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CSC Marmitte Muffler - Sounds Good To Me

5K views 32 replies 7 participants last post by  Del 
#1 · (Edited)
Installed a CSC Marmitte muffler today. Both looks and sounds good to me. I don't think I saw too many recent muffler reviews, so I figured I would comment.

The fit on my L was very good. No hassle at all. The car has some kind of aftermarket mid pipe, and what looks like an OEM cat and front section. The CSC muffler is definitely quiet like I read about in older posts. It is a refined sound I guess. I like it. It was all stainless and not painted black as shown on the website and on centerlines site.

The previous muffler was a spintech I believe. It seems to be similar to a flow master or something like that. Just a shell with baffles. It sounds like a hollow can when tapped on. That had much more rumble.
 

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#5 · (Edited)
Glad it went in hassle free. It's way different than what you had on the 5.0 but as time wears on things will loosen up. I like your choice of the word refined. That's the word I use to describe the 164 experience to Susan, refined motoring. She's not buying it...BTW your reflection in the paint makes you look like Ben Stiller. ciao, jc
 
#6 ·
Ben Stiller, eh? All's I see is an iPhone and a receding hair line.

There are stainless magnaflows on the 5.0 right now. That's a pretty nice system. I took that car from the old man yesterday for a little exercise. It's loud. It was ridiculous with flow masters and no cats. But I was 18.

Just a note on installation. I used a combination of small donuts and larger donuts to hang it. Small ones were IAP 64159000. About 2" OD. The larger ones were from local parts place. About 2-1/4" OD. I think it's good to have a couple sizes on hand when doing this job.
 
#7 ·
yea. something people dont "get" is the systems(s) need to be left loose, Makes assembly much easier. Mainly when it comes to installing those donuts. I keep 2 of them in the car spares kit. But I'm also "that guy" who kept a transaxle in the trunk of his fiat 128 sedan back in the day. Anyway, get it all assembled then cinch it down incrementally. One weirdity I've found with my CSC is the unit doesn't get too hot. Not sure why I'd note this...ciao, chris
 
#9 ·
Rick, the larger ones were from either autozone or advanced auto. You'll likely find the same ones in either of the stores exhaust hanger and pipe section. I threw out the packaging, so I don't have the part name or number.

I did post a rant about one brand of donut that broke very prematurely. It was made in India. I forget which store sold this one.

The ones from IAP look a little more robust, but I don't think I could have physically got those on all the hanging points. I got both on the cat, one on the mid pipe, and one on the muffler. That 1/4" makes a heck of a difference.
 
#10 · (Edited)
I bought Bosal donuts recently from Rock Auto for $.45 each. 2" diameter. Great price, made in Holland, seem to last. I bought other ones from local parts stores and they ripped in only a few months.
 

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#11 ·
In emergencies, I've used loops of 12-14 gauge wire to replace a broken rubber donut. Works fine, and lasts for a long time. Still lets the muffler swing and move around without any noticeable effects.
 
#17 ·
Oh and I too use "Tie Wire" as a back up now, rubber donut and some semi loose tie wire around it. I had the Autozone and O'Riley $3.99 donuts rip in a month or so. Donuts do the dampening and tie wire is there if they fail :sailor:
 
#12 ·
Yeah, I got fancy and even added hose. :001_unsure: Having spares or wire is a decent idea.

Autozone or advanced donuts are overpriced if I recall. They solved a problem til one broke early. The system as installed now is a little more balanced. Hopefully less prone to destroying one. That old muffler always hung a little funny.

Maybe I could get those smaller ones on in summer time or if I heated them, although it seems like it would have pulled the muffler out of center in the exhaust cutout.
 

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#18 ·
I've never had an issue using tie wire to hang exhaust, honestly I'd use it exclusively making a figure 8 or a circle so it could bounce a bit, but if one were to look at it it might seem ghetto, so I supplement the rubber with a loop of wire to back it up and so the side to side and up and down movements are limited.
 
#15 ·
"Doesn't the wire transfer more exhaust noise into the cabin?"

No, doesn't appear to at all, although I use the stock exhaust system, not an aftermarket such as the Stebro which tend to be a little noisier to start off with.

Haven't had a problem with the rubber hangers in years. Don't remember when I had the last failure on any of the cars.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Actually don't remember where I bought the replacements I did get years ago. Beats the hell out of me, just whatever Lino sells I guess for the stock system. It's been so long, I don't think I even have any around.

I do think it is important to make sure the pipe connections/joint ahead of the rear muffler is loosened and then retightened after the exhaust sections are all hung in place, to make the pieces more aligned in a no load condition. My suspicion is that then there is less stress in the hangers? I don't know.

Haven't used a wire hanger in a very long time.
 
#20 ·
Actually don't remember where I bought the replacements I did get years ago. Beats the hell out of me, just whatever Lino sells I guess for the stock system. It's been so long, I don't think I even have any around.

I do think it is important to make sure the pipe connections/joint ahead of the rear muffler is loosened and then retightened after the exhaust sections are all hung in place. My suspicion is that then there is less stress in the hangers? I don't know.
You may be right, I think I replaced the muffler before I replaced my center section and after that I started having issues with the hangers. It could have been due to loose or bouncing sections not being retorqued.
 
