vrus

Well, got my 100cell race cats finally!!

I only ordered 2 of them. Tomorrow we are taking off those huge cantelopes (I call them cantelopes, you guys might refer to them as the primary cats) and replacing them with these 100 cell stainless 3" race cats.

I will be doing some testing with just 1 set and the stock secondaries.. I'll get a couple of pulls on the dyno (with the guy who dyno'd my car stock since his new shop is setup now).

Then, I will hack off the secondary cats, install a 3" X-pipe and redyno. Assuming I dont get a check engine light with just the 1 set of race cats, I may have to install a second set of 100cell cats to keep the stock ECU happy and not give me a check engine light.

Pics and updates to follow tomorrow.

Wish me luck...

E55AMG99

I thought the second cats were after the last set of O2 sensors? If they are, the ECU won't know the difference. Good luck Victor.

RennTechV12

What kind of fuel are you going to run? 116, I'm assuming.

vrus

Nope. The order is:

Headers, O2 sensor, Primary Cat, O2 sensor, secondary cat, resonators, mufflers.

Nope. Sunoco 94 with a splash of water & methanol injection.

vrus

Well, after dragging my a$$ down to their shop (30min away) and talking with the owner for a bit and showing him the underbelly of the car we decided to take a different approach.

He is interested in what I am doing and has volunteered to tackle building me a complete 3" stainless system from headers to resonators. We are going to replace everything in between.

He said it wasnt worth it to hack up the stock system.. Better to keep it intact and just build from scratch. He builds hot rod exhausts for a living so he is a great fabricator.

Starting off with 2 of the race cats and the X-Pipe. He will construct it and I will test to see if we get the check engine light and do a dyno pull to see how much power we have.

Based on what I see I will then decide if I need to add another set of race cats. If I do end up adding another pair, I will redyno again.

Arranging to drop the car off on Monday. I will be E55-less for a couple of days while he fabricates everything.

If it works out well and the power increases are there, I will be able to duplicate the system for anyone else that wants one. REASONABLE PRICE TOO!!

Oh yeah.. almost forgot.. the whole system will be ceramic coated for efficiency.

brt3

Dude -- you are my kinda pervert! We're not worthy...

Seriously, everyone here is living vicariously through you. Can't wait to see what kind of dyno results you get before the end of the year!

lauer87

Just straight pipe it!!!!!

Marcus Frost

Victor,

A total of 200 cell count for your exhaust system is almost for sure going to trigger a check engine light.

-m

medici78

You wouldnt consider O2 sensor simulators?

DerekFSU

You go. Sounds sweet.

vraa

This thread is truly worthless without pictures. I am so interested in what the entire setup looks like right now, what the race cats look like, and what everything will look like when it's done!

Rafal

What do you mean "Nope"? That's what he said, secondary cat after the last O2 sensor...

E55AMG99

It's OK, Rafal. Victor has been burning the midnight oil on this project and I can understand it if his head is a bit foggy right now!

Keep it up Victor - you are an inspiration to the rest of us!

JamE55

Victor,

What brand of 100 cell cats did you get? Random?

vrus

You are too kind!

You can't wait?? I CAN'T WAIT.. I won't rest until I see 700hp at the crank.. I know it can be done.. I will find a way to get there.

Nah... Way too loud and I would lose ALOT of torque.

Yeah. I am kind of expecting that. I am hoping to be surprised, but I am prepared to see the check engine light.

Of course. I already considered it, found a supplier to provide the simulator I need, and am ready to order a set if I need them. I want to see how much power there will be with 1 set of race cats. I also want to see how loud its going to be. Depending on the power level and the decibel level, I will decide if I should install a second set of cats.

If it isn't too obnoxiously loud then I will put the O2 simulators on and call it a day.

You let me know if you want one when I'm done!

Bought a nice new camcorder to videotape all the dyno runs from now on. You'll be able to see AND hear the beast in action.

You and me both my friend.

I have no idea what I was reading in E55AMG99's original post when I typed that reply... Ok.. You can slap me now..

Sorry buddy. Have no idea what I interpreted by your post when I wrote that reply.. My apologies.

I'm getting all the hook-ups. I found the people that make the cats for Random Tech. Came to find out they just put their label on someone else's cats and polish the exterior cans.

jparch

Vic, you should have let me know about the cats, could have hooked you up locally

DJE55

I love what your doing and if it works out, I will be on the list for this set up. I'm anxious to hear how the car will sound without the secondary cats. Post it as soon as you fire it up with the new exhuast. Just curious, why didn't you guys talk about replacing everything alway the way back? Why not swap out the mufflers while you doing the rest of the exhaust?

