Schweinhund

I am exploring some reasonable upgrade options. From what I have read, the exhaust is the place on these W210 cars where there is horsepower to be gained. The induction is plenty good.

My idea is:

1. headers
2. single high flow cat on each side
3. resonator removed
4. 2-1/2" exhaust from headers out
5. retain stock muffler
6. ECU tune

What can I reasonably expect at the crank or wheels?

ABALONE

Hi!

Those are the best mods for a W210 E55 if you want to maintain the reliability. I drove my car like all N/A that before i installed the S/C. It had aprox 400-420 HP and 600 NM on the crank. Trapped 179 Km/h (111,5 mph) on a Racelogic Performance Box on a normal summer day here in Sweden.

I have a few videos on my youtube account when my car was in this mode.

http://www.youtube.com/ljungwald

Schweinhund

I've watched those videos. Love to watch that W210 go. 400-420 is a great improvement over 349.

snooozie

Don't forget the x-pipe after the high flow cats...

xlr8tin

Don't forget the pulley...also I've been told a tune isn't much good for the money with all other mods.

gandalfthegray

Don't mean to rain on the parade but I wouldn't bother.

I have an 01 E55 with shorty style headers, X-pipe with secondary cat deletes, underdrive pulleys, 211 style airboxes and a tune. The car made 317 whp on a dynojet dyno. Approximately 15 whp for $4,000 is not worth it.

I would save the money and put toward a W211.

armaniE55

317 whp that doesn't sound right? Was the the traction control "completely" disabled?

xlr8tin

Actually it's closer to $3K, and it is 100% worth it...

It sounds 1000 times better and the gains are outstanding...sounds like the only bubble bursted was yours

MBFLO

even $3,000 for 15 HP is nuts .. have to be stupid rich or krazy to throw away 3k for 15whp

gandalfthegray

Yes. Depressed the 'eps' button til yellow triangle appeared on dash.

It's been a while (2 years) and I had to go back and look. My bill from VRP was $3312.69, however I installed the headers myself in effort to cut come of the cost. The original estimate for the package was $3700. Also, this was a group buy rate back then. I do not know what today's price is. So if you intend to install all the parts yourself then you will be closer to $3k.



I agree on the sound being improved. The car does have a nicer deeper tone.

I do not agree on the 'is it worth it'. $3312 for 15 - 17 whp is absolutely not worth it. Other than the sound the cars drives much the same as before, and why wouldn't it? Do you think 15 whp in a 3600 lb car is going to make any significant difference? No.

Basically this is how I see it. The W210 AMG E55 is a great car in it's stock form and the boys at Affalterbach didn't leave much on the table in the way of lost horsepower. There is little to be gained without forced induction and they knew and that is why the W211 is as such.

If you folks feel that the gains are money well spent then that's fine as well, but I wanted to let the OP know that the price per horsepower is outrageous imho.

armaniE55

https://mbworld.org/forums/w210-amg/...eally-off.html

As stated these numbers still don't really add up. Should be higher. In order to get a accurate dyno number the esp has to be completely turn off or numbers will not be 100% accurate.

snooozie

I totally agreed with armani55....the numbers don't add up....check the esp.

gandalfthegray

How else can you turn off traction control? When I launch the car this way there is no traction control activating either, it will spin til the tire blows if I stayed on it. I'm sorry guys but I think it is/was off.

armaniE55

On the w210 AMG it traction control is never fully off unless deactivated from the unit itself. If you noticed when you had the car Dyno'd the esp light would flash.

xlr8tin

I see...this explains why you thought 15hp cost over $3K. There's no way they gain only 15hp with these mods.

I'm just as guilty about knowing about the ESP though..learned something new

snooozie

I think for all that money done to the car, you should spend maybe a few more bucks to have someone...some how rig a switch to the dash where you can have the esp turn on or off.

mfletch69

I agree that the AMG bunch did not leave much on the table....however, I have a stock 2000 E55 & and 1999 with AMS headers, x/pipe/res delete & secondary race cats installed and I can tell you that the modified E55 drives very differently than the non modified. The torque delivery is increased and the max occurs noticably earlier in the power band & the shifting pattern is different because of that. Side by side, the car walks away from the stock E55 - especially from a 30mph rolling start, when the ESP is not such a leveling factor

Headers $1500 installed
other stuff - $500
Tot = $2000 for engine performance


Due to the increased torque and after a recent trip to the smokey moutains, in the revised beast, I realize the center of gravity simply HAS to be lower. I am overpaying a couple hundred for Euro Springs vs Eibachs because I want the OEM parts and I want to retain the stock shocks and intended Euro designed ride and stance. Suspension total will end up being around $800 installed.

So $2800 total to unleash the beast and keep the rubber on the pavement. To me, that is not much to spend to "un-USA" spec the car and put it the way the AMG engineers envisioned...which I why I own these cars in the 1st place.

IMHO, the tune (the ECU's on these cars are self adapting) and pulley are not in the scope of AMG design (if the AMG engineers wanted a light pully, it would have come from the factory with one) and are the waste of money...& those were $1800 of his $3000 bill. That money would be better spent on a modern stereo, suede headliner and routine maintenance.

Fabio D

Why you guys, change the intake airbox by the W211 design? i'm pretty sure the W210 amg box has better design for N/A cars.. Someone have dyno chart before & after to this mod? I meen, w211 amg comes with this air boxes cause not have anymore room for biggest ones, w210 amg air box has a perfect design to our cars.. I only modify my inntake by a renntech carbon one, cause they are bigest :S how do you think guys?

Fabio Daniel

JU570

Are the headers of the w210 E55 very hard to remove and install? Brought the car to a new shop today and the mechanic was saying labour might cost a lot as its a tough job. Not sure if he is trying to scam me / just doesn't know his crap.

gandalfthegray

They aren't too bad but it will take some time. I had a friend helping me and we worked from both the top side and bottom side to get at some of the bolts. I figure we probably spent 3 - 4 hours. Had a few knuckle buster moments but it certainly is doable. It is labor intensive, more so than the plugs though. I'm guessing the shop is talking $400-$500 or so?

JU570

I will drop the car off tomorrow and he will give me a more exact quote. But at least now i know it is not an easy job per se so i guess he wasn't trying to scam me. Thanks for that!

AMS Performance

Its pretty easy to pull 50HP out of these W210 E55s.

If you only got 15HP, then you did not dyno the car properly. You have to physically go into the engine and unplug the massive ESP/ABS plug on the drivers side. If you did not do this, your dyno results mean nothing.

I can assure you ... it is quite easy to pull out stupid power out of these engines if you know what to do and in what order. 400-420 is very achievable without getting into the motor itself and can be done for less than $3k easy.

JU570

Is that with exhaust mods only?

gandalfthegray

Well I can tell you nobody would be more happy to find the missing hp than myself. I will make a trip back to the dyno and this time I will disconnect the system entirely. I will post back the results for anyone interested. This probably won't happen til June however.

So this brings up the my next question; when I run at a drag strip am I to unplug the system as well to get my HP?

snooozie

Well just think, if the esp is on, you will not get a good time unless you can out wit the computer. Given that, we are only humans so if you were to go wide open....IMHO I would disconnect the esp right before you race.