EV0LVE

has anyone here realized that the original inquiree has not responded to any of the responses. he probably realized the headaches he'll go through.

1sikbenz

Hey guys, you people are harsh man, you sound like some of the ****y MB Service Managers & Salesmen, you come up with all these ideas about why I haven't responded, pretty quick to judge aren't you?, Fact is I work graveyard & sleep all day when not being interupted by gardeners & such so I've had a little time to review your posts but I have reviewed them & find them to be considerably helpfull, I like to gather all my information & review it before I make a half-assed reply. I looked up the reccomended threads on Sleepstack was it? & kinda got some good informatin there, after reading a bit more about the Kleeman being specifically designed for the 5.5L, I think that might be my best route, you all seem to have a wealth of knowledge here & I appreciate all your replys & research on behalf of my post, I am always amazed at the quickness & thuroughness of your replys. This project is planned for the near future, my budget on this project I project will be $30-35K, I've been seeing some higher milleage C43's going for around $13-15k & since I was going to replace the motor anyway I figured it would be best to get the cheapest starter car. I don't mind spending all that cash on the car anyway because it's what I want that counts, I'm not planning on a re-sale, my other car besides the 05' C230 is a tricked out 89' Peugeot 405 Mi16 so you can see I don't mind spending on what makes me happy, I don't need to explain my reasoning to anybody, once again I appreciate all your replys & I'm sorry if I came off as being unpleasent in the begining.

Thanx - Randy
SoCal
V.C. - 805

Ted Baldwin

............yes. He can be a hoax for that matter. As you can see the conversation has gone on without him/her. It is actually nice when the discussion is driven by the topic at hand and not by the personality of the individual. For instance a nice car is a nice car not because it is owned by a moderator. Increased displacement plus s/c is an issue that many have comtemplated and some have tried. Therefore, there is interest in the topic.

Ted

2QUIK4U

If you're really set on the older bodystyle and the objective is to maximize power, then I would at least buy the old E55 (W210) instead of a C43. You can find a 99 model with ~50K miles for around $20-$25K (autotrader.com, ebay and cars.com will probably be the best source). Just make sure to have it checked out thoroughly and make sure that no body work was done to the car. I would then take it to Kleemann and have them first put the s/c on the car. At this point you are getting close to your budget. Once you save up some more cash you can eventually buy an LSD, headers, ecu, cams and suspension. You would probably want to get a Brembo big brake kit as well (at least for the front).

If you do this you will have the former world record car. See Kleemann website for more details.

1sikbenz

It's funny, I'm actually at odds over which one I like better, the sleek executive land rocket E55 or the more sporty (in my tastes) C43 with Carbon Fiber Racing seats & a back seat roll cage, but that will be determined in the future, regaurdless after more research I am becoming more & more convinced that the 5.5L Kleeman S/C is the way to go, you can't really top a 200 m.p.h. + top speed package (E55 or C43), especially when it was all designed to work together, I appreciate all your help on this, it's truly been informative & given me more of a solid base of ideas I can build on, I especially liked Ted's post on people & their modified cars, I couldn't have said it better.

c55m8o

ok, 1sikbenz was for real .... I'm back... sorry for our jump to assumptions ; we're all about speed here... [RedW203, yes I did a few posts before you]

1sikbenz, depends on if you want your car to 'turn' or not? You can see I did the swap ... but I also did the unmatched speedybenz custom suspension too, plus did that after the swap. Wow, can my car turn now. With the budget you're citing, I can't recommended it more highly.

Going Kleemann + 5.4L adds not only a lot more weight up front, but a good deal more weight up high in the engine bay. I was told by RMP Racing something like 70lbs more at the top of the engine. (SC is over 100lbs, but you're taking out your old manifold so you subtract that weight.) If going C43 + 5.4L swap + Kleemann, the moment arm of inertia of that weight will really amplify the lean of the car on turns more then just a 5.4L swap with a N/A build.

...just something to consider in what you're trying to get out of the car.
* If you want to crush people off the line and on the hiway, C43 is lighter and has shorter 1:3.07gearing. Couple that with the 5.4L motor and Kleemann supercharger and you'll be hitting the 155mph govener sooner then if you started with a E55, with its extra 300lbs of heft and 1:2.82 gearing.
* If you want to (and have the access to) dominate road course track-days, 5.4L NA build (possibly 6.1L Renntech upgrade) + speedybenz suspension is the way to go. (technically, speedybenz would say building the lighter 4.3L engine is actually the way to go for that... however he just bought a converted W202 C55 himself after the mishap he had in the rain. A kick *** suspension can't counter tire grip and wet weather!)

ProjectC55

You took the wrds right out of my mouth!!!

eLemnt | 0ne

I always wondered what happened to Jeff- I didn't know he picked up a W202 C55; did he buy it from knvs?

c55m8o

you got it. you can read this here for the goodbye and hello by Kevin and Jeff.

eLemnt | 0ne

Wow! That's crazy! The last time I saw Kevin was last year when we had a Sacramento GTG/Drive. He car was a BEAST! Freakin' pulled like a freight train!

But at least it went to Jeff- he's gonna take good care of her. Can't wait to see the mods!

Ted Baldwin

..........good point. If you prefer the w210 body style, you can also change the E55 gear ratio to 3.07.

Ted

c55m8o

wow, that's news to me! I really do love the W210 E55 look. I would have traded my C43 in about 2000 or 2001 if it wasn't for two things.
1) no fold-down seats
2) wife hated the dark burl walnut and I wasn't nuts about it

I would have lived with the latter but couldn't live w/o the former. Since there's no full-sized SUV in my life, I rely on the fold-down seats a lot.

Wow ... you got me thinking. Since I don't believe I can do the Quaife LSD that is in vogue these days in the C43's differential housing, I 'could' make my car into a 'real' C55 clone by also changing the rear diff to that used in the C55s in europe from the CLK55/E55, do 1:307 gearing in it + Quaife LSD. Dang , and my bank account just started increasing again. ...the boss isn't gunna like this!
<<< I'm on the right; the wife is on the left!

Ted Baldwin

..................3.07 diff, LSD, supercharger, headers, ECU, quad exhaust already done in a W210 E55. So it can be done.
https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/144065-kleemann-e55k-s7.html

Ted

1sikbenz

Wow guys, thanx, I appreciate all your responses, I need to review them & consider all my options, I'll probably inquire more when my project gets closer, once agian, thank you.

Randy