Derrick

vraa

Loss of backpressure?
Just speculating out loud.

BenzoBoi

Look foward to seeyin what happens...

MB Fanatic

What is cell count?

vrus

Everyone,

I dropped the car off this morning and they should be done in 2 days with the mockup.

The ceramic coater we were going to use has a 2 week backlog. ARGHHH! No way I am leaving my car down for that long. I will be installing the mockup system without ceramic coating for now and will do some dyno pulls.

If anyone else wants a set, I'll get mine coated at that point when I have to duplicate it.

If there is enough demand for the system, I'll pay the R&D to make a set of CNC flanges for all the connection points and depending on cost might get a complete Mandrel Bend copy of the system made so that everything is one continuous piece rather than hand-tig-welded pieces.

For now, to get my mockup built, they are reusing the factory flanges as the connection points. Dont want to wait for the CNC flanges to be made right now.

BTW, don't forget that the point of this exercise is not only to increase power, but to DECREASE HEAT also. With the increase in efficiency of this exhaust system, the heat level in the motor should be lower. Added bonus.

DOH!! John! Crap... I completely forgot what line of business you were in...

Ok.. Shoot me your cell # via PM so I can keep in touch.

If I need any more exhaust parts I may call on you for help. Do you have any connections for ceramic coating or mandrel bending??

When it is ready, I'll give you a shout and you can listen "live" if you like.

Hey Derrick,

Will do my friend. I am concentrating on the center section of the exhaust because that is where all of the gains are to be had. The rear section (after resonators to tail pipes) is pretty efficient. There isn't any power to be had by replacing the stock mufflers.

Other than reducing weight in the rear and changing exhaust tone, there was no benefit to spending the money for replacement mufflers.

BUT.. Once I am done, if you guys are really interested, I'll pay to get a mockup of a rear section made with some nice light weight mufflers.. I found some nice TITANIUM mufflers that I have had my eyes on..

Need to find a way to weld Titanium to stainless steel.. I know it can be done but requires special tools/skills I believe.

Yup. If I put low restriction mufflers on, with the increased diameter of the exhaust and only 1 pair of 100 cell race cats and NO RESONATORS, this would probably result in some significant torque loss at lower RPM. It will definitely breath better up top, but I dont want to lose any low-end grunt.

I got a special spot reserved for you! I know you'll want a set when I am done (assuming it makes the power I am expecting of course).

Think of a honeycomb (as in bees or wasp nest). The cell count refers to how many "pockets" are available inside the "honeycomb". Assuming a same sized diameter catalytic converter: the smaller the cell count the bigger each pocket is and therefore the lower the restriction in flow.

Hope this makes sense...

FYI.. Our stock catalytic converters have a 400 cell count and we've got 4 of them!!! 1600 cell count in total..That right there tells you how SMALL each pocket is and how much more of a restriction in flow there is compared to these "race cats". I am putting in 2 x 100cell count.. Can you say POWER!

MB Fanatic

Thanks for the explanation vrus. Lets see if you reach your goal of 700hp at the crank man.

vrus

Update...

Just got off the phone with the fabricator.. Looks like they have most of the system all tack-welded together.

They bought new stainless steel exhaust flanges so they didn't have to butcher up my stock system at all.. New system will be all new parts... Just wish I could have gotten the ceramic coating done...

This puppy should be ready to bolt back onto the car TOMORROW assuming nothing major goes wrong. They will call me before it is bolted back on so I can run down and take some pics.

If all goes well, finish by tomorrow night, 1 day of driving to make sure it is all tight and no leaks, and on the rollers by Thursday or Friday for a couple of pulls.


I'll get there.

Marcus Frost

Looks like you are going to beat me Victor. I've had a ***** of a time finding prebent 304SS 2.75" piping and that's been my hold up. I'm actually doing a fairly complete system so I need quite a bit of this impossible to find piping.

Good luck my friend... please post everything!

vrus

Hey Marcus,

Ahh heck.. We are both doing a world of good here.. I am sure between the 2 setups we are building we can learn from eachother and end up at a GREAT solution.

We'll compare notes and see where the strengths & weaknesses of both systems are.

I am using 321 Stainless in 3" and everything is TIG welded for now until I can get some decent pricing on mandrel bending a complete setup..

Why are you going to use the 2.75" ??

If you are ultimately going to build for the future, you are going to need 3" piping to support the upper horsepower limits. I think 2.75" will choke once you get near 600hp.

Thanks for the support and I will definitely post pics & video hopefully tomorrow night!!!

If you need piping, bends, etc., there is only 1 place to look: http://www.burnsstainless.com/

Good luck on your side also Marcus! If you want to swap ideas or need info on any parts you know how to get a hold of me.