190Benz

Hi guys!

I am making a build thread for my car so I can keep a diary of my car and so you guys can maybe learn from some stuff that I will do or will be done to my car because the C204 is a fairly new platform for tuning.

First off I’ll introduce myself. I am Niels, 27y old and I work as a sales manager in a car parts store in Belgium, where I live. I have been active on this forum for some while. Most of the time in the W203 forum.

I have a W201 190d EVOIII project/show car. Was also featured in a Mercedes Tuner magazine (I'm waiting for the car to be considered an old-timer for the Belgian technical inspection so I can legally do an engine swap)



And a W203 C200cdi. Daily driver/ring toy. Will also be featured in Mercedes Tuner magazine. My dad bought the car from me.



I bought the C204 because I love the lines of the car and the facelift nose. I chose a 250cgi because I have been driving diesels my whole life and wanted a gasoline engine now. From my point of view this engine is easily tunable because of its turbo. In Belgium it is forbidden to tune an engine. So it isn't that noticeable that my car is tuned when it already has a turbo. I didn't buy a C350 or C63 because the price of the car, taxes and gasoline is to *******g high here in Belgium! You can get a C63 in the US for the price you get a C250 cgi here.






I bought the car in July and I have been loving it since then. First mod I did was the Burger Motorsports air filter. I did this just for the sound. I know it will suck in more hot air now.


Second mod was a C63 style grill with distronic star (from Superstyling.eu on Ebay) and replace my D1S xenon bulbs with 6000k replacements.


(Behind the C204 you can see my beater Opel Rekord E1 2.3d)

Since 12 November my car has been staying at Eisenmann research & development and to produce the a quad exhaust for the C250cgi and get it homologated. They are still working on the CAD drawings and calculating the sound. They told me that they have a difficult time getting a great sound from the engine. Probably because it's a turbo I4...


I will pick up my car in 2.5 weeks and then it will probably stay at the KW factory for research and development for the first KW DDC ECU coil over kit for the C250cgi and to get the kit homologated.


I have already been discussing with a known Saab tuner in the Netherlands to tune my car. We have agreed on a custom intercooler, oil catch can, reworked turbo, A45 AMG injectors, custom downpipe with race catalyst and a custom mapping. After that I will take a look on what brakes and wheels to get.


That brings us to today. I will keep you guys posted with the updates that Eisenmann will give me. When I receive my car I will record a clip to show you the exhaust note.

VIPCHOI

great! subscribed

Jon@BMS

Sounds fun. Nice car.

AV1

Nice work getting it all involved with the actual tuning companies - well done

190Benz

Thanks for the positive response. I was expecting some hate because there are allot of C350 owners hating on C250 owners that want to tune their cars.

I will copy my post from the 250vs350 topic to draw a better picture of the situation here in Belgium and why I made these choises.
"So I did some calculation on the Mercedes US and Mercedes Belgium website. A C250, with the same options, costs $53.129 in the US and in Belgium $75.745... And I'm not even talking about taxes, first registration, insurance and gasoline prices in Belgium. A C350 is roughly $10.000 more than a C250. Then I'd rather have a tuned C250 cgi (I love tuning and working on my cars) then a C350 which is also more expensive in taxes and insurance. I can afford a C350. But I just like tuning my car and I don't like giving the government my money.

So for the price of a C250 cgi in Belgium, I can get an C63 AMG in the US... So this 250vs350 hating is just stupid... Every person has to look if he wants to spend that amount of money, where he lives and if he loves tuning cars. This thread was made to compare the cars. Not the owners...."

So now that the elephant is out of the room (and me making an off topic comment in my own topic :-s ) I can talk about my project.

The fact that I get these opportunities to work with big manufacturers of tuning parts is because of my job. We are dealers for these brands so I have some contacts there. The second fact is that the C250 is fairly new, so there are not many parts out there and even lesser with the homologations I need for Belgium. So I hope that they get to producing the parts quickly after the mock up and homologation is done so you guys can also order them and fit them to your cars. I will also put some reviews of the parts installed on my car.

Pickup date for my car is the 10th December at Eisenmann. And then straight to the KW factory until 21 December.

