I recently got a quote on doing the Kleemann stage 3 upgrade and the tech said that it would push the limits of the engine and tranny (600 h.p. and 608 torque). This did not include the complete exhaust system, only the headers. He said with the complete exhaust system I would only get about 10 more H.P. and 10 more ft./lbs. of torque for an additional $5,500.00. The math just doesnt work. He did suggest installing a limited slip differential. Was the 030 package available in 2003? I did not think it was.

do a search for asp pulley package and the vruss throttle body on the e55 forum . then get ecu tune from speedtuningusa.com. this will save you money and impress you with HP.

The 030 was not avail. for 2003.

But it (or parts of it) can be retrofitted just fine.

Oh yeah I bet, but one of the major values of the 030 is warranty.
Will the dealer allow warranty on retro parts?
If not, you *might* be able to find a better deal going aftermarket for the equipment.

If AMG installs it you get warranty. If you get your dealer to install the parts, I guess you get warranty. However not everything can be installed outside AMG.

True, but I think it'd be very expensive to get the car shipped to Europe for a few parts installed

I highly doubt you will see 600 hp and 608 lbs of torque from K3. There's a forum member who has K4 and only sees like 550 hp. Till today, Kleemann hasnt find a solution.

Do a search on the board, there's options besides Kleemann.

Before you go pushing the limits of your car's engine, see if you can fully handle the 500hp that AMG gave you. Find a track day and see if you can hang with the Z06s and run down the Porsches (you should be able to, because I have). I think that you will that it may take a while for you to fully exploit what you already have....and when it gets boring PM me.

+1.. Take your car to the track and get some good seat time.

Then, if you still want to mod the car, I suggest going with Evosport's power packages. They will safely provide you with dyno-proven gains and will retain your vehicle's drivability.

Contact me if you have any questions.

-Aaron

This topic is interesting/entertaining to me as well, but we seem to have as many opinions as we have options/members/cars...

The question is does the premium price of a Kleeman, never mind a Carlson, RennTech or Brabus package add any value? Driveability, reliability, longevity... Do we really have enough empirical evidence to make the best possible decision. How much should we try for this? After all, these cars are emotional, impulsive and not really rational purchases...

That being said, I guess I would try to assemble a matrix of modifications, likely/advertised horse power gains, and try to group them at price points in 2500 dollar increments. The nice thing is that some of the most significant changes are available in increments that represent much smaller financial commitments.

The simple inventory of power/performance mods for 55s looks like this to me...(please add/amend to this as you see fit)
I am trying to order these indecreasing value in terms of horsepower for dollars. Finally, the numbers at the end show my rough guess at costs for Kleeman versus lower profile solutions. Again, correct or edit as appropriate.
1. ECU/TCU reprogramming (2000, 600)
2. Supercharger pulley (1000, 300)
3. Headers (3500,??? not sure I would buy headers of unknown quality)
4. Intake/throttle body (3000, 1000?)
5. Downstream exhaust (6000, 1000? Again, unknown quality could be a tragic mistake)
6. Camshaft (4000, ??? not sure this is a good value)
7. Limited slip diff. slightly different category, but important (4000, ???)
8. Cooling upgrades (higher or lower in priority depending on how hard the car wil be driven)
9. Other???

I would note that retailers and sponsor comments are interesting, but I have to regard these as biased towards the solutions that they represent. More objective opinions from consumers are somewhat handicapped by the fact that most of us do not do these modifications regularly, and are hampered in our individual ability to do comparisons based on limited direct experience.

A quick nod to Dino and others: No doubt that learning to drive, is as they say "priceless", but that is off topic...

Cheers, and please do a little rain dance to help clear the salt from my roads by April.

The HP gains going beyond K2 are very small and very expensive per HP gain. K2 is a very good value with about $8k for an additional 85-100 hp and the resulting sound at WOT is truly shock and awe. K4 will cost at least that much and the additional gain is only 30-40 hp. Not worth it IMO.