WideLowandFast

Is it worth it to pursue an aftermarket tune? Here in Denver, the atmospheric pressure is 24.89 (Hg) @ 42 degrees. It's noticeably less than the 29.92 (Hg) you have at sea level. You lose roughly 3% of your horsepower per 1000'(N/A engine). Tuners, feel free to chime in. I see tunes that advertise "X" amount of power gain. I know I wont see that, being here. Thoughts? Any other E63 owners, in Denver, have any first hand experience or advice?

layzie12g

After I did a box tune the car felt a little more responsive. I never felt any real power gains like with the 55s. I think I paid $700 for the tune and handheld. Then again my patience for modding the 63 is about coming to an end. Looking back I wish I left mine stock, and bought a 55 to mod.

ironcorn

I've thought about this myself, moved to Colorado Springs (1000ft above Denver) from Seattle at sea level. The car feels pretty weak compared to sea level.

M-Theory

+1 on the 63 modding, only thing left is to spray. Didn't get a 55 cause I hate the way they sound.

Anyway, N/A cars hate that part of the U.S. When I was big on the M forums people in that regions horse power dramatically decreased compared to any where else, eventually selling their cars for forced induction to live there and make power. But those that kept at N/A got the best results from a custom dyno tune to deal with sea level.

WideLowandFast

Thanks for the input. I'm all for a tune, if it could maximize the oxygen that the engine is getting. The drop in advertised gains doesn't deter me. It's the fact that I'll pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 for possibly 25-30 HP. I've already done ROW airboxes, AFE filters, and the resonator delete. Next is either a tune, depending on what I gather from this thread, or full exhaust.

M-Theory

Price wise your right in the custom dyno tuning range for gaining that kind of power if not more. As for exhaust, Longtubes or nothing for power.

Talk to tuners, a box tune gain is roughly 35rwhp so a custom should yield more in good conditions. Most companies are pretty good at answering your questions and working with you on what you want.

layzie12g

Give Buckhead a call regarding their tune prices. If you have already done all those other mods, you'd might as well throw a tune at it.

Gkhan2

I didn't realize there would be that noticeable a difference. I'm in Wyoming above 7300'. I gotta get out of here. Sounds like I'm cheating myself out of a good time!

Celicasaur

I'm curious...why do you say that?

E55Freak

You know that kleeman is in the springs? you should give them a call and see what they offer.

E55Freak

A supercharged or turbo motor will usually make bigger gains than a naturally aspirated car with mods.

layzie12g

I have a thread started on it. Ive spend a bunch of time and money on Mbh long tubes and all the other stuff and the car isn't making the power it should. I have to get it back to the dyno and use v bands on the rear section of the exhaust.

The headers hit the body of the car on the passenger side, and my time for working on the car is nonexistant so I had to pay my fab guy to remove the passenger side header, dent the body, and re-fab the exhaust.

If it wasn't my only car Mike was going to ship me out a new header but I didn't have time to wait for one to finish being made and shipped. I paid the premium to go with Mbh so that didn't happen. Im still waiting on an e-mail back from them.....

WideLowandFast

Thanks for the heads up! I'll look into it.

Celicasaur

My bad bro, I meant why he was regretful of modding his car. Thanks all the same

Celicasaur

Ahhh I see.... I'll do a search on your username and see if I can find the thread.

How much down on power was it, ie what were you hoping to see vs your baseline (if you did a baseline).

Fitment wise, do you think it might have been a problem due to the chassis difference W212 and W212, or was yours explicitly made for the W211?

From what I read, a good set of long tubes (with the inevitable de-cat that they bring), row air boxes and a tune can see up to 570hp....I think that's pretty good tbh. 50hp gain on an N/A motor. Makes me want to do the same.

layzie12g

I'm still not sure what is going on power wise. I have to spend more time with it. The car is as fast as a stock 6.2 S63. Kind of a joke. I've done a bunch of pulleys and performance stuff on 55s. I've always used Eurocharged for my parts and tunes. I asked Jerry about a custom tune to try to solve the car being down on power and he told me the MBH headers don't make power they advertise and the tune has nothing to do with it. I never ruled out there being a problem with my car. It is absolutely possible, and I never asked for anything for free. I know the motor is healthy, but it seems there was no interest in looking in to it. It seems the C63 guys make power just fine with the MBH products. Looking at all of the experience they have I find it hard to believe they would make a header that makes inferior power to the competition. The experience with this car as a whole has been terrible.

I was waiting on a response from Mike from MBH before I posted anything else. He implied I would receive some form of refund for what happened with the passenger side header. I asked him about it again a week ago and I never got a response. The headers were made for a 211. $2,750 out of my pocket for parts that fit like they were made in China. The production quality of the headers was great, too bad the passenger side didn't fit. Also a shop full of MB techs couldn't find a way to get one of the nuts started on one of the studs. The tube was fabbed too close to the flange.

My other option was that I leave the car at the fab shop for however long it took for a new header to be made, and then be without a car for X amount of days. Which was not an option. I went with the most expensive and highest quality option to not have this problem. **** happens. I get it, but I would have liked a response after some form of refund is mentioned. Instead I got phone calls that were not returned and e-mails that were not responded to.

I installed them the first time and when my fab guy had it apart he tried starting that nut first with the flange at the end of the stud. No go. He went as far as pulling the stud and he was not able to get it started.

I really wish I went with MHP/ARH. I don't even want to say how much I'm backwards right now after having to pay my fab guy to remove the header and make it work. I could have had the headers, catted midsection, and a whole lot of cash left over if I went with ARH. It really sucks when something that should be fun turns in to something that causes more stress then anything.