benz4

I was curious who has modified there s55 because im looking for more power and was wondering how most people got it?

Thank you
Blake

w4sim

Theres plenty of people on here with modified S55's.

The basic way seems to be an upgrade pulley, exhaust upgrade and an ECU Tune to start with. Depends on how far you want to go really and what your looking for?

What year is your S55?

benz4

03

Im coming from the diesel truck world so Im used to endless upgrades. Im looking for a daily driver/ weekend warrior.

Could you lay out a list like the one ill make below?

FOR EXAMPLE

500rwhp- pulley upgrade and exhaust
550rwhp- above + ecu tune


I just wanna see what kind of power levels I could do.

Thank you
Blake

benz4

bump still looking for guys with modded s55's

Triman2008

Benz4, I have probably one of the more modded S55's that are active on the forums. I will tell you right now, it's not cheap..........but worth it when you see their faces.

To get you going, start with cooling mods. Upgrade the I/C pump to a Johnson CM30 or a Meziere WP136. Look at seperating the engine coolant from the I/C flow. Also looking at doing a trunk mount system if you are going for broke. (BIG HP)

I have a 180 ASP pulley kit, shortie headers, exhaust, 550 injectors, 82mm TB, Johnson I/C pump, Kleeman tune and seperated coolant flow. I barely made over 500rwhp with all these mods. I'm looking at a trunk mount system, Belt wrap kit, LTH, and a new tune and maybe E85 in the future.

It's not a cheat game, you'll figure this out once you start doing your research. If you have questions, let me know. Good luck

E

xlr8tin

I for one am going for appearance mods at the moment. Right now 500hp is good enough. No one out here where I live can even match me. When I get back to Nashville, however, I'll be wanting more get up and go. Might go with a new car altogether by then. I have a year and a half at the least.

Personally, I like the new CLA45. Up till now I've wanted a 65, just not sure which. I love the size of the S class, and how they actually handle. Might be hard to get anything else.

I did buy some wheels and tires the other day and they are sitting in the garage. Just waiting on lug bolts.

OP, If nothing else start off with deleting your resonator like I did...sounds great

benz4

If you dont mind me asking how much do you have in performance mods? Hows the trans holding up?

Thank you
Blake

benz4

Ive been thinking about a 65 amg as well, whats the rumor on them? good? bad?

Triman2008

Blake, close to about 8k in performance mods. I also have about 4k in apperance mods. Like I said, not cheap.

benz4

So what would be needed to gain some more hp? cost?

Also hows your exp. with kleemann? I ask because I live close to one in CO

SnoopSER

subscribed.... what about air filters??? I heard installing K&N's or B&M's plus removing the gray lining in the air boxes gives a tad bit more of a power boost?? (correct me if Im wrong)

Triman2008

Benz4, it's just a box tune, next tune I do will be a full dyno tune with one of the tuning vendors here on MBWorld. A new pump will run about 150-200$. A pulley kit will run you anywhere from 600-1000$ depending on if you buy it used or new. The tune is the biggest thing to follow. You have to get a tune with a pulley kit and a new pump to deal with the heat the pulley ( upping the boost) will create. Headers will lower the boost a little allowing the car to get rid of the exhaust faster but headers are a large cost, MBH headers are about $2400.

The filters don't do much in hp unless you have other supporting mods to allow the air to enter faster......ie throttle body, which is another large cost at about 800-1600$ used or new.

Kory over at kleemann is a good guy and frequents these boards in the W211 section. Search him out and ask questions. OE Tuning and Eurocharged are other big tuning companies that have box tunes for any mod combo you can thing of. Logic Lab Tuning is a newer company but long time tuner of AMG cars. Speedriven in another company for tuning and parts but be prepared to spend $$$$. Hope this helps.

E

SnoopSER

^^^ Thanks for the info.

xlr8tin

It sounds like the engines and trans for the 65's are pretty solid. The main thing would be the same with all S classes like ABC suspension, trans mount and a few others. So if you own the S55 long enough, I'm sure the 65 can't be that bad. Besides going through the usual amount of tires.

Lots of people are saying the 600's can put out numbers like the 65, but for much less. Personally, with owning an AMG, I'd say the 65 would have to handle better then a 600. To me that's all the difference in the world. I can't imagine having a car this size without AMG suspension.

Also, like Triman2008 briefly mentioned about the W211 sub section, this is a great section as it is the same engine and people are much more active. The guys over there are crazy with modding their cars.

