Hi everybody. Ive always had love for the amg c32. I currently own an 05 Honda S2000 modded for the track. I love the car but i am in need of more refinment and poWA.
Im looking at an 03 w/ 43k miles on it. How welld oes this tanny hold up with adding more power to the wheels? Anything i should know before the purchase? What are the usual steps people make to make more power...chip, pully, intake?
Thanks
Danny

 

i should make you search b/c there are TONS of threads about this, but i'm feeling nice so here you go:

bulletproof tranny (quoting an mb tech) and forged motor....it handles power fine....you will just need to upgrade your tires.

03 is fine...doesn't have the problems of the 02....just check to see if the seat modules have been replaced (for both front seats). also check to see if the IC pump as ever been replaced and when the last one (if one) was replaced.

as far as power, you can take whatever route you want. here are the popular options for power:

pulley: tons of options here:
Larger Crank Pulley Options: ASP 178mm, Evosport 178mm, Renntech 178mm, LET 181mm, LET 185mm
Smaller Supercharger Pulley: Code3Performance, and now newly released, Code3 Belt Wrap Kit to go with it

Intake: Code3 Intake, SL55 intake, LET intake

Tune: LET, VRP

Headers: LET, Evosport, VRP

Supporting Mods: plugs, wires, upgraded heat exchanger (LET or Code3), upgraded IC pump, upgraded IC,

Misc (not necessarily performance releated): resonator delete, secondary cat delete, nitrous, LSD, HSTQ

 

jturkel gave excellant info.

As for track use... I dont know if this would be the car for you. I too am a fan of track days (and Vintage Racing).

You being a driver of an S2k may feel a little otu of place in an automatic. I know that for track days I prefer a manual. But who am I to talk as I will be tracking my C32 soon.

Otherwise, I love the car. Mine is also an 03 with just around 45k.

Miguel

 

jturkel- thanks big time for that info . Trust me i know how it is when noobs ask questions like this on our forum but you gotta undersatnd jumping on a new forum takes time to get used to, plus abreviations and tuner names are totally different which make searching that much more difficult
-are the seat modules a factory recall? Aslo the IC pump?
-what are the pros&cons for getting a smaller/larger pully?

Calspeed- yeah comming from a 6speed manual(w/ shortend gears) to an auto is gonna be a change, but ALL that extra torque should make up for it. As for tracking this car, i dunno if i would but u never know

So do you guys think i'll be happy with this change to the amg from a speedy buzz machine(convertibles are loud)

 

yeah its generally believed the tranny can hold up to at least 500hp since its the same tranny as the e55. First thing you'll notice with the c32 is the Torque! I used to drive a integra GSR and when i a first drove it, i was blown away by the low end torque of the c32.

The car isn't as light and nimble as a s2k but you'll love the low to mid range torque and the utility of having 4dr.

Its easy to get power out of the car. You can basically get an additional 30whp for less then $1k.

These engines are hand made out of germany, so the drive train on these cars are solid. Only problem is that it suffers on the electrics like the other w203's.

 

lol....its all good....been there....i was just giving you a hard time.

Main hardware/tuning names:

Code3Performance, hardware, website: www.code3performance.com
Contact People: Brandon or Aaron

LET Motorsports
hardware, software, website: www.LETmotorsports.com
Contact People: Jerry, Wayne, or Jake

VRP Performance Tuning
hardware, software, website: www.vrptuning.com
Contact People: Vadim

There is something wrong with the seat modules in the car for the two front seats. Somehow, they end up draining power from the battery and it dies. This may have already been done under warranty. If not, there is a cheap $20 fix on this website i can link you to. It is not a factory recall

The IC pumps on this car go out like every 25K (+- X miles)....they just go out.....almost everyone has had this and the symptoms are almost always the same and easy to diagnose.....check to see when it was last replaced (if ever)...the stock one is a Bosch....most people replace them here with the CM30 pumps which last longer than the stock pump. That pump i think costs between 150 and 175.

Pulleys:

So for our cars (C32s), you can get more power by either increasing the size of the crank pulley OR decreasing the size of the supercharger pulley.

Crank Pulley: Generally comes as a kit with a crank pulley either as a 178mm, 181mm, or 185mm. 185mm makes the most boost/power, then 181, then 178. These come with other accessory pulleys (water pump and idler) to install as well. Stock belt is maintained.
PROS: 181 and 185 can give you more power than the supercharger pulley
CONS: More difficult to install, takes longer to install, a little more expensive (new)


Supercharger pulley: Smaller supercharger pulley will mean the pulley will spin faster and thus the supercharger will get more power. Currently only Code3 has one for the car. It makes similar power as the 178mm crank pulley. Nice thing is that it is just one pulley and is about a 15-20 minute install (if you have the right tools).
PROS: Ease of install, Cheaper (new) than crank pulleys (generally)
CONS: Minor belt slippage (code3 now has a belt wrap kit to help mitigate/resolve this), not as much power as 181 and 185 crank pulleys

 

All that is nice but if you're picking up a c32 with such low mileage I recommend seeking some kind of extended warranty. The unexpected could happen.

 

Owning an AMG car out of warranty can get very expensive.