Tomorrow morning I'm taking my car to the shop to fit up my new EC mids. I'm going to keep the secondaries, see how it sounds and feels. If I want a bit more, I'll cut them out and fit some high flow cats and maybe remove the resonator.

Was glad to see the headers arrive quickly, Thursday arvo they left the US and at my door by Tuesday arvo. Which blows my mind as I can't send a letter inside Australia and have it delivered that quickly.

Any who, I plan on weighing the gear that comes off with the stuff that goes in to see if there is any weight difference.

I've asked EC for a new tune file so hopefully they can get it to me tomorrow morning!

 

Hi Mate,
I have the short headers from EC. You will need to 'adjust' the drivers side header as it will fit the steering column, no big deal an exhaust shop can do.

 

So I've heard. I've got an oxy torch and some instructions too. Doesn't sound like it'll be a drama though

 

This is the first time I've ever seen "arvo". lol

 

Unfortunately didn't get completed today. My welder had to leave just as we started to fit up the headers to the stock piping.

Getting back into it first thing tomorrow morning. There is minimal weight difference between the stock system and the headers which surprised me. I'm keen to cut open the stock system though and have a look.

Pleasing to see that the collector is now 50% larger, and primaries are 30% bigger too

 

pics please ! :=)

 

I did this mod about a month ago now they are awesome fitment requires some customization nothing much I jut added a U pipe, I also just removed primaries and left 2nd's and love the way it sounds now

 

Subscribing....... want to see pics or what has to be modified

 

Hey All,
Sorry I dont have pics. But remember we are talking about Right hand drive cars here in Aus. Left hand drive fit no issues

 

Good call, I just noticed that

 

Well, it took a fair bit of fab work go get the suckers in. The manifold itself fits in fairly well. Left hand side, no problems, right side needed a 3-5mm indent about 40mm long just on the head side of the weld along the collector to clear the steering column which gave about 5mm of total clearance. I haven't heard or felt the steering contact yet, so assuming it won't as I gave it a fairly thorough testing just before!

So pics are of the headers in, and how close to the shaft it sits. I didn't get any pics of the dent required or where as it is very obvious when you do it. Just an oxy to heat it up red hot and a few good hits with a hammer to flatten it out was all it needed.

Right side with steering column passing by on the left.


I couldn't get a decent photo of the gap between steering and header, sorry!

Left side fitting in perfectly fine.



The issues surrounding instal were on the supplied mid pipes which delete the cat. As 70mm tube is not a 'standard' size here I had a hell of a time getting some. 3 exhaust and muffler shops, 4 steel wholesale suppliers and 6 general service shops didn't have any. They either have 2.5" or 3". Both too small and too big. I managed to get two off cuts of 72mm galvanised steel. Not ideal by any means. Fitting steel to a stainless exhaust sort of cheapens the whole thing.

Any way. The supplied flanges and piping had the exhaust a long way from where it needed to be - as shown here (right side). My fab bloke cut the welds at the flange and repositioned the piping. Then re welded it back into the flange. Right side was fine once repositioned. The 72mm gal steel pipe acted as a sleeve and was welded over the top. Also no pics of that, was at the end of the day and just wanted a beer and a taco. I can grab some tomorrow if people want them?



The problem was with the left side. No matter the angle we tried we couldn't get the piping to line up. There is only so much 'round' pipe after the cat before the stock set up begins to turn oval for ground clearance reasons so even cutting the rear o2 bung off (which I didn't want to do as I want to use it for a wide and and dyno tuning bung) The supplied piece was to far out sideways and vertically. So, we had to take a small wedge out of the middle of the pipe - width ways - in order to bend it enough to meet the stock set up. Think of bending a banana, we removed the compressed metal in its guts. Once that was done, the piping was laid over the top as a sleeve and welded on.





It took a few hours as the exhaust went up and down a number of times to ensure everything was lining up.

The build quality is exceptional with my fab guy even commenting on how nice it was and he doesn't like anything. Only down fall was the pain that the left tube gave us. Now it is all fitted, the car sounds great and runs well.

The other thread I started gives an idea on the dramas I faced during the reflash. Appears it is a normal error and thankfully some lads on the E55 FB page responded quickly to calm the nerves. As long as the flash manages to get to 100%, apparently it is fine. So, it seems to be working for me. Doesn't help the heart rate when you see it though. It hasn't done it any other time either... Hmm.

Pic of stock cats internals. That is a lot of CPI you are no longer being restricted by.


Stock header primary measured 32mm, EC 40mm. Collectors 42 vs 60. 33% and 50% improvements. Weight saving was minimal. I was shocked at how light the cats were, and the logs don't weigh too much either.


Any RHD guys feel free to ask any questions, I was there the whole time, only things I didn't do was the physical cutting and welding. If I had to do it again, at least this time I know they aren't a simple cut and weld as indicated. Still a great header, I would just buy about 1m of 70mm stainless steel tube first, then get the work done. I didn't expect it to be a hassle! Knowing it needs some modification means you better have a good welder on hand cause there is plenty of opportunity for leaks. My bloke welds like a human machine - ex stainless steel kitchen equipment welder. Legendary! Enjoy!

 

http://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbworld.org-vbulletin/640x480/80-image_9d10e0148cfa2806cd27fb95fb9d8dec1574217b.jpg

this image of the stock piping in the manifolds that's been floating around the forums is pretty telling

 

I thought about that when he mentioned it, but I didn't have the pic saved. I do now.

 

The part that really surprised me was how small the inlet to the manifolds are. You would think they would be very close the the exhaust port size but they are not.

 

I was so surprised that the collector was only marginally bigger than each primary. I knew they had an outer casing, so that didn't surprise me when I saw it, I just can't recall reading any actual measurements on it in the past.

 

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ders-must.html

 

Mines RHD as well and with the Eurocharged Mids they were a direct fit on mine, no denting needed for the steering shaft as it cleared it nicely, I did however have to trim/shorten the downpipes that came with them as it caused the exhaust to hang low

 

I don't supposed you have any pics of the finished fitment do you?

 

I can get some for you tomorrow. Won't be great as I won't have the car up on a hoist, will be just car raised and me on the ground.

Car will be back up on the hoist soon anyway, as new motor mounts will be going in. And I think I'll throw on some flex pipe as I'm not super happy with how tight the fitment is. I'm paranoid of breaking something,

 

Thanks, I am curious how they ended up making the two ends meet.

 

Drivers side. See how we've used the slightly larger pipe to sleeve it. The down pipe, we cut the old weld to break the pipe free and re set it.



Passenger side. Is one is shorter as the rear o2 bung is at the edge of the old pipe. If you deleted the rear o2s completely it would have made it slightly easier.