Check out my heavily modified yet economical w215!
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,254
Likes: 171
2002 CL500 to CL55 conversion
Check out my heavily modified yet economical w215!
I'll try to get some new images uploaded soon!
I'm not sure there are many people out there who have put as much work into the w215 platform besides the master techs at mercedes themselves, as I have. There's also countless work-arounds, modifications and sub-par repairs mercedes techs would NOT share, that I've come to know about. Retrofitting new suspension, power steering system, lorinser body paneling, an engine, a transmission, rear calipers/rotors, exhaust, amongst many other things, seems substantial enough for it's own organized thread. Perhaps it will encourage weary people to buy more w215's. Any questions can be answered in this thread for all to read
I'll start with the most economical of my modifications, which I consider my suspension conversion. One of the cooler things that made me fall in love with the w215 platform was the ABC suspension, what a remarkable piece of technology! It's a shame it's a little ahead of it's time, because it makes the w215 platform not only plummet in value, but a pain to pay for as far as maintenance costs. I was able to enjoy ABC for a while but there will come a point in your ownership of your w215 where you decide something very important...and that is whether or not you want to keep up with the ABC costs, or opt for an alternative suspension set up
The two trains of thought I've presented weigh in with their own upsides as well as downsides
ABC maintenance-
+great handling
+car can be raised for road irregularities
-heavy on the wallet
-ABC can malfunction at any time, leaving you stranded or possibly prone to a car accident
Traditional coilover system-
+extremely low maintenance cost
+added overall reliability(safety)
+possible resale value increase
-diminished handling capibilities
-harder to impress women with coilovers
I often get emails and PM's about what company I used or other details. Please read through my other threads on the conversion and my opinions on the outcome for further information.
At the end of the day, the coilovers make sense. The ABC system is considered a nightmare by many and makes people run for the hills when they consider buying a w215. Another thing to consider is whether or not you will have family in your w215 when your ABC system blows a high pressure hose and causes your chassis to drop to the ground at 70 on a road trip 100 miles away from home...Perhaps if the ABC system didn't fail as often as it is known to, then the ABC would be more logical, but in my opinion. It's a closed case...
Moving on, as many people know the w215 is retrofitted with a unique tandem pump. Tandem refers to the fact that this pump serves a dual purpose. The pump not only keeps the hydraulics pressurized for ABC purposes, but serves as a typical power steering pump.
But I got rid of the ABC system you say...how did I fair with that considering mercedes themselves don't have an independent power steering pump for the w215 platform?
The answer is easy and lies in the fact that mercedes platforms share different engine variants. (IE - cl500 being the 5.0 liter v8, cl55 being the 5.5 v8, cl600 being the 6 liter v12). Mercedes used your w215 engine in another platform that DOES have an independent power steering set up. Voila, find a used power steering pump from a s500/e500 for example (non abc models) and you will find that not only does it fit, but it uses all of the existing hoses and fittings
The next thing I want to mention applies to cl500 (e500,s500,sl500 also) owners in specific...
Often with import cars, you will find that labor rates get quite ridiculous...in my case I had the notorious "Sticky" hydraulic lifters that made my 500 engine quite noisy. Digging as deep as the lifters in these engines can take time and money so there comes a point where you have to think outside of the box...
Do you want to spend a bunch/waste time on fixing this engine? or would you rather just replace the engine? With serious engine/transmission issues, typically the stealership will opt to replace the engine/transmission as a whole instead of nitpicking issues. So there's no reason we can't apply this same logic as DIY'ers....you'll find that used engines for our vehicles are not only abundant but also modest in price...(ebay) Perhaps because no one cares to install engines themselves on mercedes, who knows...
I took it a step further and instead of just replacing the engine I thought it'd be a good idea to upgrade to a bigger engine variant. A lot of things should be lined up in regards to compatibility but I was shocked at how fast my existing ECU/electronics adapted to my newly installed cl55 engine (as opposed to my old cl500 engine). I hope to encourage these types of major drivetrain modifications, as it was not only a little easier than I imagined but truly a pleasure getting that deep into such a well engineered machine.
Not only did I gain a significant amount of horsepower, but despite the larger displacement, I also get better gas mileage. I was shocked but I guess it makes sense in terms of efficiency. Yes, you heard right the 55 engine gets BETTER gas mileage than the 500 engine.... So to add to the monetary benefit of this modification, in the long run (through saving gas). This modification will eventually pay for itself (50 free horsepower? sounds good to me! )
Which brings me to my next major modification. Although the cl500 transmission (733.633) was compatible with my new engine, I rendered it unoperable. So I opted to replace it with a transmission from a e55 (733.636). The same concept as far as engine swaps with different platforms also applies to the transmission swaps. Go figure. Merecedes will save money where they can, you can trust that....My original TCU also instantly took to my new transmission
Installing an AMG engine and AMG transmission made me want to opt for larger brakes. I took the rear calipers/rotors from a cl55 and installed them on my cl500. The original rotor is 300 mm, the cl55 is 330 mm in diameter. Helps a lot with upgraded rims to fill in empty space
As far as visual mods, the car was "blacked out" by the previous owner at a customs shop(silver trim changed to black). It came with a lorinser trunk lip but I installed the front lorinser fenders to match. It came with staggered 20 inch giovanna kilis rims in flat black that really help with putting the power to the ground. Recently added a spoiler on the back window. Already had installed the AMG front grill and the car came with the AMG body skirt appearance package luckily. Also changed the fogs to white LED strips
Please check out my bands newest single from our full length album coming March 28th!
