190E 16V

My OE cats are pushed forward a bit, and may be damaged. I am considering replacing them therefore and deleting the resonator.
I would run a "Y-pipe" between the new cats and the existing Lorinser muffler.

Anybody purchase this product?

http://www.hottexhaust.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=59926

Price looks great.

Is there a slight performance increase?

How does it sound with resonator removed?

OE exhaust withresonator and Lorinser muffler, is very quiet.

RBYCC

Buy them...

Knock off of the much higher priced Random Technology design.

By replacing an SL55 cat with two Magnaflow units I gained 11HP on the dyno.
Not to mention that I "rattled" the SL55 unit while dyno tuning.

This was on a twin turbo application where less back pressure creates more power...

Should give similar results on a NA engine.

BoostedCayenne

I just bought one for my 300E (3.2) ......Got a new one on ebay for 83$


Going to be installed with a Brabus muffler.....within 2 weeks hopefully

2PHAST

Magnaflows site has search option and if you search for the 500e, you come up with a single two into one design. This is what I used, as it is designed to flow for a 5l V8 (Mustang). Quite happy with the full exhaust upgrade, but don't expect any HP gain via the dyno.

You have heard my car, so you know what this setup sounds like, yours would be similar but much of the tone will be due to the rear muffler your using.

190E 16V

Thanks for the responses.
I wondered what people thought of the Magnaflows themselves - obviously, all good!

Ed: Your experience sounds very positive. I guess I can expect 0 to marginal increase in HP, starting with less base hp than boosted SL55.

Rik: Very much liked the sound of your setup in January. Quiet at idle, yet screamin' on acceleration.
Is that the same as two years ago? I didn't think it was as loud at that time.

I didn't see the 2 into 1 unit, but I'll look again.
Did you have to special order the 3" pipe out the back? I expect my Lorinser is only 2.5" anyway - same as stock?

I appreciate the help - off to the bodyshop first, though!

Wolfe190

I love my magnaflow cat! And the price is definetly right! Adding these cats and removing the resonator should allow you to scare off some Hondas

Does your 500E have precats? I removed them from mine (for some reason the '88 300E had 2 precats, but I've never seen any other 103 or 104 engine with precats) and mostly what you get is more sound.

190E 16V

Thx Ari.

No pre-cats.

I want to scare off Hondas and minor Bimmers, but NOT my neighbours.

I think that if Rik's car is anything to go by, this combo will be perfect.

When I saw the price of the Magna cats, I was concerned about quality, but so far everyone here seems really happy.

2PHAST

I did do a bit of research into the Magnaflow products and really could not come up with any solid reasons to not use them. From what I was told, these cats utilize current technology, whereas the factory cats use early 80's technology. So the Magnaflow cats do flow better then the stock setup. I don't recall all of the technology jargon (spoke with someone at Magnaflow). But when I put the exhaust together, we more or less used existing data they had and applied it to the MB (that being the Mustang 5.0l).

There are several routes you could go, dual cats like the OE design or the two into one (like mine) Magnaflow recommened the latter.

3" pipe is probably too large, the 2.75" pipe would be easier for your shop to work with anyway.

The final sound will depend much upon the rear muffler you choose, I suspect that if you keep the Lorinser muffler, your final tone will be less dramatic than mine.

Oh and yes, my exhaust setup has been in place for at least four years now.

On my youtube channel, I have some audio of the exhaust sound

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dWOBYbEGq0

190E 16V

That's very helpful Rik.
I plan on keeping the Lorinser muffler, you see very few on these cars in recent years.
Magnaflow showed nothing when I searched 500E, and no 2 into 1 cat when I searched 5litre Mustang.
However, I'm sure something will work. I sent a query to them directly for the 2 into 1 application and suggestions. I'll see what they have to say.

Besides, though I appreciate all your inspiration, I shouldn't copy your car directly, I suppose

I'll let you know what they say.

one more question, though - what are the stock diameters of the pipes on either end of the OE cats???