EsEl

Hi All,

I purchased a 03 SL55 in May and am planning various additions to it so I have been reading threads on ECU upgrades, pulley's, heat exchangers, etc..

Anyway, I just noticed that I have an auxilary heat exchanger on the lower front end of the car so now I am wondering how I could determine what else may have been done to it?

It was loaded (127K...I have the sticker) when purchased new, lived its previous life in Miami and serviced by Miami MB before making its way to Austin where I purchased it. Looks like a standard SL55 with 47K miles, 18" AMG 5 star wheels, etc... so I was a bit surprised when I notced the Heat exchanger.

Thoughts on how to determine what else it may have?

David

canes85

First thing buy an aftermarket warranty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NikleinR6

99% sure its your oil cooler buddy.. Post some pics..

EsEl

99% sure its your oil cooler buddy.. Post some pics..

Thanks...I think you may be right but when I looked at a couple of threads the pictures looked exactly like the followind so that is why I assumed it was a HE..post #2 and Post 8...3rd thumbnail

https://mbworld.org/forums/sl55-amg-...exchanger.html

NikleinR6

Post some pics.. We would love to see them..

IngenereAMG

It probably is your oil cooler.

As far as ECU/pulley mods goes, we have some great packages. We design everything ourselves.

Here are links to our MB and testimonials pages. Let me know if you have any questions.

http://www.veloceperformance.com/mercedes.htm

http://www.veloceperformance.com/testimonial.htm

LukasBMW

I think you are on the right path. Pulley + software + heat exchanger + heat pump and you should be good to go. Your only decision is how aggressive you want the pulley and software to be....

iAMGod

If I had the option again - I would do Long Tubes first.

EsEl

I have read several threads about the performance results of Long Tubes and an ECU.

I am curious....do they create noticeable drone or noise? Much louder than the clips I have heard of SL55's with the resonator deleted?

jmf003

If you have a supplemental cooler, it should look more or less like the following. (Probably should have washed my car first!)

kamilclk430

Aftermarket Heat Exchanger



The Secondary one that is layed sideways behind the grille should be placed in an upright position behind the aftermarket one.





Remember you can do many mods to your car; however the 55K motor is famous for hear soak. The first and smartest thing to do to your car would be to bring as much cool air in as possible. Do a Heat Exchanger and Pump, you might also want to go with the rear tank for your coolant in the rear just so that it is even cooler. After all your cooling is done you can move on to the airflow, get some better filters, wrap your intake tubes for a little less heat in the air intake tubes and complete the flow with an exhaust (including headers, since they restrict a lot of the flow as well) After all that is finished I I would move to the things that you will need a tune for such as pulley which is the best bang for the buck. You can later go to new injectors, fuel support and so on.

Good Luck with your project, hope it works out and the car is flying.

EsEl

JMF003 and Kamilclk,

Thanks a lot...those pictures really helped. Everyone was right...I am now certain it is the oil cooler...MANY THANKS to all.

I guess I ought to add the cost of an HE to the mods list...

cal1

+1 Best first mod is long tube headers and a tune IMHO.

EsEl

+1 Best first mod is long tube headers and a tune IMHO

I have heard this and may be interested in doing this. Do LTH's create noticeable drone / noise if the rest of the exhaust is stock? Or should you always remove the resonators to help it breathe?

cal1

Should be no noticeable drone or noise from adding LTHs and leaving the rest of the exhaust stock. At one point, I had shorty headers and stock exhaust the rest of the way. There was almost no difference is noise except under full throttle.

I don't think the resonators are creating a ton of restriction. You can leave them on if you wish. I have not removed mine. I did delete the secondary cats though.

Here is a link you might find interesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq59jWb6qaQ I went the more traditional route with pulley and tune as the first mod. I did install an additional HE with the first round of mods and recommend it to anyone. Even the stocker will benefit from it.

jwrichter

Interesting topic but I am curious as to what is the cost of these mods and what is the performance difference? My stock 55 is a fast car right now, what is the performance difference with the mods 0-60? I have had modified cars in the past and when it comes time to sell its always an issue to most buyers. If you track your car or quarter mile maybe its justified. Just my 2 cents.

jmf003

It depends on how far you push it. I haven't totaled my receipts but I'm sure I'm in for quite a bit more than $10,000.

And as you point out, there's no financial return on the money invested.

On the other hand, I've had a lot of fun picking the mods, chatting with tuners and fellow modders, and executing the mods. That journey alone made it all worthwhile for me, if that makes any sense.

And, yeah, having a much faster car at the end of it all is kind of neat, too.

cal1

From a standpoint of pure economics, the investment cannot be justified not to mention how it could hurt resale in many cases. It all comes down to utility or the fun derived from the investment as described by jmf003.