*Disclaimer* apparently this is "old news" so think of it as a reminder that this option is out there.

Okay, so this is how my journey started. I bought my E55 last summer and thought it was way too quiet ( My last V8 was a 620 rwhp Charger SRT straight piped to a set of super 40 mufflers ). I did the standard 2nd cat/reso delete and found very little change in exhaust note. I researched all of the exhaust systems out there and couldn't see spending the money these companies want for their products. Don't get me wrong, they sound good, but I have a real problem paying thousands of dollars for something I can get for a domestic at a fraction of the price.

What to do? I decided it was time to experiment.

Step 1 - I pulled my exhaust system and went to work with a cutoff wheel. I opened up the housing on the muffler and found so much packing that the fiberglass and steel wrap felt almost solid.

Step 2 - Pull all of that crap out of there and see what is left. I found that the stock system uses a double baffle setup.

Step 3 - Cut all of that crap out as well. A sawzall worked best for me ( a lot of weight saved as well as sound improvement ).

Step 4 - Weld the housing back together and reinstall the exhaust system.

YOU'RE DONE!! Go and enjoy the new sound of your beast.

Notes:

- This can be done at home. I put the car up on jack stands so everything was easy to get to.

- Can't weld? Do all of the cutting yourself and take the mufflers to a shop and have them weld the housing together for you. It should be pretty cheap.

- The car sounds great at idle and driving around the neighborhood but I haven't stretched it out yet so I don't know if there will be any drone issues. I will update on that in a day or so. The car is not very loud at all. Don't worry about it sounding obnoxious. It isn't, nice deep rumble and a little more pronounced note overall.

- The pictures show two access holes cut in the muffler. You only need to make the single large cut ( the small cut was my first exploratory cut).

- I will take some video in a couple days and post them. If they aren't up in a few days or so, start hounding me about it so I will do it. I get pretty busy and can lose track of that stuff.

- Ask any questions you have and I will do my best to answer them.

 

Sorry, but this is old . Anyway, congrats on the new find!

 

I weep for the future




JK man, its your car, whatever makes you happy!

 

CRAP!! I thought I was on to something. I didn't see any threads like this. I guess this can be a "revival"

No worries. Some would rather buy and some like to mod. That's what owning a car is all about.

 

I'm interested in a video... if this has been done before, does anyone have a link to a video sound of the results?

 

Apparently this car has something similar but I think it still might have the secondary cats and resos?

 

The posted of the video said the cats are in place but the resonator is not... which is probably where all that raspy sound is coming from.

 

once you cut the dual pipes out did you put in another pipe to connect where the exhaust comes to where the exhaust goes out?

also what is your current exhaust setup?

 

Nice write up, I am sure a few people dont know and wil appreciate it.
Post a video up!

I had something similar done on my M3 but instead of cutting those piece, I had the perforations covered on certain 2 pieces. Gave it a deep nice tone... like this

 

I left the mufflers as you see them in the pics. If I put in a connecting pipe it would be the same as straight pipe. The muffler housing acts as a sound damper to mellow things out. The setup now is stock manifolds and primary cats, deleted secondary and resonators replaced with 3" pipe and x-pipe.

I did this to my e46 M3 when I had it as well. I will put the video links here as soon as I have them.

 

I like that you cut the baffles out and made the pipes direct flow and out.

The CL and I think maybe the CLS have straight through mufflers but not sure why the baffled the E55 model.

 

Sl55 mufflers are straight through also and smaller than the e,cls and cl

 

Does anyone know how the muffler looks at the point of entry? At what point does the one inlet switch to the two (or U shaped baffle) is it an open area or is there a y pipe inside? Hope that makes sense......

 

Hope this helps

 

yes and thank you, i wonder how it would sound if there was a pipe welded over the perferated pipe (aka ZO6 muffler mod) I know that the ZO6 gets louder/sounds better when this mod is done so I wonder if the same would apply here????

 

Wowza looks real dope and the sound is awesome

 

Nice!

Looks like a great way to improve sound without empty your pockets.

Questions:

1. It won't affect engine performance?

2. My car is completely stock including exhaust system- any idea of how will this mod sound on my car?

I also think the E55 is too quiet at idle and would like to have that extra "punch" but don't want the sound to be too aggressive.

By the way, I'm in love with the C63 stock sound, especially those "backfires" when you leave the throttle or downshifting, anyway to custom the E55 exhaust to have those small backfires as well?

Love it!

 

1. I doubt it.

2. Now that I have driven it for a couple days I would think your secondaries and resos would mellow it a bit and probably sound pretty darn good.

 

Here is my first review of this mod.

So far it sounds pretty good considering I only have time invested. There is some minor drone down around the 1200-1400 rpm range but only while lugging the car a bit. It is easy to drive around the drone though.

The tone is a little on the raspy side, kind of what you hear from some of the magnaflow setups. I feel this will be a personal preference thing. It isn't a bad sound or a good sound. It just is what it is.

What about wide open throttle you ask? PURE SEX!! I'm talking total car ****! At least from my perspective.

Here is a quick video I shot in the parking lot to give you a basic idea of sound at idle and revving. This was shot on my new GoPro and I have no idea how to address the sound sync issues. I guess it is pretty common with these cameras. As I figure it out I will take more videos. You will hear a ticking sound in the video that is similar to an exhaust leak sound. Ignore it, it doesn't exist in the real world. It has something to do with the sound codec or some such gobledygook. If you can ignore that the rest of the sound is pretty spot on.


Drive by and videos in motion are soon to come.


All in all, I will drive the car like this for a while and see how it goes. The next step will be swapping in some super 40's if I decide to go a different way.

 

Sounds pretty damn good. Nice work

 

Thanks

 

Sounds good! We have a new plasma cutter at the shop I've been itching to use, might try this tomorrow.

 

Sounds wicked. The best part, this all could be done at home. Awesome work bro

 

I just acquired a 2010 CLS63 AMG and I immediately deleted the resonator (no x-pipe) and I couldn't be happier. In 'Comfort' mode it still sounds almost as quiet before I did the modification. I live in a quiet suburb in California and I didn't want something too obnoxious, but in 'Manual' mode it sounds like a beast and there is no sound droning at any RPM. I sincerely believe that the stock AMG exhaust is absolutely fine without the resonator. I wanted to post this for anyone that was contemplating deleting the resonator and I can say that this small modification for the money is the best decision that I have made.

 

A plasma cutter is on my short list of things for the garage. It would make the job a WHOLE LOT easier. I would think this mod would be very very loud on your car if you don't have any cats or resos at all.

Thanks, I appreciate the compliment. I have always felt that my dollars should be spent on things I can't do for myself. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it costs me more in the long run if I screw the pooch. Unfortunately there are lots of nervous pooches around when I get an idea floating around in my head.