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I did pin mine, but it's off the car right now. I just went out and bought a couple good looking cotter pins and some drill bits. stainless is a little difficult to drill, but the motor pin is easy. Dip your finger in the radiator reservoir and put the coolant on the drill bit. Make sure your scatter shield is where you want it, then drill straight through both tabs and the pin.
I decided to go with Kleeman for the tune. I spoke to Corey there who was very informative. I told him the components that I had, and also ordered a set of mid length headers from them for him to factor in to the tune. I overnighted my ECM to him and asked him to ship me the headers in the meantime as I wanted to get them jet-hot coated. He turned around the ECM the same day they received it and overnighted it to me…naturally I was champing at the bit to get it in.
Plugged it in and off I went…what a difference! Of course the car pulls much harder now, but what may have impressed me just as much if not more than WOT is the throttle response…everyday driving is really a joy and passing on the highway is whimsical at any speed.
The headers were very nice looking and, compared to some of the Chinese products I’ve seen, these appeared to be very high quality with nice welds.
While I had learned on here that long tubes are the way to go for maximum power, from what I could tell (in watching example videos on YouTube) they were also the loudest, and my preference was to keep a little of the luxury in my luxury sedan. My hope is that the mid lengths will give me a decent amount of power, while not sacrificing much of the factory quietness (for lack of a better term) that I really wanted to preserve as much as possible.
The mid lengths come with down pipes that replace the primary cats (which of course is part of what gives the power increase). The downpipes were also very nice, as well as the fittings that came with the kit.
Corey explained that the downpipes will have to be cut in order to put some flex pipes in. However I found it surprisingly hard to find 2.75 in flex pipes…My go-to for most things is Summit Racing as they have nearly everything under the sun, and usually in five different colors but they didn’t have any. The only place I could find them was on eBay…so I ordered a pair.
When they arrived my first thought was…these seem small…and I was right…2.75 inches is 70mm…
As you can see, the outer diameter is only around 66mm, inner around 61mm…and it tapers even smaller inside towards the middle…definitely not what I needed.
Sent those back and ordered from another eBay vendor…this time around, it was the opposite problem, these were a little too big…(mind you, both of the sets that I ordered were clearly advertised as 2.75”)…
In any case, too big is better than too small as the flex pipe can fit over the downpipe and factory exhaust…and as a result the inner diameter of the flex pipe should not be a restriction.
I haven’t found the time to install the headers or work on the trunk tank project, but in the meantime I had decided to order some aesthetic upgrades in the form of a black grill, and flat hood emblem…
I think you have a very elegant E55 and I love the color... unfortunately I do not think a black grill goes very well with your dark blue paint. Have you considered painting it blue as well?
I think you have a very elegant E55 and I love the color... unfortunately I do not think a black grill goes very well with your dark blue paint. Have you considered painting it blue as well?
Thanks! I hadn't considered a blue grill, I'm not sure how the monotone would look...has anyone else painted their grill the same color as the car? I'd be interested in seeing that...
I just finished getting a set of 19" Forgestars...I went with Forgestar's recommended size of 19 x 8.5 + 28 Front and 19 x 10 +35 Rear...
They recommended 245/35/19 Front and 275/35/19 Rear...
I had two issues with that tire setup, first…I really wanted to get some 285’s up under the rear…second, that tire size on a 10” rim would likely give it a smaller profile than the front tire which would drive me nuts.
However, I was dubious as to whether a 285 with that offset would fit without rubbing…I decided to roll the dice and I ordered some 285/30/19’s.
When I first got the rear wheel on, with the car off the ground I thought “this ain’t gonna make it”…I lowered it to the ground and it was soooooo close…but, it fit perfectly, no rubbing…woohoo!
I just finished getting a set of 19" Forgestars...I went with Forgestar's recommended size of 19 x 8.5 + 28 Front and 19 x 10 +35 Rear...
They recommended 245/35/19 Front and 275/35/19 Rear...
I had two issues with that tire setup, first…I really wanted to get some 285’s up under the rear…second, that tire size on a 10” rim would likely give it a smaller profile than the front tire which would drive me nuts.
However, I was dubious as to whether a 285 with that offset would fit without rubbing…I decided to roll the dice and I ordered some 285/30/19’s.
When I first got the rear wheel on, with the car off the ground I thought “this ain’t gonna make it”…I lowered it to the ground and it was soooooo close…but, it fit perfectly, no rubbing…woohoo!
Well done I am glad I did about the same. I just spec'd my new wheels at 19x8.5 Fronts (28ET) and 19x10 Rear (36ET) so this is absolutely perfect. Looks amazing.
Well done I am glad I did about the same. I just spec'd my new wheels at 19x8.5 Fronts (28ET) and 19x10 Rear (36ET) so this is absolutely perfect. Looks amazing.
Just an FYI, I feel the front could've had just a tad less offset, they are not quite as perfectly flush as the rears...I have a pair of 5mm hubcentric spacers lying around, and I'm going to put them on to see how they do.
On a side note...after much research I found a guy who specializes in painted pinstripes to see if he could remove them...
He told me they probably wouldn't come off very well, and there's a chance they would leave marks, almost like scars...he said he would try at the very back to test and taped it off so that it would look like it just ended a little shorter than it currently is...
Unfortunately he was right, there was a speck of residual pinstripe paint that just would not come off, and you could just barely make out grooves where it was. Extrapolating that to the entire side of the car was not an appealing thought, so it looks like I'm stuck with them.
To make the best of a less than ideal situation, however, my plan is to go over the painted pinstripes with the adhesive pinstripes in a charcoal gray...I already test fitted a quarter panel and it was a slight improvement.
To be continued...
Last edited by boosted305; Jun 26, 2019 at 12:42 AM.
Off the line no way would u keep up with an AWD nissan gtr but rolling race you should be able to beat one fairly easily i took on my buddies tuned gtr from 30 mph an had him by 2 cars by 100
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
