bobgodd

Marcus Frost

That picture gives me a stiffy.

-m

chiromikey

the examples bobgodd posted look pretty good.

911K12

Thanks bobgodd. I think the one in the middle picture is exceptionally well made. Is that a custom fabrication by a good muffler shop?

storm

the X-pipes DO NOT create turbulence in fact they do the opposite,
the X pipe is a much more gradual bend that H pipe, reducing turbulence and thus it merely balances out and merges the pressures and air to smooth out the exhaust and sound..

X-pipe will NOT make a car louder, if you high flow resonators a little ways AFTER the Xpipe midway between X-pipe and Mufflers.. to reduce drone,
and echo, resonance..

its when people remove the resonators and put the x-pipe in its louder and people think the increased volume is the X-pipe and its really the fact and mistake of removing the resonator..

it you simply get the high flow through resonators and put them slightly after the X-Pipe , it gives it a more mellow, slightly more midtone
and MOST IMPORTANT gets rid of the Terrible BURBLE that some many people have after putting cat backs on incorrectly..

so instead of a MOTORBOAT burble, the X-PIPE minimize that and will balance out the sound,, along with the resonators to give a smoother
ferrari or BMW sound, instead of a AMERICAN muscle car burble sound.

get the x-pipe but put in high flow resonators after it.. you will love it,,
much more refined sound..

Here are some examples of
X-pipe with 4 resonators and X-pipe - great sound, very eurosounding, good midtones, not too much drone, and not to much burble guy knows what he is doing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CV8Np7-6KeU



without cats and without resonator ( which sounds bad, like a V8 mustang or motorboat farting, TOO LOUD too much HOWL)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL1w9jWr4-8

mht_v10

I contact Jimmy at the royal muffler and this is what I get :

E55 full stainless cat-back system w/ quad setup you are looking at $2500 and need 5-6 days for the job.

chiromikey

if an x-pipe is made incorrectly, it definitely can create turbulence and cause the car to become "louder" or give unwanted types of sound (aka; burble). a resonator can mask the sound problem but it won't correct improper x-pipe design. imho, if you have to put a resonator to get rid of exhaust "noise" or problems after an x-pipe installation, maybe you need to find a new x-pipe supplier. i have no cats and no resonator after my x-pipe and i get absolutely zero drone or burble and the car is stock quiet at any cruising speed.

storm

well I disagree,,

X-pipes dont create more noise , they dont create drone..either

the things that create drone, are crappy, uninsulated mufflers that dont have correct chambers designed for the car producing unwanted frequencies,,
AND
not have a resonator..

if you dont get any DRONE, then you must have a quiet muffler, stock AMG, muffler.. then which has alot of deadening and resonance chambers
compared to aftermarket mufflers like magnaflow, and renntech..

but I have heard like 20 mercs with no resonators and bad mufflers
in person, and taken rides , and taken them on a track, and freeway,,
and they DRONE like crazy , when bad mufflers and no resonators are used. that is just a fact.. you can hear them on you tube,
and read all the complaints on this forum about drone, and magnaflows,
and some renntech mufflers, that people thought were too loud..

so AGAIN you are running OEM mufflers, so that is why they are expensive and good and you dont get drone which is good

but mufflers make the car louder more than any other part, so you say
your car is not too loud and does not drone,, well thats cause you have the quiet OEM mufflers,,

but for people that have aftermarket mufflers that are good, even,,
and say catback with resonator, and stock headers,,
and when they then TAKE THE RESONATOR OFF< and change the headers, that will add 15DB more loudness and sound,,
ask any exhaust tech,

so your lucky you r muffler is absorbing all the sound,, that is what you paid for,, but open muffler designs like the MAGNAFLOW and RENNTECH,
and BORLA are WAY louder, and do drone without resonator

hope that clarify's what I was saying

blackbenzz

^ Thats why mine is so loud! Gonna try putting two resonators in on saturday, hopefully quiet it down alot. I went to take a vid of cold start and my neighbor came out the house and complained as soon as I started it!

storm

well 5-6 days is way too long its cause he is a one man operation and is in demand..

you can try AAA muffler, in LA,, they are really good , and will do it same day,, but dont use their in house generic mufflers , they suk and drone.


how much do you want to spend.? the cat back piping at AAA is not expensive, like $700 including X-pipe..but that does NOT INCLUDE MUFFLERS.. so I recommend you find the mufflers you want, and have them order them, or bring them to them. and have them install and do catback..

