Pauljay

I'm trying to get my car upto or past 420 bhp.
Which bolt on mods (without super charging/turbo) will get me close or over?

From a standard 55 engine producing 342 bhp if I added the folowing how much would each mod make?

I'm thinking:

Air box with K&N filters = 5
Schrick Cams = 15
De-cat and straight pipe = 5
X-pipe = 3
Under drive pulleys = 7
Crank pulley = 10
Custom tune = 5
Headers = 15

What else am I missing?
I'm looking to do all these mods by the end of the month.

AMS Performance

Headers will make more than 15HP at the engine, they make more than 15 at the wheels so a better estimate would be roughly 20HP+. You can't put an X-pipe on the W208 CLK55s so you have to remove that one from the list. Custom ECU tune will give you more than 5HP but how much depends on the tune and your setup. High flow 2nd cats give you 10HP at the wheels (so that's roughly 12 crank HP).

Remember cams don't make that much power, theymerely shift power. You will sacrifice some low end to make it up in the top end (which isn't necessarily a bad thing on our cars, we have plenty of torque). However, they aren't really necessary on our cars and its way too expensive considering the gains aren't that much, you are better off concentrating on other mods instead. Even weight reduction is a better mod than cams so its better to spend your money elsewhere.

hope that helps.

Edit... do you have a CLK430 or CLK55? your profile says CLK430....

Jen_Kenne

Nitrous.

Pauljay

Thanks.

Sorry for the confusion about engine size. I did the 55 conversion.

I haven't listed my car as an AMG because it isn't. It's down as a Brabus because they are tuners and alot of their bits is on my car.

With all the mentioned items bar X-pipe (and nitrous! ha,ha) will the car make 420 or there abouts do you think?

The reason I ask is because my car is a convertable which is fully loaded (except for the contour seats) and so is that much heavier than a coupe so the performance whilst obviously is good needs a little help.

I have already changed my suspension to Bilstein Pro with Eibach springs. Fitted EBC big brakes with red pads so I just need the performance pepped up.

M-bENZ

Pics of ur engine please lol.

Andy

Pauljay

Here's a pic of my engine.

Very much standard. I took the secondary air pump off because I used my 430 harness on the engine (the 430 doesn't have a plug for it). Also unfortunately because of high fuel prices in the UK (petrol is £1.04 a litre) I had the car converted to run on LPG. That meant that the air box wouldn't sit on top of the engine without cut outs in the back of it meaning it wouldn't be sealed. The BMC carbon air filter is a temperary measure until I can find a good cold air feed.

neilbo75

420 HP is doubtful. Aside from laughing gas, the only way to get our NA 55 engines seriously north of 400 is to increase displacement. Brabus among others can push displacement to 6.1 litres. HP can then rise to around 440.

However, your budget rises much faster. Supercharging is cheaper.

Jen_Kenne

Of course, if you want some serious power - such as in the 800 bhp plus range, pull the Benz engine and replace it with a big-block Chevy 'crate' engine. You'll find much more speed equipment, and can end up with a nice 800 or even 1,000 bhp car on the street. This is the Norwood approach, and it works. Or, you can continue to bang away at the SOHC Benz, spend a great deal of money and (probably) not get the results you want. Good luck!

Nachtsturm

A 502 powered CLK55 would awsome.

To the OP, the N/A 55's are not the best platform to choose for modding, unless you got deep pockets.

I am getting a custom tune done this friday. And I am stopping there. Otherwise it is just to costly. 2k + labor for longtubes for maybe 20hp is not worth it to me. Rather put that towards the next platform, I.E. CL600, CL55, etc.

Pauljay

I know what you mean about pricing!

I like the W208 style and intend to keep my car for a while. I've had it 6 years so far.
I thought that with all the new cars on the road today having 3-400hp as standard I would try not to get left behind at the traffic light Grand Prix. That and the fact that since doing my engine conversion I've gotten used to the power.
I will however stop once I've done my currant mods. As like I said the car feels good but could use just a little more.

AMS Performance

Hello Paul,

Very interesting. I was wondering what those were sitting on top of the fuel rails, makes sense why you can't put the airbox on. How does the car run on LPG? The car probably burns cleaner I would imagine. How much you pay per gallon for LPG? You are probably the only 5.5L AMG engine running on LPG haha.

neilbo75

The custom tune (reflashing the ECU) already changes the car - makes it more aggressive if only marginally more powerful. Headers actually do add noticeable power. I had both done recently, one after the other (Kleemann products). Together these two mods add maybe 30 HP and cost about $100 per pony. It's not particularly cheap, but this is the best "bang for buck" you can do to our cars. But don't forget about improving traction - the best mod of all is a Quafie LSD.

Pauljay

Hi AMS.

The cars runs very well on LPG. At idle the tickover is so much smoother due to the atomisation of the gas. One thing though is you do notice at the top end only that the car doesn't pull as hard. I think the octane is lower on LPG.
When a need to haul a** I just switch over to petrol as I have the LPG tank in the spare wheel well.

LPG price per litre is 51p. Petrol is £1.04. .

Ps. I'm still waiting on your rhd headers. Could email me when they're ready..

NEILBO.

Thanks for the tip!

I run Pirelli P Zero tyres. Like Pirelli say "Power is nothing without control".

I was going to stop at the tuning. Looks like you just added 1 more to the list! Ha ha.

