C43 Recommended Mods
A decent drop makes the 202 look awesome. Maybe add spacers in the rear if you decide to stick with stock 17s
Get quality tires. Check brakes, service trans, check all steering and suspension.




There is a thread at the top of this forum with mod links:
https://mbworld.org/forums/c36-amg-c...-mod-list.html
Trending Topics




Honestly everyone's pretty much got it right. I don't know anything about you, the crowd you're with, or your preferred results of owning a C43.
I have a friend who obsesses over my C43's and is constantly bugging me to sell him one because he wants a bad *** V8 AMG Benz to go out and "smoke" people. In my opinion, he's not the right type of person to own a C43, because they just aren't that fast and don't have much potential to be much faster.
Sure, there are a great many "fast" cars out there that really aren't that fast. I mean, a C43 can outrun any factory Ford Mustang GT or Cobra up until about 2003. In 1999 308 HP in a 3300lbs RWD sedan was an impressive number. Today, it's nothing special. A Toyota Camry or Honda Accord with a V6 puts out the same 0-60 times (and with only slightly less HP).
If you want to look into modding a C43, you have several huge roadblocks to consider if you're trying to build a muscled up monster that eats M3's and Mustangs (2004+) for breakfast:
That 4.3 litre engine is damn near running at it's fullest potential. People sometimes are completely unaware of what AMG originally did: take MB cars/engines and tune them to their maximum. That's what they did with the C43 engine. There are very, very few mods you can do to squeeze more power out of this engine. And the ones you can do probably only get you another 10-15 HP at the combined cost of just buying a bigger engine. More on that later.
The automatic transmission. It is what it is. You can't do a damn thing about it, ever. Period. Better get used to it right now.
Running gear. The rear diff has an extremely low gear ratio. I can't remember exactly but it's like 2.33. This may mean nothing to you but that is a very TALL rear end. On the flip side, you get much better mpg on the interstate and your ability to accelerate at high speeds is unmatched by nearly any other car in that class. The M3 was always quicker off the line and up to about 70mph, but at that point the C43's V8, torque, and especially the tall rear end ratio meant that it was just hitting it's stride at 70mph. The few people who have lined up an E36 (or even E46 in some cases) M3 against a C43 and ran long enough to see, the C43 just ran away at higher speeds. This is gearing. The M3 smokes it every day in a drag race, but the C43 will catch it and fly by at some point. The 80-120mph time on a C43 makes it act like it has way more than 300hp but at the cost of the 0-60 time only being 5.9sec (which is slower than what a 300hp car should do). But here's the problem: you can't change that gear ratio. The transmission control module is programmed to handle the shifting (and indirectly the engine) based on calculations from that OE diff ratio. If you change the diff ratio, your TCU can't handle it and the car just won't work right. Undriveable. No one's ever spent the money to custom code some kind of TCU replacement or hack, but it has been investigated.
ECU: all bets are off. Some people say the seat of their pants makes them feel their $500 Eurocharged ECU upgrade gave them another 5hp, and others say it makes no difference. No one's ever dyno tested it (even Eurocharged) to prove anything. I don't believe it. MB ECU's don't take programming or chips well, at least at this age.
There are some super pricey mods you can do that will definitely net you some real gains. Look into Kleemann. You can get supersport cams for maybe another 15hp in the $1500-2000 range. Headers and full 3" exhaust ($2000+) for another 10 hp. Or, my personal favorite, the bespoke Kleemann supercharger kit for another 80+ hp and another 75 ft lbs of torque. New, this kit is $7,500. You can find them used in the 3-5k range if you're lucky. Extremely rare. Bottom line you can spend $10k+ and get it up into the 400hp range and *maybe* stand a chance against a 2014 Mustang GT. But not a 2015 Mustang GT, they are stock with 435 hp and weigh less...
The only real, viable, and economically sound solution is the 5.4 swap. I assume you're unaware. The 4.3l engine in the C43 is the same engine that came in all 55 AMG cars from 98-2002 (E55, CLK55, S55, ML55). Some cars came with a different oil pan, but they are 99% the same engine. If you can find the engine from an E55, it's a direct drop and bolt in replacement. You don't need a new ECU, you don't need a new transmission. There's only an extra water inlet on the back of a head you need to cap and seal. These engines can be found for $1k-3k depending on miles and condition (and sometimes luck) and a decent euro shop can do the engine swap in a day. You instantly have a w202 C55 AMG: 354hp and 385 ft lbs of torque. Never driven one, but the owners of these cars say it becomes an entirely different beast.
But at this age, how many miles does any 43 or 55 AMG engine have on it? Go buy a used Mercedes AMG engine out of a wreck yard or eBay with 100k+ miles on it and tell a shop you want to supercharge it and watch what they say. People generally don't do such invasive power mods on engines with so many miles without some kind of a proper rebuild of the engines. These are alusil engines, so a proper rebuild would cost tens of thousands of dollars (you can just buy a C63 AMG for not much more...)
And if you have cash burning a hole in your pocket, you can still do all those kleemann mods to the 5.4l engine. Back in the late 90's some rich guy bought a new C43 and did exactly that. His brand new C43 (converted to C55 with Kleemann supercharger) ran 11's in the quarter. No idea what ever became of that car.
Of course, the resonator and secondary cat delete open up the classic V8 growl more, and a slight lowering using OE euro parts will give a sexier look but maintain proper stability and handling characteristics. And the OE avantgarde grille (if you can find one) is max level hot.
If you start swapping out rims, doing wraps, ebay HID headlights, sure some people will think it's cool. But some people will also think you're tasteless swine and you're ruining a rare, hand built piece of engineering history
Last edited by Sulaco; Jul 2, 2015 at 10:51 AM.
The Best of Mercedes & AMG




