clearlybaffled

Hey all. First time caller, long time listener.

So .... a little while back, getting the dealer to fix something unrelated, but got the benefit of the "free" multi-point inspection. One weird item that came back was a leak in the Exhaust 'A' pipe, and the tech specifically asked me if I heard an air flow noise while I was driving, seeming equally surprised when I told him I hadn't noticed anything. Fast forward a couple months, now it sounds like a jet engine taking off when I get above 60 mph. When he first told me, the tech pointed out where the pipe was from under my car and I could see that it was attached with 3 bolts. So I'm thinking that I'm fairly mechanically inclined and not about to let these schmucks take me for $900 to undue a handful of bolts and swap pipes. Start googling around, find oemacuraparts.com and a couple of other sites show the exploded view of the exhaust system, all are asking around $320-350 for this pipe. Start reading around acurazine some more, it dawns on me that maybe there are aftermarket pipes, and they usually come with aftermarket headers to replace the existing manifold. Bingo!

Like I said, mechanically inclined, and want to get way more hands on with my 03 CL-S6, make some modifications, whatever. To date, only changed the oil. I can get access to a lift at a nearby auto skills shop on a base, but otherwise I'm using jack stands in my garage.

Looking at options for headers, it seems there is only XS-P or Manzo on the market right now. Everyone does seem to agree that CompTech is (was?) the best, but they folded and are generally only found second-hand. I read through the threads from both mattcl-s and Jonathan Hill on their install experience. Getting Manzo's at $125 from readline360 seems to be the best way to go. Get a performance boost, fix my leaky exhaust, and save $300-600 in the process. Win-win for me, but I would appreciate it if someone could double check my sanity and make sure I'm not missing something stupidly obvious. Thanks!!!

lateralus

matt-cls posted up his single exit exhaust that i'm gonna try to mock up for myself... I have a knockoff header I replaced the hardware and gasket that came with it cause they looked real cheap eons ago...

save that money and go aftermarket... you can add resonators or an extra mid pipe muffler to quiet it down to near stock if you like if you go the custom exhaust route..

cls6life

I have both Comptech and CT Engineering axle backs available, let me know if you are interested!

clearlybaffled

Thanks! I did forget to mention that I'm interested in keeping the noise to a normal level, so thanks for pointing out those options. I've read a couple of other threads on the topic, but is it a waste to get upgraded headers but leave the rest of the exhaust as stock? I know in my case i'm not just getting new headers for the hell of it, but still..

lateralus

I had previous cls 6 speed that had comptech headers and i believe a tanabe exhaust it was over 10 years ago. I noticed the biggest change to the power band with the headers... really only noticed a louder exhaust note over the stock one I had them installed like 1.5 years apart... I had the car dynoed at 250ish whp...

love the car styling so much got another years later for a daily driver... tons more reliable than my e46 m3.

Flexing my musCL-S

A pipe...do you mean the flex pipe?

clearlybaffled

I mean part 18210-S3M-A11 - or this. I'm obviously not 100% up on all the jargon, but I think the "flex pipe" is contained on this larger OEM part. Please correct!

Flexing my musCL-S

Yeah that's what I thought. Never heard it called an A pipe and a few seconds googling didn't yield anyting specific. But yeah the flex pipe is the braided part, to prevent sudden engine movement from breaking the exhaust in half. Have had them fail on my TRD Solara and 2003 Accord. Accord/2004+ Acura v6 tuners refer to it as the Jpipe afaik.

And fwiw I have headers on my CL and otherwise stock exhaust, and though it's still quieter than just about any aftermarket catback exhaust system, it is significantly louder than bone stock and I wouldn't say it sounds particularly good. I try to shift before 2800 because thats when it gets significantly loud.