I just installed a Eurocharged Stage 1 ECU modification. The performance gain is really noticeable especially out on the highway where intervals like 40 to 100 really pull. The around town driveability is unchanged from stock. Apparently the gas mileage at cruise goes up some as the car display was indicating 34 mpg for about a 10 mile interval running 65 mph on a relatively flat stretch of road.

The installation is about as easy as it gets. Remove the center engine cover, pop the ECU out of it's 4 standoff extensions and pull the tabs out on the two connectors. If you have strong fingers it doesn't even require any tools.

I pulled it out Saturday afternoon, sent it next day via the USPS and got it back from Eurocharged Tuesday morning about 9 am. If you contact Eurocharged they will probably honor their previous and now expired offer, i.e. 899 with one day return shipping.

Their customer service is excellent as they immediately answer any e-mails.

Two things to watch out for if you do this.

1. The clips in the center engine cover fall out and/or bend easily. MB does not offer replacements. Two of mine fell out. I found 1 and the other is somewhere buried deep inside the engine compartment. I just used a glued on magnet to hold the front section down as there is a metal bracket to attach to right where the clip was. It's actually a lot better then the clip as it comes off easily without losing or bending anything.

2. When reinstalling the ECU be sure the locking tabs on the connectors are all the way in. When I first put mine back in I left one tab half out, the engine wouldn't start and coughed up various warning messages. Now that it is correctly installed the engine warning light is on but according to Jerry at Eurocharged it will go off after a few start cycles.

In summary this was the easiest change I have ever done on any of the many cars I have owned over the years. For 899 it's probably as good as it gets for an MB.

 

Good post. 100% agree. I've had the Eurocharged Stage 1 for about 6 months and it's fantastic. No maintenance / driveability issues at all and have definitely seen an improvement in gas mileage on highway runs (average 33-35mpg if I'm cruising at 65).

I also replaced the filters with K&N drop-ins and I feel it pulls just a little harder. Could be the placebo effect, but I figured it's not a bad idea to let the car breath a little easier. Weistec claims additional 5-20HP for theirs and they look pretty similar to the K&Ns, albeit 3 times the price. The filters were also a very easy install. Just loosen the hose clamps on the intake boxes, lift up and back on the boxes and they pull out, unscrew the four hex screws on the bottom of each and lift out the old filters.

In terms of next steps, I feel like adding more power at this point isn't going to help much as traction off the line, or even from a roll at 20-30, is a problem with traction control going crazy and killing power. A couple of solid E550 guys on this forum have kept pushing on Quaife to build a LSD for our car. Looks like that's coming out in July so that's next on the list, followed by wheels/tires and H&R springs (drop an inch).

After that I think it's downpipe / CAT removal and then I'm going to send the ECU back to Eurocharged for Stage 2. Then I'm done (or so I say now).

All-in-all, for only $2K-$3K in mods, having a car that's now on par in terms of power with a stock AMG that cost $25K+ more, and doesn't come in Coupe, this car is amazing. No clue what they're going to do with the E550 engine in 2015 but I feel this will be hard to improve on.

 

I'm not so sure a LSD will help all that much. My C6 Z06 Vette had an LSD and it still spun the tires like crazy invoking the traction control.

Once you over power the tires about the only thing a LSD does for you is it kind of keeps the car going fairly straight which traction control does anyway.

One problem is when you accelerate quickly the right rear tire unloads relative to the left due to the engine torque acting on the frame which is why drag cars with a suspension tend to put the batteries in the right rear to try and weight bias the rear tire loading.

I guess we will find out when someone installs one in a modified car.

 

I visited Cory at Kleeman a couple of months ago. He said he usually sees around .4 sec improvement in 1/4-mile times when going from an open diff to a Quaife on the E55 - could be better on the E550. I've also read a lot of owner reviews (mostly E55 upgrades) and they all talk about a dramatic improvement, particularly when turning into traffic.

