As many of you have figured out already, I recently picked up a set of headers from the warehouse at American Racing Headers. Nick, Steve, & Andy were fantastic to work with! They were extremely responsive to all my questions about their headers and installation instructions. They even offered to install the headers onto my car for a very reasonable price. I was very tempted to go with them for my install, but the distance and timing ultimately led to my decision to perform my own install. This was what awaited me when I picked up my headers.







American Racing/MHP Headers awaiting my pickup




Long Tube Headers Unboxed




200 cell high flow cats




ARH/MHP Long Tube Headers



The installation went relatively smoothly, and we were able to complete the installation from start to finish in 4 hours time. Keep in mind that the install was done on a lift and with access to all the necessary tools.





OEM downpipes removed and steering rack dropped.





Finally installed the ARH/MHP Long Tube Headers! 80% done with my install at this point.





Test fitting and making final adjustments before clamping down the pipes.





ARH/MHP headers installed into place!





Close up shot of 200 cell cats and x pipe





Close up shot of x pipe and rear pipes clearing the factory brace


For those of you who are contemplating performing the installation yourself, there are a few items that I should point out. You're going to need quite a few extensions and sockets to be able to get the OEM nuts off the studs of the OEM log manifolds. It isn't a joke when they say it helps to have small or extreme dexterity.


We started on the passenger side first as that was the easiest to uninstall. You can unscrew the 4 upper nuts off the log manifolds from the top of the car, I would highly suggest you do that before raising the car up. Unfortunately, you can't do that on the drivers side header. I am not joking when I well you that we spent about 20 mins each of the upper nuts on the drivers side header. It may be shocking to hear this, but the long tube headers is a lot easier to install as it has more room and clearance to do so. We ended up breaking one stud off the oem studs, apparently this is very common, but we found out that ARH was very attentive to every detail of the installation. They had provided grade 8 bolts (which are stronger than the oem brass nuts/studs).


ARH even designed the rear pipes to incorporate a donut design, so that you don't have to reuse the oem donut gasket.


I had to call Andy up with questions that arose as I was performing my Saturday afternoon installation and he was extremely accommodating. I don't have any experience dealing with any of the other vendors that sell headers, but I would expect nothing less than the service I received.


For those of you in the NYC area who needs any work performed on their car, my friend is a certified AMG tech who can do all this work for a reasonable price.

 

Jeff,

Thanks for the great post! That is the setup I want to go with one of these days

What is your impression of the sound? Is it still quiet without any drone on the highway?

 

this is great mine ship out tomorrow and this is much needed advice as i will be doing it and have access to a lift

 

My setup is on the truck and will be here tomorrow. I have the exact same set-up as Jeff with 200 cpi cats and x-pipe. I may or may not swap out the resonator and stock mufflers for a straight pipe and Akrapovic slip on later.


I dealt directly with MHP, and my interactions with them were also superb - they responded to all question I had, called me back and delivered at the date promised. They seem to be very busy and are working late hours (until 11:30 pm, as well as Saturdays and Sundays right now). They also hooked me up with a recommended installer here in Cincinnati, who has done several C63s with their system before (shocking - I thought I was the only one around here).


Given they are 1.5 hrs away, I am actually tempted to visit them to get a custom dyno tune one of these days.


But first things first: Header installation!

 

The sound is visceral! There is nothing out there that sounds like it. I have been trying my best to keep it under 5000 rpm, because I have not had the chance to update my tune file to a header tune yet. I took my friend out for a drive and he mentioned that the sound is a mixture of F1/Nascar/Corvette all mixed into one and that it has an exotic note to the way it revs.

There is zero drone on the highway. The initial startup is loud, but not as loud as many of the Long Tube setups that I have heard. Once the car drops from fast idle, it sounds completely stock. The V8 grumble is a more noticeable. The best way to compare how the LT's sound, it's like permanently driving with your back seats down.

I was initially very wary of putting in LT's because of noise concerns, but I'm thrilled with the setup. I had the same thinking as Wobble, in that I was going to install an Akra or Eisenmann muffler if it was too loud. I have completely ruled out those 2 setups now. It sounds perfect!

 

Awesome stuff Jeff! I see you have a lil more tread on that rr drivers tire than the rr pass tire... Next up LSD.....?
Also, I always wondered what threw me off in your sig pick... Any thoughts on getting a somewhat aggressive decklid spoiler?

 

The rear tire tread wear might be from the initial 1000 miles. I didn't like how the car behaved without an LSD, it wasn't as predictable as I would have liked, so I had a Quaife LSD installed the moment I cracked 1000 miles.

