koolavz

Alright Gents. This is it. I'm having some trouble and need your help to decide on what to do. As the title states this will be a DIY. However on what I can't decide, yet.... That's where you come in. So its come down to this. For the past 7 month's while I've been down here in Iraq. My CLK has been sitting collecting some dust and such. Now I've made quite a pretty penny so far and with 2 month's left to go until I return to the states I've got some money to blow. And what better a way to blow it than on my CLK? So as I type this up my car is in the process of having the interior completely redone. I've opted for a 2 tone designo beige with black for the seats and door panels. I wanted to keep the car semi-factory, as the designo package was a factory option. All cosmetic work is being done while I'm down here in the sandbox. However once I return the real fun begins. I'm going to have the CLK63 front bumper and SL63 rear bumper fitted once I return. But before I do that and all the exhaust work to make it sound more beastly. I've become stuck between a rock and a hard place. I've come down to two options. Twin Turbo the stand M113. OR Swap for an m113k and mod the absolute **** out of the m113k. Seeing as money isn't really an issue, what do you guys think I should do? Would you rather see an m113TT or m113k in my clk? Either way it'll be insane power as I am aiming for 500rwhp. And I understand from longevity the m113k will provide much more means for tuning after its put in. But I just don't know what to do... The TT kit I'm looking at starts at 3.5k without tubing. After thats all said and done I'm probably looking at 6-7k. The cost of swapping an m113k isn't much more for the parts either but while swapping might as well rebuild the engine and such, Engines and trannies on Ebay right now going for around 2-5k range. I feel the m113k will be more expensive but more fun in the long run. Let me know what you guys think and what you'd like to see! Best believe pictures are coming once I decide!

DanielFD

Problem with modding mercs is the issue that its becoming increasingly hard to find bolt on parts. M113 kompressor sound great but switching the engine is not as simple at is sounds. First of all no supercharged v8 stock on the CLK, meaning every car that came with that engine had SBC brakes (w211 for example) which means your engine wont turn over with that engine without seeing the brake system (imagine retrofitting the most complicated braking system ever). you'd be much better off retrofitting a CLK63 engine into the car.. Even then its not that simple. All the modules in the car communicate with each other an engine swap will mean miscommunication between those modules. You're going to need somebody with serious experience to carry out work like that. A guy on the forum here once tried to fit the m112K engine into the CLK (maybe 6 years ago) and its still not completed. Honestly, same your money, buy a newer engine. twin turbo btw sounds fun but i've only heard once of a 500 with 1 turbo on and it was installed in the back of the car under the trunk.

koolavz

I'm doing a big brake kit on the car as well to coincide with the new engine and all. I know it'll be expensive, I'm counting on it. I have a few good friends who live to mod the merc engines so as far as having it done I'm not too worried. The TT was most appealing at first because I know I've never heard of someone trying it. It would be remote mounted (rear of car) thats why I was also considering just doing a full engine swap. For around $10k a full engine with trans and all components needed to make it work is a pretty fair investment since I am not going to be parting with the car. I have already been in contact with the guys to see what it'd take and they said honestly the engine swap would be easier, but the TT would be more fun as they've not done a TT on a m113 engine as of yet. Thats why I brought it up on the forums to see what people would be more interested in.

insame1

Yeah not to be a kill joy but save yourself the heartache and buy a 63. I have talked to a few people that added a SC to a clk/c55 and were unimpressed. Besides either of your options will only make your car as fast as a stock 63 if your lucky. Also starting out with a 500 you will need to upgrade all of your suspension and brakes.

koolavz

Again planning on upgrading all of those. Not an un-foreseen circumstance. The goal is to mod the car from stock. I'm not interested in selling/trading in my paid off car for payments on a newer car. Just want to modify the one I've got.

MarcusF

There is a guy with a 55K in a W208 in the classified section. You may want to ask him about details. If aftermarket superchargers are an option, you may want to look for threads from Blackbenz as he has a boosted 55 in a W208.

