My C230k Coupe Project
personally I love the color blue... but this was my grandma's car... chinese ppl like red for good fortune and stuff.... had a hard time getting out of the "cute zone"
Tommy!! I see that your car is tuned by OE?? could you share your experience with them??
thank you!!
they pick on me.Tommy is definitely the guy to talk to about boost


As far as OE is concerned, shipping it out and getting it sent back from them was a piece of cake. And I've been very happy with the results - I posted them on my build thread.
The one hiccup in the tuning was that, initially, there was no boost at all after I reinstalled the ecu. Then, a week later, it came back on, also for no reason. I have no idea why,maybe it needed to re-cycle through, maybe the pins are not in the best shape after removing it so many times, not sure. I am sure that boost levels are higher, and there was definite pickup according to my buttdyno, which has never steered me wrong.

As far as modding is concerned, these cars are a very tough nut to crack. And very expensive for the meager amount of gain that you do end up getting. Take that 2 grand and put it into another car and you'll get much further. Oh well, it's a challenge.
And does anyone know how to put the leather panel back without scratching the center console again?

That lower screw isn't a wood screw, is it?

As women will tell you, a little tenderness goes a long way. Damn, you sure did a number on it.




The headers- Where the 3rd piece where the other pieces go into?
If it's Supersprint you re missing a piece. $1400 !!?

Geez, I paid $700. They were supposed to sell for about 800 there was a group buy at 600 once.
Where'd you get the replica wheels?
You can buy a used C32 for about 12 grand.
CLK55 isn't even supercharged.
BTW- They aren't CARB approved, but I cut my heat shield to fit so it looks stock.
I imagine Evilsport isn't a bad place to take your car as long as you don't give a crap about money. Here on the forum, it's all about bang for the buck.
Subby and Steve Johnson seem to be the M111 experts but Steve seems to be a little....um....well, like did you see the modified M45 supercharger he had? Spent like 3 grand having every bit of unecessary metal filed off, but then never installed.
He had a set of Shrick cams, rare indeed, but never installed.
Hard to tell whats what with that guy.
Subby on the other hand has a running car but is in NZ and smog is not even an issue for him.
Spend a few hundred bucks, send your supercharger out for porting, that about all you can do.
Take out the TB and MAF screens, and supercharger muffler too while you have it out for porting.
Kleeman had a modded car shootout and only managed 250HP at the crank.
http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...s-coupe-page-2
Only other option on the coupe, is C320 coupe with Kleeman Supercharger for 330HP, but no one has done on a coupe (Check username Sunil, he did it on a C320 sedan and last I looked was shoehorning a E55 Kompressor motor into his C320 sedan). In 2003 when the C320 coupe came out one year after I bought mine, Mercedes was giving the damn things away with a 6 grand incentive. So base price was 28K but that went down to 22K NEW!
I was tempted to sell mine, order a C320 with maybe just leather and C7,(and auto since the manny can't handle all that power sadly) and send it out to Kleeman.
The Kleeman kit is about 10 grand though. It would've been about 35K total for a stripped C320 with the Kleeman. And then who would work on it?
Thats about the most you can do with a coupe.
I do keep a documentary of my coupe... It's just wasn't on online forums...

Ok Mr.Todd let me try to answer your questions one by one because there was a lot of info posted in the past few days and they are pretty over whelming~
1) I have two sets of wheels
- track: staggered 18" off of a ~2002 S55 AMG
- street: 18" AMG black series(or not) REPLICAS http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/..._24.html#photo

- I think I'll put the M62 on the top of my list, seems like that is the more efficient way for power gain. But why would it be illegal in California?
- Swapping was the first thing that I considered when I started last year. but the price for savaged C32 were all around $11000. that is 1k more than my budget for the entire car. personally I would be better off with a used 05 clk55 for $20000

- 143 is determined to have malfunctions already pre-exist in the system I but have yet to target them. (I was hoping that by going to "evilsports" they would help me find some, they say I should be no less than 170whp stock)
- Since then I haven't dyno after upgrades, I do not know what gains each part contributed.


PS: can anyone varify that these are supersprint??



