I have a Eurocharged Stage 2 kit installed in my E55 which includes a smaller supercharger pulley. Recently the top of my harmonic balancer shaved completely off so I began looking for a replacement without paying the exorbitant dealer price. In Australia the OEM HB is AU$2200 yet I found an aftermarket on eBay for US$539. I was going to purchase that one when somebody mentioned there was an oversized performance crank pulley which originally retailed for thousands normally much more than the OEM HB except as the last one was selling for US$500 so I immediately bought it. We are in the process of currently installing it and just awaiting a support pulley kit to support the new upgrade. I have only just noticed though that all the Performance Packages available (Eurocharged, FTP etc) install either one or the other, never both although there are a few people in forums running both but generally with only a 172mm crank pulley whereas I have the 180mm upgrade. In fact why the different sizes even running one?

Aside from the idler pulleys and tensioner being replaced would it be a good idea to install a belt wrap kit also? Am I making a mistake running both mods or is there anything I should know or do to minimise any risk? Or am I just being over protective and paranoid?

 

No you are not making a mistake... Alot of people run both including myself, but I only run a Kleeman 168 pulley with smaller SC pulley... The biggest problem you will have is heat soak, you Definitely need to modify your HE and split the system.. You might want to look into a trunk tank.. Hope this helps, and definitely go for the BWK it works really well.. Good luck...

 

What are your cooling mods?

 

Put a crank pulley on (torque it properly and go with a well known pulley). Keep an eye on the sc pulley, there have been many reports of failures.

 

Currently have the Johnson IC pump and the HE from Eurocharged but coincidentally as SilverStrk suggested I have been looking over the last couple of days at splitting the system with the FABTECH-PERFORMANCE I/C TRUNK TANK or possibly the under bonnet version although for the small difference in cost ($559 vs $449) the larger boot mounted model seems the better buy. I was considering it for a future mod but typically this car demands I spend more money NOW! The E55 is insatiable when it comes to having money spent on her but like a perfect trophy wife that you are proud to take out and show off she is worth every cent...

 

I have a 175mm lower with an 80mm upper pulley, and your setup will be pretty close to that. Good thing you have the intercooler pump and heat exchanger. Belt wrap kit is definitely a good purchase, and if you're doing that, might as well replace those other stock pulleys. If you look carefully at the "double" pulley that touches both belts, the inner part is made of plastic (!!!). Those have been known to spontaneously explode. It happened to me and luckily I got away with just two shredded belts and one broken bolt.

 

The Crank pulley is from Germans MKB who are normally very expensive but excellent quality. This pulley with an ECU tune apparently sold for $4500 back in the day! MKB have very close links with AMG and apparently even tune the Black Series for them. I was fortunate to pick it up brand new (last stock) on eBay for only $500.

The supercharger pulley was supplied by Eurocharged a couple of years ago although I replaced the bearing only 2 nights ago.

 

I know AU is crazy expensive, but $4500 for a pulley is mad crazy.

Now your dollar is strong and eBay is your friend.

 

Ummm that's US$4500! They no longer supply the pulley for the M113 motor though, their 55 kits now incorporate more in depth mods. There is a thread here where their costs are discussed - one potential customer was quoted the equivalent of US $6100 for the ECU upgrade and nearly US $17500 + installation costs for the stage 2 conversion (ECU+manifolds+downpipes). https://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w...-products.html

 

 

I have actually ordered but not yet paid for both idler pulleys. Again I was thinking of cancelling and instead buying the billet aircraft grade aluminum set of 2 idler pulleys from Eurocharged ($180). Should I also replace the water pump pulley? I cant recall seeing any for sale anywhere? I know Fabtech do a set of 3 pulleys ($299) - does anyone know if the third one would this be the tensioner or water pump pulley?

 

Contact Shardul he can set you up with the BWK, and all pullies that you will need.. Great guy.. Stay away from Fabtech...

 

+1 for Shardul he will deff help you out and will be able to answer all of your questions!!

 

Hi

Fellow Australian here and good to see another enthusiastic E55 owner in the country.

I have a smaller clutched upper supercharger pulley and lower 172mm crank pulley running at the same time. Yes it is ok but I do have a boot mounted intercooler tank with internal pump, Eurocharged heat exchanger and split cooling system. I would no way run a smaller upper clutched supercharger pulley and a lower 180mm crank pulley as my daily driver simply because of the very high boost levels it would create meaning you are over spinning your supercharger a lot and giving the engine much higher inlet air temps. Yes you will be running higher boost than my car.

