bleek

Vix, man ain't no disrespect on the whole wrenching thing. I'm more referring to people that talk all sorts of this and that, and how they are gonna do this and how they know that or how they can do this and that for you, but have never actually done anything for themselves, let alone even having the tools to do so.

Congrats on the mint 73, please post pics, sounds like a real beauty. Recording studio you, awesome man, i guess me talking camshafts is like you with samplers, mixboards, and protools! Don't know much just a bit! LOL!

My passion comes from my years of racing and chassis building, worked with the best teams, tools, equipment, just been blessed, and wanted to apply what i know to one of these hot rods!

Lots more to come!

pshek

Bleek,

You're one of my E55 heroes. It takes courage and passion to mod at this level. I had my C32 motor built, ported, and polished. Your in-progess pictures show an amazing level of attention to detail. I am a layperson when it comes to cars, and I could not critique the port and polish job done on my V6 heads. But, here's pics of what we did a while ago on the exhaust ports and supercharger. We did not use custom valves, just lapped the OEM valves.

bleek

pshek, man thanks for the kind words! Not a hero by any means, just a gear head that likes going fast!

Honestly the pics look great, it really isn't fair to judge a job by pictures, as timeslips and dyno numbers are proof to me, and everything looks awseome man!

At the end of the day, are you happy with the job on your motor, i mean are you happy with the performance? If so, then you got your monies worth, there are always possibilities to get a few more cfm here, and a few more hp there, but you've won already and that's all that matters.

I am trying to explain as much as possible so people here don't fall into that trap of it's easy or it's not a big deal. Doing heads are a big deal, and many many things can go wrong in the wrong hands, so the more we learn the better we are.

pshek, your stock valves should be fine, sometimes hind site is 20/20. I've ordered many sets of custom valves for my race motors, so it comes second nature to instantly order valves for this project. My theory was, since everything was apart why not take advantage of it. But unless you got all sorts of crazy camshafts, and such, your motor is already breathing better and that's great. Did your engine guy flow your heads to see how much he gained? If so what were your flow numbers like, compared to stock? Plus if you still have the flow numbers, maybe grab a set of custom ground camshafts for your car to fully take advantage of the extra flow.

Post more pics man, everything looks great, awesome job!

newton22

I have utmost respect for a Mercedes owner/driver to wrench on their cars like that. True gearhead.

blackbenzz

This will be my next move afte i get all my show stuff in. GREAT work!

bleek

Newton i got the utmost respect for all the people here, that have worked so hard to own a Mercedes, a true person of work ethics!

That's awesome homie! Hot looking ride plus speed to boot, look forward to hearing about the mods!

I've gotten some pm's regarding power levels and realistic gains on heads. i can get techincal and get into pumping volumes, and all sorts of tech stuff, but let me put it into common sense for you.

HP gains on heads are on a sliding scale! With the heads ported properly and all things being some what equal to make things easier to understand, we'll assume the heads have been maxed out!

So putting these heads on a stock car you will see around 30hp gains to be realistic, now on a mildly modded car you could see 50hp gains, on a heavily modded car like mine you should see 70-100hp gains. The more parts you add to your car to make power the more you will need your heads to be efficient! It also goes both ways, cams on a stock car might only gain you 15-20hp, but with the heads, all of a sudden your cams are helping you pick up 30hp.

You gotta remember everything works in conjuction with everything else, not any one thing will give you top hp numbers, but with a complete package things make even more power working together!

Heads will be a great investment if you plan on continuously adding more hp, as heads will become a limiting factor to how much your car can make, but with your heads maxed, the rest of the gains become easier.

Now i know there's much more too this, and we can go off on a tangent, but i wanted to share a little common sense info so everyone can understand the value of making an engine more efficient.

Here's a quick pick of my new custom valves with 55K springs and a pic of a stock valve with an old 430/500 spring, can you see the difference? The 55 spring is a double spring, where as the 430/500 spring is a conical single spring.

Let me know if you got any questions.

ROCKETW19

wow bro lots of info most i dont understand but at least i can bull **** someone like i know something now.lol. so a personal question what is the final cost gonna be on the heads? im not quite ready for them yet but pretty soon.

D_Star

hahaha true true~ this is totally breath taking...MB must either love u or hate u hahaha

bleek

Rocket, LOL!!! I try to explain things with out getting too technical so that way we can use our common sense to understand what's going on inside our engines. For the most part making HP is normally black and white, and once you understand things, it allows you to make your decision on what parts to buy alot easier.

Many people have asked the total cost of my project. For just the porting and blueprinting(bring back to specs) of my heads the labour was $2500(no parts) maybe a touch more. This includes making sure everything is in proper specs, pressure testing, sonic testing wall thicknesses, special valve jobs, etc.....

Under normal circumstances $1500-$2000 should get you a top notch port job, anything less than that i might shy away from, of course there are people that can do it for less and still provide good work, but i'm talking about a shop with a real good reputation and proof of there work.

