darkfact

I’ve seen a couple of topics here about increasing HP and making the car go faster.

Please bare me. I know nothing about cars. And I am making this topic after a search that I’ve done.

First question that would probably come to any of you is why would I want to upgrade?
Well, I’ve thought about that. and the answer is simple. I want to “kill” someone that wouldn’t expect a kill from me!

Like killing a guy in a normal C230 with my C200K or something like that!

First thing, I have a life… so car is not every thing to me. Meaning… I wont spend all what I have on a car
I’m with a limited budget. In fact I have no budget at all right now. I’m planning on making one.

So, I looked at kleemann site as what someone just mentioned in one of the topics. I really didn’t know what to look at. But I went to the boost section and I found something that I didn’t understand what. A couple of charts. But the drawings look cool

What do you recommended me? All what I want is for my car to accelerate faster a little bit.
I want to kill cars like C200 and C230. CLK 200, 230 if possible. BMWs 316 and 318. I would rock if I killed a 330 but I know that’s not possible. And hey… E200 too! (my exGF has this one… so I want to, ahem, kill her :P)

There are a few things you should know. I want parts that are not too expensive, easy to install, not to big (cuz they’ll be shipped to me) and last but probably not least wont harm my car in the heat. Since it reaches 50’C during summer here.

thanks :p

mastermind

Do you have the "old" 2.0L or the new 1.8L engine? There are lots of kits available for the former, fewer for the latter.
In priniciple, you should get a larger crankshaft pulley and a new chip to increase boost, torque and hp. 230hp are easily possible. You should also install a larger intercooler since you're driving in a hot climate. I posted below the web address of a German tuner (chip4power) but there are Renntech in the US, Kleemann in Denmark, Vaeth, Carlsson, MKB in Germany as reputable firms.
The cost with intercooler is likely $2,500-3,000. Principally, the kits are simple enough for DIY provided you've got the right tools and some experince. Installation of the chip requires some expertise, especially with the current Siemens ECU which is a bit tricky.

darkfact

can't see any links...

anyway, I have the onld one, the 2.0.
and is the acceleration noticable? I mean 3K is too much for gaining around 40HP only. ( I really don' t know how much that means).

thanks.

mastermind

I am sorry, I referred to a link in a related thread down below. Anyways: www.Kleemann.dk, www.vaeth.com, www.renntechmercedes.com, www.carlsson.de, mkb-power.de (also check evosport.com as they feature Kleemann and mkb products), www.chip4power.de; There're more but for these companies I have seen good reviwes by customers.

On a 200K a typical hp rating should be 210-220 hp with a larger pulley. You can get a bit more by adding a chip, a larger intercooler, and a freer-flowing exhaust system e.g., Supersprint exhaust header and muffler, available from e.g., Vaeth. But that'll cost you 3,000+ extra above the typical pulley kit (1,000-1,500).

I modded my 230K SLK a few years ago (when most of these kits weren't available) and have had no problems since. I started with a pulley, added later chip, headers, muffler and intercooler. The extra power is well worth the money, probably (short of chip-tuning a turbo) one of the most cost-effective tuning measures.

As a note of caution: not all tuners will mail you their chips. While a chip is not absolutely necessary, it does add hp and driveability. My chip came from chip maker GIAC (www.giacusa.com, in case you can't get one from above vendors).

Buellwinkle

With your constraints, money, do it yourself and heat, I would recommend a pulley, the ASP pulley is about $500 US including the factory damper. This will give you about a 1 second advantage in the 1/4 mile. Also because of the heat you will need a larger intercooler like the Racetec for about $650, this will keep the power consistant, even on hot days. Also consider an intercooler sprayer that sprays a cool water mist on the intercooler when it gets too hot. Currently the only system is the Aquamist for about $500 but I'm working on a cheaper solution for about 1/3rd of that price. All these are customer or local mechanic installable.

A chip presents a problem for you as you would have to ship your ECU and wait a while for them to ship it back, don't know if you want to be without a car that long.

bajaiman

I think the first thing you should do is to get pulley upgrade, I've installed my ring pulley back in May 02 and I've been very happy with it. To me it has the most bang for your buck.

I shaved 1 seconds off 0-100km/h (from mid-high 9 seconds to mid 8 seconds) and my 1/4 mile is about mid-high 15 seconds. These numbers are definitely improvement over stock C200K. I think I have about 150KW (ballpark figures) at the fly

I've test driven 03 Audi A4 Turbo (auto) and 03 BMW 320i (auto) and I can tell you with 4 people in the car my C200K pulls better than those 2 cars. Don't bother getting aftermarket exhaust cos they won't do anything other than making your exhaust note a bit sportier, even with Remus (muffler only) I can't barely tell the difference inside the car. Custom made straight thru exhaust after catback will help power at the top end but I just couldn't stand the noise...too loud!!.

With performance chip I can't find any shop that can prove their claimed results on the dyno, Powerchip claimed extra 20KW with their chip but I'll wait until they can get me a proven dyno results.

Intercooler...I'm not sure if they're really worth the money, they're only effective in summer days and thats only 3 months per year.

I reckon for about US$500 bucks you can't go wrong with pulley upgrade