My bro just bought a 98 c43. It sounds like a beast. Here's the deal, he wanted to race shortly after he bought his car so I went along with it. I have a 00 clk 320....not to fast. We were both in awe of the sound of the c43 but were not impressed by it's performance. We raced from a dead stop to about 100 a number of times. We stayed almost neck and neck with the c43 pulling ever so slightly away. At 80 he wasn't even a full car ahead of me.

His car seems to run the way it's supposed to and it purrs like you wouldn't believe. The 43 has almost exactly 100hp on my clk...it should toast me. What is going on? Is this normal for the c43, and if so, what can do to make this machine perform like it sounds? Thanks.

I have never run my car with a CLK, but by the numbers the C43 should do fairly well against one. Two things you might want to consider: 1) the car is still adapting to your brother's driving style. it took awhile for my car to do the same, but my car shifts better now than it did when I first got it. 2) make sure you brother's car isnt on "Winter" setting. It is the little button on the gearbox that has the W/S on it. Make sure it is in S b/c the W setting will start you off in second gear, while the S starts in first.

I'm very curious about your results, b/c I always assumed that my car was pretty fast. Honestly, it is quite fast and it should beat a CLK 320. I'll try and find someone with a CLK and see if they will perform a test with me.

Keep me posted with your findings.

Regards

DLS

The only reason I ask this question is to find is something might be wrong with the 43 so we can resolve the problem. I posted on another forum, and I think i may have upset a fellow poster. Just to clear any misunderstanding, I don't mean to imply in any way that my clk is "better"...I only wish mine sported the AMG badge. My brother was disappointed that the results of the race were so close, but as another person pointed out on the other forum, we should put four people in each of the cars and fill the trunk with luggage and race again We just wanted to make sure there is nothing wrong with his car and confirm with other owners that it is running properly. As I pointed out in the first post, it seems to run and sound like it's supposed to but we have no reference to base our assumption on.

On an added note, we both plan to supercharge our cars within the next two months or so. His car will have from 430-450 hp after the conversion and mine 310-330. We are both excited and anxious. I will be sure to take pictures and post all changes. Thanks for the reply.

eee:

I hope that my post did not come across as being upset about the C43/CLK thing. There are people out there who are very defensive about their cars and will imply that you are lying or your data is wrong. Personally, I never ran with a CLK. I think what you wrote about the races were fairly accurate. It's kinda weird b/c sometimes my car feels faster than 5.8 secs and other times it feels like a minute. One thing I forgot to mention is that if it is cold out were you are, your brother should warm up his car to get everything working at optimal temp. I have noticed (I am sure you might have too) that a cold car is very sluggish.

That's cool about you guys doing the s/c thing. which company are you planning to go with? I want to s/c my car, but need to save some money first. Currently, I am doing my research on the Kleemann and Eaton s/c's. Good luck with that venture.

BTW, if you are in the Seattle (WA) area, we should try and run our cars Everyone I see is too scared to run with me. Oh well.

Regards,

DLS

tell you what ..... My bro has a 1996 C36AMG and I have the 97 C36AMG ... we raced before ...and his car is faster than mine. 96 model has 268 hp and 97 C36AMG 276hp. i think each of AMG car are not identically. Some are fast and some are not..

I believe that the 96 and 97 C36 are tuned differently. Also, correct me if I am wrong, the 97 has the 5 speed while the 96 still has the 4 speed. So while you were maxing out on your highest gear, your bro's car shifted and probably lost a sec or two? One other thing, are the curb weights different? I read that a C43 is lighter than some C36's even though there is a V8.

I do agree that many AMG's are slightly different than each other though, just cant explain why.

regards,

DLS

Thanks for all the great replies. In answer to the supercharging question, we are both going with an eaton setup and we are designing the setup ourselves with a master mechanic. I have done A LOT of research and am very confident in our decision to do ourselves. By doing it this way we will save lots of $$$. Some on other forums seem to think we're stupid for doing it ourselves even though we are mimicking to the t another reputable setup. I will keep everyone posted with dyno results upon completion...and we will see how many ask us to to the same setup for them

Good luck with your project. I am sure that I will be on that list of people interested in your setup. I think alot of people are skeptical with building their own, but since you have someone helping (probably with a lot of s/c experience) it will make it easier/better for you. Are you going to run an intercooler also? What are your projected costs?

Regards

DLS

Costs for both my 320 and his 43 will be the same. The only difference between the two setups will be mounting brackets, belt length, and a few other minor setup differentiations. The cost will be from 1500-5000. It's a large margin but I must leave room for unseen complications. I can get a new charger for 1900 or a rebuilt for 650. I will probably choose new. The mechanic-1000, parts-500. Choosing the new charger over the rebuild the total is 3600.

We can setup an intercooler but I've been told from numerous sources that at 4-5 psi heat should not be much a factor, if at all. Heat coupled with a high compression ratio, from what I understand, causes pre-detonation (octane ping). Higher octane, lower compression ratios, or cooler gasses retard detonation. We can run 93 octane fuel here at the pump and like I said the heat won’t be a factor.

We are both extremely anxious to complete and should have his done sometime next month. Then to the dyno… The second mechanic we are using can also backup stock parameters and then remap our ECU's while on his dyno to yield the best results (although remapping is not necessary). I believe he will charge us around 500 each for that.

A supercharger won't overheat your engine as much as turbo charger, which gets the power directly from the exhaust, therefore very high temperatures, but regardless, you are spending a reasonable amount of money on your conversion, you should spend a little more for a good intercooler, to be on the safe side!
I have blown to engines on a turbo Toyota Celica with intercoolers.
Just an opinion.