I have a contemplated doing a rear decklid spoiler, but I kind of like the sleeper look of the C right now. Were you thinking about the Vornsteiner rear decklid?

 

The pics may be giving me a bad illusion as well on those tires. How do you like that quaife?
Yeah I was thinking maybe the Vorsteiner style or maybe and more preferably the Mode Carbon...
I think sleeper goes out the door with your badass wheels! LOL

 

It's probably the angle. The tires wear looked pretty even when I it was on the lift. If there are any differences, it can all be negated by one quick burnout. The quaife is fantastic. I don't feel it kicking in, it performs quietly in the background. I would highly recommend one.

The funny part of the wheels is that I actually drive more careful and slower with them on the car. I learned why people don't drive fast over broken roads on 30 profile tires. It was a $700 learning experience. Apparently, HRE won't sell you just the barrel. They require that you send out the whole wheel for them to check out the structural integrity of the whole wheel and for them to perform the installation.

The Vorsteiner or Mode parts may come in the near future.

So when are you planning on installing a set of LT's?

 

The wheel gaps bothers me more than his trunk spoiler. J/k lol

Good stuff Jeff! Enjoy the new headers.

 

Thanks Meng! I would drop it on a set of KW V3's, but I've come close to hitting the underside of the front bumper on some driveway entrances. NYC is brutal on lowered cars.

 

Good stuff! Any videos of the new sound?

 

I'll try to make a video this weekend. I'm not sure how to post it onto the site though. I'm not too versed in uploading videos.

 

UGH! I have so much mental anguish over cars! I make myself nuts when I get into modding! It becomes an obsession.
I have decided to take a hiatus from modding at this time. I even gave thought to getting rid of the AMG so I don't obsess over it anymore. My last car was heavily aesthetically modded, all the way down to changing bumpers out to M3 style bumpers and sideskirts. When I was done and felt there was nothing left to mod on the BMW, I sold it. Lost **** tons of cash and swore never again, then I started modding the C, now I gotta stop myself! LOL

 

Awesome!!! Thanks for the reply That sounds exactly like what I want

 

Damnz. At least with the C, you can start doing performance mods that will give you quite a bit more of shyts and giggles.

If you sell, I have dibs on your spoiler and diffuser. lolz

 

Jeff,
those look great! Cant wait to hear the sound.

 

Thanks for the tips on installation
Please post that video!

 

Any banging issues between the mid pipes and the factory cross member?

 

For video, just upload to youtube and then post the link.

 

I'm glad to see you got it installed on your own, more people should tackle such simple tasks on there own. Also glad that you like it and are happy with the awesome sound of the ARH headers.

 

Congrats on the headers and enjoy the awesome sound and performance. I know I love mine even if they make me feel a little self conscious at times...LOL.

I agree with jellis and kudos on doing the install yourself.

 

Thanks! I'll try to take a video of the cold start and warm starts for everyone to hear. I think the best way to describe the sound now is that it now sounds like driving with your back seats down at all times.




Anytime Anthony! If you decide to do the install yourself, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.




Hey Glen - Take a look at the picture that I posted that shows the brace and the end piece that connects the x pipe and resonator. ARH has built a bend into that piece to allow it to clear the brace. I initially had some clunking noise because I didn't rotate that end piece enough to give it some space between the brace. I haven't heard any noticeable banging noise since that adjustment. I will probably go underneath the car in about a week or 2 to retighten everything and make some fine tuning adjustments to the pipes if it requires after the initial few weeks of heat cycling the pipes. ARH designed the pipes clear the brace and are mandrel bent into place.




Thanks for the tip Chris! I'll make a youtube account so that I can upload some videos.

 

Thanks James! I have to give you all the credit and say Thank You for posting up pictures of your ARH install and answering my questions about the sound & quality of the headers. If it wasn't for your ARH thread, I wouldn't have reached out to ARH to set up the Group Buy.


I wouldn't necessarily say that it was a "simple" task to install the headers, but now that it's completed, I would agree that it's extremely rewarding to perform the install yourself. The only thing that I would recommend to anyone who plans on doing the install, get the tool that helps you back out the factory studs, so that you can use the ARH grade 8 bolts. It'll make your header installation a lot easier. Sometimes the whole stud will back out with the oem nut, and other times the studs will just break off. It also doesn't hurt to have an AMG tech as a friend to help you do the install.





Definitely agree with you on doing your own install. It gives you a better understanding of the workings of your car. It helped me have an idea that the initial noise I heard was from us not properly adjusting the end pipes to give the factory brace proper clearance.

 

Ugh...CA smog laws makes me worry about headers