stephens

After a lot of research I have discovered the following which account for the rated power differences between the E55 and SL/CL and S55;
The E55 exhaust has a crossover pipe after the second cat, CL,SL and S do not. The exhaust systems are otherwise pretty much the same.
The E55 has a large kink in right hand side air tube (facing the front of the car), which also only has about 1/2 the surface area on the intae tube as left side. An S500 airtube can be made to squeeze in and fix this problem.

I don't know how much impact this really makes power wise, because I believe that they are all putting out pretty much the same power anyway but according to MB its worth about 25hp.

My car should be fully de-restricted next week!

So far I have gained 27hp from BMC filters and ECU remap.
I reasonably expect the following;
25hp from "de-restriction"
10hp from mid muffler removal.
30hp from Pulley.
10hp from airbox mods (as posted by me for W210 airbox).
Total gains 102hp
Cost around $2000 US plus time taken to research.

Micah

Are you referring to the W211?

Dr Chill

How much did the ECU upgrade cost?

How is the sound with the mid muffler removed?

How does the pulley change make more hp?

Thanks

pocholin

stephens, in theory you should be right, ut usually hp gains don't just add one on top of the other, you'll be luck if you get half of the gains you calculated by the end off all mods.

I hope in the end I'm wrong and you are right, I'll keep an eye on your results. Good luck.

stephens

Most tuner are changing the pulley and doing a generic chip upgrade (not dynoed to the individual car) and quoting 40-60hp increases. I'll be happy with 60, but I should see more.

stephens

The ECU upgrade was around $1000, I am removing the mid muffler this week, it has not been done yet but I have seen performance no's from MKB for this mod.
The pulley produces power by being a larger diameter (on the crankshaft) than standard and so turning the supercharger faster and producing more boost than standard.

stephens

Yes W211. The best you can hope for on the W210 without serious money is around 50hp by modifying intake, exhaust, putting on headers and retuning the ECU.

Micah

I read that MB choked the power output down on the E, compared to other 5.4L kompressor applications. The E55K uses a 70mm exhaust, while the SL55K uses a 90mm exhaust. So an aftermarket intake and exhaust swap should put the E55K a little over 500bhp. Not sure why MB did that, though.

Finnish C32

Stephens, what intake-pipe do you exactly mean and do you really mean S500 not the S55?

Thanks for info

Ville

stephens

I had heard the same thing,turns out to not be true. All use a 2.75" system. The difference is that the E55 uses a badly designed balance pipe after the second cat.

stephens

The intake pipes that take the cold air feed to the airbox. There is no difference between the S55 and S500 airpipes that I am aware of. I don't beleive the restriction was intentionaly engineered by AMG as some have suggested. I think the E500 has the same problem. The pipe itself has been shaped to easily clear engine ancillaries.

To check what I mean, open your bonnet, pull the air pipe back (from in front of the "flex piece" ) and off the airbox housing. Now pull it up and back, clear of the engine bay. You will have to give it a bit of a "wiggle". Do this on both sides and check the differences in the front sections of the pipe near the grille located air pickup.
(sorry for the woeful discription but it's 6.00am in the morning here.)

Blocktrader

Be careful when messing with that exhaust. Many times, when manufacturers use poor looking balance setups, it is to help with unwanted resonances. Based on what I hear when driving my car I would say this thing is just dying to resonate in a couple of spots. I wouldn't make a change that you can't change back.

Where did you get the filters?

stephens

The BMC filters are available mail order/ internet etc. I bought them locally as it is the same part used on most Merc V8's so it is generally in stock

Finnish C32

Stephens, It's really nice that someone else is interested in the modification of a new car . You seem to know quite a lot about the car and what could be done to improve the performance . So could you explain what kind of a cross-over pipe would be best for my car? Do you have any information on what the mkb-soundpipe is like?

damcgee

I'd be curious to see if the E55K will have 200 mph potential with these upgrades. I would expect to see perhaps 185 mph without doing anything but removing the limiter. The CL55 does AT LEAST 187, and while that car may be more slippery aerodynamically than the E (I don't know, I am just wondering "perhaps"), it is much heavier.

The thing is, weight doesn't matter *much* in top speed consideration. It will certainly affect how quickly that speed is reached, but top speed is much more about horsepower and aero. I think with ~600 hp, the E55K could touch 200?

stephens

With complete removal of the speed limiter, the top speed of the E55 standard should be theoretically 320kmh (198mph).
With 570hp it should be around 340kmh(211mph).

Pbglas

How are you getting these theoretical numbers? I am not challenging anything; just curious.

And confused as to what hp actually means .. and .. how torque affects the driver... Any refernces would be welcome.

stephens

I downloaded a German programme that uses excel that calculates a cars performance mathematically. The numbers that come out also match real world testing, so it seems to be pretty good.
Link to download software

Pbglas

Thanks. I am downloading it right now!

It is about 2 mb!!!

pocholin

Darn it, that is in german!

stephens

Yes it is in German, but it is fairly straightforward to work out the important variables.

Finnish C32

Stephens are you ignoring me or am i just paranoid?

stephens

Sorry, I missed your post.

This is what the E55 will sound like with the removal od the factory crossover pipe and replacement of the mid muffler with the MKB X-over. MKB sound file.

I look forward to sharing info with more open minded owners as they too start "experimenting" with their cars.

Rennteam

If you completely remove the speed limiter on a stock E55, you get a top speed of around 200 mph (320 kph).
No need for other modifications!!!
So yes, the stock E55 runs 200 mph if AMG would let it go that fast. Unfortunately they limit the car to 250 kph (156 mph) or raise the speed limit (customer request, certain countries only, not US!) to 300 kph (188 mph).

dNA3D

I'm optimistic a stock E55 is capable of greater speeds than "only" 200MPH. Again, only handicap are the tires.