AAA does carry REMUS universal mufflers which sound really really good
on MERC, and AUDI.. and are alot cheaper than the model specific ones, and fit perfectly,, had it done on my SL
they are identical quality and same design, and materials, and are only
$275 ea the 6x9 I believe

I have seen them do M5-M6's, S classes, E classes, SL classes, BENTLEYS, FERRARI's ASTONS's etc

so should cost you at AAA like
$550 for remus universal mufflers
$750-$850 for catback with xipe and 2.75" stainless piping
make sure you use 1 bullet tube like RESONATOR on each pipe AFTER then X-pipe, though to reduce DRONE,, it wont hurt performance as they are high flow

here are some of AAA cat back systems on you tube

Audi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Qd9z8sFHU

CLK
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZbiC...eature=related


S550 with QUAD exhaust- quieter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKKfOXn9SSk



under $1500 which is a good price..
hope that helps alittle

storm

HI BLack,,

well the resonators are a must, but may not totally solve you loudness problem, they will quiet down the car about 10 DB which is good,
make sure you get good ones, bullet tube type, and put ONE ON EACH PIPE AFTER THE X_PIPE

if you have MAGNAFLOW MUFFLERS MAKE SURE TO GET MAGNAFLOW RESONATORS, they are DESIGNED TO TAKE OUT THE DRONE< and LOUDNESS OF MAGNAFLOW MUFFLERS
at specific frequencies unless you can find a quieter resonator, perhaps,, ask the guy what he thinks is the most effective one..

MAGNOFLOWs mufflers are straight through designs with little DEADENING<, and are LOUD, only louder muffflers on the market are BORLA..

I heard you say you removed your cats,, too,, bad move, they help quiet the car too..
that makes the car louder too,
so try the resonators first
they are cheap should be $100 plus maybe $100 installation maybe less

it will help for sure, but if the car is still too loud, and you did take off your 2nd pair of cats, PUT a secondary high flow cat 200 cell BACK on, lol and that
the resonator and cats should solve your problem..


good luck man, and let me know how it goes.. post a sound file after the resonators,, cause I am thinking about getting the KLEEMAN headers like you have,, and want to hear em with resonators

blackbenzz

Yup, thats the plan. Two bullet resonators on each pipe after the x-pipe. And yes I have 2 magnaflow mufflers, one on each pipe (couldn't find 2 othe rmufflers that would fit in such a small space). It is loud as hell!

Yes, I did remove primary and secondary cats. If the resonators dont work I very well may have to put cats in.

Only sound clips I have of the Kleemann headers are with the eisenamnn race muffler. Keep in mind I have a CLK55 and not an E55. Here is a clip for sound purposes.

http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e2...urrent=082.flv

911K12

Based upon you said, deleting the stock resonator but installing bullet resonators after the X-pipe may be what suits me. I just want a little louder than stock (the Royal muffler video was too loud for my taste). I'm wondering if I kept the stock AMG mufflers whether I'd need bullet resonators after the x-pipe.

I'm will keep the secondary cats but cut out the balance pipe and have them fed straight out of the primary cats. That connecting pipe looks like a factory Rube Goldberg contraption!

I'm also interested in getting rid of the log type exhaust manifold but it looks to me like Kleeman's headers for the 63 engine looks like a log type also. I'm not sure how that would gain me much bang for the buck.

MKB makes a nice set of short headers for the 63 but unfortunately they won't sell just the headers alone (for my E63).

Havoc

Your CLK55 Sounds Awesome Blackbenz!

