CL600CK60V12

ABC on my car is brand new but I am looking for an alternative which would allow me to remove ABC entirely from the CL600.

Googling revealed the conversion kit by Strutmasters which seems reasonably priced and based on installation videos would not require too much time for the conversion:

http://www.strutmasters.com/Mercedes...Kits-s/943.htm

I am curious if anyone has installed this kit. It seems like an answer to many questions about the ABC delete. It would make the CL so much more reliable.

Now I am looking for an ESP delete

S.

tusabes

Yes there are a couple people in this forum who posts their strutmaster conversion . Everyone that actually did it has been happy with it , but scores of people who have never done it will discourage it .

If your abc system is working well , you can even sell all your good used abc parts in eBay to recover the cost of the strutmaster conversion.

CL600CK60V12

thank you tusabes. There is nothing and nobody who can discourage me to remove the points of failure Mercedes built into this car. My ABC is working fine and it is fairly new and, like you said, I could sell all ABC components once Strutmasters struts are installed. I wish I had known about them before I had my ABC fixed two years ago.

fireman685

I am going the Strutmasters route also but am going to enjoy the ABC until I have an issue on my CL55. I'm a road tripper, love being out on the open road but will hold off in this car until I do the conversion. I'll just use the old supra for trips.

CL600CK60V12

I am thinking along the same lines - I will keep driving the CL "until the wheels fall off". It is a beast and when and if ABC goes again, I will have the struts installed.

TMJAPAN

Hello guys, an "old" thread but I want to ask if anyone have done this to a CL600 TT ?

I have been reading this forum a lot and feel it will be in its place to share my experience with this convertion when I start and along the process. The forum and all input from other enthusiasts are amazing and really really appreciated for a "car-crazy maniac" like me ;-)

Reason I want to do this is just because the reliability is too bad when it comes to ABC, as far as I have read ;-) The car I bought has 86000 km on it, with all service done at MB dealership in Japan, one owner and totally original except some cheap rims I put on from another car. I had my first trips with the car summer 2015 and the ABS system is working perfect. But due to all I have read before I bought the car I was expecting problems sooner or later so I bought the coilover-kit from Strutmasters (at the same time I bought the car) and stored it inside my house. Of course hoping it would take years before I would need it...

I have been driving the car a few trips in the summer last year and now this spring, car have been standing on wheels all winter and never had any signs of sagging or leaks, or other problems related.

This was until last week, I now see a few drops of oil under my front right side, it seems there is one hydraulic-hose starting to «sweat» so next week I will start to get rid of the whole system, even if everything works perfect, so far. For me there is NO room for trying to keep the system working, I will no matter what remove all components and drive on Strutmasters solution.

I have a private workshop and will do the work myself. I have been working with MB for many years as a «hobby» and have several other models like E50, 500E, 400E etc.. I have had some Supra's too and always been «in love» with turbo-engines and that is the reason I wanted the W215-M275, in my opinion the W215 and Supra MKIV is the most beautiful cars ever :-D

OK, now to the challenge; I have seen that people «block-off» and keep the hydraulics-hoses after the conversion. I will try to get rid of all the related components including high-pressure hoses when converting and understand it will require some work regarding the pump.

I still have not found anyone that have fitted another pump on this engine but will try to get a machineshop fabricate a bracket so I can use a pump from another model, or any other solution that will work and is reliable.

If anyone can share their experience with this it would be highly appreciated. I am a «newbie» to this forum and will also ask if I maybe should start a new thread on this or just continue in this one ?

To be continued :-D

Best regards
TM

fireman685

I too share your love for Supras but prefer a MKIII since it was a dream car when I was in high school and they were new.
Now are you sure it's the hydraulic fluid you saw on the ground? If so and it is a sweating hose they're relatively easy to fix. I'm not going to begrudge anyone for swapping out the ABC cause that was my plan on my CL55 when I bought it. First failure and it's gone I thought. Well in the 50k miles I've owned it I've spent $1500 in parts for the ABC and did the work myself. All new accumulators, valve blocks rebuilt, and replaced the line to the right front shock since it was sweating. That was in the first few month after I bought it. Over a year now and no other issues, I have just flushed the system and replaced the filter which I need to do again. I've driven it all over the Midwest and southeastern US. The pump is starting to be a concern only because of the miles on it so I'm preparing myself for that. The pump itself has 66k miles on it. Hoping to get another 20k miles out of it.
Is there no other MB non ABC power steering pump that's a direct bolt on like on the V8's? If so then you could completely gut the car of all ABC components, sell them and recoup the cost of the Strutmasters. Good luck to you. Anxious to hear how your situation turns out.

tusabes

The w220 power steering pump from an airmatic s430/s500 will work


Instead of strutmasters you might want to go with yellow speed

A very detailed write up was just posted here
https://mbworld.org/forums/cl55-amg-...on-review.html

TMJAPAN

Thank you for information, I have seen the "yellowstone" thread. I was not aware of this possibility when I bought the Strutmaster's 2015 so I maybe try them if I ever get another W215 :-)

Are you sure the pump for the V8 will fit the V12 ? I have been looking around for a long time, so far I have not found anyone that can confirm that the M113 pump will fit the M275. It would be nice to have a confirmation regarding this, BEFORE I buy a pump since I dont have any used myself. If not, I will have to make a "bracket-solution" with a pump from another engine than the M275. I have not looked into this yet, I just hope I dont need to take the engine out, I am sure it will be very tight to remove the pump, and worse to fabricate another one to fit ...;-)

We will see later, any info regarding this will be very much appreciated and helpful :-D

TMJAPAN

Well, if there is no one that have any ideas it seems like I just have to find a pump for a black-series 65. As fas as I can see this one is delivered without ABC so I might try to find a pump for this model when I do the conversion. I should have understood this before, but we learn something new every day :-D !

TenZero

I'm in the process of trying to convert my V12 to a power steering only pump from an air ride car. I have a pump in hand from an S500, and I'm disassembling my car now to extract the tandem pump. Once I have them both on the bench, I can measure and compare brackets, belt lines, offsets, etc. At that point, I'll have a better idea if I can make it work. I'm optimistic at this point. More to follow...

tusabes

it is the pulley that is different . If you can make the pulley match you should be ok

TenZero

Hi guys, progress on the V8 pump to V12 conversion is going well so far. I am posting the project in the W220 forum now. Should I cross post it to the W215 forum also, or just post a link? I feel like lots of W215 guys would be interested, but I don't want anger the mods. Link below:

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...ml#post7176035

TenZero

V8 pump in a V12 conversion is a total success. Check out the build thread, with complete ABC pump delete.

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...only-pump.html