- our M111 are cast-iron blocks... no doubt that its strong, so why can't we achieve higher power while the old 2L vtecs can?? (apart from siemens chip being so difficult)
- apparently there are horror stories about "evilsports" that I do not know about. Thanks for the heads up
but I've tried many performance companies here in socal and they seems to be the most experience. (yes their customers are all very well off, their garage is quite a sight...) what other person/place can I go to to have my car upgraded? - to be honest... after reading all the threads and posts... I am very discouraged... I love my car, I know it has potential to do better. Assuming all my "parts" has been decreasing performance, it stil makes every drive enjoyable. I love the solid sound of my exhaust, steering is heavy but it holds its place going around bends, it under steers at corner exit so gotta throw the back around even if ESP constantly cutting power >< I don't want to loss faith.... reality why you so cruel?!!!
So in conclusion... I'm willing to throw in all my savings of $2000 to achieve 230whp

Last edited by C230 Sport Coup; Feb 1, 2012 at 03:03 PM.




I've been extolling the virtues of a thicker rear bar while keeping the front AMG bar. (also not stock)
Jerkin decided to go with a thicker front bar too, but here's the way it works.
Understeer- Either get a thicker rear bar, or a thinner front bar.
Oversteer- Thinner rear bar, or thicker front bar.
My suspension already rides like a Flintstone car so not putting anything thicker on the front, and then it would just increase the understeer.
I originally had AMG front and rear. But read an article describing the effect stated above. I used to live in the mountains, and at times I'd be hard charging into a corner, only to have the car heading staight into an embankment, not turning.
Changed rear bar, and wow, it just grabbed into the corners.
So that's the deal with that.
The Best of Mercedes & AMG
there is a third piece and its here...
The wheels I bought was from wheelplus in downtown LA... should be able to find similar item, if not from them, by searching "18" AMG wheels" on ebay... maybe I'll try to find a link to it later today...
sigh... maybe i'm better off just buying a used C32...
but this car has sentimental meaning and I would like to keep it in the family...
YES... I think I should send the supercharger for porting, OE tune it, and call it done for now~ (assuming my cousin don't crash it, 8years later when I have my own house, I want to turn this coupe in to a track car
) My Bilstien PSS9 doesn't ride that harsh when its on the softer setting, so street driving Id consider very good. (but not hard enough for track even on the hardest setting)
So right now I'm running Eibach sways: front 24mm rear 22mm
I would need thicker in the back... then again... our coupe feel tail heavy... so more oversteer could be a handful on a off camber turn??
But regardless this information is definitely is what I was looking for!! thanks for the insights!! now how to find thinker rear....
Last edited by gundam266; Feb 1, 2012 at 07:55 PM.

That lower screw isn't a wood screw, is it?

As women will tell you, a little tenderness goes a long way. Damn, you sure did a number on it.

How hard is the projector fog install? I absolutely hated swapping out the foglight bulbs the last time I did it.








Damn, you can also effect understeer/oversteer with tire pressure, and to some degree with alignment.
Lower pressure will cause it grab, higher it will slip.
So understeer- reduce front tire pressure/increase rear.
Oversteer- Opposite.
Glad to see you got the 3rd piece.
I never woulda paid that, but then I was obessessed.
Funny thing, I wound up with what looks like a stock 2005 coupe.
there is a third piece and its here...
The wheels I bought was from wheelplus in downtown LA... should be able to find similar item, if not from them, by searching "18" AMG wheels" on ebay... maybe I'll try to find a link to it later today...
sigh... maybe i'm better off just buying a used C32...
but this car has sentimental meaning and I would like to keep it in the family...
YES... I think I should send the supercharger for porting, OE tune it, and call it done for now~ (assuming my cousin don't crash it, 8years later when I have my own house, I want to turn this coupe in to a track car
) My Bilstien PSS9 doesn't ride that harsh when its on the softer setting, so street driving Id consider very good. (but not hard enough for track even on the hardest setting)
So right now I'm running Eibach sways: front 24mm rear 22mm
I would need thicker in the back... then again... our coupe feel tail heavy... so more oversteer could be a handful on a off camber turn??
But regardless this information is definitely is what I was looking for!! thanks for the insights!! now how to find thinker rear....

