Information overload - need practical mod advice.
03-11-2010, 12:39 AM
#1
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was 1999 C230K then 2003 C32 AMG NOW 2016 AMG GLE63
Information overload - need practical mod advice.
Hello, My name is Barry and I picked up a 2003 C32 about 8 months ago. My previous car was a C230K that I put 120k on before I fell in love with the C32 [the sneaky salesman gave me the C32 as a loaner while the C230K was in the shop...]
As far as I can tell the car is stock, but I don't have any service records to back that up. I have put about 20K miles on the car so far for a total of just over 90k right now.
So, I am jawing with the sneakey salesman [mentioned above] during my 90k service and he mentiones that with come computer work and a "harmonic balancer" he can add 50hp to my car. Wheather this claim is true or BS does not matter, I wouldn't have the shop do it unless I was actually unable to perform some mod myself, but it *DID* get me thinking about molesting my new toy.
I had joined up here when I had the C230K, so I came back and found this section. I have tried to reed through the newbies guide, but I quickly realized that I am pretty far behind the power curve here and am not really sure what questions to even search for the answers to. In a perfect world, I would have days to sit and read all of those threads and educate myself, but since I am still employed, I do not.
So, here's my dilema: I have a buddy with a GTO that is convinced he can blow my doors off, and right now, he probably can. This is unacceptable.
This car is a daily driver, and I tend to put ALOT of miles on a car, so I am going to be a tad on the conservative side of the power vs longevity question, but just a tad.
One thing I have changed is the tires.. The car came with Yoko S-drives and I wasn't happy with their wet performance, so I swapped them for a set of "Fierce Instinct ZR's" http://www.fiercetires.com/tires/instinct-zr/index.html [they were the only ones in the right sizes that the tire place had in stock] and I have to say I am VERY happy with them. I have almost 10K on them now and they seem to be performing quite well especially considering how much snow and yuck time they have seen. The best thing is that they are ridiculusly cheap, as in 1/2 the price of the yoko's [as quoted by the shop]
What I need is a kindof roadmap for modifications/tips and problem fixes to explore, something like:
First thing, replace xxxx part because they break,
Then add part yyy because it's cool,
Then buy widgets zzz and vvv because togeather they add 87 HP...etc
I am already considering some manner of pulley and that pulley saver kit, some type of intake, and some way to hook my ipod directly [local sterio shop was afraid of the benz and said no...]
So whatcha got?
Obligatory pictures:
the old C230K:
The new [to me] C32:
As far as I can tell the car is stock, but I don't have any service records to back that up. I have put about 20K miles on the car so far for a total of just over 90k right now.
So, I am jawing with the sneakey salesman [mentioned above] during my 90k service and he mentiones that with come computer work and a "harmonic balancer" he can add 50hp to my car. Wheather this claim is true or BS does not matter, I wouldn't have the shop do it unless I was actually unable to perform some mod myself, but it *DID* get me thinking about molesting my new toy.
I had joined up here when I had the C230K, so I came back and found this section. I have tried to reed through the newbies guide, but I quickly realized that I am pretty far behind the power curve here and am not really sure what questions to even search for the answers to. In a perfect world, I would have days to sit and read all of those threads and educate myself, but since I am still employed, I do not.
So, here's my dilema: I have a buddy with a GTO that is convinced he can blow my doors off, and right now, he probably can. This is unacceptable.
This car is a daily driver, and I tend to put ALOT of miles on a car, so I am going to be a tad on the conservative side of the power vs longevity question, but just a tad.
One thing I have changed is the tires.. The car came with Yoko S-drives and I wasn't happy with their wet performance, so I swapped them for a set of "Fierce Instinct ZR's" http://www.fiercetires.com/tires/instinct-zr/index.html [they were the only ones in the right sizes that the tire place had in stock] and I have to say I am VERY happy with them. I have almost 10K on them now and they seem to be performing quite well especially considering how much snow and yuck time they have seen. The best thing is that they are ridiculusly cheap, as in 1/2 the price of the yoko's [as quoted by the shop]
What I need is a kindof roadmap for modifications/tips and problem fixes to explore, something like:
First thing, replace xxxx part because they break,
Then add part yyy because it's cool,
Then buy widgets zzz and vvv because togeather they add 87 HP...etc
I am already considering some manner of pulley and that pulley saver kit, some type of intake, and some way to hook my ipod directly [local sterio shop was afraid of the benz and said no...]
