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Evening Gents, I hope everyone had a pleasant Christmas and was absolutely spoilt rotten.
I thought it pertinent to catalogue the progress I have made on my car over the last few months, as well as outline my general plans for it moving forward. I hope to provide the forum with as much data as possible when any performance modifications are completed.
I am pretty poleaxed at the moment having been gifted a fair few bottles of whiskey, so hopefully everything that's typed is coherent and well received.
As always, any questions and criticisms are welcomed.
Glossing over the first 2 years of ownership, and the various tunes I have had on my car(the issues I have had are detailed in another post and are ongoing), the first real modification I completed was changing the tyres.
I changed the conti sport tyres which came with the car when I purchased it(which were crap), to Yokohama Advan V105's. The change was immediately noticed and totally changed the way the car felt on the road. I was going to go for the Neova AD08R's, but they were on back order and the V105's were on special. Can't fault them so far. Having a good set of tyres, and making sure they are balanced really makes a world of difference.
After sorting the tyres, I bought almost every single carbon fibre body piece from RW Carbon, with the exception of the boot/trunk spoiler(and a few other bits and bobs). I opted to leave that as standard as I wasn't 100% sure I liked the one from RW Carbon.
Shipping from RW carbon was straight forward, and relatively fast. I had the body pieces fitted a local paint and panel shop, as I lack the skill, time, tools and ***** to attempt fitment myself. I also had some damage from a vandal repaired, my brake callipers sprayed red, and the hub hats sprayed black at the same time. The guy who fitted my carbon fibre stuff commented that the fitment was spot on, and required zero "manipulation" or modification in order to fit. Which is a bonus.
After having the carbon stuff fitted, I took my car for a stage 1 pant correction and had it ceramic coated. Ceramic coating it was one of the best things I have ever done to it, it makes cleaning it an absolute breeze. Bugs, bird crap, exhaust/brake dust and general road debris just rinse off with water from the hose/karcher.
RW Carbon Packaging held up really well on the trip to Perth. Everything was packaged extremely well These go on the rear quarter panel, highly recommend getting these if you get a rear diffuser or side skirt extensions. Bought these from some online store for basically nothing. Didn't expect them to be that great and I was/am pleasantly surprised by how good the quality is. They are currently on my car with double sided 3m tape. Was meant to sikaflex them on, but ~1 year later, still on and not showing any signs of coming off Didn't want to go massive with the fins/vanes on the rear diffuser. I found the Arkym set from RW to be a good middle ground. Front splitter sticks out quite far, so I am super nervous about pulling into parking spots. As a result, I reverse park everywhere. Been over a year since I have just "pulled in" to a parking spot.
The next stage of mods I have planned are the "basic" performance mods, as well modifications/upgrades to the cars overall reliability. To that end, I have purchased an upgraded cam shaft adjuster kit from a fellow forum member/instagramer, 63 Everything. You can view his work on the M156 and all of its little niggles on his Youtube Channel, Machining Required (
I ordered a complete kit from 63Everything on instagram and paid via Paypal. Throughout the whole process he was incredibly professional and extremely helpful, answering any questions I had about his products and the specifications they are made to.
The customer service provided was top notch, with constant updates about my packages whereabouts being provided at any stage I asked/was too lazy to check myself. I cannot fault, or recommend 63Everything/63 motorsports enough.
Around the same time, I ordered to set of Weistec billet pulleys and a catch can from the Australian distributor of Weistec gear, Dyne Performance. Ordering from Dyne Performance was straight forward, and everything was sorted out over the phone in about 5 mins. Brad from Dyne performance was great to deal with, with the parts shipping from the US and arriving in Perth in about a week and a half.
Finally, I decided to pull the trigger on a set of headers and opted for a set of MBH headers. I wasn't keen on the Xforce/Di Fillipo headers some guys are running over here, as they are made in china and may be of inferior quality. Spending $4k on headers may be a bit overkill/stupid, but I would rather spend the money on a quality bit of kit, that wont blow a weld out. I am a firm believer in buy once, cry once.
My headers arrived in 4 or 5 weeks(can't really remember), packaged very well. Fedex/Australian customs did contact me asking if there was any asbestos in my "exhaust/car parts" and asked me to fill out a form stating that their wasn't. The fedex agent was also pretty sneaky in asking me what I paid for them(so that gst/duty could be calculated correctly) to see if it matched up with what was on the paperwork. Oddly enough, I never received any tracking number from MBH motorsports when I enquired about the status of my package.
