Mad TKD

I am considering a K1 upgrade(pulley and ecu tune) Who is close to me. I am in Huntsville AL

Thanks

D

Beowulf

MBS Motors in Duluth GA used to have the Kleemann concession in Atlanta, but they've gotten out of the hi-po mod business with the departure of Donnie Drummonds, M-B tuner extraordinaire.

Atlanta Classic Cars is now the official Kleemann installer in Atlanta - call Nash Solanki at 770-279-3686 and tell him I sent ya'.

chaos4all

I have been looking for the same info. I was told by someone here in Birmingham that HESCO can do the install. I have heard of them and have seen some of their work. They have been in business in Alabama since the 70's. Here is their website I was told to ask for Jeff but I have not called yet. http://www.jeepers.biz/ Let me know if they can.

Mad TKD

cool thanks for the info. Has anyone dealt with ATL classic on the Kleeman stuff?

David

430

Damn, where did Donnie go to? I was getting close to having him do some work on my car.

Ted Baldwin

..........MBS motors still do Kleemann installs. They just no longer rely on it as a major souece of business. Call 770 623 8280 and ask for Jeff who has replaced Donnie as the master mechanic. I will seriously advise you toavoid Atlanta Classic cars for after market engine mods. Their CDi mods were actually not done by them rather it was out sourced to Donnie who did it ad MBS motors and sendt the car back to Atlanta classic cars where Atlanta Classic cars took the glory. 2 months ago, they blew up an SL55 engine while doing a boost kit. Atlanta Classic Cars is simply not a performance shop and don't have the experience. Go to MBS motors and ask for Jeff. Jeff did my Kleemann camshaft and throtle body upgrade on my G55.

Ted

Beowulf

Axel told me less than a week ago that they were no longer doing any Kleemann work and that they had turned all of that over to ACC. That seems very contradictory to your comments. Axel had been holding some green filters for me - said they could no longer do that, either - green filters were also now handled by ACC. Hard to figure they would turn away high dollar business, even if low volume. Something doesn't add up here.

Beowulf

Last I heard was working in real estate development . . . major career change, if true. He needs to be back in the M-B mod fold.

Mad TKD

yep I cant take to someone who isnt proven. simple as that. I wonder how far Renntech is from here. Geez.

Ted Baldwin

......contrary to what customers think, the MB performance business is not a high dollar business for most shops. The margins are much smaller percentage wise than say, doing an oil change or replacing a brake pad. Many performance shops have gone out of business including Bergwerks and Mbautowerks. It is the actual tuners like Kleemann and Renntech that make the big bucks. Many shops now don't highlight that part of their business. This is my understanding of what MBS motors is doing. But if Axell told you something different, well Axel is the boss at MBS motors. But stay way from Atlanta Classic cars for performance mods.

Ted

Beowulf

Agreed that high dollar cost does not necessarily equate to high margin. Nor do I have an Axe(l) to grind with either MBS or ACC - I've had work personally performed by Donnie at MBS vs. work personally supervised by Nash (distinction noted) at ACC.

FWIW, in neither case have the results disappointed.

Ted Baldwin

............understood. I think Atlanta Classic cars is great as a progressive dealership. Nash is a nice guy. He oversees "light" mods on MB's in a dealer setting which I think is awesome. Virtually all these mods are cosmetic. I know they have done a few engine mods. Nash himself is not a mechanic but a sales guy and as nice as he is, he knows very little about the actual engine mods. At Atlanta classic cars, you are at the mercy of whatever mechanic(who you usually don't know and usually don't choose) your car is assigned to. At such a big place, no one mechanic has any significant experience in major engine modification as compared to a performance shop.

Ted

Beowulf

Donnie has done light mechanical mods and ACC has done cosmetic mods to my car, despite overtures from both Donnie (ever the salesman, lol) or Nash to go a step beyond. This thread was started by someone asking for a Kleemann dealer in the Nashville or Atlanta area. As the Kleemann website states, Atlanta Classic Cars is their authorized Georgia dealer - none in either Alabama or Tennessee.

If Kleemann says ACC is an authorized dealer, does Kleemann hold them to a performance standard or are they just a paid franchisee? With that same Kleemann authorization, should the customer expect any different treatment from ACC than MBS?

That said, my *personal* preference would be to ship the car to Cory at Kleemann USA in Colorado and have the work done there. I have yet to hear of a customer who was disappointed with their work.

R. Range

There may not be any authorized installers in TN on Kleemann's website (I haven't looked), but Cory told me a week or two ago that Long's Mercedes-Benz in Chattanooga is an authorized installer.