Honestly everyone's pretty much got it right. I don't know anything about you, the crowd you're with, or your preferred results of owning a C43.
I have a friend who obsesses over my C43's and is constantly bugging me to sell him one because he wants a bad *** V8 AMG Benz to go out and "smoke" people. In my opinion, he's not the right type of person to own a C43, because they just aren't that fast and don't have much potential to be much faster.
Sure, there are a great many "fast" cars out there that really aren't that fast. I mean, a C43 can outrun any factory Ford Mustang GT or Cobra up until about 2003. In 1999 308 HP in a 3300lbs RWD sedan was an impressive number. Today, it's nothing special. A Toyota Camry or Honda Accord with a V6 puts out the same 0-60 times (and with only slightly less HP).
If you want to look into modding a C43, you have several huge roadblocks to consider if you're trying to build a muscled up monster that eats M3's and Mustangs (2004+) for breakfast:
That 4.3 litre engine is damn near running at it's fullest potential. People sometimes are completely unaware of what AMG originally did: take MB cars/engines and tune them to their maximum. That's what they did with the C43 engine. There are very, very few mods you can do to squeeze more power out of this engine. And the ones you can do probably only get you another 10-15 HP at the combined cost of just buying a bigger engine. More on that later.
The automatic transmission. It is what it is. You can't do a damn thing about it, ever. Period. Better get used to it right now.
Running gear. The rear diff has an extremely low gear ratio. I can't remember exactly but it's like 2.33. This may mean nothing to you but that is a very TALL rear end. On the flip side, you get much better mpg on the interstate and your ability to accelerate at high speeds is unmatched by nearly any other car in that class. The M3 was always quicker off the line and up to about 70mph, but at that point the C43's V8, torque, and especially the tall rear end ratio meant that it was just hitting it's stride at 70mph. The few people who have lined up an E36 (or even E46 in some cases) M3 against a C43 and ran long enough to see, the C43 just ran away at higher speeds. This is gearing. The M3 smokes it every day in a drag race, but the C43 will catch it and fly by at some point. The 80-120mph time on a C43 makes it act like it has way more than 300hp but at the cost of the 0-60 time only being 5.9sec (which is slower than what a 300hp car should do). But here's the problem: you can't change that gear ratio. The transmission control module is programmed to handle the shifting (and indirectly the engine) based on calculations from that OE diff ratio. If you change the diff ratio, your TCU can't handle it and the car just won't work right. Undriveable. No one's ever spent the money to custom code some kind of TCU replacement or hack, but it has been investigated.
ECU: all bets are off. Some people say the seat of their pants makes them feel their $500 Eurocharged ECU upgrade gave them another 5hp, and others say it makes no difference. No one's ever dyno tested it (even Eurocharged) to prove anything. I don't believe it. MB ECU's don't take programming or chips well, at least at this age.
There are some super pricey mods you can do that will definitely net you some real gains. Look into Kleemann. You can get supersport cams for maybe another 15hp in the $1500-2000 range. Headers and full 3" exhaust ($2000+) for another 10 hp. Or, my personal favorite, the bespoke Kleemann supercharger kit for another 80+ hp and another 75 ft lbs of torque. New, this kit is $7,500. You can find them used in the 3-5k range if you're lucky. Extremely rare. Bottom line you can spend $10k+ and get it up into the 400hp range and *maybe* stand a chance against a 2014 Mustang GT. But not a 2015 Mustang GT, they are stock with 435 hp and weigh less...
The only real, viable, and economically sound solution is the 5.4 swap. I assume you're unaware. The 4.3l engine in the C43 is the same engine that came in all 55 AMG cars from 98-2002 (E55, CLK55, S55, ML55). Some cars came with a different oil pan, but they are 99% the same engine. If you can find the engine from an E55, it's a direct drop and bolt in replacement. You don't need a new ECU, you don't need a new transmission. There's only an extra water inlet on the back of a head you need to cap and seal. These engines can be found for $1k-3k depending on miles and condition (and sometimes luck) and a decent euro shop can do the engine swap in a day. You instantly have a w202 C55 AMG: 354hp and 385 ft lbs of torque. Never driven one, but the owners of these cars say it becomes an entirely different beast.
But at this age, how many miles does any 43 or 55 AMG engine have on it? Go buy a used Mercedes AMG engine out of a wreck yard or eBay with 100k+ miles on it and tell a shop you want to supercharge it and watch what they say. People generally don't do such invasive power mods on engines with so many miles without some kind of a proper rebuild of the engines. These are alusil engines, so a proper rebuild would cost tens of thousands of dollars (you can just buy a C63 AMG for not much more...)
And if you have cash burning a hole in your pocket, you can still do all those kleemann mods to the 5.4l engine. Back in the late 90's some rich guy bought a new C43 and did exactly that. His brand new C43 (converted to C55 with Kleemann supercharger) ran 11's in the quarter. No idea what ever became of that car.
Of course, the resonator and secondary cat delete open up the classic V8 growl more, and a slight lowering using OE euro parts will give a sexier look but maintain proper stability and handling characteristics. And the OE avantgarde grille (if you can find one) is max level hot.
If you start swapping out rims, doing wraps, ebay HID headlights, sure some people will think it's cool. But some people will also think you're tasteless swine and you're ruining a rare, hand built piece of engineering history

