hi all. i am new to this forum. i purchased an 04 c230 sedan sport about 11 days ago..i love the car ,but i could do with a little more horsepower...i have read all the posts that say that adding a powerchip and pulley could give me between 20 and 30 hp.but my question is what are the downsides to adding theses items e.g. less fuel economy,shorter life for my engine ,more frequent brakedowns...any thoughts or personal experinces on this would be great...thanks

 

There is no pulley for your car, only the 2002 C230 Coupes. 2003 and on use a different engine.

Erik

 

Erik, I thought Brabus or someone made a pulley for the lil 1.8 but it is ungodly expensive and I have yet to see anyone get it. Maybe with the Sport Sedan using the same engine and after 2 model years in production we may see something in the next year or so.

 

Not sure about what is available, but as with any engine mod the risks are as follows:

1) reliability -- you are relying on the quality of the aftermarket part (some are good, some not so good)

2) warranty -- any mod risks voiding the MB warranty, certainly so for anything that breaks MB could pin on the aftermarket part (for instance if your engine blows with a powerchip, it's on your dollar). Despite what aftermarket companies say, you risk a fight with MB if something goes wrong with a modded car. An exhaust would be low risk, a turbo-charger would be high risk in this area.

3) resale -- generally speaking, modded cars take a huge resale hit b/c most people don't want a used modded car (driven hard, car is outside MB tolerances, etc.). Of course you could always remove the mod before resale.

4) Leased cars -- all mods will have to be removed before lease turn in.

 

Carlsson's web page says they make pulleys for M271's.

 

Somebody has to have the ***** to go for it. I never met such a bunch of wimps as the 1.8L owners, not one has stepped up to the plate for a pulley upgrade and Carlsson has had one for a while. The 2.3L owners where all over the pulleys as soon as they came out.

So Carmos, be the one, get the pulley and chip and show the rest how it's done.....

 

Sorry, didn't realize Carlsson had one.

Part #11330323D - $3,645.81

Consists of a special belt pulley, vibration damper, deflection pulley, special airfilter, and Carlsson chrome insignia.

Erik

 

I don't think it's a matter of no one is willing to do it as much as the price of the pully kit is expensive.

That being said, I am more than willing to start taking donations and be the first one to try the Carlsson pully kit on my engine.

 

The former official brabus rep says he has a pulley kit for the M271 available which was made by same company who produces the brabus kit and is like 1/3 the price. if anyone is really interested i can ask him for more details.

 

I believe Renntech has a chip + pulley package at $2,000.

 

after some thinking ,i will probably go with an exhaust and powerchip 1st...i am a little hesitant about the pully...for exhaust its either supersprint or brabus...the supersprint has cat-back and the brabus is the muffler only...any idea's on how much i gain or lose by goiing catback or muffler only..prices i have gotten so far are 1200..00 for the supersprint catback and 850.00 for the brabus muffler only...thanks again...

 

I don't think there is much power gain in putting in new exhaust. When I look at the way Mercedes has design the exhaust for this car, it is pretty efficient. The only gain you are going to get is the noise if you do it right. Otherwise, you are going to see a loss of power if you do it wrong.

 

Supersprint says six hp for their catback. The Brabus muffler is a Remus with a Brabus logo on it.

 

Heck save your money, just remove the factory muffler, you'll get plenty of noise and 6 more HP, proved it on the dyno. If you want more quiet, just get a glasspack and you'll get a the same 6 HP.

 

Got Link?

 

Wow, really? A link/contact info would be nice...im sure a lot a lot of m271 owners would jump on this.

 

I just talked to him HE said he has to check with his manufacturer, but price should be around 1200 to 1500 USD with aprox 20-25 hp gain with just the pulley itself. I'll post more info once i get it.

MBphreak is your car a 320? or 230K?

 

************************************************** **
Heck save your money, just remove the factory muffler, you'll get plenty of noise and 6 more HP, proved it on the dyno. If you want more quiet, just get a glasspack and you'll get a the same 6 HP.
************************************************** *

Just wondering where you can this information from. Does this apply to the W203 sedan. Very interested to know. Thanks.

 

Don't know about your sedan, the dyno was done on my Coupe with the 2.3L motor. Hacksawed off the muffler and 5.9 HP magically appeared. Most mufflers, even the Remus that most people get appears to be just as restrictive as the stock muffler with baffles and chambers, the traditional muffler. Hot rodders, ricers, bikers and the like tend to want slightly more rumble and power and use a glass-pack style muffler. That type uses a straight through pipe with perforations and they using some kind off packing material (usually fiberglass, hence the word glass-pack) to reduce noise. If you want a cheap glass-pack but still reasonably well made using stainless steel then get the APC for about $99 and have a muffler shop custom fit it in or get the SuperSprint for slightly more at about $600 and it will fit without the custom work. You want the shortest muffler you can find to fit in the cavetity where the current muffler sits.