E55Freak

I am curious about your EC - HE install. After pulling the bumper was everything pretty straight forward and an easy hook up? Was their anything that needed to be modified or "rigged?" I ask because I am debating between doing this myself or having a shop do it for me. my biggest hangup is I have a bad shoulder and don't want to dislocate it if i torque it wrong....so if you could (or anyone else who has done the HE install) please chime in.

hank55

im in the process of doing this right now also, almost done removing the bumper, then tomorrow will be the he install. so far so good, hopefully it continues.

E55Freak

Excellent..please keep me posted. I am sure I can do it but I am just making sure everything is straight forward....

biggking

Is the EC heat exchanger a direct bolt on fit? I've seen a few other ones people talk about but I am not looking to hack up the car in order to install a part.

taurran

Do you have the E63 front bumper conversion? I installed mine behind the Suvneer E63 style bumper and I had the actual MB E63 foam support pads/brackets. Unfortunately, I had to dremel the bumper, foam, and plastic brackets a bit to get the HE to fit. I also have a 2004 E55 so I don't have a finned oil cooler, although with the standard position of the oil cooler tube I have, I don't exactly see why people feel the need to relocate it. There


The HE itself didn't come with fasteners or holes tapped, so I went down to Home Depot and purchased four 5/16" stainless hex bolts (2.75" or 3" long I forget - Measure the thickness of the metal bumper support and add some), two hex nuts, and two washers per bolt.

I mocked it up by bracing it to the bumper brace with some large slide clamps from harbor freight, which served nicely to keep in it place so I could get it absolutely center. Once centered and perfectly aligned (careful of the welds on the tabs throwing it off), I marked off four drilling points on the brackets, and drilled through the HE brackets and the metal bumper support, and used my fittings to attach the HE to the bumper support. The hardest part in this was actually tightening them down because its hard to get at the nuts from behind. I tightened them the best I could which should be enough. In hindsight I would have used lock washers on the rear of the fittings to hold the nut in place as I tightened the bolt.


For the bumper: the opening in center grill section in the E63 grill area is narrower than the E55 opening. I wanted to see the whole HE through it. I measured the overall HE core width to about 30", and then measured a 31.5" opening in the bumper (some slight fudge factor), and dremeled the same amount of plastic off both sides of the air dams on either side of the opening behind the grill. Luckily I'd measured and centered the HE almost perfectly with the bumper brace, and it lined up precisely with the bumper hole I'd widened.

I also had to trim up the foam pads and slightly around the top side of the center grill opening to fit the new HE and its brackets. I cut out cavities for the new bracket bolt heads, and tried to get the bumper to sit as flush as possible with the metal bumper support. It took quite a number of attempts to get it right, but I'd finally trimmed off enough where it sat flush. My dremel-fu skills came in handy here. Just be careful of that hot melted plastic.

In the end, it wasn't that bad. As long as you "measure twice cut once" and are comfortable modifying your bumper with a dremel or cutting tool, you'll be fine. I would suggest having a friend there to help mock up the bumper while modifying it, to make sure it's fitting. On my final bumper reinstall, I had to use some old wheel boxes to prop it up while I test fitted it, and it was a pain.

I'd say the only thing I'd actually change in hindsight would be to find some 1/2" or so rubber spacers to lower the HE slightly for cosmetic purposes. It sits ever so slightly high behind the grill, which isn't a big deal, but the OCD part of me is saying I'd like it slightly lower. Up to you if you feel like trying this.

ArmoE55

OP-
I'm gonna have my Indy do the install, if you're patient to wait a couple weeks (I know it's asking a lot), I'll take pics and detail exactly how they do it and post it in this thread or create a new one.

They installed on my previous 06 E55 without a hunch so it could not have been too difficult.

taurran

Here's another picture of how the install looks. Like I said it probably could come down a half inch, but it still looks good. The E63 bumper just sticks out a little more than the E55 one.

novae500

I remember my shop took the brackets off the old h/e and reused them by drilling rivets into the new EC HE. Reinstall the lines from the old h/e to the new, checked the coolant level and used some vaccuum machine to get all the air out that was attached to the overflow tank. Also they trimmed some of the stuff from behind/under the bumper, which wasnt visible and I didnt really care at all. And replaced my stock pump with another bosch 010 pump.

E55Freak

Thanks for the reply Taurran...you described about what i had in mind so I knew there would be some drilling involved. I have the stock E55 bumper...

ArmoE55 - If i do the install myself I am not doing it till the end of Sept. Wife is out of town and my go fast goodies need to kept from her. lol. I think i found a shop who is doing a bunch of mods for another member who was in on the HE group buy as well (He is going split cooling as well). Worse case scenario i could have Kleeman do it as well, while getting a pulley and tune at the same time.

taurran

It's not too hard. If you install it with the brackets on the HE I don't even think you'll need to relocate the oil cooler (if its located in the same spot the 2004 one is). It should be easier with the E55 bumper.

I pretty much followed the Eurocharged instructions to do all this, outside of adapting it to fit with the E63 bumper. Really, the hardest part of the install is just getting the bumper on and off the car.

E55Freak

i found this DIY on removing the bumper...i think i may do this myself. What the heck, I have a week....lol.

Tarruan, did you remove the front grille mesh?

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/bodyw...11-bumper.html

HeissRod

I've removed my front bumper twice and neither time did I remove the mesh grill

biggking

I have a stock E55 bumper. Not the E63 conversion.

shardul

iTrader: (1)

yes you need to in order to get access to 2 torq bolts
how did you get to the above mentioned bolts without removing the mesh grill? Or maybe your car does not have those previous owner / shop error?

HeissRod

I removed my bumper to install the splitter and then again for the HE. I don't specifically recall those bolts, but wouldn't they be accessible from underneath once the bellypan was removed?

shardul

iTrader: (1)

Look at post number 2

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...cs-56k-no.html

taurran

I did not remove the center grille.

I've also left my bottom plastic tray off for a while for ease of access.

taurran

Mine didn't have those bolts, assuming due to the fact I have a conversion.

I'm not entirely sure of the point of them, anyway. If I were you, and a DIY'er, I'd personally just leave them out when I reassembled the bumper so they wouldn't be a hassle in the future.

They're just another one of those needless redundancies that MB loves to throw in.

HeissRod

Odd. I guess they were missing from some work the previous owner did.

E55Freak

I am finally going to get this installed this week...

Ordered a new bosch pump and CPS since mine is bad and the car died on me for about 30 mins...

Anyone want me to take any pics as i go along?

ArmoE55

Are you installing yourself?

Do you know how to hardwire the IC pump to run constantly? If so, do it or have the person installing do it.

E55Freak

I am gonna do this myself..i'm not sure i am worried about it running constantly. I don't drive the car that often since I work from home and don't get out much.