Ted Baldwin

...........I don't even think that Atlanta Classic cars have a dyno. When you are having major engine mods done to your car, you and the performance mechanic need to be in sync and talk often and exchange ideas and work together. Your car needs to be dynoed so many times and adjusted and readjusted to suit you. This is simply not the way Atlanta Classic Cars is set up. You will be talking to a service adviser who if you are lucky will call you the next business day after you leave him a message. At a performance shop you can talk directly with the mechanic as many times a day as is required to get across your vision of what you want your car to be. At Atlanta Classic cars, you are shielded from the mechanic and not allowed on the shop floor. At a performance shop, you can stop by anytime and look at your car in progress and take pictures and participate. You cannot do this at Atlanta Classic cars. You are not allowed on the shop floor. When you need a dyno, I suppose ACC will drive your car to a dyno shop and charge you $90 an hour. That will be one hell of an expensive dyno. Atlanta Classic cars is just not right place for major engine mods even if Kleemann has listed them as an authorozed site. What they need is to create a performance division that is staffed and handled differently from the parent service division with direct contact between customer and mechanic, without a service adviser in the middle. I know they were in conversation with Donnie to do exactly this, but it must not have taken fruit. The culture of performance modification is not something ACC quite understands. At least not yet


Ted

Ted Baldwin

............here is an example of car modification experience complete with pics of the car's progress with owner and mechanic working together. This is not something that is currently possible at Atlanta Classic Cars. LINK

Ted

sporters78

either ship the car to kleeman out west or to renntech in florida ,then don't worry about weather it gets done right.

Mad TKD

Yes I agree with what most have said here. I like to talk to and see what is going on with my car. For a simple ECU pulley mod I would expect the car to be dynoed also. Tough decision but I just might drive to Renntech since they are closer to me.

docdan

First off, let me state that I don't have a dog in this fight. That being said, I recently had some work (cosmetic....lowering of my car) performed at Atlanta Classic Cars.

Nash DID take myself and my wife out onto the work area. (BTW, it was brightly lit, spotless clean floors, etc...). I met the mechanic doing the work on my car, his name was Jeff. Very nice guy. He was wearing gloves while working on my car. He took off his gloves and shook my hand. He discussed with me how low I wanted my car to be lowered. Very polite, very professional and it was a perfect job.

Now, I'm not saying that you would still get the same access to the mechanic at ACC vs. a dedicated performance shop. I was just pointing out that indeed at times, you can go out on the floor and meet and discuss your car vision with the mechanic.

(Also.....FWIW, Nash may be the performance service advisor at ACC, but he told me his educational background was in Engineering, and after to speaking with him, I believe it. Although he's not a mechanic, he's far more knowledgeable than your average "salesman". )


.

chaos4all

Ok I just talked to Jeff at HESCO, they do install Kleemann at their shop. He recommends purchasing the product at Evolution Motorsports http://www.evoms.com/ then they will install it here in Birmingham. They do have a dyno in the shop and have a great reputation here in Alabama for performance upgrades. There website is a little misleading because their main business is off road racing engines for Jeeps, and after market products for Jeeps. I know many Dr.'s in town who have had there Porsche's modded there and there is also a guy I know who has a 72 Ferrari Daytona spyder and HESCO is the only ones he lets touch it. Also they supercharged my friends H2. Just a thought if you would like to check into it. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Ted Baldwin

...........I don't doubt your experience with ACC. I have have had many positive dealings with Nash. my point is that major engine mods in a benz is whole different matter. You are talking about being shown the privilege of going to the shop floor.......At MBS, the mechanic and I took my car to the drag strip and ran 1/4 mile times so he the mechanic can see what further tunning needed to be done to the car. After that, he tuned the car some more and we came back several days later and he drove the car on the drag strip and got an 11.9 with him driving the car. This is not what will ever happen at ACC unless they have a separate performance division. I just don't know how to get across that once you start messing with major mods on your benz, you need to have a different kind of relationship with person messing with the engine, otherwise you are going to get very frustrated.

Ted

docdan

Fair enough, your point is well taken.

I can see from your example that there is definitely a vast difference in mechanic-client interaction with the performance shop.

Thanks for relating your insight.

Dan

Chappy

It's a crying shame that a city the size of ATL no longer has that level of "technical craftsmanship" available on an individualized basis.

Donnie built the fastest C55 that ran an 11.54 @ 120 on slicks. I was at Silver Dollar the day that car ran.

To my knowledge, he achieved the above time with:

No NOS
Stock tranny
Stock interior

The "Super High Performance/Custom" Mecedes-Benz world has lost an important asset, if it is indeed true that he has left to embark on a new career.

jenk12m

i'm glad i read this thread b/c i just talked to nash and was thinking about getting k1 mods done to my '03 s55. he stated that they did have a dyno and they were running a test on a sl this fri. and that i should stop by and check out the shop while they did the test. I know if i want it done right i should just have it shipped out, but i really dont feel like paying extra for shipping cost and having to wait longer. beowolf do you really think its worth it to get the job done at ACC

Ted Baldwin

..............perhaps some clarification is needed. A Kleemann K1 updrade simply involves chanhing your crank pulley to a larger sized one and downloading and flashing your ECU. These are not particularly difficult and any mechanic can do this. If this your concern, then you have nothing to fear from ACC. The problem is that when you start modifying your car, you need a truly different kind of relationship with your mechanic. You need to be able to reach the person if things go wrong and things will go wrong. The mechanic needs to be available and respond to your calls and fix the problem keeping in mind your vision for the car. A lot of creative problem solving is involved. This the part that I don't think ACC is quite set up for with their traditional system of customer sitting down with service advisor and filling out forms about what is wrong with car and waiting to be called back. In the type of relationship between a car enthusiart and the mechanic, a service adviser is a terrible waste of time and a tremendous source of annoyance. Car owner and mechanic need to be talking directly and often. You on your part need to pay your mechanic prompltly what you are charged and understand that you are getting a much higher level of interaction.

Ted