Pairing M Performance Exhaust

[zaim3]

Anyone here pair their MPE with any other exhaust mods? I've been looking into test pipes, but sounds a bit too raspy for me.

[MacGruber]

I have both MPE and test pipes and I can tell you it has some rasp between 3500 to 5000 rpm. It seems to fade away or get drowned out as the engine really starts to scream. I love it and I am not a fan of raspy exhaust notes.
On a side note I do get a very small amount of drone in 5th and 6th at sub 2000 rpm as well.

[Richbot]

I have the aFe 300-cell catted xpipe with my MPE, I've had it on the car for close to 20,000 miles now. I've had the MPE for more than 100,000 miles.

It rasps some in the same range the test pipes rasp, especially on cold start during which time it's absolutely obnoxious if you're in an enclosed garage, it sounds like a sport bike and a chainsaw and an old Chevy 302 having a three-way in a dumpster. I suppose I could delete the cold-start cycle and that would do away with it, but, it's theatre and most cars are boring AF so I've left it alone

But it sounds amazing once the car is warm. The thing I think it sounds most like is the NASCAR cup engines - it's very close to what you hear in the in-car video on those cars, to my ear, obviously about 15dB quieter. And it shuts up on the highway and at light throttle just like with the stock xpipe - that's a trick a racecar exhaust system can't pull off. I assume test pipes are the same way with the secondaries and resonators still in place. I don't notice any drone in any gear at any speed, if you lug the engine from low rpm of course it's bassier than stock, because you're at low rpm that's where the bass notes are

Either way, MPE ftw

[Merlin_83]

Whoa ! You've had MPE for 100K ?

Is it V1 or V2 ? I gotta say that's impressive af that you had on so many miles.

Did you buy new or with light miles ?

Thank ,
Merlin

[Richbot]

V1 - had it since it was new and even more ridiculously overpriced than it is now - I think I got it in 2012 - 103k might be more accurate can't remember I want to say the car had 21k on it and it has 125,000 miles now.

I just was under there, and have tracked the car with stock xpipe and with this aFe xpipe (I've heard it said the extra heat from no cats may contribute to this cracking failure, but I dunno about that) and there's no evidence of any cracking.

[Johal E32]

I have the MPE rear box, I am planning to pair it with the NLA Dinan X pipe (full cat-less, but it has four resonators).

I'll remember to upload videos once I have everything installed..

[mikejnc]

Originally Posted by Richbot

V1 - had it since it was new and even more ridiculously overpriced than it is now - I think I got it in 2012 - 103k might be more accurate can't remember I want to say the car had 21k on it and it has 125,000 miles now.

I just was under there, and have tracked the car with stock xpipe and with this aFe xpipe (I've heard it said the extra heat from no cats may contribute to this cracking failure, but I dunno about that) and there's no evidence of any cracking.

Sorry a bit off topic, but how is the "stink" with the 300cpsi aFe xpipe?

[JE92M3post]

Richbot, we are still waiting to hear a video of your exhaust!

[Richbot]

lol I know sorry - I will get to it one of these centuries - my gopro is buried somewhere during a garage project

The smell in the car is no different from stock once they are lit off. On cold start it makes a few more smells but it's not obnoxious, if you remember or are around 90's-era catalyzed cars that's what it's like - not completely odorless, but none of the nasty of a fully catless setup. Our E63 smells slgihtly less on cold start but it also has an absurdly loud cold start idle routine it does and is 5.5liters and twin turbocharged, sooooo yeah. Smell wise, it's pretty good, and I am happy with it. But see my notes re fitment challenges below. Not stinking up the place is a priority for me - I'm ok with no cats on racecars but not on street cars.

The clamps between the cat pipes and the xpipe AFE supplies are total crap - once I got some proper slip joint clamps from Summit racing for like $30 for the pair, those leaks were gone. Also, the flange design on the header joint makes this xpipe easy to misalign/squish the header gaskets the wrong way, especially when doing the tetris game their design requires you to play to get everything lined up - you have to assemble the xpipe on the car because it coems to you in 3 pieces and it's hard to get it all together without whacking some stuff. Once it's all assembled, it can all go on and off as a unit, but their instructions have you doing one piece then the other whcih in retrospect is the wrong way to do it. I had a minor leak at the driver's side flange that was causing an intermittent smell, so if you have a smell after the install of an xpipe setup that still ahs cats in it, that could be why. I replaced the donuts when I did the MFactory driveshaft with some friends a few months ago and an intermittent raw exhaust smell is now gone. The leak wasn't even big enough to feel grabbing on to the pipe with a bare hand at the joint with the car running, but it was there. It apparently doesn't take much raw exhaust to reach the human nose's stank threshold when it's under the engine bay

Unlike stock, the flanges are not welded (most of the test pipe designs are like this too) so if your'e a doofus like me, you might crush the gasket the wrong way during the install.

[JPWEraser]

I had a v1 MPE with an OG Challenge Race x pipe. It was a very aggressive setup that produced some of the best sounds during downshifts. Everything else was just too over the top for me. I did not have any drone issues with that setup and don't regret running it at all - just wasn't my style.

I have since paired the x pipe with an OG Challenge rear section that was a complete change from the MPE. It's very mellow and a lot more bassy. It's a tad on the quiet side for me but I do have some drone in the low 2k RPM range.

Overall I like the Challenge read better but I do miss the "in your face" downshifts of the MPE.

[L4ces]

Originally Posted by JPWEraser

I had a v1 MPE with an OG Challenge Race x pipe. It was a very aggressive setup that produced some of the best sounds during downshifts. Everything else was just too over the top for me. I did not have any drone issues with that setup and don't regret running it at all - just wasn't my style.

I have since paired the x pipe with an OG Challenge rear section that was a complete change from the MPE. It's very mellow and a lot more bassy. It's a tad on the quiet side for me but I do have some drone in the low 2k RPM range.

Overall I like the Challenge read better but I do miss the "in your face" downshifts of the MPE.

The rest of the MPE sounds were over the top or other combos were over the top?

[JPWEraser]

Originally Posted by L4ces

The rest of the MPE sounds were over the top or other combos were over the top?

Should have been more clear.

Everything else with the MPE was over the top. It was down right angry at part throttle just highway cruising.

Another thing I thought of that I liked was the idle. The idle lump was a little more pronounced with the MPE.