As you are in Western Australia and to keep things under control you are going to need at least the same cooling mods as me above especially as your lower crank is a 180mm, but I would be considering a "killer chiller" or maybe "meth" as well. My smaller upper pulley and lower 172mm crank pulley equals around the same boost that your lower 180mm crank pulley will make on its own so you are in the higher spectrum of boost levels and believe you should consider other things like larger injectors for that added safety margin and extractors to get rid of the exhaust gases faster or else your under bonnet temps are going to sky rocket and stay high for to long.

Are you able to put up a picture of the crank pulley you have purchased?

And yes you should contact Shardul when it comes to pulleys and belt wrap kits, you should be fitting the belt wrap kit and organise the correct belt length all at the same time of fitting the new lower crank pulley.

Be very careful and be 100% sure you have a good lower crank pulley by making sure others that have been using it for several years and thousands of kilometres and that these owners have had no dramas with them as I can tell you "LOTS" of people have been having problems with the crank pulley and when they let go can sometimes cost big dollars and as you and me are in Australia we can multiply those big dollars by threefold! When they let go and damage a crank you can bet that me or you are going to be out of pocket by about $15,000 Aussie dollars and no less.

I researched crank pulleys for over 18 months before choosing one. But once again please speak to other people that have used the same crank pulley that you have purchased BEFORE you install it.

Regards,

OZZYAMG

 

Well said OZZY!! I would stay away from doing "high load" freeway pulls until you upgrade your cooling (sufficiently) and fuel injectors. Otherwise it is a recipe for disaster. You will be forcing hot intake temps into a hot engine under load at full boost with your injectors running static at high rpms. Altenatively just make sure your fuel pumps and filters are in good working order! Another thing to be sure of is that the person installing your crank pulley is a competant wrencher. The bolt if a one time use and is torqued to yield/stretched: 148ft lbs plus 90 degree turn or it will fail on you and sheer the woodruff key. Can only cross our fingers that the crank pulley you have bought is well balanced. This is crucial as a wobbling crank will throw the harmonics of your engine. Welcome down the rabbit hole and good luck! This platform is really something else when it comes to modding. Lots of options, tuners an plenty of smiles!

 

Ok I'm officially nervous now, the rabbit hole doesn't look so inviting and I'm feeling claustrophobic! She aint going back on the road till I'm satisfied she's ready for runs without any chance of doing damage. So from a simple Harmonic Balancer replacement suddenly I'm up for:

(1) MKB Crank Pulley US$500
(2) Nakai SC Pulley Bearing US$100
(3) Shardul 5 piece Idler Set US$500
(4) Shardul Water Pump Pulley US$180
(5) Shardul Beltwrap Kit US$450
(6) Shardul 550cc Injectors US$500
(7) FABTECH-PERFORMANCE I/C Trunk Tank US$559
(8) Updated Eurocharged ECU Tune + Cable US$200
(9) Postage to Australia for all the above aprox US$700
(10) Installation assistance aprox US$500

Making for a grand total of $4189, many hours carefully wielding tools and around 6 - 8 weeks without a vehicle.

Cooling mods already include a Johnson CM30 I/C Pump and Eurocharged HE plus she is running Kleeman Headers and of course the standard Performance Tune together with that SC Pulley and K&N Filters rounding out the list of mods. I was hoping to have Air Induction by now but guess that will have to wait.

If anyone has any suggestions on how I might lower the overall cost without jeopardizing my baby please let me know?

This is the Pulley that has created this whole dilemma for me...

 

On the crank pulley Make sure to put a New bolt on... Torque to specs.. These mods along with your headers will make a Huge difference... Good luck..

 

Ah of course, add $60 for the bolt in Australia and $60 for a belt already purchased...

 

Hi Therapist

Ok I have gone over your list of mods and looked at your crank pulley and have my suggestions for you:

1) How did your research go for determining the reliability of the crank pulley you have purchased? I noticed the larger 180mm has been installed on a Mercedes OE centre hub but don't think it had the extra dowel connectors that others have been using that further strengthens the inner hub and outer ring together. Please make sure you research the crank pulley 100% before you install it. The last thing I want is for you to damage your entire engine.

Having said all of the above if you are really going to install a 180mm crank pulley with your smaller clutched pulley I really think you need to consider extra cooling mods over and above what you are proposing such as a killer chiller or meth.

2) It is a great idea you are looking at doing injectors, make sure your tuner knows the full specs of your chosen injectors and is happy to adjust the custom tune to suit these new injectors. As the supercharger needs to be removed to install the injectors (or so I believe), it might be the perfect time to upgrade your throttle body saving on labour and supercharger gaskets at the one time. Don't forget to change your supercharger oil whilst it is removed using Mobil Jet Oil II.

3) Fabtech intercooler trunk tank...Yes a trunk tank is a good idea and I have one and think you should get one to. Perhaps ask Shardul/BIP/Eurocharged on a quote for this as well. I have some Fabtech parts and mine are rubbish.