I'm not sure there are many people out there who have put as much work into the w215 platform besides the master techs at mercedes themselves, as I have. There's also countless work-arounds, modifications and sub-par repairs mercedes techs would NOT share, that I've come to know about. Retrofitting new suspension, power steering system, lorinser body paneling, an engine, a transmission, rear calipers/rotors, exhaust, amongst many other things, seems substantial enough for it's own organized thread. Perhaps it will encourage weary people to buy more w215's. Any questions can be answered in this thread for all to read
I'll start with the most economical of my modifications, which I consider my suspension conversion. One of the cooler things that made me fall in love with the w215 platform was the ABC suspension, what a remarkable piece of technology! It's a shame it's a little ahead of it's time, because it makes the w215 platform not only plummet in value, but a pain to pay for as far as maintenance costs. I was able to enjoy ABC for a while but there will come a point in your ownership of your w215 where you decide something very important...and that is whether or not you want to keep up with the ABC costs, or opt for an alternative suspension set up
The two trains of thought I've presented weigh in with their own upsides as well as downsides
ABC maintenance-
+great handling
+car can be raised for road irregularities
-heavy on the wallet
-ABC can malfunction at any time, leaving you stranded or possibly prone to a car accident
Traditional coilover system-
+extremely low maintenance cost
+added overall reliability(safety)
+possible resale value increase
-diminished handling capibilities
-harder to impress women with coilovers
I often get emails and PM's about what company I used or other details. Please read through my other threads on the conversion and my opinions on the outcome for further information.
At the end of the day, the coilovers make sense. The ABC system is considered a nightmare by many and makes people run for the hills when they consider buying a w215. Another thing to consider is whether or not you will have family in your w215 when your ABC system blows a high pressure hose and causes your chassis to drop to the ground at 70 on a road trip 100 miles away from home...Perhaps if the ABC system didn't fail as often as it is known to, then the ABC would be more logical, but in my opinion. It's a closed case...
Moving on, as many people know the w215 is retrofitted with a unique tandem pump. Tandem refers to the fact that this pump serves a dual purpose. The pump not only keeps the hydraulics pressurized for ABC purposes, but serves as a typical power steering pump.
But I got rid of the ABC system you say...how did I fair with that considering mercedes themselves don't have an independent power steering pump for the w215 platform?
The answer is easy and lies in the fact that mercedes platforms share different engine variants. (IE - cl500 being the 5.0 liter v8, cl55 being the 5.5 v8, cl600 being the 6 liter v12). Mercedes used your w215 engine in another platform that DOES have an independent power steering set up. Voila, find a used power steering pump from a s500/e500 for example (non abc models) and you will find that not only does it fit, but it uses all of the existing hoses and fittings
The next thing I want to mention applies to cl500 (e500,s500,sl500 also) owners in specific...
Often with import cars, you will find that labor rates get quite ridiculous...in my case I had the notorious "Sticky" hydraulic lifters that made my 500 engine quite noisy. Digging as deep as the lifters in these engines can take time and money so there comes a point where you have to think outside of the box...
Do you want to spend a bunch/waste time on fixing this engine? or would you rather just replace the engine? With serious engine/transmission issues, typically the stealership will opt to replace the engine/transmission as a whole instead of nitpicking issues. So there's no reason we can't apply this same logic as DIY'ers....you'll find that used engines for our vehicles are not only abundant but also modest in price...(ebay) Perhaps because no one cares to install engines themselves on mercedes, who knows...
I took it a step further and instead of just replacing the engine I thought it'd be a good idea to upgrade to a bigger engine variant. A lot of things should be lined up in regards to compatibility but I was shocked at how fast my existing ECU/electronics adapted to my newly installed cl55 engine (as opposed to my old cl500 engine). I hope to encourage these types of major drivetrain modifications, as it was not only a little easier than I imagined but truly a pleasure getting that deep into such a well engineered machine.
Not only did I gain a significant amount of horsepower, but despite the larger displacement, I also get better gas mileage. I was shocked but I guess it makes sense in terms of efficiency. Yes, you heard right the 55 engine gets BETTER gas mileage than the 500 engine.... So to add to the monetary benefit of this modification, in the long run (through saving gas). This modification will eventually pay for itself (50 free horsepower? sounds good to me! )
Which brings me to my next major modification. Although the cl500 transmission (733.633) was compatible with my new engine, I rendered it unoperable. So I opted to replace it with a transmission from a e55 (733.636). The same concept as far as engine swaps with different platforms also applies to the transmission swaps. Go figure. Merecedes will save money where they can, you can trust that....My original TCU also instantly took to my new transmission
Installing an AMG engine and AMG transmission made me want to opt for larger brakes. I took the rear calipers/rotors from a cl55 and installed them on my cl500. The original rotor is 300 mm, the cl55 is 330 mm in diameter. Helps a lot with upgraded rims to fill in empty space
As far as visual mods, the car was "blacked out" by the previous owner at a customs shop(silver trim changed to black). It came with a lorinser trunk lip but I installed the front lorinser fenders to match. It came with staggered 20 inch giovanna kilis rims in flat black that really help with putting the power to the ground. Recently added a spoiler on the back window. Already had installed the AMG front grill and the car came with the AMG body skirt appearance package luckily. Also changed the fogs to white LED strips
Please check out my bands newest single from our full length album coming March 28th!
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 1,254
Likes: 171
2002 CL500 to CL55 conversion
i have large rims so every once in a while in some heavy cornering there is slight rubbing in the rear but besides that the suspension is surprisingly satisfying. and much more reliable than ABC
