Fatz who did your exhaust install and how much was it?

 

hi friends, in order to achieve more engine power, I have the day still a couple Kleeman Headers and Kat from CLK55 AMG attached. Now the engine management will be voted on. I'm excited to see what he has on performance. Greetings from Germany

 

hello friends, I have finally overcome me, have installed a CLK63 spare wheel well to accommodate two rear silencers. Have a 3 "stainless steel muffler used before and behind two Eisenmann Race end muffler where I have modified the tailpipes yet. The sound is now divine, will still create a sound clip soon. Greetings from Germany



this is my former CKS system, with already of developed CLK63 spare wheel well







Eisenmann Race end Muffler

 

That looks great.!

I bet the sound is also something to smile about. With headers and a race exhaust I would bet you get noticed when accelerating......

I like the trunk also.

Is your main (center) pipe 3" or the stock size of 2.75"?

 

Man I can't wait to hear this!

 

hello, yes, the pipe is to the middle Muffler 3 " , from starting middle Muffler 2.75 "

 

I have to hope I still can do that tomorrow. My car has a seasonal license plates and must stay in the garage from 1. November. greetings from Germany

 

Hi Fatz,
I came across your exhaust setup about a month ago and have been watching it ever since. Let's just say I'd stream it non-stop in the house if the girlfriend would let me.

I'm trying to re-create your exhaust as much as possible on my 2007 clk550, so I've purchased the same model resonators (Vibrant 1792), X pipe (Magnaflow 10791), and muffler (Magnaflow 11385) that you used in your build. I also purchased the rear bumper cut out (209-885-40-25) and another set of AMG tips (164-490-30-27). Fingers crossed that part numbers are correct and everything arrives as expected.

I want to buy the same SS tubing that you used to match as closely the sound. I found in another thread you used Borla 2.5" tubing, but I can only find 18 gauge on the Borla website. Note this might have been from a prior set up you had. Consequently, I was planning on using the Stainless Works tubing I found on Summit (STW-2-5HSS-3), which is 2.5" OD 304 SS 16-gauge lengths. Do you know of any better SS tubing out there that I should consider or will I be fine with the Stainless Works tubing?

Aside from the resonator, x pipe, muffler, and tubing, any other accessories you think I should purchase to supply the muffler shop with for the build? Hate to admit it, but I drive a computer all day, so I'm not very mechanically adept. You identify stainless steel exhaust clamps in your PDF? There are a variety of clamps out there, so fearful I'd buy the wrong thing. Do you have a model # for clamps you went with or shall I just let the installer provide?

Lastly, I intend to show the shop your build as well as others that have seemingly been inspired by your build to show that what I'm asking is indeed possible? Do you foresee any challenges that might be thrown at me to executing? Are there hurdles/learnings from your build that I can share with the muffler shop?

Thanks again for any help you can provide. Wish I could pay you back for the advice/tips. Guess me copying you is the best way to pay you back. Afterall, I've been searching the forum and still haven't found an exhaust note as nice as yours.

Thanks again,
James

 

btotton1, you should use 16 gauge stainless steel tubing and that from summit is good.

The best hangers I have used are from Summit (APH-339819SHANGER). They and not as flexible as the generic hangers and do a better job at keeping the pipes from swinging under load. You would think it is obvious, but tell your fabricator to make sure that the hangers are installed so that the tubing is allowed to extend rearward at operating temp and under load.

If your fabricator does not have the ability to mandrel bend pipes (most do not) you should by a piece of "U" or "J" mandrel bent pipe to use on the section of pipe that goes under the rear axle on the passenger side. This will allow the pipe to be tucked closer to the rear axle. This will look better from the rear. Since it is at the rear axle it is not an issue for speed bumps but if the car is lowered you could otherwise be more at risk from road debris and road kill that you can't go around or properly straddle.

You should ask the fabricator to place the x-pipe and muffler centers close to the quarter wavelength (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 11/4, etc) positions for 129 hertz along the pipe. The wavelength for that frequency is 105 inches. He can measure from the front of the #1 cylinder and along the exhaust manifold and down the pipe. So every quarter is 26.5 inches. If the exhaust mount bracket is the same as mine the length from the #1 to the rear of the mount bracket is 46 3/8 inches. Since you're working with 2-2 1/2 inch pipe it doesn't need to be exact, just close.

Just wanted to reply with stuff fairly available. Let me know if you have other questions. I am full of opinions.....

 

Fatz,
Thanks for the quick response as well as the tips! I'm going to order the tubing and hangers immediately, along with the J mandrel bent pipe as you suggested.

The last piece of the puzzle was the high flow cats. I've been wanting to buy them but was nervous that I couldn't find someone to install here in New Orleans. Fortunately the first shop I called was quick to accept. I am curious, though, am I going to hear or feel a difference? I'm particularly interested in obtaining the best possible sound and not so concerned about the incremental performance. Will the high flow cats make a difference in your experience? And am I going to pay heavily to have them installed? The materials seems fairly reasonable, but I'm wondering if the shop is going to charge me a fortune to install.