So whatcha got?
Obligatory pictures:
the old C230K:
The new [to me] C32:
03-11-2010, 01:53 AM
#2
Hello, My name is Barry and I picked up a 2003 C32 about 8 months ago. My previous car was a C230K that I put 120k on before I fell in love with the C32 [the sneaky salesman gave me the C32 as a loaner while the C230K was in the shop...]
As far as I can tell the car is stock, but I don't have any service records to back that up. I have put about 20K miles on the car so far for a total of just over 90k right now.
So, I am jawing with the sneakey salesman [mentioned above] during my 90k service and he mentiones that with come computer work and a "harmonic balancer" he can add 50hp to my car. Wheather this claim is true or BS does not matter, I wouldn't have the shop do it unless I was actually unable to perform some mod myself, but it *DID* get me thinking about molesting my new toy.
I had joined up here when I had the C230K, so I came back and found this section. I have tried to reed through the newbies guide, but I quickly realized that I am pretty far behind the power curve here and am not really sure what questions to even search for the answers to. In a perfect world, I would have days to sit and read all of those threads and educate myself, but since I am still employed, I do not.
So, here's my dilema: I have a buddy with a GTO that is convinced he can blow my doors off, and right now, he probably can. This is unacceptable.
This car is a daily driver, and I tend to put ALOT of miles on a car, so I am going to be a tad on the conservative side of the power vs longevity question, but just a tad.
One thing I have changed is the tires.. The car came with Yoko S-drives and I wasn't happy with their wet performance, so I swapped them for a set of "Fierce Instinct ZR's" http://www.fiercetires.com/tires/instinct-zr/index.html [they were the only ones in the right sizes that the tire place had in stock] and I have to say I am VERY happy with them. I have almost 10K on them now and they seem to be performing quite well especially considering how much snow and yuck time they have seen. The best thing is that they are ridiculusly cheap, as in 1/2 the price of the yoko's [as quoted by the shop]
What I need is a kindof roadmap for modifications/tips and problem fixes to explore, something like:
First thing, replace xxxx part because they break,
Then add part yyy because it's cool,
Then buy widgets zzz and vvv because togeather they add 87 HP...etc
I am already considering some manner of pulley and that pulley saver kit, some type of intake, and some way to hook my ipod directly [local sterio shop was afraid of the benz and said no...]
As far as I can tell the car is stock, but I don't have any service records to back that up. I have put about 20K miles on the car so far for a total of just over 90k right now.
So, I am jawing with the sneakey salesman [mentioned above] during my 90k service and he mentiones that with come computer work and a "harmonic balancer" he can add 50hp to my car. Wheather this claim is true or BS does not matter, I wouldn't have the shop do it unless I was actually unable to perform some mod myself, but it *DID* get me thinking about molesting my new toy.
I had joined up here when I had the C230K, so I came back and found this section. I have tried to reed through the newbies guide, but I quickly realized that I am pretty far behind the power curve here and am not really sure what questions to even search for the answers to. In a perfect world, I would have days to sit and read all of those threads and educate myself, but since I am still employed, I do not.
So, here's my dilema: I have a buddy with a GTO that is convinced he can blow my doors off, and right now, he probably can. This is unacceptable.
This car is a daily driver, and I tend to put ALOT of miles on a car, so I am going to be a tad on the conservative side of the power vs longevity question, but just a tad.
One thing I have changed is the tires.. The car came with Yoko S-drives and I wasn't happy with their wet performance, so I swapped them for a set of "Fierce Instinct ZR's" http://www.fiercetires.com/tires/instinct-zr/index.html [they were the only ones in the right sizes that the tire place had in stock] and I have to say I am VERY happy with them. I have almost 10K on them now and they seem to be performing quite well especially considering how much snow and yuck time they have seen. The best thing is that they are ridiculusly cheap, as in 1/2 the price of the yoko's [as quoted by the shop]
What I need is a kindof roadmap for modifications/tips and problem fixes to explore, something like:
First thing, replace xxxx part because they break,
Then add part yyy because it's cool,
Then buy widgets zzz and vvv because togeather they add 87 HP...etc
I am already considering some manner of pulley and that pulley saver kit, some type of intake, and some way to hook my ipod directly [local sterio shop was afraid of the benz and said no...]
