Hi guys,

I decided that the CLK Black Series depreciated enough for me to step in. Quick cellphone pics included where you see the car drinking 100 octane V-Power-racing gas as available in Germany. Boy that thing is thirsty!

I asked Steve from MBenzNL fame to help me find the best bang for the buck and so we did. One of the few with a good price that hasn't been 'abused' on the track. And in fashionably white no less!

After driving the car home I handed over the keys to Steve for some adjustments (as you would expect with Steve). Amongst them: TPMS, parktronic, alcantara headliner, full swing key-less go, leather airbag, and a lot more. I will post the results when finished, hopefully somewhere in the next weeks.

Drove 200 miles today to bring it home, and I love it. The bucket seats are nice and snug, and also squeezing my back straight to the chiropractor. I got it just in time!

Congrats! Looks like you picked her up in Mannheim and had a chance to stretch her legs a bit The Black Series is perfect for those smooth as glass European roads.

Good for you! I'm sure you'll love it.

I was so lucky... Steve had to be in my home town with sprins' new CLK BS, and he asked me if I wanted to join him for a short ride. Just so I could feel the engine rumbling, and so I could get smacked into the seat when Steve hit the pedal.

What a car!! The exterior color is lovely, the way the car accelerates is heavenly. ... and it sure is a good thing that I don't have such a car myself! Like Steve, my genes would make me drive way too fast.

greetingz,

BigSis

Oh boy... How will I pass the time while Steve completely disassembles it while he tries to make an SL65 Black Series out of it???

Congrats!

Intermediate update:

Car was ripped a new one to add all the options that Mercedes Benz didn't want available to the Black Series. I'm keeping the Recaro's, so the weight gain should be modest. I'll post a list of the work when it's done, as I honestly lost track of what Steve is going to build into it.

Last update before delivery. Will post all the modifications in a new thread when I've got it.

In the meantime; spot the new option...

In my opinion, you are taking a vehicle that was purposely stripped down to be made lighter in lieu if the heavier engine that AMG had to shoe-horn into that front compartment, which is not what the car is intended to be... you might as well get a CL65 if you want all those luxury items...

But, I still love your car (the white is awesome), and it's yours to do what you wish with it, so have at it!

To compensate for the weight gain I kept the Recaro's and I will fill her up with Shell V-Power racing 100 octane each time ;-)

I miight be wrong but I believe octane ratings are calculated differently in Europe than they are here in the states, the 100 octane you speak of is about the the same as our 92 octane here in the states, shouldn't you be running that level of octane anyhow? I run 100 to 103 in my car all the time and I know the European rating is 106 to 108 for the same fuel. RON and AKI look it up.

I'm don't think TPMS, and keyless go will add any significant amount of weight. Not sure about Parktronic? How heavy is each sensor?

Minimum RON required for the 63 engine is (according to the fuel flap) 95. Recommended is RON 98. Bonus for the Autobahn is RON 100.

I finally found something auto related that is better here in the states than in Europe, I can drive up to any station and get premium which is 93 or 94 (98 or 99 in Europe according to the numbers in link you pasted) or I can opt for 100 or 103 (105 to 108 in Europe) which is available at a handful of stations in my area, you guys are getting hosed.

Just for the record, I would trade my 100 octane and 65 MPH interstates for 89 octane and the Autobahn in a heartbeat.

Yeah, who knew... The general thought was that US gas was crap compared to continental gas. Turns out we were comparing apples to oranges all along...

Well, you're welcome

Man, all that work to strip it down and I thought this was gona be some sort of lightweight dedicated track car....oh well.

Just wait until I tell you about all the other stuff that's been installed

By the way, Steve can literally strip the car in 20 minutes and he can put it back together in probably less time. It is ridiculously easy for him. I've seen him do it LIVE multiple times The guy is literally better and faster than any dealer technicians we have here in the U.S. He knows exactly where each screw/bolt/clip is at and knows where to even improve upon the weak points. Installing the actual options is what takes the most time.

Does anyone know how heavy the parktronic sensors are? I know for sure all 4 sensors of the TPMS are under 1 pound because I had them shipped UPS before. Keyless go module is likely less than 5 lbs. So even if Parktronic is another 20 lbs, he's still just under 25 lbs of added weight which is not too bad for the cool options in my opinion.

I'd love to get parktronic and keyless go door handles to the car. Keyless go being really important, because I fumble locking and unlocking all the time now... my C63 key looks exactly like the BS key and I routinely carry both on me.

Are there self install kits available?

Keyless Go? I thought Keyless Go was the ability to start and drive my car without putting the key in the ignition,...my BS has this feature, am I the only one? I thought it was standard equuipment?

My BS has that feature too. What it's missing are the door handles where if you touch the outside of it, it locks, and if you touch the inside of it, it unlocks. That way you never have to use your key at all.

It very odd that you have to use the key to unlock, then no key to start.

Well, picked it up today. Took crappy cell-phone pic. And started to enjoy!

Will report back later with a little build thread after good photo's are taken.

Do you work for/own a dealership? Lots of Benzes there. The front air dam (030?) on your SL55 looks great...

-Rob

LOL no, no. That's holy ground! The MBenzNL workplace 'Just' the SL and CLK in the picture are mine. The SL needs some maintenance work done.

Thanks! MBenzNL work too BTW. I had the 030 completely retrofitted over time. Completely, minus the ABC shocks...