I have a 2002 clk430 that i am lookin to mod to get into atleast the high 12's, faster would be nicer. I currently have a renntech intake heat shielded w/ K n N drop ins, renntech muffler with res delete, sprint booster, denso iridium plugs, and magnacor 8.5mm wires. those small modifications did make a noticable difference and am wondering what bigger mods and companies to go with. im not talking a S/C, yet atleast. IM interested in ECU mods, pulley kits, headers, cams and head kits, rear diff, anything in the price range of those mods. I believe those mods would be more than enough to get me into the 12's considering stock we do 14.1. Im not into butchering cars up, this is my first car and have had it for over 4 yrs, and plan on keepin her for a while and would not like to put any mods that havnt been tested or used by anyone in the real world not marketing world where most everything is bull sh*t. I think this would be a good project and if all goes well i go through with all these mods this can be a learning experience for all 430's. any input would be greatly appreciated. And no sarcasm!!!!THANKS

 

First of all, 14.1 quarter mile is an estimate, not a hard and fast rule. Some 430's will be faster and some will be slower. I've seen stock 430's at the strip running in the upper 14's with decent temps and 60 foot times.

There really aren't a lot of options with respect to head kits for our cars (they will be either custom or $$$).

Things like headers, pulleys, intakes, plugs/wires, and mufflers really don't add much appreciable power by themselves (nowhere near enough to get you into the 12's)

Some of the other mods you listed are going to be extremely pricey (diff, cams) and require real dyno/datalog tuning (not canned tunes) and still won't give you the price/hp ratio of a supercharger.

I've gotten my car into the 12's but it took a supercharger and other things to do it.

Also, I understand your desire to be an informed consumer and see real numbers as opposed to marketing numbers but unfortunately, the market for this car is nowhere near as saturated as, shall we say the STi, Evo, or even the MINI market so finding companies that are willing to front the R&D money for a car with a very small profit base is difficult.

Essentially, you're going to have to either shell out the money for one of the high dollar tuners or take a gamble and go the custom route if you really want to see 12's with this car.

My advice would be to first go to a track and actually see what your car runs instead of relying on other people's numbers.

Your desire to be an educated consumer is great. At the end of the day, a Mercedes is a car with a combustion engine like most other cars. The same tuning principles apply to them. Find a shop that does good custom work and has experience with Mercedes. Check out some of the work they've done. Make sure they have or have access to a dyno and can datalog/tune the ECU.

I can tell you that you won't be disappointed if you go the supercharger route. Keep in mind though, that not all superchargers are created equal. Some are H uge P ieces of S hit. Just do a search!

 

Everything your saying is completely 100% true. ive heard of ppl spending thousands on s/c and still are in the 13's, wuts up with that.But i also believe that all the mods i have listed would be enough to get me into the 12's atleast. its all about curves and when you do hit maximum power and at what rpm. a few of my buddies and i have had our cars shipped to africa to race and i hav raced with cars that ran in the 13's on paper. now im not saying i hav a freak motor. it could be from driver error, launching techniques, etc. whatever it was i was pretty close(meaning like fender-a car lengh) to beating them or flat out beating them(not by much but just enough) I have seen those runs of stock clk430's running in the high 14's and thought WTF!!!, no way does my car compete with a 320. I guess it had to do alot with altitude too cuz where i race is at sea level and that can be a huge factor. Im already debating kleemann headers, powerchip tune(most advertised and alot of people are pleased with it), Possibly evo sport UD pulley kit(idk how tru the gains are)some sort of rear diff. swap(whats the most agressive compatible swap from another benz that there is to a clk430?), and cams and head work(need help with what company to go with)Heard mkb does good work but still wanting more info. I am hoping to attract people with these mods to get their take on them. like i said any and all info would be very helpful and appreciated.

 

ttt

 

A couple of years ago I wanted more hp for my 430. I ended up doing the N/A 55 conversion and I still haven't stopped!

Power IS so addictive. You'll be surprised how quickly you get used to it!

The amount of money you'll spend tuning the 430, why don't you do a conversion instead?

Seriously! The $$ will be on a par.

 

Def thought about doing that but also wanted to work the internals after i did the bolt ons and head work on my 430. If i come across one before i start working on the 430 i may consider it if its a reasonable price and low mileage.

 

Anyone?

 

Based on your goals and budget, I don't see how getting into the 12s will be realistic.

Even with a blower on an CLK430 (I'm using Kleemann's numbers here from an old Benzo mag), you'll match or just slightly edge out a stock CLK55 - which also WILL NOT run 12s without modification.

Sorry to say, but your 430 is not the right platform - unless you're willing to be a guinea pig and start running an aggressive setup - NOS, turbos, blower or a combination of some sort. In the end, it may be cost-prohibitive.

BTW, Josh - nice to see you around again.

 

Got any time slips to post?

 

unfortunatly no i dont. nevr been tracked but hav had many races with many cars in the 13's. and wen i say 13's i mean mid 13's. hav raced faster cars like moded evo mrs and sti's and they still say damn that cars quick for a n/a pig. i believe marcusf had a time slip of like 13.7 or 13.8 in his stock clk430. now not to brag about my little mods cuz i know thats what they are, but those in combination of pretty sticky street tires and knowing how to drive the car def givs me a chance to get me in the 12's with the mods i want. our cars, heck all cars are not meant to be mashed out of the hole, which i believe is why there are such terrible times posted by ppl on the web with our cars. doing so will only cause the car to bog, you hav to hit the gas to that sweet spot and hold it there right before the revs run out and then progressively giv it more gas. believe me ive played with this car many times and kno how to pull a hole shot pretty good with it. as for you saying a 430 is not a good platform to start with, cmon 4 cylinders are smoking us and even you jus cuz they got a turbo. if you can turn a 4 cylinder into a monster anything is possible, all it takes is money and big enough ***** to put ur car on the line. and as for you talking about my budget, those mods i posted that "want" to get done can easily cost close to 10g, if brought to some1, but considering i can do most but machine and work the heads and probly reprogram the tcu after a diff swap. that price will drasticaly go down. i work 2 jobs, 1 full time painting cars,1 part time helping with my dads business, and dont go to school so right now making money is my life, nd havn fun.

 

i'm gonna jump in really quick here. i understand where your coming from when i first got mine (coming from a s13 with RB25 DET skyline motor) granted it is only a 320 i fabed a turbo system this is back in 2004 and thing were great for the first 3 days before reliability issues came up. what they are saying is that our cars out not that great for doing all the internal work that you are talking about. they just wont give you the same bang for your buck plus reliability is out the door, you have to remember those STis and evos are made as force induction engines and everything is adapted to the force induction and belive me when i tell you they are way bigger monsters than you think they are, due to smog regulations they are toned down alot in united states or they would not be street legal like the sky line r32, r33, and r34 or the rps13 and silvias. so what you see is a toned down car in japan and other countries they are a whole different animal. our cars are just not meant for that kind of power they are meant to have good enough daily power and be comfortable which the evos and stis will never be. instead of doing all the work that you are talking about i would consider doing an engine transplant to a v12 600 or even a v8 biturbo 65 at the end of the day it will be chaeper, way more reliable and your car will stay a benz. in coclusion if you want a fast car work on your CLK but if you want to be fast then you are in the wrong car brother.