Originally Posted by 210e55

What if I do an iron sleeve (no alusil). Will they still work? Very interested.

Originally Posted by BlownV8

They would still work but, if you do an iron sleeve or Nikasil coating on the bores, you could use a less expensive domestically produced forged piston. You won't need the coating on the piston that the ones for an Alusil bore require.

Originally Posted by PTE

Great Question. The Mahle ring package will work . I've got 3 engines out there since 05 running with 1 or 2 steel sleeves . I do not have any long term use or hi mileage data tear down inspections as of yet . But I suspect I will not see any issues
Cheers _PTEngineering

Originally Posted by MBH motorsports

I don't know if a sleeve block on the 55k M113 engine has really panned out. One of the bigger weaknesses if this block is its an open deck design. granted there are some advantages to an open deck design. like weight and casting cost for the mfg. Its not 100% what you want for a very high HP car. Even with steel sleeves there is nothing supporting the outer walls of the cylinders and you still have an open deck block.

IMO I think this is why a supercharger upgrade for these cars is a massive undertaking to say the least. Where its not so much worrying about how you would tune it, fuel system upgrades.. But more on how the major increase in power would cause defection of the cylinders. You can have the best sleeves or best pistons in your car, but if there is nothing supporting the outer walls of your cylinders you will be limited I would think.

Originally Posted by PTE

One thing to remember about American made pistons. The blanks that they use are mostly designed around the typical American Con Rods. Which have a large Nice wide small end , to support a Wrist pin that is pressed in or lightly heated to drop the pin in place . and the pin floats in bore of the piston. The rod alignment is kept in spec to the cylinder bore center by its precise placement on the rod journal , which may be shared with another con rod. So there must be tons of piston to rod side clearance in the wrist pin bore / well area . So If you use that Wiseco , JE or other US built piston , you may have to do an extra step in the assy and add in hardened steel side shims, to get the rod properly aligned to the crank journal.
The M-113K block has alusil sleeves that are precision placed & cast into the Block. It uses a piston that is designed to control the con rod alignment , to the crank Journal , Commonly known as a ,top guided rod Piston. Mahle Builds the OEM cast & Forged for Mercedes. It is designed to work with the top guided rod. The wrist pin well area is machined to handle the rod placement without having to shim its placement.

As far as oversized to the stock sleeve ,you are limited to 0,25 mm or 0.010 "
I've been using Malhe pistons for over 40 years . I try other manufactures piston , but end up back with Mahle
Cheers _PTEngineering

Originally Posted by Exotic-metal55

There are a lot of pistons that will fit or be made to fit but not many desinged to perform to their best. The Mahle are damn fine set of pistons and proven to perform great! My first set of Wisecos were run hard for 30K , were forged and improved over stock. I had to run rod shims , as most aftermarket piston MFG dies wont work for our top driven engines. Shims were fine and used all the time but Mahle`s fit exact. The New wisecos were desinged off my 30,000 miles of use/test and are desinged exactly for our engine now and higher boost. Also, Wiseco and JE are sister companies and thier forging`s are private labelled for many of the brands people buy.So I hear.

I have a set of wisecos coming for my back up motor with Nickasil bore. Mahle`s are in my new engine that IK hope to have in soon, until the new steel sleeves are desinged and made for our engine.

Steel sleeves are a whole other topic and may I say argument In short, one method is ok for 550hp ish, one for up to 800 hp ish and one for above that. "Generally speaking". Also a matter of opinion.

Originally Posted by MBH motorsports

I don't know if a sleeve block on the 55k M113 engine has really panned out. One of the bigger weaknesses if this block is its an open deck design. granted there are some advantages to an open deck design. like weight and casting cost for the mfg. Its not 100% what you want for a very high HP car. Even with steel sleeves there is nothing supporting the outer walls of the cylinders and you still have an open deck block.

IMO I think this is why a supercharger upgrade for these cars is a massive undertaking to say the least. Where its not so much worrying about how you would tune it, fuel system upgrades.. But more on how the major increase in power would cause defection of the cylinders. You can have the best sleeves or best pistons in your car, but if there is nothing supporting the outer walls of your cylinders you will be limited I would think.

Originally Posted by KIWI KEN

I advise you to use Mahle pistons for the simple reason that Mahle are very experienced in designing pistons and understand well the thermal expansion characteristics of mercedes engines.
My mistake was using CP forged pistons in my 55 Kleemann engine. The pistons rattled badly until the engine temperature reached 80 deg C which is totally unacceptable for a road car. The car is now powered by an AMG55 kompressor engine and the kleemann engine will get a new set of Mahle pistons some day.

Originally Posted by BlownV8

They would still work but, if you do an iron sleeve or Nikasil coating on the bores, you could use a less expensive domestically produced forged piston. You won't need the coating on the piston that the ones for an Alusil bore require.