That's the same muscle car sound I'm going for!

drop997stop

the last video is vegastrashed car and it has one set of cats, custom x pipe and renntech exhaust- completly different settup

storm

well, not sure which video you are talking about, the BLACK E 63 in the previous post,

I think your misunderstanding what I am saying

bottom like is, you can do RES del, and CAT del, and use STOCK muffler and it will sound fine.. and not drone,,
but if you go AFTERMARKET and do res and cat del
it will sound way too LOUD and drone more


I realize he has RENNTCH and you have AMG Mufflers <,
but the RENNTECH sound alot different and BETTER without the RESONATOR DEL AND CAT DEL , IE with bullet resonators and racing cats ON
IMO and renntech seems to have said so too I believe


so you can have 2 mercs both with RENNTECH, or any AFTERMARKET muffler for that matter, and if you have one that has NO RESONATOR and CAT delete,
and one that does have both on, they will sound TOTALLY DIFFERENT..

and the one that has the RES del and cat del will be ALOT LOUDER< and DRONE more.. and BURBLE more.. and sound less european and more muscle car
cause that is what muscle cars do, and where the RES and CAT del came from originally, the muscle car community



I still know that using magnaflow mufflers and many aftermarket ones without resonators of some type and without cats sounds way too loud and drones, and is the wrong sound..


and like I said again, you are not getting drone because you have STOCK AMG mufflers which have way more baffle and deading mats and silence alot of the drone and sound..


there are 2 ways to get a car louder,,

you can just do the mufflers, which make most of the difference,,
and will TUNE a cars sound..

or you can keep stock mufflers and instead start deleting stuff toward the engine which sounds like you did.. cats and resonator, which will make it LOUDER, for sure,, but not as much as a refined sound...
alot more burble, and harmonics..

its a matter of taste.. I do like the AMG mufflers..though I like mufflers that have more midtones too, like REMUS and also the AUDI S8, R 8, and S 5 and RS4 mufflers

after hearing and driving a ton of cars, race and street though,, I think the best way for most people to approach changing their exhaust sounds is

WORKING FROM THE MUFFLER BACK, once piece at a time so they can slowly and methodically tune their sound.. piece by piece, how they like it, and can stop when they get it loud enough, or how they like it..

1 so Mufflers should be done first

2 then, the resonators should be changed out to aftermarket high flow,
( or deleted if you must though can produce drone sometimes with aftermarket mufflers )

3 then X pipe added

4 then start to think about high flow aftermarket 200 cell cats

5 lastly headers...

all will make the car louder, or change the sound.. BUT

this saves alot of wasted time with doing it all at once and finding out you dont like the sound or its to LOUD<

there are countless people who do it all at once like BLACKBENZ and find out its too loud, or not practical.. and then have to piece it back together..

Im just trying to help people do it methodically and one step at a time to save hassle thats all..

there are so many people including on this forum that get aftermarlet mufflers including the renntech and then return them cause they said they were too loud or droned
when in fact it really was cause they deleted their resonators and cats,, which was the real problem.

so you can do either aftermarket mufflers and keep resonators and cats, to get more sound,
or keep stock mufflers and del resonator and cats.. and get more sound..
just not BOTH,as its too LOUD and sounds poor

hope that clarify's what I was saying

dyno

your step-scheme is a good starting point.
Considering a 2x 200cells cat system, I'm interested to determine the best location for CATs and, hence, of X-pipe.
Priority is to keep sound as stock as possible, with max performance.

as far as I understand, the best location for cats' efficiency would be closest possible to headers so as to get the fastest gas outflow and let them quickly warm-up.
From a performance point of view, on the contrary, they should be placed farther, more or less to the end of the downpipe, to allow the quickest possible outflow of gases.

Therefore,
1- first question point is: better have CATs located before or after the X-pipe?
2- any idea about a muffled X-pipe which could help to keep sound down to quasi-stock ?

for example, the race version of SuperSprint X-pipe (indeed something closer to an interference pipe like in our AMG65 exhaust ) is this:


but I found that they also have a "muffled" version like this:


I'm not sure how it is made: I mean if that box is something like an "absorption" device (like a resonator) or is it a "reflection" device like a muffler. The difference in sound is that the absorption style is more bumpy.

Don't know if you like more or not its sound but indeed we see that AMG uses in the SL63 reflection boxes instead of and absorption/resonator : see those two things below after sec. cats:

Ajai Thomas

anyone know of a solid or great muffler fabrication shops here in Nassau County Long Island NY? I just bought two 3 inch t304 stainless steel exhaust tubing, 5 ft long each so i can bring them to the shop and they only need to fabricate the X pipe......to be exact the closer to Roslyn, the better.

AeonTheTerrible

No need to have a shop fab an X pipe, they can be found on amazon for about 20 buckaroos...

Ajai Thomas

Thank you for the guidance Mr Terrible!