PTE

I went from a Stock 297 Rwhp , to 341 Rwhp with the following bolt on Mods. I did posts on all changes & update as the parts were added . Just do a search under PTE

The largest increase came from the Kleemann Headers with 200 cell Cats , No Dual exhaust or X pipe. Single 3" pipe from the (Y) back to the rear Muffler.

Renntech Carbon Fiber air box. Doesn't show much on the Dyno , but a good gain in MPH at the Track.

ECU & TCU Tune , Not real Big Numbers on a N/A Motor , but brings it all together , for drivability, & a large increase under the normal Torque & Hp Curve.

Underdrive pulleys . I just didn't see or feel any increase on the dyno or at the track . Put the $400.00 dollars towards a Quaife posi unit.

Off The Shelf Schrick Cams , No Hp increase PERIOD!! There are no more in stock anyway. They will make a 30 set production run. With money up front.
You can try Kleemann or a SLR copy. Still a nice idle , but expect about 11hp at the most on a N/A motor. If you want something a little more radical, with no loss of hp or torque below 1800 rpm & a 20 hp increase above 5300 rpm then find a set of VRP cams / PTE cams. They will need a ECU Tune to add Fuel in the Upper rpm band.
Go with the Exhaust 1st. The air will not go IN unless it can get out .

Cheers _PTEngineering

Jen_Kenne

How much did you spend for that 15% increase, and did you buy retail or do you have an insider source?

PTE

Hello J_K. at the time I paid there going rate through an authorized dealer. C2D in Tampa. Yep ,Retail or close to it. I do not feel real bad about what I piad at the time. It all work as promised, Cory at Kleemann & Chris at C2design were very helpful.
Kleemann had some sale prices a few months ago, which help bring pricing into aline with Current economy.
Cheers _PTEngineering

Pauljay

PTE you are the man!

I've just finished reading some of your back threads. Nice car!

Unfortunately I've already bought and installed my Schrik cams. They didn't do a great deal but moved the power futher up the rev range losing a little off the bottom. My cats went bad so I've already de-catted the car and fitted a straight pipe. The car sounds LOVELY. I contacted Kleeman about their headers but they don't fit rhd cars so I'm waiting for AMS to make some.
Also when speaking to AMS they said underdrive pullies work in the last few thousand rpm so I ordered a set and am awaiting delivery.

Do you know of a cold air box or system that will fit an ML 55 intake. I cant use an air box because behind the head light sits my LPG ECU and fuel chamber.

I had the car dynoed recently and it made 371 crank bhp on a DD dyno. A week later it felt stronger so maybe it's making 380 bhp now.

I need another 30-40 bhp so maybe with the pullies and headers plus a tune and better air feed I'll be there.
I'm going to go over your other posts for more fine tuning! .

Jen_Kenne

Thanks PTE. I suppose there is no economic justification for us gear-heads playing with our cars.

AMS Performance

Hello Paul,

You are correct LPG is less energy dense than gasoline. HOWEVER, The great news is LPG is roughly 108 octane (RON) so you can crank up the ECU timing to the max on your ECU. Get a custom tune set for at least 100 octane (US octane rating, roughly 105 UK rating) and see if that gives you more power (if you don't already have custom software for high octane I HIGHLY recommend it in your specific application). The underdrive accessory pulleys will help regain some of the power lost on the top end lost from LPG conversion. I must commend you for running LPG, your car probably runs cleaner without cats than most of our cars do with cats, good way to save $$ and the environment as well.

To give your car more torque, the crank pulley & headers are the two mods that will serve you best. Our headers should be released shortly, thanks for your patience, they will be worth the wait.

~AMS~

AMS Performance

I agree, it is much easier to make power on these cars NA than people realize its just most people don't do the best mods, they do mods which make little to no power alot of money (aka $2000 CF airbox and etc). The real power is in headers, crank pulley & high flow cats. That is where majority of the power is to be had, the rest is just superficial stuff that helps round out the entire package, but on their own they don't do much.

Pauljay

Thanks AMS!

I didn't know about the octane rating on LPG. I had it installed for economic reasons and the fact that if you have a low emission vehicle you can drive in central London for free rather than pay £8 a day!
My car is my daily driver and I cover roughly 1000 miles a month both highway and B roads.
I'm salivating at the prospect of turning my ECU right up! Ha ha.
Keep up the good work! .

Pauljay

Just spoke to the LPG shop.

They confirmed what AMS said about the octane rating, but advised that I don't do it because turning the ECU up would burn through the cats due to higher emissions.
I explained that I don't have cats any more and he said "Right. Leave it with me then!"
Unfortunately the LPG ECU I have is tunable to some extent but isn't fully tunable. He'll call me back after the weekend to see whether he can source one because the one he's thinking of may not be made anymore.

Once again Thanks AMS! .

AMS Performance

Hello Paul,

Always glad to help. Basically its almost impossible for your engine to detonate so you can just crank it up to the absolute max, you should be able to pick up probably a good 15-20HP back on the top end (if not more depending on how aggressive they can go with your special ECU). In conjunction with our crank pulley and an accessory pulley kit your car should be putting out some amazing power. You won't really unlock the true potential of your top end though until you get the headers, they do the most for the top end simply b/c the stock manifolds are so restrictive up top.

Hope that helps,
~AMS~

blackbenzz

Will they be long tube headers? What size primaries and what size collectors?

Jen_Kenne

And what size price?