Hello everyone on the mbworld forums! I just purchased an 01 clk430 black/black with 120k Mi. for $5000.00. I sorted out a MAF issue which was sucking up a lot of power, now i want to do some performance upgrades. Ive already cut out the secondary cats (The filtering element broken in both) and my resonator and replaced with straight pipes, and ordered a flowmaster super 10 series muffler. Can you members of the forums give me a comprehensive list of current performance products for this vehicle? and also any opinions on this? http://www.airaid.com/u-build-it_intake_systems.aspx . Im sure this topic has been beat to death but please bare with me

 

I'd be interested in knowing if the roto-molded polyethylene material is heat shielded.

 

Ill try and contact the company

 

Taken from something I wrote back in 2007 -

[caution, rambling on forever mode - BUT HEY, THE W208 SECTIONS NEEDS THREADS! This place is dyin']

First, let me say that I've used K&N filters on a couple of sports cars and a sportbike. The filters worked as advertised and nothing ever went wrong. I don't use them now, but that's because I don't think they would be of any benefit to "me".

Why?

K&N advertises their cotton fiber filters flow 30% more than a comparable paper filter. That doesn't mean every K&N filter available can out-flow every paper filter available. It means K&N claims that in a square inch by square inch comparison, a K&N filter will flow 30% more than a "comparable paper" filter.

Let me break away for a minute and state, I have no idea what K&N means by "comparable paper filter". Is this "comparable filter" made by Fram, Mann, or Kleenex? Is the "comparable filter" made of high end paper, or something closer to cardboard stock? The statement seems a little too vague to have much weight. If someone says, "our filter flows xxx CFM at 14.7 PSI." THAT I can relate to. This "comparable" business is why the word "inexplicit" was added to the English language.

That said, lets take K&N at their word and look at a CLK430 filter. I looked at the air filter in my car. It's made by Mann, and it has pleats. Each pleat is 7 inches long and ¾ of an inch deep. That's 5¼ square inches of filtering material per pleat. A filter has 123 pleats, but only 116 appear to be usable. That’s 609 square inches of surface area per filter. And there are two filters.

A standard K&N universal cone filter (specifically a RC-4700 K&N universal round tapered air filter) is 6 inches tall, ¾ of an inch deep, and has 54 pleats. That’s 243 square inches of filtering material. Unless the K&N material can flow five times as much air, it's not going to be an improvement.

But they sell bigger filters.

A 14 inch, super-sized K&N cone filter has 567 square inches of filtering material. Yes, it's still coming up short. However, if two of these are used AND they're rigged so the car still ingests cool air like the factory style air cleaner - then in theory there would be an improvement.

Personally, if I were to change things, I might be better served by using K&N replacement filters. K&N replacement filters are the same size as the original filters and fit in the factory air box. This means they’ll actually flow more air AND the air will be cool.

Of course, it is late and I may be overlooking the obvious.

 

Post your 430 For Sale, take money from sale, add more, buy 55 AMG. You will get more bang for your buck than you will ever get from the 430... Period!

 

Our cars are Naturally Aspirated so cutting secondaries and resonators etc... Actually decreases the performance.

I have done both and have felt a significant decrease in torque.

Love the sound but will be putting them back on soon.

 

With my stock muffler still in place, i felt a little bit of a low end torque loss, but this week i installed a flowmaster super 10 series muffler and i have to say the car had gained power! Maybe its the placebo effect of me being able to hear my car like never before. But its alot more peppy, little if any low end loss, huge gains up top.

 

I too recently got a CLK430 and am looking for performance gains. Having had many performance cars over the years I am surprised at how restrictive the exhaust seems to be. After the resonator, they have a V8 choked down into a single 2.5 inch pipe, and then to a muffler.

Has anyone had a muffler shop build an honest dual exhaust for one of these? The aftermarket exhaust systems seem to all use the same configuration. which to my eye looks very restrictive.

 

A fat cat back will not give you more power. The restriction that matters is on the exhaust side of the cylinder head.

In response to OP, you'll get a decent amount of power with a 55 airbox and some K&Ns for a lot less money than a custom fabbed intake (I picked up a dyno-tested 10 at the wheels, the car is supercharged now so it has since been sold). It will fit like factory and if you're in CA you won't have the hassle with smogging it.

 

JOsh,

As for the 55 Airbox.. It is a direct swap for the 430? If so know anywhere I can get one?

Thanks

 

It's a direct swap. A little bit of cutting to the front piece needs to be done if you want that on there too. The oil filter gets in the way I believe.

You can find it on ebay, craigslist, forums, and some online auto parts stores.

 

On the exhaust side resonators and muffler delete are as much as I would dare do. I did the delete with a baffled dual tip and have had very little loss on the low end but gained much more on the top end. As far as dual exhaust (true dual) there is a thread on here somewhere with picturs of someones custom setup. I think it was williams but not sure. Also if you can get ahold of him Ghoastridere used to make custom manifolds for the 430. And I am also looking for the 55 airbox.

 

Just FYI but the old addage still stands. More air in + more air out = more power. Just mind the numbers so that you dont lose too much backpressure.

 

While this is true, changing the exhaust won't help you flow much more (assuming you're naturally aspirated). The exhaust choke on the 430 is the cylinder head. Any exhaust gains (including headers) will be minimal until that's addressed. $$$ though.

 

So josh how does one go about getting this problem fixed as I totally agree with you. Back in my fox body mustang days this was done by swapping in some better flowing performance heads (usually AFR or Trick Flow). I know that porting is a possibility but is there a supplier for cams heads etc for the M113 engine family. I am still new to this MBZ club, but I catch on and up fast. lol.