blackbenzz

I've always wanted a front mount intercooler (I guess its technically an aftercooler since its a supercharger) on my clk and I finally bought a kleemann s/c clk. Has anyone done this? I think it would look SICK if the aftercooler could be seen right behind the Carlsson RS bumper. Plus it would help with cooling and we all know, cooler temps = more consistent power!

Cory @ Kleemann

Air to air intercoolers are not as efficient as air to water units- you would probably LOOSE power, not to mention increasing the pressure drop. You'd need to re-design the manifold and SC discharge to accomplish this anyway- not worth it.....

blackbenzz

Man that sucks! Thanks for the info Cory. What else could I do to increase power? The car has Kleemann supercharger, headers, and ECU tune. I heard cams dont add much power and are expensive, any other ideas (no nitrous)?

NitrogenBalance

Did you buy that CLK55 w/ the kleeman?? If so nice job! I think there is a good about of power to be picked up with cams and if possible some good porting/polishing of the heads. The 211 E55 guys have had some pretty good luck with cams. I realize they are different motors but the concept doesn't change. If you have access to good engine work I would look into cams and a port and polish. I may do so over the winter depending on $$$.

blackbenzz

Yea I did buy it, thanks. Now I gotta find a good shop to port and polish the heads. You think it would be ok to take it to a shop that does mostly domestics? Same concept right? How much hp should I expect to see and whats a good price to pay? Thanks.

hhseouljah

bb...not too go too far off topic...i need in a ride in your new beast!

take care, have fun, and be safe.

Sang

NitrogenBalance

I think most shops you find will do a lot more domestic/jap work than benz motors. The market for custom benz engine work is pretty slim especially in the US. It's alot of work. In your case the S/C needs to be completely removed as well as the heads themselves. A little benz knowhow is a must with the engine shop doing the work.

However, I think any good custom engine shop should be able to do a good port/polish valve job on the heads. I would personally be more comfortable dropping just my heads off to a shop rather than have them do the entire teardown. That way if it's a mainly dom. shop there is nothing forgiegn about the work they are performing. Defenitly check out the E55 section and read up on VRUS's posts. He can tell you ALOT more than I can. He has a brand new one going over his head work. I believe he uses a shop that dose mostly domestic work as well. Some of the best around here do manly dom. work. The shop that dose work on my car builds Supra motors at that. I will use them for my head work if it happens.

Vrus is expecting to pick up a conservative 40-50hp with the head work.....not sure on the cost though.

lowphat

Benzz - power increases aside... you might still be able to get at least the look you're after by modifying the radiator side of the Kleemann cooling circuit without changing the basic water-to-air nature of the system.

When you take off your new front bumper to replace it with your Carlsson setup you'll see that there's a small radiator that's part of your blower's cooling circuit - where the water that soaked up the heat inside your S/C manifold gets cooled back down before circulating back through your S/C. It's that rectangular black radiator you can see in this pic from DragonAMG's setup:





On your setup, that might already be mounted in a way that it will will show through your Carlsson, but I think that the look you're after is probably a silver looking larger unit. Maybe you can go aftermarket on that radiator and end up with something that's more the size and color you're after to stuff inside your Carlsson's mouth... that way people might at least have a clue that they're about to get slaughtered

55fanatic

how bout nitrous cooling sprayer?

2PRECISE

I just finished plumbing and making a custom tank for my I/C set up, the front mount is a nice size unit, I personally hate those massive ones you see on the import cars. Its a definate must for any forced induction motors, and far as head work goes, you wont see any crazy gains on port work alone, you need bigger valves for ported heads to function properly and the combustion chambers needs to be reshaped and unshrouded!!!.

here are some pics of my set up

P.S. donsnt the kleemeen S/C come with a separate cooling system?

ProjectC55

Wow bro! When did you pic that up and what's gonna happen to the 430 now?

2PRECISE

I have a clk55amg, and i just finished fabricating the tank and installed the braided lines...FYI... I recentley raced a 2006 s55amg and beat it, mind you the driver was pissed like you wouldnt believe, but I still have to go to dyno and tune.

lowphat

Yes. Kleemann S/C setup uses a 4 core Laminova air-to-water cooler built into S/C manifold and the radiator setup pictured above at the external end of the circuit. It operates as a separate circuit from the engine's regular cooling system.

2PRECISE

so the cooling is seprate but it is tied into the engine cooling system?

lowphat

It's a separate system, independent of the engine's cooling circuit - the only "tie in" to the engine's cooling system is a small bleed line that would allow the S/C cooling circuit to pull coolant from the engine's circuit if the coolant level in the S/C curcuit dropped.

The radiator I was referring to in my prior posts is not the engine's radiator - it's a separate radiator that's part of the S/C's independent coolant circuit. The black rectangular one pictured in the post depicting DragonAMG's setup.

But I'm no expert on Kleemann - I only know what I know because Cory @ Kleemann USA will answer even the most mundane question about Kleemann thoroughly and in record time... and I've asked quite a few.

BTW - the workmanship on your reservior tank looks amazing - just like the quality of that intake you made.

blackbenzz

Thanks for the help lowphat. I guess I gotta take off the front bumper and see what it looks like behind it.
coolkarlskiC43- I picked it up yesterday and for now the 430 will be a daily driver.
2precise- Thats a nice setup but I would want the "ricey" front mount. I think it would look great behind the large Carlsson RS front opening.

I already have a bunch of kills. It was a long drive from Boston. Kills so far = New S4, C6 vette, bunch of M3's , CLK430, E500, and some pickup truck So far I havent found a worthy opponent. I want to race a ferrari 360. Its very hard to put the power down without traction control intervening. I'm not ready to keep the t/c off because I tried it once and punched at 30mph and the car went sideways The car goes form 80-120mph in the blink of an eye and it never lets up. I'm loving the car so far.

2PRECISE

oh ok... wonder why they would do that...should keep it completely seperate, cant see how hot coolant will keep air cold...

Thanks... I designed it so it mounts onto factory fastners, so there is no drilling and butchering..works and look awesome.

lowphat

The inside diameter of the bleed line's only like 1/8th of an inch. Assuming that the S/C cooling circuit is working properly, then there's no coolant transfer between systems. However, with a bleed line to the engine's reservoir, if the S/C circuit had a leak and it's coolant level was dropping there would be an automatic source from which it could draw additional coolant. If that started to occur, eventually the reduction in overall coolant level would become apparent when the level in the engine coolant tank reservoir visibly dropped.

2PRECISE

good point

NitrogenBalance

Why is your motor so cleeeaannn? I'm looking around the S/C and intake system and the motor is as clean as new. What do you use for a cleaner on that engine and the tank looks good. Man thats clean!

2PRECISE

lol...thanks bro. I just use cleaner any will do, I use simple green on a rag and start wiping.

blackbenzz

You were right lowphat. My setup looks just like DragonAMG's. The intercooler is a small black one right behind the bumper. I'll ask Cory before I swap out to a bigger intercooler. I dont want to mess anything up.