wow....you got a C32 for a loaner car? what is the world coming to!?!? haha
welcome to this C32/55 section then, since you are not new to the site.
first off, yes your salesman is right...you can add power...and a decent amount too.....
some options for power include larger crank pulley (different sizes for different boost levels; your salesman referred to this as the harmonic balancer) or smaller supercharger pulley, tune, intake, headers. some of the supporting mods include a larger heat exchanger, different i/c pump......i think the best mods are in my sig, but i suppose i'm partial
a tune and pulley can definitely get you 50hp...maybe not 50 to the WHEELS, but 50 crank hp, sure.
as far as your friends GTO.....is it a LS1 (5.7L) or LS2 (6.0L)? and is it stock? if not, what mods? a stock C32 should hold its own against a stock LS1. I *think* a stock LS2 would pull a stock C32, but I'm not entirely sure. I can say that my modded C32 has pulled on quite heavily modded GTOs (full bolt on, gears, and one even with a mild cam)
as far as maintenance
the intecoooler pump will go out at some point. get a CM30 i/c pump to replace it. the stock Bosch ones are prone to premature/early failure.
radiator....depending on yr of your car and model radiator, some are prone to have glycol contamination, leading to nasty/expensive transmission issues. many people swap them out to for the good/updated model to prevent this from occurring.
other things: pulley saver kit, you mentioned it. it is nice, but you dont need it with stock pulleys. if you decide to go with a pulley setup, then feel free to go with one.
intake? lots of options....SL55 is what i have. there is also the Eurocharged intake and the Code3 intake.
03-11-2010, 10:37 AM
#3
Super Member
Also, if you haven't read it already, you might want to check out this recent thread: https://mbworld.org/forums/c32-amg-c...-i-bought.html
Like Jturkel said above, you can pretty much just go to www.eurocharged.com and open your wallet. You also might want to check out www.hpautowerks.com for cooling mods (imho, their's are the best and slip into your setup more seamlessly)
Depending on your budget there are plenty of tuners for our cars, but as i'm sure you'll find these two give you the best bang for your buck.
Welcome and good luck
03-11-2010, 10:54 AM
#4
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Join Date: Nov 2007
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'03 C32, '08 ML63
Welcome aboard. 
Like the others have said the crank pulley and tune are a good first start. You might ask around for a used 185MM crank pulley or perhaps send a PM to loungin14 and see if he can put together a crank pulley & tune package deal for you. Eurocharged / LET are some great guys and personally I wouldn't look elsewhere for tune/pulley.
Enjoy the forums, there's a wealth of knowledge here.
Like the others have said the crank pulley and tune are a good first start. You might ask around for a used 185MM crank pulley or perhaps send a PM to loungin14 and see if he can put together a crank pulley & tune package deal for you. Eurocharged / LET are some great guys and personally I wouldn't look elsewhere for tune/pulley.
Enjoy the forums, there's a wealth of knowledge here.
03-11-2010, 02:37 PM
#5
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was 1999 C230K then 2003 C32 AMG NOW 2016 AMG GLE63
What I want to know from you is where to pick up the cherry flavored hood ornaments...
03-11-2010, 04:06 PM
#6
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03 C32 AMG
My C32 vs my friends 6.0L GTO through various mod stages:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zH7P0p0nVg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxv_lTveec8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4jK20QnLR8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zH7P0p0nVg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxv_lTveec8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4jK20QnLR8
03-11-2010, 04:52 PM
#7
Super Member
Welcome to the C-AMG section (it can be a hoot over in the 63 arena)-
dont put too much stock into what your buddy says his GTO can do-remember you just came from a 230k-so you've made a good jump-there will always be a faster car out there, and it will sometimes look like a rolling turd to start out.
Listen to JT, aho, Lougn14 (spl?)-those guys have mad mods on their cars now....
dont put too much stock into what your buddy says his GTO can do-remember you just came from a 230k-so you've made a good jump-there will always be a faster car out there, and it will sometimes look like a rolling turd to start out.
Listen to JT, aho, Lougn14 (spl?)-those guys have mad mods on their cars now....
