C36..Should I take my stainless resonator off to get more sound?

[Three Point 6]

I think the motor will sound sweet without the Dr./Lawyer pleasing resonator under the passenger seats. What do ya'll think? Any unpleasent vibs or sounds that will come up besides the high compression growl of my motor? $50 should do the trick.

Oh yhea, about 15-20lb weight loss also? Thats = to .010 in the quarter mile for you drag race guys! He..He..

[98_Benzo]

Dude, definitely rip it off!!! I did that on my Ford Lightning I had and it sounded SWEET!!! but, that was also a V-8, but it should still sound nice. Actually now that I think about it, I did the same thing to my 99 Ford Ranger and my 02 Ford Ranger and those were V-6's and it sounded really good. Of Course yours is a performance V-6, so it is going to sound a lot different.

[jnolte]

I was thinking about doing the same thing to my C36. If you do it and it sounds good and dosent make any weird vibrations then i will do it.

Keep us posted if you do it.

[Three Point 6]

Wheres Jirwin when you need him! I think hes done it???

[CKlasse]

If you are keeping your AMG muffler as is.. the sound will be a tad deeper. Think 'REMUS'!

[pnsji]

Jeff (SpeedyBenz) took out his.
He did not say anything about weird sound.

[Rocky]

Check out a price of a new resonator...you'll be like...ok i'm not going to cut it off after all.

[CKlasse]

You can get a bigger better resonator for merely $50. Don't believe that overpriced OEM is always better.

[Rocky]

Problem is that the resonator is welded to the pipes.

I'm just letting him know that the exhuast is pretty expensive..maybe he's better off to get a custom set of straight pipes to replace the resonator section then to hack the OEM one. That way if he sells the car or wants to quiet down his car again, he has a choice.

[CKlasse]

Any good exhaust shop would cut the welded piece and weld a flange in place. I personally dont really like welding unless its a mandrel tubing. But I hear what you are saying. I would have the shop put flange on each side of the resonator -- now its 'bolt on' application. You can put the resonator back on in few minutes!

[jnolte]

Originally posted by CKlasse
Any good exhaust shop would cut the welded piece and weld a flange in place. I personally dont really like welding unless its a mandrel tubing. But I hear what you are saying. I would have the shop put flange on each side of the resonator -- now its 'bolt on' application. You can put the resonator back on in few minutes!

What do you mean??? Use d ring clamps?? SO you can just change around the 2 whenever you want??

[CKlasse]

clamps?

F L A N G E S

[Three Point 6]

Im thinking that it wont be that loud. I think it will be a needed improvement! I'll have em cut it w/ enough material on each side to weld it back up if it gets to annoying! The car has a cool 'rumpity - rump' sound that will be a little louder at idle and alot better under throttle. If my car was a '95 I'd even consider gutting the cats since '95's arent OBDII. The 400hp C36 DTM 202 wasnt quiet why should my AMG be??

[CKlasse]

Correction... Mercedes Benz is OBDII compliant since 1993. Internationally, the OBD II regulation law went in effect in 1996, however, BMW, Merc, along with few other leading manufacturers were OBDII at least a couple year before the deadline. (Original deadline was 1994 I believe)

Now, since CARB recently forbids any aftermarket CATS on OBD II vehicles, I am not sure if they really care whether your car is actually OBDII yet < 1996, or only post 1996 vehicles are forbided from having aftermarket cats.

I am very interested in any info regarding to this.

[jnolte]

call me stupid or a noob. What is OBD II??

[Three Point 6]

CKlasse, Good info. I read that on
2phasts black C36(www.2phast.com) that his '95 was OBD1 not 2nd round so that is why I figured mine was OBDII.

Originally posted by jnolte
call me stupid or a noob. What is OBD II??