I had intended on getting as much power as possible after completing a 55 swap. After reading your post, you brought me back to reality regarding all future mods. One thing to consider when investing big $$$ into a car that is sixteen years old, is that it is one accident away from being written off. Gone but not forgotten but, the $$$'s invested certainly will be! The W202 is a beautiful machine and not a race car. Keep it classy and enjoy this classic piece of AMG history
Last edited by nkctb7; Jul 3, 2015 at 07:18 PM.




Most of all maintain it,it will reward you.
Last edited by 99CEEFOURTHREE; Jul 4, 2015 at 04:07 PM.
Its my first car so still loving it stock but would love to add some minor touches to it. Deleting the resonator seems like a good first step. Have read other posts form the past relating to just using a straight stainless pipe for just a resonator delete and others do that plus a secondary cats delete or making a dual exhaust like I believe I read Speedybenz had done.
Anyways thanks for the posts! Keep 'em coming.




I have the Eisenmann race muffler and secondary cats removed. I'm having a Y pipe installed soon but still uncertain about the resonator deletion. I'm with Sulaco as I don't want loud droning on the highway.
Also I've seen a couple posts about dual exhaust setups (example https://mbworld.org/forums/c36-amg-c...system-fs.html )
Still new and learning some stuff about these mods and any info would teach me alot

Thanks








Also I've seen a couple posts about dual exhaust setups (example https://mbworld.org/forums/c36-amg-c...system-fs.html )
Still new and learning some stuff about these mods and any info would teach me alot

Thanks
https://mbworld.org/forums/c36-amg-c...or-delete.html
Thanks for the thread, definitely will take a read into it, came across a couple exhaust threads and not this one yet so any extra info in there would help!
P.S. If I were to get my exhaust with the x split setup I am guessing the stock AMG muffler tips would be obsolete (since its dual on the one side) and was wondering what options are available when the x split would separate the two pipes one on each side and what to do for each muffler tip or would the exhaust shop charge something extra for that.
Thanks again for all the help from everyone




Thanks for the thread, definitely will take a read into it, came across a couple exhaust threads and not this one yet so any extra info in there would help!
P.S. If I were to get my exhaust with the x split setup I am guessing the stock AMG muffler tips would be obsolete (since its dual on the one side) and was wondering what options are available when the x split would separate the two pipes one on each side and what to do for each muffler tip or would the exhaust shop charge something extra for that.
Thanks again for all the help from everyone