I agree that once you slip, you slip. But up until that point, the LSD is going to make a big difference. Your statement ("spun the tires") is what's different - an open diff spins just one. The traction control uses the brake to push power to the other wheel. Not an efficient way of powering both wheels.

For the record, I'll be installing the Quaife unit this Summer, as soon as I can lay hands on one. I have trouble launching and pulling into traffic now, so I agree with the previous assertion that there's not much point in adding power before traction.

 

Cornering and straight line acceleration are two separate things. In cornering the weight transfer is unloading the inside wheel. In straight line acceleration both wheels are powered in an open differential until one wheel loses traction. That's how the spider gears work.

No one with a competitive drag car uses a LSD. They all use a spool (axles splined to the ring gear carrier). Actually a lot of people with high powered cars drive around with a spool. Actually it isn't bad at all except for tight parking.

An LSD is better then an open differential with traction control but not by much. Depending on how fast the control loop is it can approach the performance of an LSD which is why few OEM's offer LSD's except in their really high performance cars. In these cars it's main function is to keep the car from going sideways before the traction control loop activates.

 

Yep, got that. But since there is always a variance in tire and road conditions (could be infinitesimal), an LSD should make use of the difference with less added friction than use of the braking system.

Which is why I think there will be some benefit, but testing will bear it out. I'm going to do runs as closely as I can, before and after.

 

thanks for the tuning update and feedback.

I'm gettin my car tunned by OE tuning tomorrow Friday 5/31.

So far I have removed 1st set of resonators, added the K&N and replaced stock wheels and tires with W212 E63 18" rims and tires...255 on 9" and 285 on 9.5"

I was not looking for the most aggressive tune for this car.. in fact OE tuning usually uses a very conservative Dyno.. therefore its hard to compare vs other tuners.

The sent me a updated Dyno sheet from a recent 550 tune.. and they are pushing just as much as Eurocharged or Renntech.

But dyno's are all different.. so its convenience for me to visit their shop about 30 mins away.

I had nothing but Eurocharged tuning before on my C32 and E55.. no problems what so ever.

I'll write a small review on my car after tunning.. Eventually I will need to get some sort of IPAD OBD2 data logger.. to check Air Intake Temps vs engine timing.

My past experience.. increase boost will create more power but at the expense of the intercooler efficiency.

I did notice that Renntech offers an updated intercooler "PUMP" with their tune package.. very common replacement for the E55 cars. Very simple and cheap too.

 

Unless the compressor is running outside it's optimal island (unlikely from the factory stock)then increasing boost results in lower compressor efficiency and higher temperature at the turbo output. The question then becomes how much of this extra heat the intercooler can remove. This is tough to determine sitting on a dyno since you have to somehow artificially induce the airflow across the radiator. Usually the shops use some kind of gigantic fan but the airflow velocity is pretty much unknown.

My experience drag racing a water air intercooler was that it was a real PITA if I had to run pretty much back to back in the later rounds as the water got really hot. I eventually replaced it with an air to air intercooler. It had much more complicated plumbing but it performed a lot better in a racing venue. Looking at the packed under hood of a E550 I can understand why MB chose air to water.

I looked at the Renntech pump and plumbing. I kind of laughed at the price which I think was something like 1350. The pump in my racecar was essentially a 12 v sump pump from a boat and cost something like 20 bucks. It flowed a lot of water through the intercooler system, something like 10 gpm if memory serves.

For 1350 either the Renntech must be one jewel of a pump, or they have set a new record for the "MB" tax.

 

exactly.. same for the old kompressor engines.. back to back runs full WOT would start zapping power.. unless the heat exchanger was increased, add a better flowing pump and separate intercooler coolant reservoir. I added 1 galon reservoir to my old set up.

we used Johnson pumps (marine type) Cm30 and Cm90.. i'm sure we will find something similar. Something that does not push the water too fast or to slow. Adding another heat exchanger core and pump should cost no more than $300 bucks.. most of these parts can come from other forced induction cars.

Hence I want to to start data logging in the summer...