So if you have real 55K casting and the valvetrain is in good working order, head work would be one of the best upgrades you could do! power levels increase as you get better cams, exhaust, pullies and so on, remember the sliding scale, more you add, more the heads will shine through!

Check out another pic.

NitrogenBalance

....whats going on with the headers/exhaust manifolds. I assume your bolting up headers considering what you've already done. What I'm curious about is the diameter of the headers mounting point in relation to the diameter of the new exhaust ports on the heads. I know nothing about the available headers but would think that they are matched or at least slightly larger than the exhaust ports on the E55 heads. Not sure what is considered "good" but I would think that matching the diameter of the exhaust intake point to match the exhaust port on the heads would be important to retain a smooth and undisrupted flow. I hope I'm making sense......

Keep it up!!

blackbenzz

Thanks but the car in my sig is my daily driver, lol. I will be doing the heads on my Kleemann CLK55 which has the following things done to it: Kleemann s/c, kleemann headers, kleemann LSD, kleemann ECU tune, kleemann suspension, and a custom front mount heat exchanger (Afco pro series dual pass built for heavily modded cobra's). I think heads would be th enext logical move for me right now. I'm very impressed by your work and cant wait to see dyno numbers. I just threw alot of money at my CLK55 (Ordered Eisenmann race muffler, Carlsson CRS racing seats, and DPE signature series S-20 19's with gold leaf finish and chrome lips) and i'm broke for now. Keep up the good work and you should be hearing from me in the not too distant future.

PTE

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I made these up this morning. 3/16" ~ .1875 ~ 5.01 MM
Garolite LE / Phenolic Linen & epoxy , Though they would make nice Isolators , to keep the heat from wicking the head to the manifold. Now I have to track down proper longer attachment Hardware. I do not know if there is any use as of yet?? Just an Ideal , When I install them I'll thermo-couple the head & intake. See if there is any benefits. It was under $200.00 to make

blackbenzz

I've always wanted phenolic spacers. They keep the heads so much cooler! Keep me posted. When I'm getting the heads port and polished I might as well throw these bad boys on.

Edit: Thicker head gaskets, lower compression, MORE boost (smaller pulley and maybe bigger injectors)?

Keep up the good work fella's!

pshek

My car engine runs great and I'm very happy with the job. I don't remember all the flow numbers, but I do know that we achieved an 18% increase in flow on the intake side by porting the intake manifold and supercharger. You'd probably achieve the same if not more, no doubt. C32 heads are very similar to E55 heads, except you have 2 extra cylinders to play with. I have Schrick camshafts. I was talking to my tuner today and he started talking about conical vs cylindrical valve springs; my mind started wandering after a minute since I'm not a total gearhead that can understand technical jargon.

bleek

Nitro, yes i have headers on the car. The car has Kleemann headers on there because of the larger diameter collectors. People feel some times torque is lost because of the larger collector, but i went this route because i knew i would be upgrading and the extra flow from the larger collector is a must! See people need to understand in a blower car exhaust flow is critical, there is that much more volume that needs to move! On a stock car you won't see the gains of the larger headers, but once you start modding it's a must!

We gasket matched the heads with the gaskets that came with the headers. We also checked the diameter of the primary tubes and it was the same size as the gasket, so we did not have to make anything custom there. We made the transition perfect so there would be no turbulence going into the header. We also coated the headers, as the shock from the cooling headers really kills the scavanging effect of the headers, so that's why we always try to keep as much heat in the headers as possible.

Pshek, don't get all messed up with valve spring stuff. I look at valve springs like a gourmet dinner! I let the chef season the food the way it should be and enjoy it as is, same with springs, i don't care if they are conical, or double or triple, i let the cam manufacturer tell my what is needed! When people start suggesting this and that with springs, your asking for problems such as wear and extra unnecessary load on the rest of the valvetrain. Only thing i worry about is treating the springs, as there are coatings available to keep heat out of the springs, as heat will kill a set of valve springs, but other then that, don't re-invent the wheel when it comes to springs. There are not huge amounts of hp to gain in springs. In my race motors i use the lightest(pressure) spring that i can with out getting valve float because less pressure, easier to compress, which means the motor doesn't work as hard thus freeing up hp!

This is some good stuff, lots of great stuff coming together now, anyone believe we can squeeze 750+ out of these motors now?

BB, hot damn! That's quite the shopping list, you got some killer parts, and now you got a killer car! Looking forward to helping out however i can.

PTE, you sneaky bugger you! Kids gather around, uncle PTE got the hot ticket there! Man i have been using phenolic spacers forever now! Different thicknesses, shapes, man just awesome stuff! I only use the aluminum ones to plumb nitrous nozzles and stuff easier and stronger to work with, but doesn't work very good as an insulator! Great job my friend, keep the heat down, make more hp! I'll tell you what, you need to start mass producing these badboys, everyone should run a set of these, from N/A guys to us blower guys, and yes they will fit, all 430/500/55 engines!