I have also ordered
* New injectors, which I ordered on special from FCP Euro
*SLS BS lifters from 63Motorsports
Future mods for the New Year will include chasis bracing, an OzGiken LSD and maybe a Weistec/PTG upgraded transmission pan.
Cosmetically, I am thinking of doing a chrome delete, and maybe ordering some more carbon fibre goodies. Such as side skirt extensions, spoiler and mirrors. ARP bolts, machined locking pins and genuine Mercedes gaskets. This is a seriously good bit of kit
Computer/internet is aids and will only allow me to upload 2 photos at a time. Will upload the rest later
Cool thread! Awesome to see a PFL car getting some love and being modded/upgraded! Where are you at as far as tunes go? I remember you had back luck with a local tuner and that Barry/Hachiroku was helping you get things sorted out.
Cool thread! Awesome to see a PFL car getting some love and being modded/upgraded! Where are you at as far as tunes go? I remember you had back luck with a local tuner and that Barry/Hachiroku was helping you get things sorted out.
Barry/Hachiroku was kind enough to have a look at the data logging file I generated using the HP Tuners MPVI2 module and he agreed with the dyno operators sentiments that something has or rather, hasn't been done, and that my cars tune is essentially still stock, with some weird adjustments having been made.
I have contacted the tuner and company that sold and uploaded my tune to my vehicle and explained the issues I am having, I shared the data logging file and several screen shots with them to provide evidence of the issues i am having. The company who tuned my car, and the tune writer are very keen(apparently) to get this issue sorted. To that end, I have been promised half day of dyno time with the tuner and the tune writer picking over the logs they generate on the dyno, restoring the car to a factory tune, doing a pull, uploading a tune and doping another pull. The hard part is trying to find some time, as the tune writer is in Sydney, and the hop doesnt have their own dyno, so they need to rent dyno time from another shop. I was initially promised a booking around about the 15th of December, but they were slammed with work so now it's looking like itll be mid Jan before i get it sorted.
The shop seems to think my issues may be mechanical, and a faulty/screwed intake manifold is causing my octane numbers to drop, and the car is therefore pulling timing. Not 100% sure whats going on. I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and give them the option to fix the issues, especially since they charged me a kings ransom for a tune. I want the issue sorted before I start bolting parts on and throwing more power at it.
I will definitely be using Barry/Hachiroku for a tune once I have the current issues sorted. I don't want him having to fix someone else's mistakes, and I would like to first confirm that my issues aren't hardware related before I handball my problems to him.
Here are a couple of photos of the Weistec catch can and the actual camshaft adjuster plates.
The catch can is a real quality bit of kit, this thing has some heft to it. It "feels" extremely well built and very solid. Will have to see what it's like getting it installed on the car when the time comes. Would be quite nice if you could special order it in different colours for added engine bay bling.
The cam adjuster plates are also very nice, they are made of a better quality steel than the OEM ones, so they should be more abrasion/wear resistant and should hopefully never require changing again. I am sending these back to 63Motorsports in Canada as i have just ordered an updated set which are apparently even better than these, with a DLC coating . If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing. Pity it only comes in black. All the required mounting hardware and connections are in the box Cam shaft adjuster plates.
The MBH headers seem to also be of very high quality, but I am not a weld/fabrication expert and I refuse to comment on anyone else's welding ability considering mine are crap.
Interestingly enough, there seems to be some debate on the optimum location of the 02 sensor bungs/holes. Some have said that ARH are better than MBH, or maybe MBH have optimised their locations on various iterations drive configurations of their headers. Just something to consider when buying headers I guess.
For some reason I can't seem to upload multiple photos, and I don't think carpet bombing my own post with heaps of photos will be much appreciated.
Car is going to be awesome when you are done.
Headers make such a difference, and you will pick up a bucket load of power once tuned correctly with the headers.
And then there is the sound.
Barry/Hachiroku was kind enough to have a look at the data logging file I generated using the HP Tuners MPVI2 module and he agreed with the dyno operators sentiments that something has or rather, hasn't been done, and that my cars tune is essentially still stock, with some weird adjustments having been made.