At first i wanted to go with Bilstein (I had a B16 PSS9 set on my W203 and love it!) . But they aren't really looking into a sollution for the W/C/S204's with the electronic dampening. So i went with KW. I noticed their customer service is also better then Bilstein.

AV1

This is indeed truly a ridiculous situation on this forum.

Thankfully it does seem to be limited to a small group of C350 owners though - truly bizzare it is

I don't see the same of C180, C250 or C63 owners diesel or petrol variants hating on other models/variants as what's happened here on numerous threads and there are numerous threads here where C350's are been modified in a similar manner, yet those C350 owners who hate on C250's never comment on those in a similar subject manner nor have I seen C63 owners come in those threads and bash on them for not buying a C63 instead and all the other nonsense they carry on about LOL

Also IMHO not sure about other areas of this board, but there's definitely a lack of moderator control in this forum section, otherwise alot of these kinds of threads should be cleaned up or even halted before getting out of control, I may make further enquiries on this matter.

Anyway back on the OP I am definitely looking forward to your results as the very interesting aspect here is it could provide alot of help to others wanting the same with these products being developed specifically for these vehicles from scratch and your involvement is the key to it happening, so again well done

skat004

+1

I'm looking forward to your build 190Benz

190Benz

@AV1: I totaly agree with you on the 250vs350. I spend most of my time on the w203 thread in the past. Did see the haters there...

So I got my invoice from KC Performance this morning. On the list of upgrades are: custom intercooler, reworked OEM turbo, oil cooler, oil catch can, service on the engine, custom mapping and testing on a dyno. The injectors will probably for the near future. I will drive around with this setup first. Because you always get used to the power of an engine and AMG said they would rather have that we wait until the A45 AMG is released to provide us with the injectors.

AV1

Sounds like the full combination upgrade there, could become a complete kit offering in future for the 1.8ltr petrol turbo engine which could cover a broad range of models not just the C Class.

On the subject of the A45 as you know I'm eagerly awaiting to arrival of that vehicle can't wait to test drive and fully explore it, see how well or not it stacks up against the competition, most notably the Audi RS3

paleface

wow, thats great. Please share the sound of eisenmann if you already get your car back.

About the tune for the engine, how many HP gain is your target?

Just curious about your project and the result

190Benz

@AV1: Maybe the intercooler, oil cooler and oil catch can be a kit in the future. But my OEM turbo is modified. So that would be a pain in the *** to get people to send their turbo in to get it modified or to use as a trade. There might be a different turbo in the future as we are now just doing test fazes because it's pretty much unknown territory. I had a conversation with KC Performance and a friend of mine that has a custom mapping company. And they both said that they had to figure out how much they can get unlocked of the ECU.

@paleface: Will do my friend! I'm looking forward to the sound :-) I had a call from KC Performance and our target for now should be +-270hp. The turbo will be modified for +-320hp. I asked if it wasn't a better idea to swap the turbo then instead of modifying the OEM turbo to get more hp. But he told me that it would be better to work at a slow pace and upgrade bit by bit to see how everything reacts and because he doesn't know how many parameters can be adjusted in the ECU. Once they had there go with the ECU and the upgraded components, he would take a look and do some calculations on what potential the engine has.

I'll post pictures of another update tomorrow... It's ok to be psyched about it! Some people might think it is overkill, but I couldn't let these pass. The parts came off a burned down C63...

DameMD

Subscribing to this....I would like to see what the results are as I also have access to some performance shops. Just affraid to be the guinea pig.

190Benz

With some delay because i was busy for work... Here are the pictures!

It's a complete brake set (calipers, pads, disks) from a W204 C63 AMG with Performance Package with a burned out engine. Disks were milled down to remove a bit of rust from standing outside and to check if the disks were warped. Pads are still good. The set had only 37.000km on them.