As always, thanks for the help!

 

Replacing the main cats (at the downpipe of the exhaust manifold/headers) can be a bit expensive because they are hard to get to in order to cut them out and to weld in the new ones. My car has Kleeman headers and is tuned. I don't think you will hear much difference between the OE and an aftermarket set of primary cats without headers and a tune. Besides, I think the 550 OE cats are high flow, just not as much as aftermarket. The magnaflows are 200 CEL; most cars use 700 CEL; I thnk the 550 OE cats are 400 CEL. I am not 100% sure of what the OE cats are, but they are not "standard". This may be why they used a pair of secondary cats as well.

The other issue is that the aftermarket cats will not hold up as well as the OE when used in the primary position. If you replace the primary ones, you should use Vibrant ones. Most other metallic high flow ones don't handle the heat as well. I would NOT replace it........ particularly if you are deleting the secondary cats and replacing them with the Vibrant resonators.

Also, the distance from cyl 1 to the rear of the exhaust pipe mounting bracket is 46 7/8 rather than 46 3/8. You should be able to place the center of the x-pipe at 78.5" and center of the muffler at 105"; with the resonators between the X and the muffler.

 

Thanks for the feedback on the primary cats! I suspect you might have saved me upwards of $500 on parts and labor.

All materials have arrived with exception of the Vibrant tubing and my tips. I might have gone overboard but I ordered 4 X 5' lengths of Vibrant SS tubing. I hope this will give the fabricator enough tubing to work with.

There were a few lingering questions I had. First, I noted you installed some SS clamps before the resonators. Was this out of preference and would you recommend the same? I was thinking this could be welded instead of clamped, but yet again I'm not an expert in this area. If I do go down the route of clamps, I was looking at something like the Vibrant V band flange assemblies, but I definitely don't want to spend money on something that's not necessary. What would you recommend?

Second, I was strongly considering the DEI Titanium wrap, as I also don't want to inadvertently blow something upIn your experience, do you think a 25' kit would be enough to wrap both driver and passenger sides after the muffler?

Next, I purchased a vibrant J pipe as you recommended, but this made me think further about the build. I will confirm if the shop has mandrel bend capabilities, but if they don't, should that be a show stopper? Were all your bends mandrel? I guess the alternative is to agree on bends required and then I purchase them separately.

Lastly, I noted from your last response that you recommended the resonators go between the X pipe and the muffler. If I remember correctly, your exhaust is resonators--> X pipe--> muffler. Any reason why you recommend putting the resonators between? Will it make a difference in the sound?

Sorry for continuing to bother you, but as I mentioned previously, just wanting to achieve as close to your sound as possible.

Thanks!

 

I recommend using flanges and v-clamps at then mouth of the channel to facilitate lowering the pipes for other maintenance if needed without cutting the pipes and having to re-weld. On the other hand, I've not had to do any maintenance from beneath the car except for transmission mounts. So, they are not required. And since you are not changing the primary cats, which could require replacement every 50K-100K miles, you could not use flanges and clamps.

You shouldn't need the wrap.

The positioning of the resonators between the x-pipe and the muffler was to facilitate positioning the x-pipe and the muffler centers at the 3/4 and the 1 wavelength distances for 129hz. And the closer the x-pipe is to the engine exhaust ports, the better it will provide its' scavenging function and and the engine will be more efficient. This is the positioning I will use when I redo my exhaust. If you go with the resonator-x-muffler just ask you installer to try to set the middle of the muffler close to 105" from the front of cyl 1/5 exhaust manifold. You should be good.

 

Got my car back on Monday. Looks and sounds great, far exceeding my expectations. Thanks for all the tips! Now I'm on to the next upgrade.

 

If you can, post some pics and sound clip/s.

Glad it turned out good for you.

 

Fatz,
Was so excited about the exhaust that I decided to purchase the Renntech ECU today. Hopeful that in addition to the horsepower increase it will also give me some sound improvements. Also just picked up some H&R sport springs. After I install the above, I might reach out to you about the sway bars and brake pads.

I'll let you know about the Renntech after installed. Also looking to get some sound bites to post.

 

Fatz,
You still out there? It’s been a while so you might not remember but I copied your exhaust set up exactly, excluding headers and hi flow cats. I want to go louder now. I was thinking of the Eisenmann quad exhaust which would require major mods and $$$. Would you recommend anything different before going that big. I want louder but I want it to sound good. The eisenmann clip I saw sounds so good. Then I’ve got all kinds of questions on parts needed to accomplish the eisenmann install. I expect it would be a major project. Any recommendations on things to try first?