#21 ·
I think Mr Del' suspicions are correct. These donuts dont bear the weight of the system just keep it in bounds as far as allowable movement go. As far as the type and diameter goes, just get decent ones and they last a very long time. I personally like the ones that are just "rings" without the center crossover bit. Easier to fit. The hooks mounted to the underside of the car can be opened up a bit to slide the ring in and i find no reason to clamp them down. Just suffice to let the slight downward pressure of the system keep them somewhat taught. The system itself shouldn't move much as most movement is taken up in the flex portion of the front section(s). If your system is moving around a lot, there is something else going on that needs investigating. ciao, jc
 
#22 ·
"These donuts don't bear the weight of the system, just keep it in bounds"

I think they do bear some of the weight, otherwise the system would be cantilevered off the more forward mounts, hanging down, not a good situation. They do as well keep the system in place more or less as the car bounces around and the engine rocks (thus moving the system fore and aft, etc) when shifting, etc.

Loosening, adjusting, and retightening the pipe connection ahead of the hung (in place) rear muffler generally ensures that the rubber rings don't have an additional load on them due to a misalignment of the muffler.
 
#23 · (Edited)
"It was all stainless and not painted black as shown on the website and on centerlines site."

Beautiful looking silencer—I'd love one day to hear it.

Not to nitpick but it was my understanding that CSC Marmitte rear silencers for the 164 3.0 are not completely stainless, but only the tubes as stated on their website, "All pipes of the alluminized exhausts are made of stainless steel AISI 304". Read carefully that says the muffler consists of aluminized steel parts and stainless tubes. Centerline told me this too (about 2 years ago) but that information may no longer be up-to-date, because in their header section for GTV/6 and Milano you currently see the remark: "Now manufactured in 100% stainless steel". Since you said that your silencer came unpainted, you should be able to easily confirm if the center section is indeed SS. You might do a magnet test—although some stainless alloys are magnetic, 304 is usually nonmagnetic, aluminized steel of course is magnetic.
 
#24 ·
No problem. I read that info too, so I was happy to see it arrive in stainless. Pipes, tips, and muffler case are all non magnetic.

If I can ever record a good sound clip, I'll post it. For now, I can't seem to get anything useful off the iPhone or our pocket digital camera.
 

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#25 ·
That is truly great news and the price worth every penny since it is indeed a life-time piece. I had been eying CSC Marmitte for some time but shied away because of the part regular steel content. Obviously—and confirmed by your nice shiny picture—the note "Now manufactured in 100% stainless steel" applies to the silencer as well. That will be my next purchase.
 
#26 ·
That looks great, but having a couple of spare used but good S tail pieces, I'm glad I don't need one right now because of the price. Granted it is lifetime, but still...

Also, not sure what the sound will be like, as the Stebro equiv is too loud and has a drone I don't like. I'm used to the OEM Cisam version. This probably doesn't sound the same, but still... well, I suppose I wouldn't have trouble selling it off if I didn't like it.
 
#27 ·
Our taste regarding sound is subjective, but I would say if this muffler was any quieter, it would be too quiet. It has a nice note at startup and off idle on takeoff. After that, very quiet. I think bystanders get the best show. No drone at highway speed in my limited testing thus far.

For folks wanting to hear it, I could see this part being too quiet. I generally lean towards louder and more aggressive, but I'm happy with the part overall. It was easily obtained, I didn't have to deal with a shop welding on a finished tip or anything, and the installed appearance was 100% what I was looking for.

Next battle will be dealing with the failing cat flanges. Anyone know if these are common flange types that I can pick up somewhere, or does a typical exhaust shop make these flanges up in house?

I have a new front section ready to go since the flex connectors on the car right now are pretty worn, but if I disconnect the cat, it looks like both flanges will fall apart. Options may be to have the flanges repaired on the current cat, or get the available magnaflow cat and have flanges welded on.

Whadda ya think?
 
#28 · (Edited)
Assuming you define flanges the same way I do I doubt you'd want them "fixed" to either pipe as you really do need the adjust ability they afford you. Depending on the whats and hows of what yer gonna conger up, you might have a shop expand one pipe so it'll slip over the other and be clamped conventionally. Or as much as I hate to say, suck it up and have a shop do the work if you're nt going with "factory replacements". My experiences are: I'd not wanna give up the flanges at the union between the front pipes and head pipes nor the muffler (CSC) and center section (rearmost). Fom time to time, I've found it's nice to be able to split them for whatever I've got going on to get them out of the way. Keeping in mind that I have no idea of how the system differs from your 6 to my four banger. I dont think it does save for the dia of the tubes and the layout of the very front part off the manifolds. ciao, chris
 
#29 ·
A picture would be worth a thousand words here, but I didn't take one with the car airborn.

The front pipes mate to the inlet of the cat with a flat faced flange. It uses an NLA copper sealing gasket. This is a dual (side by side inlet) flange. It looks "Alfa special" to me, but it could be generic. I'm not sure. Anyway, this is a fixed, welded flange on both the cat and front exhaust section.

The outlet side of the cat is similar, except it's a single 2.5" flange. Looks much more common.
 
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