jmf003

It was opening day at Milan Dragway so I mounted my brand spanking new Hoosier drag radials and took the SL55 out for some runs. The weather was decent: sunny and 50 degrees but there was also a headwind gusting from 15 to 25 mph.

I was the only Benz on the track through mid-afternoon. A Porsche Cayenne and a BMW did show up in the early afternoon, otherwise it was mostly Detroit iron (as is usually the case at Milan). The most interesting car on the track was a 1963 Ford Falcon station wagon complete with a bench front seat and a child seat in the rear. It had a 5.0 liter Mustang engine under the hood with Mickey Thompson ET Street drag radials in back and ran the 1/4 mile in 12.0 seconds.

My launches on the Hoosiers were decent but nothing special: 1.70, 1.71, 1.78, and 1.80. The two best launches came with the highest tire pressure, 24 psi. I think I'll try 26 and 28 the next time out. I've launched as fast as 1.69 on 18" street tires and would like to think that 17" drag radials on lightweight wheels (with a net savings of 14 lbs per wheel) would be a little faster once I get the pressure dialed in.

My two best runs were 11.61 seconds at 125.38 mph and 11.62 seconds at 126.01 mph. I was hopping for a lower ET but can't complain about the 126 mph trap.

JAYCL600

daaayum, super strong trap, congrats....what size hoosiers?

jmf003

Not bad for a little V8. I found myself wishing I was back at MIR.

Hoosiers are 275/40-17.

cal1

Very nice.

I'm getting ready to run my 03 in a couple of weeks. I usually go to the Muncie drag strip in the cornfields of central Indiana. Nothing but American muscle out there and no respect for “little foreign cars”, well that is until they see it run 12.2s or high 11s as I hope for this year with my new mods.

I have been thinking about running Nitto 555R street legal drag radials as a summer tire. They should help with launch times at the track.

TMC M5

I saw those monster traps yesterday on drag times...congrats!!

Tom

V12Godspeed

Definitely a strong show for the SL. That thing is strong!

lauer87

Damn, that's moving for a SL55

What mods do you have other than the drag radials?

jmf003

Well, it's been 3+ years of adding a mod here and there so the list has grown a bit:

- From VRP:- SLR camshafts
- Evosport shorty headers
- PTE thermostat
- Quaife LSD
- 17" drag wheels
- Hoosier drag radials
- K&N air filters

For that particular run, I also:
- Used Sunoco 94 octane gasoline
- Added Lucas octane booster which probably resulted in an overall octane level of 96 or so
- Did the "Urnext" passenger seat removal (which saved 75-80 lbs but also resulted in an SRS light that I've not yet been able to clear)

J510

Nice run. Considering the weight of our cars, I think a mid 11 with a 1.7 short time is about right trapping 126. What would be nice would be to loosen up your tq converter. That would drop your 60' and as you know each .10 off your 60' = at least .20 off your et. Good luck.

URnext

Nice Trap Great work, sorry about the SRS light........I just found out that the stealership was trying to do me a favor by trying clear that light for me, while my car was there for other reasons, but that light kept on coming back . I am not to sure how hard they really tried since the SRS light wasn't one of the reasons why my car was there. I know juicee63 has been trying to clear the light too but has been unsuccessful as well. Oh well, the SRS light doesn't bother me

BTW, did you weight your passenger seat on a scale? I double checked mine and it was at 89.5 lbs. Now we just have to work on that driver side seat to save another 65 lbs

Any future mods in the works?

jmf003

As far as mods go I'm thinking I'm mostly done with the engine, at least until something new and really cool comes along. I could make a little more power if I swapped out the SLR cams for VRP cams and/or the shorty headers for long tubes but I'm not inclined to rip out perfectly good performance parts to install slightly better ones.

I'm thinking J510 is on the right track with his comments about the tranny and both VRP and LET have some interesting products coming out.

How about you?


Can we compare notes on the SRS light?

I'm certain I didn't damage any of the wires because I removed the seat a second time to check the wires after the SRS light stayed on.

I'm also certain the passenger weight sensor is working because the dashboard airbag light turns off and on as it should depending on whether the seat is empty.

So if the wires and sensors are all okay then it seems to me the problem should simply be a fault code that needs to be cleared. But clearing the code didn't eliminate the SRS light for you or Juicee63.

Do you know which error code(s) the dealer cleared for you? We might be able to use that info to help get to the bottom of they mystery.

URnext

^^^^ I am not sure about the codes that came up, but I will go ahead and send my service advisor an email to get that for me if still available.

About the my future mods, I dont want to thread jack so I'll send you a pm.

Thericker

Can't believe I missed this! Excellent TRAPS buddy!!! Also what - 17" drag wheel brand did you use? weight savings of of 14 lbs per wheel!!?? is this vs Stockers?

JAYCL600

SRS light must be cleared by dealership, handheld code reader/diagnostics will not clear it.

jmf003

Thanks! Yeah, the car is running pretty well right now.

The drag radials are 275/40-17 Hoosiers on 17x9 ET40 Rial Nogaro wheels with a 15mm HRE spacer. The Nogaro's won't clear the AMG brake calipers without the spacer plus bringing the wheels out 15mm brings the tire sidewall out to the edge of the wheel well.

That setup is 14 lbs a corner lighter than than my street tire setup of 285/35-18 Conti SC3s on AMG Style V wheels. The AMGs are pretty heavy to begin with (30-something lbs) so there was a lot of room for improvement. A 17" forged wheel setup would probably shave off a few more pounds.

+1. OBD2 doesn't cover SRS faults so no way to clear it with an OBD2 reader. Unfortunately Sal's dealer wasn't able to permanently clear the fault code on his car even using DAS. Some condition is causing Sal's car (and maybe mine) to keep throwing a fault.

blackbenzz

Wow AWESOME traps! Congrats!

rodent reaper

That' strong. Hey, I'm thiking of getting a 55amg or 65amg. Is the 65 stronger to begin with? I'm into turbo cars more than supercharged b/c of ease of hp increase.

jmf003

Thanks, Ahmad. However even with the new drag radials I haven't yet matched the 11.4s I ran at MIR. I may have to change my home track.

Yep, a stock SL65 is much stronger than a stock SL55. And with a simple (but amazingly expensive) ecu tune, SL65s are capable of running 10s. If you're looking for a torque monster you can't go wrong with either the SL65 or the SL600, which also has a twin turbo V12.

V12Godspeed

Hmmm wonder why such a headache with the SRS light if the dealer cleared code with DAS..., very strange. Something has to be triggering the fault. I know seats have somewhat of a vacum line and that must be nipled when seats are removed. Just a thought..

rodent reaper

Naw, just want a reliable 11sec cruiser. I have a highly modded fd rx7 that I drag, going for 9's this year. Thanks for the help and kudos for a sick ride.

BMS

Congrats buddy. Home from Fla. Hope to see you soon.

rodent reaper

Btw, do you know what 60ft the stock rear end/ tranny will support?

Sunir

Well done John! That's an SL performing at and/or exceeding most top super car levels

jmf003

Just wanted to report back that DAS was able to eliminate the SRS light on my car simply by deleting the airbag fault codes.

As you point out, something else must be going on with Sal's car to keep the SRS light on.

D2FORGED

Thats a insane trap speed, especially considering the weight of the r230!

Congrats!