Ted Baldwin

.........Ok, I modded my W210 E55 and got it into the 11's. Great car, runs 12.0 and 12.1 all day and dips into 11's very often. Very happy with the car. But I am interested in a new project. The idea is to get a street legal mercedes that will run mid 11's all day all night, hot or cold, high altitude or low altitude. Leaving the 65 series aside, between a modded W211 and a Renntech S600, which one will run mid 11's consistently and without excuses?

Ted

Marcus Frost

I'll probably get yelled at, but the answer is the 600... go look at RENNTech's or Kleemann's power ratings for their 55 and 600 packages... the 600 @ Stage 1 makes more power than a 55 @ Stage 5 from Kleemann.

As a former 55 owner and current RENNTech 600 owner... the truth hurts

-m

Vic55

No yelling here, the 12 cylinder engine is the way to go if you want that every day time of mid 11 quarter. I hold no offense against twin turbo engines with 4 more cylinders than mine

L8Apex

Go with the 600! It was hilarious watching treynor's renntech 600 spanking a 750hp Supra at the drags in Sacramento.

If you do get the 600, please don't add the following badges like this **** clown in Laguna Bch (crappy pic) The rear of his car had the following badges: SL600 V12 bi-turbo AMG Which translates to WANTED SL65!!

DerekFSU

Congrats Ted!!!! Awesome job on that W210!

The E55 can with K2-K4 has run 11.6 and a bit better. The challenge is the rubber. I don't know of many cars that run 11.5, without all wheel drive, and with normal street tires. Take a K2-4 55 and slap some DR's on it then you're good to go.

I don't know squat about the S600.

Ted Baldwin

.............thanks for the replies. I was leaning towards the E55 K4 because after modifying my G55 K4, I now have the recipe down. But in doing my research I came across the S600 with Renntech mods.......got me thinking. New body style or old body style doesn't matter to me since I don't sell the cars, I just keep them. Mileage dosn't matter either, so I can get a relatively cheap high mileage W211 E55 or S600.

Ted

Ted

t-boy

Out of curiosity, why doesn't mileage matter to you? Someday I might be looking for something else and I want to know if I should be worried about mileage.
T-boy

Ted Baldwin

.....I don't sell the cars, so mileage depreciation is not an issue. Further, If I since I have other cars, I am unable to drive any one car often enough to add an appreciable mileage on any one car myself. Most importantly I have chosen to enjoy myself and drive and modify these cars to my liking without nagging constraints.

Ted

whoover

The reason that mileage drives depreciation is reliability. Keep in mind that the V-12s are very expensive beasts to maintain. They're notorious for spending more time in the shop than on the road. Of course the supercharged 8s have their own quirks, but it seems that the 12s are in a class by themselves when it comes to expensive things breaking.

Years ago, I had 250,000 miles on my W126 but am now very nervous about owning any Mercedes without a warranty. I'd be doubly so with a V-12.

Ted Baldwin

...........I understand what you are saying but does not apply to my purposes. If I get the S600, it will be moified before I even drive it. So warranty will be gone anyway. But I get your point. The mercedes V12's are reportedly not very reliable but with all the electronic gremlins i today's mercedes, I don't think the other Mercs are much better.

Ted

aintME

I've heard that the newer V12 engines (TT) are much better (other than the obvious power) than their predecessors. I was told the gas saving cylinder shut-off of the old V12s was problematic. I agree with the others the TTs have us 55Ks beat.

Jakpro1

Not a single person in the world has thrown NOS on the Benz V12....please Ted.....we're begging you!!!!

Derek said it himself.....when someone juices the V12, it's gonna be wild.

Bet you walk leisurely into the 10's.

E55 RUSS

Here is my recipe for you:

Just get New S65 (l like new models) or SL65...

Then do Kleemann mods.. Which will bring closer to 730 HP (Rentech only makes 680)...transmission ECU, Kleemann LSD for 65, then add 100 NOS and Mickey Thompons...

I bet you would run mid 10's easy!!!

Ted Baldwin

.........Don't get me wrong, I love the 65 series. For pure drag racing however, there really isn't much of a difference between the 600 and the 65's after modifcation.

Renntech SL600 stage 2: 640HP and 775torque

Renntech SL65 stage 2: 685HP and 870 torque

...........there is a 40HP and 95LB ft of torque difference which in this power range gets wasted on your tires spinning.

...........further, the same egine in the W220 in unmodified form putting out the same HP and torque is being used in the new W221 S600 and S65. You can get a W220 S600 today for $60K. New S600 is $130K. Same thing applies to the S65's. Not sure the advantage of getting the W221 if you mostly want to build a car for racing. You won't need the night vision in W211 when you are on the dragstrip.

Ted

E55 RUSS

The diff btw 600 and 65 after modfications would be significant...spinning tyres is other story...

Everything dpends on the BUDGET...If its unlimited then 221 S65 !!!

Ted Baldwin

................you don't get my point, but no problem. Is the W221 S65 faster than the W220 S65?

Ted

Marcus Frost

Ted,

Go drive a 600, I think you'll really appreciate the buttersmooth delivery of the V12. There's really not much of a recipe to wake up the V12s, that's what makes them so appealing. The W211 is much better looking (IMO) than the W220, but the W220 Sport is still pretty nice.

If you do a search in the W220 forum, you'll see treynor getting his 600 into the 11s quite easily on drag radials...

-m

Ted Baldwin

...........I tend to agree with you. I'll look into it. I do remember Treynor. At the time I thought it was a true but unusual event. But it looks like the 600 series with ECU modifications can reliably run in the mid 11's.

Ted

E55 RUSS

221 S65 rules !!!

220 and 221 65's are equally faaast in straightline...

Ted Baldwin

.................I think you may be fighting a battle with yourself. Nonone said anything against the W221. I am not particularly interested in the W221 or the W220 for that matter. I'm just looking for a recipe for a really fast mercedes that I can modify. Other options include a W210 E430 4matic tranplanted with an AMG V8K engine with Kleemann K4 modification. I have friends that enjoy modifying their Supras and are having fun with it and would rather do that than buy an E55. For you, you just want a new car. No problem, to each his own.

Ted