jcjmw

Been trying to find ways to achieve reliable HP and lose some of the Wagon' weight. Here is what I plan to do. Any suggestions would be great.

1. This weekend, I plan on grinding the TB shaft in my 80 mm TB. From my research, I believe some of you have already done this and reported great results with no negatives on just grinding done some of the metal portions of the TB shaft.

2. I just ordered the 18" Konig light-weight wheels (the Killogram, machine silver). I get everything in the same size and offset as the stock, but just lighter.

3. I plan on purchasing Evosports lightweight rotors (whenever they get them back in stock).

4. My last step is to install the Kleeman camshafts and have their accompanying ECU upgrade.

5. I rejected removing the mufflers with straight pipe or gutting it.

After the above 1 to 4. I believe there is not much more I can do to the car to either lighten it up or achieve reliable HP. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Jakpro1

Battery in these is just massive. Do some searching for a lighter weight battery.

jcjmw

Yes, great idea. I did research this issue. From what I found, there are lighter batteries. However, those lighter batteries were not suitable or very good at daily use. For example, you could not leave your radio on when the engine was off; could not leave your car unstarted or undriven for a few days; and so forth. If I am wrong, please let me know as I would love to have a lighter, daily use battery for the wagon.

baldmike73

for weight/hp add - why not change out headers and mufflers to a lighter weight system - remove spare - custom carbon fiber drive shaft? that is big $$ - LOL

jcjmw

Thanks for the ideas.

I love my current Kleeman headers, so will stay with those.

As for spare tire, I have no spare in the wagon. In fact, I dont think I ever had a spare for the wagon - it could be b/c I have the optional 3rd row seat (?).

As for mufflers, they all were either close to the same weight as stock (+/- 5lbs).

As for a drive shaft, now you are on to something. By chance, do you now the weight of the stock drive shaft? Also, can you explain how saving weight on the drive shaft would improve 1/4 times or higher trap speeds?

Forrest Gump 9

Use the money for #4 and buy a voltfreak battery.

As for the light weight drive shaft, that tends to associate with loss of torque. I would rather go with CF hood.

randallaguirre

In the hot rodder world, a lot of us are using Odyssey batteries.

http://www.odysseybatteries.com/

AKnight55

Lot of weight you can cut in the exhaust.. Stock mufflers are around 25 pounds each, you can get aftermarket ones around 5 to 10 pounds.. That would be an easy 30 pounds or more, not counting if you remove the resonator or secondary cats..

tscales

Remove the 3rd seat

jcjmw

Thanks, I will contact them. From my prior research, all the lighter batteries that I found were lighter but were not suitable for daily driving use. I will contact them to see if Odyssey is different. By chance do you have these Odyssey batteries in your E55?

randallaguirre

I dont yet have an Odyssey in my E55... BUT, I do have one in my 66 SS Chevy II pro-touring. It's got a 327 V8 with 12.1:1 compression and the little tiny battery shown below has no problem whatsoever cranking it and starting it up, even after sitting for a couple of months. The batter is now 2 years old and showing no signs of wear either. For reference I have a PC925 in the Nova. I'm sold on them.

Another thing to note is that the Odyssey in my Chevy II is RIGHT NEXT to the motor. I would imagine with the batt being in the trunk you may consider bumping to the PC1200-1500.

Also, another cool thing is that there are a TON of aftermarket custom trick mounts for these.

In the below pics I included a pic of a Dr Pepper can to give some relationship to just how small this battery is.

WayneE

Post pics of your PT Nova. I have a PT 1st gen Camaro.

jcjmw

Nice! And thx!

randallaguirre

OK, Now your turn. My car is a true 118 car with only 60011 original miles. Totally rust free. It's got about 450HP with a 700r4 and vigilante converter from Bowtie Overdrives. I've got some CPP goodies for suspension, but will soon be ripping all of that out and going with TCI front and rear with Airride Tech shocks. BTW, If you like these wheels, I have another set for sale in 22-10rears and 20-8fronts. They are Intro wheels "Pentia 5" Originally the set was 4800, but I will sell very cheap as we are hopefully moving soon.

WayneE

Nice looking ride! I've always liked those cars - what does it weigh?

I have a '69 Camaro w/a '97 LT1 (HOT cam, rockers, headers) hooked up to a 4L65E out to a 10 bolt w/3.55s. Wayne Due subframe with coilovers, Baer brakes all around and an 8pt bar custom bolted to through the floor rear frame connectors. I'd like to minitub/coilover it before buying new wheels.



(sorry for the threadjack)

randallaguirre

Super sick 69.

DUDE, THE WHEELS I HAVE FOR SALE WOULD LOOK SICK ON THERE. I'll sell them even cheaper just to see them on that car.

jcjmw

I am adding to my list

6. TTM fuel rail and larger injectors

7. Upgraded ECU program (due to #6 and #1).

8. Race cats to replace 2nd cats and replace resonator with x pipe or straight piples. I am still thinking of this, but you guys gave me this idea, so I need to think more about whether if any loss of power or tq.

9. Polishing up the bell housing for the TB via TTM.

***this list is getting more expensive by the week***

jcjmw

Well, I completed the grind of the shaft in my 80 TB. All I can say is I should have done this mod sooner. Everyone is right, there is a noticeable improvement in HP from this mod. I just followed the tips and suggestions from these 2 threads (which was very informative!):

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...rind-talk.html

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...rted-85mm.html

If you are thinking of doing this mod. I HIGHLY recommend that you tape the inside of the TB and the edges, to protect it from accidential bumping from your dremel tool. In fact, I highly recommend that you put down several layers of tape (I used blue masking tape).

55wagon

get rid of the airmatic...

jcjmw

Ok, here is where I am at with my project.

1. Completed
2. Completed (https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...ml#post4614135)
3. I give up on this one.
4. This will be the last step.
5. Sticking with stock mufflers.
6. Ordered TTM's fuel rail.

Question for those that know the answer.
7. Will I lose or gain HP from replacing the stock resonators with straight or x pipe? I know I will save weight. But, I came across threads that people have experienced HP loss because of backpressure loss when replacing the stock resonator with straight or x pipe. Is this actually true?

yoheartfrijoles

I second this suggestion - remove that 3rd row seat, they weigh a lot more than you'd think. You can replace it with the covers from a wagon (AMG or not) that didn't come with a rear seat.

Remove that cargo cover, it weighs about 15 pounds and can always be put back.

If you are really serious about losing weight you could dump the front seats and get some recaros or sparcos.

Great project by the way. Keep the posts coming.

wsybert

Resonator delete wil not affect anything, its the secondary cats that affect torque. You will lose a little low end torque, but gain some mid/top HP. Nothing I believe that will be noticeable, on either end.
Bill

jcjmw

Got my TTM fuel rail mod and related parts. Here are some pics of the kit.

jcjmw

here are some more pics

jcjmw

and more