he will take it to a DD with a more "normal" graph.

NOSONYXC63

Is that gonna be at ragetek? I would like to come and see your cars. Maybe I'll run mine too.

MBNiko

Meaning the FULL interior was stripped so selecting the sport or manual mode wasnt an option because there werent any buttons/interior trim- anywhere. The car was stuck in regular auto, dont be so quick to bash it...

Blown63

All I have to say is wow, the video does do it justice for the way this really sounds! I will be taking some videos soon, with a better camera but i thought i would put this up so you guys can hear it a little better. You can really feel a difference but the sound is just amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjsV8q56qec

Sincity

_AMG_

That midsection is a work of art!!!

_AMG_

That sounds insane man!!!

AMGFTW

That dyno sheet looks like Michael J Fox trying to paint a Christmas portrait.

MBNiko

I just heard the car in person last night......the WOW factor kicks in at about 2500 RPM LOL It is so quiet idling and through low range but as soon as he hit it a little bit.....Wow is all you can say.

obsidian05e55

obsidian05e55

Sounds good!

Blown63

I couldn't not imagine not being a daily driver! If I had to go days/weeks/months away from that sound, I would go crazy! I was in the city (Chicago) last night and just for an example before the midsection I have never raced anyone and only car enthusiast would look at my car. Now with the midsection I raced 3 people and every single person who was on the street turned to look haha (it's pretty fun scaring people)

jww///95

Does the removal of the primary cats trip a CEL? I would assume so, but then again since you didn't mention it and didn't have a tune, I was wondering if it was a non-issue. Thanks!

FluidMotorUnion

It does trip the CEL, yes. After we installed the midsection, we had it running for a while, ran the dynos, went to get it washed (where it sat in line at the carwash for about 15 minutes), and the CEL never came on. Once George took it back, though, I'm assuming he took the highway, which finally tripped the CEL. The only full fix for removing the CEL is a software-related workaround, as defouling still manages to trip the light on occasion, at least based on our C63 midsection building experience.

FluidMotorUnion

Alright, I am apparently the largest noob on the planet when it comes to the dyno computer. Being somewhat inexperienced, I was blindly fumbling my way through the results to get the graph from before. As you saw (and promptly mocked), it wasn't exactly clear.

Here's the dyno chart after OJ helped me figure out that god-forsaken computer:



I would've just added this to the first post I made, but for some reason MBWorld isn't letting me edit it. Again, foiled by technology.

I'm going to leave it to him to prepare dyno charts from now on. I won't be able to stand all the public shaming otherwise.

emericr

Nice gains.
I do not want to hijack the thread with my results but I did not gain that much from my downpipe/ X pipe set up.
I will make a brand new post about it.

Sincity

So what is the final pricing?

FluidMotorUnion

I'll get back to you later today with a price. OJ and I typically put our heads together based on material cost and labor and whatnot, but he's at the doctor right now.

Spending 16 hours on Saturday putting together outdoor photoshoots for Performance BMW and Speedhunters has finally taken its toll on his immune system, it seems.

Regardless, we'll let you know about that information once we put it together.

FluidMotorUnion

Alright, here's some price information for you:

We're going to offer this midsection for $1499.

Yes, we realize that the price is a bit high, but we're not manufacturing these on a large scale, nor do we outsource a single piece of construction outside the shop. Robots won't be welding this exhaust, Tom and Craig will. These are basically made-to-order midsections. We also believe that the sound change and power gains over stock should help rationalize the price point as well.

We're not selling this as some sort of quick hack-and-slash job. We put a premium amount of work into the products we decide to sell, and we only sell them in small quantities, so we believe that marketing these pieces as a premium product is apropos.

Besides, compared to higher-end BMW products, it's actually not a bad price point. The Active Autowerke midsection for the M3 currently runs about $2000 dollars, and they use all the same materials that we do, plus a robot makes it, and they push those things out in larger quantities.

In terms of fitment, this midsection will fit up to the stock headers (or any headers that utilize the stock header flanges/position) in the front and the stock resonator box in the rear. More info can be gleaned from the longer post I made on the first page, or you can make a post on here/PM/e-mail me with any specific questions.

SonnyakaPig

@FMU,

Very nice looking product.

I'm curious about what your thoughts are on the AFR? Do you think a dyno tune would be helpful to add some fuel.

Btw, what octane was used?

Sincity

Back to my original comment up top of the page. Are you able to make it more cost-effective to produce by eliminating the 14 extra pieces, cuts (approx 28 extra cuts), and welds (12 extra welds), by using a straight piece and modified brace ala MBH? That hump to clear the brace is way too labor intensive.

Not knocking the beautiful work, but, I would rather have something that has less welds.

FluidMotorUnion

I appreciate the props on the welding.

Now, down to the nitty gritty. We did the workaround on the fly (as we didn't predict MB would add a support brace underneath), and it only took us about 2-3 extra hours to fashion the workaround. We are currently looking at other workaround ideas, as well; we have a prototype C63 midsection with us that utilizes a step-up before the x-pipe and step-down after the brace. The design to go around that brace might change again, as well (seeing that the step up and down will change the flow dynamics of the exhaust by a very negligible amount, resulting in power changes in the range of ~.1 hp, according to our testing), but the original "hump" wasn't factored into the price of the midsection.

Whatever design we choose to finalize will keep the price at $1499. We agree about minimizing the welds, as well, so we're looking into step-up designs that minimize the cutting and welding, as mentioned above.

We don't want to start involving modified cross-braces (a la MBH), because then the buyer of the midsection will have to potentially add to their midsection purchase, further bringing up the price to the consumer. And if we are to modify the brace ourselves (or fabricate one specifically for our midsection), the price will again rise. And if there's one thing we've noticed about dealing with the MBWorld community at large, it's that the tradeoff of price vs. gains is of prime importance.

Our goal in making this midsection was to perfect the fitment while leaving the vehicle as unmodified as possible.

If somebody purchases this midsection and makes us aware that they are in possession of a different cross-brace, we can always just run the piping straight to the back for that specific midsection, instead of involving the workarounds. Again, the price won't change on that though.

FluidMotorUnion

Yes, a dyno tune would help immensely. Cretangod5555 wasn't yet ready for the dyno tune, so we haven't done that yet. But that would eliminate the CEL for the midsection and help out with the AFR, as well.

I'm personally not sure what octane gas was used, but if I had to venture a guess, I would hedge my bets on good ol' 93 octane premium, since the C63 takes premium and Illinois only dispenses 93 octane from its premium pumps.

GHAZAN

AFR looks fine, nice job. The brace is like a 1ft x 2inch piece of metal, not that intricate and not that big of a cost. Plus most of us with LTHeaders don't even keep it on (mine is in my garage somewhere)....sounds like a 3hr cost/time reduction per unit. I counted 20 welds and 18 short cut pieces. in the last foot. But of course only a suggestion and it's your business.