*** Background ***

I have two e55s in different countries. I've been on this board for a long time, and originally was very aggressive modding my first e55. But I never did the exhaust, because it was pricey for the Eisenmanns, and frankly I liked the stealthy nature of the E55. A decade later (and a GTR in the garage) got me looking into opening up the sound for the hell of it.

I read most every post here, and video on YouTube, with all the aftermarket options... and all the attempts to create sound with cat removal, x pips, straight pipe, and gutting options. This post is to help both newbies and those who have done certain mods, because I have the luxury of hearing these things side by side.

*** Gutting ***

Reading several posts, I attempted the diagrammed gut (other post, red circles and instructions). With this mod, you open it up, take out the filler and cut the large U pipe from where the air enters the muffler, turns, and enters the rear back chamber. Because one person complained about a beehive nuisance, and others about moderate sound increase, I only did ONE of them. Conclusion: this mod barely does anything. yes, there was a slight lower note, but it definitely didn't stir anything inside me. It was just a little "more windy and jet like". So, we put out heads together and thought about both the filler and rear chamber. After trying a lot of different methods (I had two extra stocks laying about for this, which I hauled to Costa Rica), we found that cutting the rear chamber pipes top and bottom and LEAVING THE FILLER AROUND THE REAR CHAMBER, BUT REMOVING IT FROM THE FORWARD CHAMBER created the best effect. See pics of the previously posted mod and my new mod. To keep the filler in the rear area, we merely welded to little bars across each side of the rear chamber, and bingo... no rattling, no noise. meanwhile, air coming in the muffler now had to either exit directly, or flow around the filler and rear chamber (effectively bypassed). FOR WHATEVER REASON, this created the sound you'll hear in the video below, which by the way is much different than a straight pipe (we did that too).

Standard gut you've see posted before, which we did:


Here is the after where you'll notice the bottom pipes which exit directly to the tips were removed as well:


*** Eisenmann Sport ***

Was on the fence with Race versus Sport, but when one came up for sale used, went with the Sport. And honestly, I can't really imagine the Race at this point, as the Sport already vibrates the inside of my house when I enter the garage. Moral: Sport is really sweet and a HUGE improvement over stock. pay no mind to those silly decibel claims... they don't matter. The sound itself does, and the Sport is 100 times more noticeable than stock. Race users, feel free to post a video with the camera where mine is (GoPro Hero 3+, open slotted back) for comparison.

FYI, I never felt any increase OR decrease in power in the cars, so again this confirms what most already know: No power here, it's just for fun and the sound of it all. I love both. You can't beat the $300 mod done correctly, but the Eisenmann is still more captivating and appealing to me.

Here's the video. If for some reason it doesn't play, I'm probably doing some appeal with YouTube for music or copyright or God knows. Every time I post from Costa Rica they give me grief. Just check back as eventually it will get fixed. Hope this helps all of you on the fence with different mods.

 

Great gravy, those Eisenmanns sound so good! I just wish they didn't cost so much.

 

The eisenmann sound a million times better! I ran them on my CLK55 before I did full custom exhaust ad I run it on my daily. Best sound IMO

 

Exactly this

 

The setup on my car sounds like the eisenmann

 

Hunger of the Pine>Eisenmann's>Gutted

A little creepy:

 

Shar - What are you running exhaust wise (magnaflows??)?

 

Any 3" straight through round muffler will replicate the sound

 

How about drone with a straight through muffler?

 

Hey Buddy!

Yeah, the video is just bizarre... but that's how they are with everything.

when did you become a super moderator? Don't they remember all the trouble you caused???

 

That's precisely why I stuck with gutting as I did, as the straight through setup was not only a little nastier while decelerating, but the drone was pretty noticeable.

On the Eisenmanns, I have no drone whatsoever.

the last gut method, with half the fiber left in, comes pretty close with almost no drone... every time I think I have it, it seems to disappear.

I'm not sure about the "any straight through round muffler" replicating the Eisenmann sport, which is really clean ... the race version is a straight through design, and is much louder than the Sports. And I'm sure Eisenmann put a little more thought into the sports than merely making it straight through and round. I think the design has a little more to do with it, although I haven't opened up the Eisenmann's to see. Down here, after straight pipe ugliness, we put on two different types of single tipped cheap *** straight mufflers... the kind you'd see hanging off a civic... just for fun... and they sounded like coffee cans farting all over the place. So, I know for a fact there's more to this than just passing air through a straight pipe and open muffler design to get this sound. It would still depend on WHICH round straight through muffler you have. The one next to it will sound different. I learned the hard way.

 

Haha Loren…… I became a moderator when all the good forum members left. MBworld's administration had to settle for mediocrity, so I was an obvious choice.

It's outstanding to see you running two E55s. I often wish I still had mine. It will always be one of my favorite cars.

 

I completely agree and was going to post the same thing. All mufflers are not the same.

 

Good video. Eisenmann sounds awesome, but that car has headers too. Makes it tough to compare. Did you ever run just the Eisenmann's?

 

no, already had the headers... and what a pain that would be to take them off just to test...

 

I will agree with Shardul on this one, any straight through muffler could sound like the Eisenmann. I have has so much experiences with aftermarket mufflers I have come to the conclusion that it is simply a small metal box that you can place pipes in straight through or curved period. The materials used and the amount of curves inside determine the physical quality and sound quality.
I bet if we used the Magnaflow XL mufflers, we will get an exact sound like the Eisenmann

PS: Why do MOST E55s sound like loud dump trucks with louder exhausts?

 

I saw a set of used Eisenmann Sport mufflers show up on eBay for $1700 last year. They sold before I could impulse-buy them.

 

By that I meant gutted and e63 or c63 mufflers.