A rear mounted twin turbo system may be capable of high peak dyno numbers, but the lag may be equally astounding. Hopefully you've got a way around it. Whatever way you go, I hope you post details. It should make interesting reading.

koolavz

I've actually gotten the idea from that gentleman! I saw his post and thought how cool it would be to do it to my w209. As for the lag, I've done a bit of research on the rear mounted systems, and as we all know turbos will have lag nothing can be done to prevent that. Unfortunately the rear mounted are subjected to increased lag but from what I've seen/heard they aren't as bad as people say. Granted not the instant delivery of a SC but over a power band max power is around 5k rpm. So we'll see, I'll definitely post the details once I've decided on what to do!

insame1

I take it you have seen this https://mbworld.org/forums/clk55-amg...ld-thread.html

and this https://mbworld.org/forums/clk-class...ml#post6493268

koolavz

Yes, seen both. Very encouraging of me to do a swap. Looking around at donor vehicles atm to see the best deal on a complete engine and tranny.

Rudeney

I have a suggestion. If you have this much money to spend, why not sell the CLK and buy an SL55. Don't get me wrong, I loved - LOVED - my CLK, but the SL is so much more refined. The SL55 has 500+HP and all you need to worry about is setting aside some money for maintenance (much like on the CLK).

BTW, I would not buy a CLK63. The M156 engine has a nasty head bolt issue through MY2010. It's even worse than the "balance shaft" issues on the M272/M273 engines.

koolavz

I was actually considering that for a while. But I couldn't bring myself to part with my CLK. Over the course of this deployment its sat in the garage and wasn't driven very much. So I made a tough call, either sell it and maybe get 5,000 for it if I'm lucky, trading it in would be worse as I know the dealer wouldn't offer me what I'd want for it. And to be honest I didn't find a SL55 that really made me want to get rid of my CLK. I chose the emotional thing to do and decided to keep it and make it look new. Now I've had it taken to a local auto upholstery shop in Jax to have them do the designo two tone interior I wanted as well as repair my interior headliner on the convertible top. I was given a quote of around 2,000 for that so wasn't too worried. Then I thought well, I might as well do some engine mods. My goal was to aim for 500rwhp. I know that for the to be achieved with the m113 I'd need to TT the motor and or do an engine swap with an m113k. Thats why I made the post I couldn't decide on which. For now as I'm still deployed for another 2 months the car will get cosmetic fixes, IE interior facelifted and such, as well as a sl63 style rear bumper with diffuser. Really like the look and think it gives the CLK much needed aggression. As for the engine I still haven't decided and with plenty of time to decide, I may mod the m113 thats in it now, when it blows replace with a m113k. Just depends on how I'm feeling. I know there are quite a few bolts-on's for the m113 so I may end up going that route until the engine is toast. However with the new BBK and 18x8.5 19x9.5 rims I want the car to really fit the image. We'll see.

tw2

I would recommend buying a faster car, +1 for SL55. Second option would be to copy C32kompressor and swap the whole M113K engine, ecu and you can even run the stock loom with a few extra wires added. It is probably the most likely to success and most reliable in the long run if completed. If you have xentry DAS you can code whatever systems you like. Most of the unimpressed people have added a kleemann or M113 supercharger to the stock N/A M113, definitely not the greatest option especially for reliability, a few have blown up.

koolavz

Yeah I definitely don't want to supercharge the stock m113 as that's pretty much wasting my money on something that won't even improve performance by much in my books.

koolavz

So I got to thinking about my brake upgrade from the standard 500 series brakes. I saw some posts about swapping from a clk55 or slk55. My question is would c55 brembo brake calipers fit on the clk? I'd of course have to get different rotors but could they be fitted? Saw some c55 calipers on ebay for 1,100 for front and rears. They do come with rotors but well, needless to say they'd need replacing. For around 1,500 I could put the c55 calipers and new rotors on my 500, just wanted to make sure they'd fit before ordering the parts. Any ideas?

insame1

c55 brakes = 03/04clk55 brakes

koolavz

I'll take that as a yes they'll fit?

koolavz

So I might've just made a mistake or gotten a really good deal... I was going to buy a set of c55 calipers for my 500 when I saw a set of s55 caliper for less.... Now they are the 8 piston front and 4 piston rears. I couldn't say no so I offered the gentleman $1,000 for the set. Good deal? Will they fit the 500 or did I just buy a set of $1,000 paper weights?

BenzAMG99

I'm sorry man, but are you just now asking if they would fit after buying them?

insame1

https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...e-kit-c32.html

It still seems that the 05+ clk55 brake on the ones to have. they are much lighter that the s55 setup that I believe is shared with the e55. I think I am going to stick with my stock brakes because a. they work fine b. the are pretty light c. my rotors are only $250 to replace. JMHO

koolavz

Yeah the s55 rotors are 950 to replace so I'll probably steer clear of that.