SLS cams and the M156 platform don't mix.
 

In an endless effort to increase the power level of the M156 engine I have tried MANY things and some work and others don't. My wife regularly reminds me that AMG has a pretty large budget for R&D and they probably got it right. :eek: I hate it when she's right.

Anyway, I purchased a set of the SLS cams and due to the differences in head, valve, and intake design they don't mix well with our engine. With additional tuning you may be able to bring the power back up close to our peak stock levels but thats it. The torque and power down low suffers greatly for some unknown reason. We have tried some different things already but will be putting the stock cams back in the car for the umpteenth time. :crazy:

I just wanted to let all of you know that are in the hunt for more power to stay away from the SLS cams. Now, I know the guru's at AMG are reading this and going DUH but some of us have to learn the hard way.

If any of you have had a better experience with the SLS cams then please let me know. In fact, if any of you like to learn on your own and want a set of SLS cams I'll be glad to sell them to you at a greatly reduced price. :y

Good luck and be safe racing!!

What ever happened with the MHP cams?

I have always wondered if the SLS cams would work in the C's, now I know. Props, for having the cojones to go through with the install.
Just out of curiosity, how much are you selling the cams for?

1 success only comes after 999 failures, and now we all know what doesn't work. We all thank you for your effort.

Sheep

Dad: Isn't JRCart running SLS cams? Yeah...what happened to the MHP cams?

I will try to answer all your questions:
First of all the MHP cams are still in process. Yes, I physically have them but tuning is a challenge.

AMG - Make me an offer. Right now they are just door stops for me. :smash:

I do believe some of the supercharged cars may have the SLS cams in them. I'm not sure if they know why or if they even tested them with and without the SLS vs stock cams. They may have just stuck them in there thinking they will work better. All I can tell you is that naturally aspirated the M156 does not like the SLS cams. :eek:

Good to know. GD whit the MHP cams.

Bummer, with a tiny tweak the SLR cams worked great in our 55s.

WOW, is the SLS engine THAT much different?

wow you on a mission huh.
your car is a beast Keith leave that thing alone till i catch up :)

jokes aside what the heck happen?
is it that they dont fit or no tunning? or they dont make anypower?

I would like to point out some observations I have made about the defenses between the M156 and the M159. The M159 appears to be designed more for high RPM power than the M156. In my opinion the key difference is the intake manifold setup. The M159 manifold uses much shorter runners/velocity stacks. Short intake runners, much like the ones used in the current M3 and M5 engines, are much more suited to build high RPM power. The SLS also ditches the dual runner setup of the M156 that was designed to build power across a broad RPM band. Also if you look at dyno graphs of the SLS, there aren't many but Edmunds did one, power continues to climb all the way to the fuel cut off. The M156 tappers off much earlier. All this leads me to believe that the SLS cams would be designed to build high RPM power. Cams designed for high end power often lose a lot of potential mid and lower range power. It makes sense to me that no real gains were made with the SLS cams.

Those running superchargers might not notice this potential drop in low or mid range power due to all the additional low end torque from the supercharger. It is questionable that they would make any gains with the SLS cams, but it is possible.

All this stuff is exactly why i love this forum, great stuff guys:y

Keith you are an inspiration !

Can you explain in more detail? Andy at MHP told me there is specific tune for MHP cams and I remember some members here also had this mod(header+cams) with good running. Is there any special requirement by you, for instance, header+cams+NOS...?

Appreciate your kind sharing!

No one is able to run the MHP cams yet. There is a specific tune for his cams but its not been perfected. I know he is still working on it.

Thanks!

The SLS cams are out, back in the original boxes, and up for sale. If anyone desires to try them in their car or looking at forced induction these seem to be the choice. I am selling the complete set (4 cams) and all the matching buckets to go with them for $1500. That is less than half what they cost. These cams have less than 200 miles on them so they are basically new. Please let me know if you are interested. :y

I would be interested if they actually worked.

LOL! Keith wouldn't selling them if they did. :p:

Hey guys.

If I put the SLS head and intake manifold on my C63 black,would my engine be the same as the SLS engine?

you'd still be missing the dry sump system and possible slight differences in block and internals.

There are better and easier options for the M156 that will cost you a fraction of what SLS parts will cost you. Look into the Weistec race port heads.

just curious what cams are you running in the clk?

Weistec custom ground cams in the CLK BS, pretty aggressive ones too :D

Weistec is the only tuner I am aware of that can tune for cams for the M156.

Never hurts to try! Dad's is always working on advancing the community, I love it!

He got a V10 R8.

I know but he's still working on Mercedes stuff, I'm sure once the W205 comes out he'll get one of them also