MiamiDJs4u.com

WOW!!! i was thinking of the same brake upgrade..sadly never found a c63 that has been trashed...yet!

davidwhelan3

Luckiest man on earth! Found a junkyard c63, I would rip the steering wheel right out if it and put it in my car , let me know if you can get it, I'll buy it from you

AV1

I agree, hopefully you can get your hands on it

I scored and have a brand new C63 steering wheel (all nappa, not alcantara) which will be installed by my dealer at my first scheduled service next year, main reason I wanted one is for the larger paddle shifters, but it's also nice to have the chamfered or squared off upper portion as well - drove many AMG models on the track earlier this year with the same steering wheel and loved the feel of it

190Benz I love your progress so far, would definitely like to know how the C63 got its engine burnt out ?? sounds like total abuse, those engines are meant to be bullet proof.

davidwhelan3

Where did you get the wheel from?

Knightmare69

Subscribed! I'm looking forward to this build and excited that we have a member with the resources to actually mod our platform beyond the stance wide wheel age. One thing regarding the Eisenmann, possible they can offer a single exhaust option? I know alot of ppl want duals and etc but for me, given that it's more for sound than performance, I don't see myself paying more on top of the exhaust to accommodate a dual fitment.

190Benz

@Knightmare69: I'm guessing they will also be able to sell you a single exhaust set now that they have the correct sizes for the C 250 coupe.

@AV1: The car was a pre facelift. I like my facelift steeringwheel better. About the reason the C63 burned out. I don't know. Here you have a picture. I'm guessing he just drove into a tree or something.


@davidwhelan3: Just one of the advantages of living next to Germany :-) I really love Germany. The roads, the people, the shops, everything is organised...
You can ask the guy himself. He doesn't speak English. bs_teile_center@yahoo.de

@MiamiDJs4u.com: You just need to know the right people. Many of the parts that scrapyards have lying around aren't put on the web because it would be to much work. Or you could check german Ebay. Last month there was a non Performance Package set for sale.


The disks will be sprayed with WD40 today and put in plastic bags so they don't rust again. Because they won't be fitted until next month since my car is at Eisenmann or KW. I will get some adapter pieces CNC'ed to fit the brake calipers. I'll make sure that save there template so if somebody finds a C63 brake set, he can ask for an adapter set.

AV1

^^^ I see re: the C63, pity for the car but bonus for you having scored the bits

Also agree about the pre face lift interior on the C Class, not one bit as desirable as the current model, the Coupe is of course heaps better than the sedans or estates as it features current E Class Coupe model seats as well which look and feel alot better than the seats in other C Class variants

The steering wheel I scored over a year ago even before I purchased the car from a link on the net that was from a German or Austrian person selling them brand new at that time for a fraction of the cost (who knows where they originally came from ??) but I was only able to buy just one as my MB dealer was also interested in the same but missed out.

It's the real deal ie. genuine OEM item, packaging and all - here in Australia from MB they're worth about 3.5k I got it for $700AUD all up

There are 2 types, personally I don't like the one in alcantara finish and I'm happy I scored the nappa leather finished version, it's still all wrapped up until it gets installed next year.

Maybe try doing a search over the net and see if anything similar pops up

190Benz

I have been mailing with Eisenmann and KW today to confirm the pick up and the drop off this Monday. The Eisenmann contact has send me 2 pictures. I think it looks great :-) I could have picked a smaller size of exhaust tips, but I like these. I'm hoping that it sound as good as it looks.

AV1

Whoa those tips look huge LOL

From what I've seen all the aftermarket quality brand quad tips are larger than the OEM AMG tips, the cheaper brands copied AMG quad tips are similar size to the originals.

I like the way you've installed a heat shield on the RH side as well nicely done and complete

I already have that RH heat shield for my eventual dual or quad conversion.

Looking forward to seeing it all done - great work to this point

paleface

very niceee. i like the tail pipes. it look more aggresive.
Video Sound pleaseeee

The Fonz

Nice work so far.
where did you get the rear difuser?

190Benz

@AV1: Yeah tips are a little bigger then the OEM AMG ones. I wanted these because I'm going for an aggresive look. They were thinking of also doing a regular AMG-tip sized version. Yes i wanted the OEM heatshield to be in place.

@Paleface: I can't wait to hear the exhaust :-) The car is still at Eisenmann. I will make a quick soundclip on Monday when i pick up the car. It's a one hour drive to KW and then I will miss my car for another 2 weeks... :-(

@The Fonz: Heatshield, diffuser and the diffuser brackets are OEM from the stealership.