Triman2008

spot on, those guys are where I've been hanging out a lot. Lots of ideas about cooling mods and DIY's. Also, with anything the fuel system should not be neglected. Look at doing a looped fuel rail and also a data logging setup. Fuel trims are just as important as going fast. Without the right fuel setup, you would be liable to lean out #8 cylinder......this is where the fuel inlet is. Widening the inlet to 8mm and a looped rail with injectors and fuel pumps would be wise.

E

xlr8tin

Sure wish I had the money to know what you are talking about. Since I don't and know I can't afford all the mods I don't pay too much attention to all those terms.

Maybe one day when the kids are gone...that will be a while...

benz4

Thanks for all the useful info fella's

loungn14

great advice. Been spot on since post #1!

OP if you have any questions just let me know. I'm always around to help even if its not with our products!

Zax63

I love my s65 and they are a simple tune away from 670+hp and 840+ foot lbs of torque. They are money to feed/maintain though. IMHO the best long distance road car made, I'll do NH to NYC and back same day, and the car just sucks it up. Winding Merritt pkwy, long stretches on 84, I'd take this over just about anything, and I can do it with 4 people on board.

Triman2008

Cost of owning my S55 over the last few years, besides fixing the half *** jobs the previous owner did from his hack job shop, has been minimal. Under $1000. The previous owner installed the crank pulley wrong so it shearded off at the hub of the pulley and also, i had to weld a runner on the supercharger because one of the runners cracked by either over tightening or something. It was causing a CEL Vacuum leak and an idle problem. These were the 2 major issues to fix the first year of owning my car. Since then I haven't had to do much but gerenal maintainence. This is the first year I have to replace the supercharger clutch bearings. At this time I will do a belt wrap kit as well.

maw1124

+1 on the ease of maintenance of these. The problems are known, and once you factor them into your acquisition cost, you'll be pleasantly surprised with the upkeep, unless you run it to death, or mod it to death, or both. Or neglect it to death.

That said, and having slightly modded my other cars, for this one I'm almost certainly committed to a larger crank pulley (since mine has a slight wobble anyway), ECU tune and exhaust to free up some restriction. That all seems minimally invasive and sure to wake the car up. The tranny will handle that all day, particularly since I'm getting a bit lazy at throwing the big girl around. All that nets you on these city streets is more money in suspension work. Plus it's a Sonderklasse, after all.

But a TCU tune is also on the radar. Awake and responsive is the goal. More AMG, less de-tuning.

I can probably get all that done for under $4k and at those numbers, why not?

maw

w4sim

I too am at about this stage to be honest, want to do just these 3 things to make her slightly more lively from standstill and around town. Although with this car iv never really thrown her around town, always leisurely cruising (half of the problem is that the drive makes you too relaxed to be aggresive, which doesnt make sense in an AMG car).

But what kind of power figures would we be looking at from these 3 simple mods, about 50bhp???

maw1124

Here's what I've come up with, from following this and other threads / boards. See attachment.

My gut is telling me you add another 10% to 15% for exhaust maybe, at least in "butt dyno" results because you will have dropped 50lbs to 75lbs in factory weight. I'll likely never dyno the car anyway, so that's good enough for me.

What I like about this car is it's not as big as the S classes before or after it. Which makes it more fun to hustle around town, but still relax while cosseted in an S class. Just getting all of the AMG out of the car should suffice, and not raise your headache costs.

I rather like the AMG application, in all Mercedes saloons, actually. That's what AMG is -- a la the Red Pig. Real world, every day, grown man driveability. In smaller cars, I think BMW Motorsport and Porsche have that on lock.

Cheers,

maw

Triman2008

When adding power, you should always dyno and data log as well. The tune is the most important part to modding your cars. These engines do not like to run on the lean side. At best A/R's shiuld be about 11.7-11.9. Mine ran 11.1-11.3 at WOT on the dyno. With the mods mentioned above you would be looking at about 450-460RWHP. From the factory they make about 400ish at the wheels maybe a little more. Remember they advertise 493 at the crank.

merc79

Can someone tell me how hard or easy it is to install a Johnson CM30 IC pump? Do you have to prime the pump, or bleed the system out of the coolant? Or is it a simple plug and play procedure; Instructions on install?

Lastly wheres the cheapest price around to get a hold of one of these?
Thanks in advance.