I have contacted the tuner and company that sold and uploaded my tune to my vehicle and explained the issues I am having, I shared the data logging file and several screen shots with them to provide evidence of the issues i am having. The company who tuned my car, and the tune writer are very keen(apparently) to get this issue sorted. To that end, I have been promised half day of dyno time with the tuner and the tune writer picking over the logs they generate on the dyno, restoring the car to a factory tune, doing a pull, uploading a tune and doping another pull. The hard part is trying to find some time, as the tune writer is in Sydney, and the hop doesnt have their own dyno, so they need to rent dyno time from another shop. I was initially promised a booking around about the 15th of December, but they were slammed with work so now it's looking like itll be mid Jan before i get it sorted.
The shop seems to think my issues may be mechanical, and a faulty/screwed intake manifold is causing my octane numbers to drop, and the car is therefore pulling timing. Not 100% sure whats going on. I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and give them the option to fix the issues, especially since they charged me a kings ransom for a tune. I want the issue sorted before I start bolting parts on and throwing more power at it.
I will definitely be using Barry/Hachiroku for a tune once I have the current issues sorted. I don't want him having to fix someone else's mistakes, and I would like to first confirm that my issues aren't hardware related before I handball my problems to him.
hey nick, i believe i mentioned that your engine is running very healthy. that means you are 100% solid mechanically, cam adjusters included. if there was an intake manifold leak, i would have mentioned it. with data logs i'm able to monitor many things and confirm things are as they should be. if you're able to receive a refund from the tuner we could get going as all of my tunes start from the factory file. we can also can overwrite a tune to factory factory file if need be, all done remotely. in either case, i'll be around if you need me.
your build is looking to be a solid one with great parts. glad there are still people out there who are reigniting the C204 C63 platform with build threads and informative posts! cheers!
id have preferred if she didn't give my car a love tap.
On the plus side, my mother learnt that carbon fibre doesn't bend or flex. It shatters and cracks. Bless her cotton socks for suggesting i take it to "a panel beater" to get it fixed. Sigh. Hopefully RWCarbon doesn't take 8 weeks to send me a diffuser.
Thought id provide you with an breif update on the car.
All the parts I've ordered are still in my shed, and awaiting fitment to the vehicle. Ordered a weistec trans pan as well for good measure.
New rear diffuser is going on this week, as well as having my roof strip's painted black as the clear coat on mine has finally started cracking.
Did some data logging with the dragy this morning, so i can do a quick and dirty comparison bewteen the tune from Hachiroku and Evotech/International Autohaus. You can see my dragy screenshots posted above of my Evotech/IAH tune. The TLDR is that the base tune from Hachiroku is faster, and feels nicer.
1 run in S mode, no throttle modulation. Just mash the throttle into the firewall and hold on. Same technique basically as the runs conducted with the IAH tune
An update on the tune, if anyone is interested.
I was promised a half day of dyno time consisting of the local guy who uploaded the tune, and sent the data logs to the tune author(who is in Sydney), along with the tune author in Sydney being present via skype or zoom. Then, my car would have my stock file uploaded, run on the dyno, their map re loaded and re run. With minor adjustments being made and various parts being assessed and diagnosed.
Well, after being jerked around for months, with promises being made and dates locked in, only to be cancelled last minute. I finally got fed up when the guy i was dealing with locally, called me to tell me he has quit working at the shop, and is starting up his own shop. He promised me he can fit me in(at no charge!) When his new dyno arrived from the US....in 6 months. At this point I could no longer give these clowns the benefit of the doubt and contacted Barry and got the ball rolling.
I am currently running a base tune that Barry has written, and its epic. I am very keen to see what further refinement can do! It's taken considerable time off my 0-100 times, and I haven't changed my technique. I am sure with better throttle control and launch technique i can get it closer to 4 seconds.
My upgraded parts from 63motorsports also arrived.
They are amazing. The SLS BS lifters are deceptively light in the hand. Can't wait to handle the stock ones and see what they feel like. The DLC coating on the plates is also a nice touch. The personalised built plaque in the bronze alloy also looks amazing. No pictures of that yet Lifters Customised 63motorsports bolts
Another update if anyone is interested.
Car is booked in for it's build on the 5th of July! I am so excited, the 5th of July can't come fast enough.