jnolte,

OBD stands for On Board Diagnostics. That is where your car has a check engine light and the car emits trouble codes that tell the driver mechanic something is wrong that may lead to the inoperability of an emmissions device under the hood EXCEPT the catalytic converter! The Federal govt mandated that all US cars have OBD in 1981. Hence, every car made or brought into the USA since '81 has some type of eqpt. to let the driver know something is wrong with the engine or pollution control devices. It is an attempt to clean up the air quality. A more detailed, sensitive, version was enforced upon automakers called OBDII. It is the second set of qualifications that a vehicle must meet to further moniter pollution devices on the car INCLUDING the catalytic converter. All OBD(post '81) cars have an O2 sensor in front of the converter and an ECU to control richness/leaness on the fuel system(electronic carbs or EFI). OBDII takes it a step further and the ECU logs info about the 'quality' or 'state' of the actual catalytic converters by using a 2nd O2 sensor mounted downstream of the converter. OBDII can tell how well the cats are doing thier job since they are responsible for well over 80% of the cleanliness of the exhaust gasses. Basicly the feds want you car to have good cats at all times no matter what. If you gut the cat then the 2nd O2 sensor will trip out and cause a trouble code. You can 'fake out' the ECU and wire a .19 cent resister on the hot wire of the 2nd O2 and get away with gutted cats. All cars run on a certain range of voltage to all the sensors and a math formula can be used to derive the proper ohm resister. Street racers looking to break the law for that extra 5 hp and louder sound do this quite frequently! I know alot of Chevy LT-1/LS-1 guys that have done this. My C36 has 2 O2 sensors & I do not plan on doing this though.

Damn, I should be an auto-shop teacher!

[Three Point 6]

Originally posted by CKlasse
clamps?

F L A N G E S

Cool! I was looking underneath today and I do have flanges on both sides of the resonator so it will be an easy swap. The Damn resonator is almost 3 feet long! I will just have the exhaust shop make a replacement pipe that will simply bolt right up!

If I dont like the way it sounds for some reason then I can revert to the factory exhaust again & $ell the test pipe to someone. I figure $50-$80 should do the trick.

I'm a little low on cash so should I go out this weekend and party in downtown Houston at clubs like red door & bar-code or mod my car, stay home and post pics on club202???????hummm.....

[J Irwan]

Originally posted by Three Point 6
Wheres Jirwin when you need him! I think hes done it???

I actually haven't done it..yet.

I thought about this a long time ago

purchasing a free flow cat and them custom welded them, so I can swap the original with this custom setup (that way I don't cut anything out of the original) and if I don't like it I can always put them back..

I have been so busy with work and other stuff...


But if you got change to do this, please let me know...the results..
(performance and sound wise) .

I was thinking the cat from Random Technology, you might want to check it out.


Regardz,

[Three Point 6]

Did it!

Factory resonator is a straight through design with metal packing behind perforated metal. It weighs 12 lbs. Butt dyno cannot tell a difference, and it shouldnt make a difference since it is straight through anyway, but my ears are happier! Slightly, & I mean slightly more cabin noise but deeper sound in the low range. It is especially noticable in the garage when I got home. My buddy was inside watchin tv and he said my car sounded different when I pulled in. I like it and it is not night or day but a subtle increase in the low end audible range. Cannot tell if it is noisier at high rpm's yet?

I saved it if I decide to put it back on for some reason later on. Installation was cut & weld not flanged. Flanges of the type on there would require bone-yard hunting & extra complexity with fab w/ no real advantage except for personal feelings about how it looks. No regrets!

Pics soon

[Three Point 6]

notice the center section is of different color due to heat difference b/c no 'packing' in middle. (Notice scrapes after being lowered) 2 1/2" inlet, 3" outlet to muffler.


Oh yhea, Less scraping due to increased ground clearance! You guys on #1 pads WILL benefit from this mod....

[CKlasse]

Looking nice!

[J Irwan]

Kylie,

Are you replacing the factory resonator with straigh pipe..???


Regardz,

[jnolte]

Thats tight.. How much did that cost you? For welding, and the tubing? I need to do that. My resonator is so fucked up from rubbing.

[Three Point 6]

$40 cash & it took less than 30 minutes. Now, after driving it for 2 days I can tell you all it sounds way 'raspier' under accell in the 2,500-3,500 rpm range even at part throttle! So there is midrange sound improvement! My buddies IS 300 sounds like a coffin on the inside and now he is going to do exhaust work on his I-6 now since mine sounds so nice inside the cabin now.

You guys may ask the shop doing your work to expand the 2 1/2" pipe on the outlet side to 3" so it will meet up on the OD of the muffler side a little better than mine. It shouldnt make things better or worse flow wise, just the way it looks. I was worried about the 2 1/2" actually going inside the 3" but it doesnt hurt flow since the inlet was 2 1/2" anyway.

Here is a pic to help explain....


Call me crazy but now I've even thought of taking off my factory muffler after the 2 1/2" and tucking in a small 1 chamber Flowmaster w/2 1/2" inlet and 2 1/2" outlet into some AMG or REMUS tips out back? A higher flowing muffler would make running 2 1/2 all the way back ok I think. The farther away a mod is done from the engine the less the motor 'feels' it anyway. (IE; K&N filters & mufflers)I just want a kick-ass sound and factory looks.