4) Make sure the belt you have already purchased is ok with a belt wrap kit as well.

Your installation assistance of $500 is ok as long as you are really doing most of the work yourself. I am located in Melbourne and I would guess if you had to pay somebody to do all the labour over here it would cost about $2500 AUD.

In the back of my head I do have some concerns about you running the 180mm crank pulley and smaller clutched supercharger pulley together simply due to the immense heat you will create and the continual strain on your supercharger and motor. You are really at the upper echelon of the boost levels your engine can handle without going to extreme cooling modifications. At these boost levels you must have everything always running 100% perfect and the air fuel ratios checked on a dyno with a wideband o2 meter after your custom tune has been downloaded into your car and then have the tune modified slightly if it has any areas it can be tweaked for that extra margin of safety.

You may also want to monitor data with a dashdaq to keep an eye on engine knock & inlet air temps etc.

Oh and whilst at this level it may be a good reason to do the intank fuel filters as a precautionary measure.

Hope it all goes well for you because your car is going to fly.

Best of luck.

Regards,

OZZYAMG

 

Hi

I just need to clarify something as I am a little confused. In Therapist's opening post he mentions:

"just awaiting a support pulley kit to support the new upgrade"

And I assume the above must mean the stepped/smaller water pump pulley that is required to fit the larger 180mm crank pulley or else it hits but then in a later post above by Therapist he mentions:

Should I also replace the water pump pulley?

I think you might be doubling up on the same part here?

I think you should contact this guy directly shardul01@gmail.com ESPECIALLY about your chosen crank pulley. Crank pulleys manufactured many years ago were very troublesome and most manufacturers either stopped making them or changed their designs to reduce busting engines. It is only in the last 1 or 2 years that suppliers have been happy to stand behind their products as Shardul does 100%.

Regards,

OZZYAMG

 

I'm currently running a 168mm crank pulley with a 77mm SC pulley. The crank pulley was a mod that was installed by the previous owner and frankly I had no idea it was there because the car was bone stock otherwise. Had I known I might have been more inclined to upgrade fueling mods, additional cooling etc. Well, I recently blew a motor (infamous cylinder 8) and the unofficial diagnosis was high speed fuel starvation. My mods currently include V2 HE, Bosch 010 IC pump, Mid Length Headers to X pipe w/ cat delete, Belt Wrap Kit, 77mm SC pulley, 168mm crank pulley, EuroCharged ECU tune and K&N filters. That said, I recently spoke with very well known vendor and they are recommending Long Tube Headers and a Trunk Tank (both for heat dispersion) to continue running this setup, in addition to updating the ECU tune (obviously).

Here is my dilema.. Long Tubes are out of the question IMO as I don't personally feel the price warrants the gains. I'm open to the trunk tank idea as this is something I was planning on doing anyway but I wasn't planning on doing it right away. That said, having just blown a perfectly good motor I would like to ensure the new one is protected. So, I am highly motivated to do whatever it takes to run within safe parameters.

So my question is this... Do I go with option A and just go down to a stock crank pulley for now as this seems to be the easiest solution? Option B, do I keep the 168mm crank pulley and downgrade the 77mm SC pulley to an 84mm? Or option C, install a trunk tank kit, upgrade injectors, upgrade the ECU tune and just hope to God this is enough to not blow another motor? Having just spent a gang of money on a new motor, including labor I'm presently inclined to run the cheapest solution until significant upgrades become feasible once again. Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Like Ozzy said you need to upgrade injectors. No question about it. What you want to run 180/84 is larger than a 195 crank boost wise
Need better cooling also.
The car will be a beast.

 

Sorry that sucks. Any pulley stacked with a 180 or 77 you need injectors. Sucks you didn't know about the crank pulley

 

Well I'm no expert but I have learnt A LOT since I started this thread and I will say your current setup is a disaster waiting to happen. If you choose to run both pulleys I would be adding even more cooling than you have already indicated (killa chilla or meth). Also these cars really come alive with headers - shorties, mids or long - they all make a dramatic difference. In fact headers should be the first mod to the 55k motor. They let the beast breathe, add power, shift heat from the block and improve the exhaust note.

In your situation though I would probably recommend doing exactly what I did in the end - I went with the larger crank pulley (180 in my scenario) and swapped the supercharger pulley back to stock. Having said that though your pulley is 168 which is the ideal size to run with a smaller sc pulley (if you do decide to go that route).

Good luck whatever you decide - you REALLY don't wanna blow another motor. I just rebuilt mine plus did numerous other things at the same time for a total cost of $18,000 Aussie dollars. That hurt the hip pocket!

 

Yeah man, really sucks. All I can do now is do my best to not repeat the process. This thread seemed like a good place to start. Really appreciate and value everyone's input.