PTE give ARP a call, they got killer twelve point bolts, or even the same torx style, and they are strong as f*ck! They got them in stock if not, they'll make you anything, put a package together bro, you'll get a killer deal from them too if you order a bunch of bolts. Just send them a stock one and tell them to make one 3/16 longer or whatever!

vrus

Go Bleek Go!!! Those heads look awesome... They are gonna make some serious power!! 725hp - 750hp should be no problem.. Just keep that tranny and rear diff together and you are golden!

Have a great holiday my friend!! See you soon!

blackbenzz

Thanks Bleek. This thread made me take the 55 out for a spin to "get gas". It put the BIGGEST smile on my face. Cant wait til the spring, I'm going to drag, road course, and show the car (not to mention drive it 3 or 4 times a week)

PTE- Put me down for a set of phenolic spacers and bolts (I assume this will fit my car too). Whenever you have one ready let me know.

bleek

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! Lots of great news to tell everyone about!

The heads are almost done, just heard back from the machine shop and the seats have been cut for the bigger custom valves, and they were just blending the bowl area and getting ready for the valve job!

I'll have pics of the Custom SLR coolers before new years! These are killer pieces, and they actually fit under our hoods! These coolers will work in conjunction with my front mount heat exchanger, as i will need the extra cooling from the extra boost! I'll post all the toys asap, everything has been sitting in my mail box in Buffalo, and i've been buzy with family stuff, so i haven't had a chance to pick them up!

I will also be starting on my second set of 55 heads, as now that we have the extra set of custom valves, and we've found extra flow in certain spots, i wanted to get a second set done, so i have a back up set but also so i can send the second set to either M2 Race Systems, or HRD Racing Heads for the CNC program, both are great, just haven't decided who i want to develope the program. Definitly going to protect the design as we worked so many man hours to perfect these heads. So much went into flow, but flow was not also the big issue, we pretty much eliminated any turbulance in the runners as well, we gained flow through out the whole lift range, and gained so much through shapping the runners.

I almost forgot, i was gonna post pics of the difference between 55K springs and 430/500 springs, so here you go, the only thing that's the same are the keepers, everything else is different.

Stay tooned! SLR Coolers, Pulley, and finished heads pics!

bleek

OK Guys! As promised! Happy New Years, and here's the pics of the custom SLR Coolers!

We spilled something on the coolers, so they look alittle dirty, but man are they killer pieces, i still hve to send them out for coating, as they just came back from the bead blasters.

Enjoy guys, and have a safe and Happy New Years!

JamE55

I've seen those before. For some reason they look like Renntechs. I read a magazine with a Stage 6 Renntech SL55 and from one of the pics they look exactly like that. Those are definitely bad a$$! 60-70hp is definitely not questionable.

bleek

JamE55, yeah man those SLR Coolers are like the Renntech ones, but for those ones we used bigger cores, for the extra flow but was still able to gain back the pressure loss like we do in our stock coolers.

I'll bet 60-70hp as well, then add heads, and some other goddies, and we should make some serious power!

Finny

Hi Bleek,

Where did you source the coolers from and how much?

Thanks.

bleek

Hey Finny, the actual cores you can source from even a rad company, i got them custom from a turbo company, cost was through the roof, as these cores are set up so there is pretty much no pressure loss, but it might be a bit over kill for most. I have a second set on hand, and i may consider selling the second set.

Here's an update, heads are done, just waiting on a new set of rockerarms and they are totally complete. I'll have pics of the finished heads next week, and they look killer! The valves fit on the seats no problem(because we didn't go to big) and the bowl area is killer. Soon as the rocker arms come in the car will be leaving for assembly, but also next week i'm gonna test out the custom pulley i had made up, so will see how my car handles the extra boost.

Here's a pic of the pulley and a control arm i made up for the rear suspension, alittle drag racing trick to help the car hook better. Basically with how much power the car makes, the rear suspension wiggles around underload, with the control arms it minimises the twisting and helps the car launch better.

Enjoy the pic!

blackbenzz

Why dont you just send me the heads instead of putting them on your car ? You are taking all my ideas and actually doing it. Mad props

bleek

Thanks homie! Didn't you know i was a mind reader! LOL!!! Actually i got a few more tricks up my sleeve as well! I'm gonna have a water/ice reservoir for my intercooler as well, all mounted neatly! The car is gonna look bone stock!

Ain't no thang bro, just started a second set of heads there gonna be identical to the first set, when your ready let me know, it will have the custom valves in them as well.

We gonna see some serious gains with my custom pulley now! All that extra boost is gonna cause alot of heat! With the cooling system all planned out, even without the heads i'll pick up huge gains. The pulley to totally rebalanced after we welded the massive outer ring on it, so i don't have to worry about anything being out of balance, i made a second one, and i'm thinking about shipping it out to Fluidampr to see if they can make a bunch of them for us! Better harmonic dampening and more hp!!! Anyone interested?