Damn, you can also effect understeer/oversteer with tire pressure, and to some degree with alignment.
Lower pressure will cause it grab, higher it will slip.
So understeer- reduce front tire pressure/increase rear.
Oversteer- Opposite.
Glad to see you got the 3rd piece.
I never woulda paid that, but then I was obessessed.
Funny thing, I wound up with what looks like a stock 2005 coupe.
then again its double the pricing... maybe he had them re-open the production line or something, I really don't know where he get these parts...
As promised I actually found an ebay link~ LOL http://www.ebay.com/itm/18x8-0-MERCE...item43a7619c0d Apparently they were replicas styled after the SLS~
humm... but isn't the 05 coupe not available in the US? so I'd say that is an achievement!
Actually you reminded me of a major challenge I have!!!
THE FRONT CAMBER IS NOT ADJUSTABLE FROM FACTORY!!!!! unlike the rear I couldnt find any camber kits for it... it is set at -1.3 and -0.9, this was mentioned by Mercedes that they did this so the car will stray to the right and avoid on coming traffic if something should happen to the driver.
So question is... what can we do to overcome this well intentioned but flawed design??
Last edited by gundam266; Feb 2, 2012 at 03:10 AM.
Todd when you say under steer- thinner front bar. Do you mean that's how you get it or how you overcome it? Because I would assume that's how you get it. And if you get lower front tire pressure I would assume that's how you would avoid it and begin having oversteer... Right?
And tommy. It's just the two bolts that hold the fog light on.. The ***** is taking off the cover that's on the bottom of our cars. But like I said . For shipping and you can have then to play with haha




As I stated after the original bars were replaced with AMG bars, along with Vogtland springs. (and later TEIN CO's)
While stiffer and the car riding flatter, the car was still understeering, ie like plowing into corners, not grabbing.
It seems Mercedes is known for setting up suspensions this way.
So at some point I drove an M3 and it was like WTF? Man the car grabbed the corners, so after some research I determined a thicker rear bar should fix it.
Now that being said, I'm not sure, but if you have stock bars and replace just the rear bar, it may wind up oversteering, and could be dangerous. Not recommended.
You don't want the back end of the car coming around in a hot corner.
Porche 911's are known for over steering since the engine is in the back.
That's why they do so much better with 4wd.
As far as camber bolts, I had mine installed by the dealer, I beeched big time about the car pulling to the right. But now that they are installed the only place that ever adjusted them was the dealer.
No one else will touch them. Bas turds! They always promise they will, but then just 'set the toe and let it go'.
Mercedes didn't see fit to design a suspension specific to the coupe.
It just threw the sedan stuff on there.
It feels pretty good in the sedan's I've driven, especially the 2005 loaners I had back in the day,
that came with AMG bars from the factory.
But the coupe, from the factory, all that weight, sitting up high in the back, requires a different solution
than a sedan. After 1 year of driving it over highway 17 everyday, I was tired of it.
It was like wresting a greased pig all the way home.
Replacing the springs and sways left me feeling refreshed instead of exhausted when I arrived home,
and knocked 5 minutes average off my commute. I didn't have to fight just to stay in the seat on the corners.
Todd when you say under steer- thinner front bar. Do you mean that's how you get it or how you overcome it? Because I would assume that's how you get it. And if you get lower front tire pressure I would assume that's how you would avoid it and begin having oversteer... Right?
And tommy. It's just the two bolts that hold the fog light on.. The ***** is taking off the cover that's on the bottom of our cars. But like I said . For shipping and you can have then to play with haha
Last edited by C230 Sport Coup; Feb 2, 2012 at 01:42 PM.




Thats when they went to the 2 tone tails, clear halogens,
led mirror blinkers, different bumpers, and grill.
Much better looking, but I need some different wheels, but no money for that right now.
2002 looks dated without updating.




My current tires are a fairly hard compound, and are cheap crap,
but they are supposed to last longer.
With times what they are, I wanted tires that last vs.
sticky.
Besides, the twisty roads aren't around the corner like they used to be when I lived in Santa Cruz county.
So point being, I would have no reason to go with a thicker front bar.
Damn thing is stiff enough as it is.
Good thing I don't have blue header, I'd never pass smog! Ha.
Which did the other day.
Thought this was amazing... It's supposed to let us run 114.3 wheels on our stud conversions. Or just google wobble bolts if you don't have a stud conversion
so I've just got my car dynoed on valentine's day XD
here is the result

and a vid bonus http://youtu.be/zWJrMRDnAxk
so please let me know if these numbers looks normal compared with one with ASP pulley~ Thanks!!
gross lol...tommy do you have a turbo timer? i will post a pic of my new rims and new seats.. and everything once i buy some fluffy pillows for my rear... you'll understand when you see it haha