I FINALLY got my Weistec Trans pan, after ordering it in February and paying a $500 deposit. The company I dealt with here in Perth was recommended to me by the local AMG club and could offer me a ~$200 discount compared to Dyne Performance. Lesson learnt. The cheapest option isn't necessarily the best.
After paying my deposit at the beginning of Feb, the shop went radio silent. I messaged the shop a few times asking for an update/ETA/tracking number only to be ignored. When I called the receptionist fobbed me off and promised to have someone call me back. They never did. Anyway, I picked it up last Wednesday nearly 5 months after I ordered it. With the shop citing "Weistec is the worst company to deal with, it's seriously like getting blood from a stone". Having ordered stuff direct from Weistec and the US before, I find a 5 month delay hard to believe. All up the trans pan cost me ~$1100 AUD. Ouch.
On a happier note, 63Motorsports has contacted me about a core exchange of his adjuster kit, whereby he will assemble the adjuster and I will send him mine in exchange. I think this is a fabulous idea, as it removes the potential for a shop/mechanic to over torque the titanium fasteners or have some other issue. I am all for a drop in solution. I have also opted for his "lightened" assembly, which is lighter than stock and should hopefully make it a bit more happy to Rev. I am very excited for this to arrive.
On a whim, I ran the car of on the dyno today(while the new daily was being done), just to see how Hachiroku's tune was. The butt dyno says it's doing a great job!, but I was curious how it differed to the one I had previously.
I have attached the graph showing the comparison between Hachiroku's BASE tune that he sent me, and IAH's stage 1 tune.
Hachiroku's tune has about 20whp more across the rev range than the IAH tune, which is why it is so much more enjoyable to drive, and faster in the real world. Whereas the IAH tune makes about 20whp more at the top of the rev range in the last ~1000rpm which is basically useless for real world applications.
The car also makes more torque, which is always nice With this tune i knocked ~1 sec off my 0-100 times as measured with the dragy.
Again, I have to stress that this is a BASE tune, and is therefore incredibly conservative and not designed for maximum power. With further refinement I have no doubts that it will crack 400whp.
Updates/Progress may be a bit slow over the next few months as I have just bought a house. I thought cars were expensive.... Hachiroku's base file vs IAH Stage 1
Well, bit of an update.
So @go team has been in contact with me regarding some further upgraded cam adjusters, and i decided to go all out on the lightened/skeletonized adjusters. He was kind enough to send me a completely built assembly. Hopefully this will remove the likelihood of someone assembling it incorrectly.
Perth is in lockdown...again. so hopefully my booking for the 5th of july is still good. Fingers crossed.
Check out 63motorsports or 63Everything on instagram or his website for better photo's or for more info.
Today is finally the day! Work has finally started on my build. My Dad had to drop my car off at the shop thats doing the work as i am currently ~700km away for work. But that's life sometimes.
Stock lifters vs SLS BS lifters My camshafts after ~126,000kms. They look okay too me, but I have no idea what im looking at
Build is almost complete. The lifters, cam adjusters, trans pan, headers, catch can and pulleys are on. Everything went in without a hitch with the exception of the wesitec catch can. There must be a difference bewteen lhd and rhd cars, as my catch can had to be mounted somewhere else and required significant "persuasion" to get fitted.
The parts supplied by 63Everything/63motorsports went in easily. The instructions were pretty good according to my shop. One thing to be aware of, if you replace the cam adjusters and lifters. The first start up will sound like a tractor. Follow the instructions supplied with the kit and it'll quite down very quickly. A hot oil change will also help with any out of the ordinary noises.
My headers are on, in addition to some magnaflow high flow cats. I decided against a fully catless system. Currently my set-up is MBH headers into hi flow cats, straight into the rear mufflers. It's the loudest car my shop has ever worked on. Sounds insane. Like a V8 supercar he reckons. Its 100% yellow sticker material. I'll drive it as is for a few days. If its just way too over the top and obnoxious, then I'll probably get a resonator or secondary muffler thrown in between the cats and the rear mufflers. I haven't heard it in person, hence why i want to experience it at its loudest before i decide to tone it down. Would love to upload the 9 second clip my shop sent me, but its an mp4 and not an accepted file type by the forum.
12-27-2020, 08:10 AM
