Greetings, AMG fanatics. I've been a long-time lurker and I believe this will be my first post... or close to it. So, I have a 2010 E63 that I recently put a stage 1 Weistec Supercharger kit on. This is my second E63. I started with a W211 and lost it to an engine fire. This will not be an in-depth tutorial; rather a fun place to share some pics and my experience with fellow horsepower enthusiasts. Huge shout-out to this forum. I spent months on here reading just about every thread before I tackled this project.

Mod list:
*Muffler delete
*Weistec stage 1 SC
*63 motorsports stage 3 cam locking plates with skelton covers
*63 motorsports titanium cam cap bolts/cam phaser bolts
*ARP cam locking bolts
* ROW airboxes with Weistec high flow filters
*Weistec racing spark plugs

Maintenance items
*Updated MB lifters
*Updated MB head bolts
*Stock injectors
*PCV
*VCG
*Intake manifold gaskets
*All pullies and idlers
*Vacuum lines

** I apologize ahead of time for the pic sizes. I've resized a bunch, but they don't appear to be any smaller. I may have to edit this if it's an issue.

Anyway, onto the pics:


2018. My W211 after an engine fire



July 2022. Day two with my new (to me) E63. I found a clean, base E63 with only 79,400 miles.
2 owner, California car. I bought it and parked it for about a year and half while I gathered parts







January 2024. Stage one kit. This was the last item on my list. I wanted to do all the major updates and maintenance items prior to adding boost


February 2024, time to get to work. My car and garage looked like this for 10 days while I did the work.



Camshafts revealed. Part of the reason for tearing into this car was a slight lifter tick on cold start sometimes.
Super clean top end. This car didn't appear to be abused or have extended oil change intervals. Camshaft lobes
looked great with no signs of pitting or excessive wear



The big three worries with the M156 on display. My locking plates were in great shape with wear just starting to show.
Pictured below are the worst of the lifters. Those ones had a grove that you could feel with a fingernail. Glad to have those out!
The head bolts looked fine. Had I known their condition, I would have left them alone. I took pictures of the worst ones.
Not bad for 14 years old and nearly 80k miles





63 Motorsports stage 3 locking plates with skeleton covers and titanium bolts. Also included an ARP main bolt.
These were pricey, but I didn't want to do this job again







New lifters installed

Cams back on with titanium cam cap and bridge bolts (old air injection routing)


New air injection routing


Done and done




Next will be a transmission fluid exchange along with a filter change. I'll also tackle the rear diff fluid at that time. I'm toying with the idea of a TCU tune from Weistec. Anyhow, the car is now maintained, bullet-proofed and wicked fast. A big brake kit is just around the corner. I'm also shopping for new wheels and tires. I want to go 19s with a wider tire for better traction. If you have suggestions in that department, I'm all ears. Thanks for reading.

Edit: I forgot to mention how the car performs... It's incredible. Power and torque everywhere. The most noticeable difference is super light throttle applications. The car just gets up and goes with significantly less throttle input.

-Brian

 

First video shows the moment of truth... First start after major surgery. That was a huge fingers crossed moment for me.

 

Very impressive! Thanks for taking the time to post all this amazing work

 

Thank you! These cars are surprisingly simple and easy to work on. If you can do a brake job I’d say you can do the same work I did here.

 

Hot damn, supercharged M156, only in my dreams. Very impressive work Borahatch.

 

Looks like you covered all the weak spots of the M156. Let us know how it performs on the dyno or track. Beautiful build!

 

Looks great. What kind of power numbers would it make?

 

Much appreciated. That’s the plan! After I get lighter wheels and larger brakes, I’ll look into track days at Sonoma Raceway.

 

Weistec advertises 637 HP and 560 ft/lbs of torque with everything being stock along with their tune (stage 1). I have the ROW air-boxes, higher flow filters, and racing spark plugs. Honestly, that’s all probably good for 5-7 horsepower if I had to guess lol. Maybe more, maybe less.

No matter what the car is actually making, it is completely transformed. Obviously it was no slouch before but now it’s brutal. The way it builds speed is insane. However, when I want to put the car in C and cruise around like a sane human being, the car is happy to act completely docile.

 

Just need to add long tube headers. Didn't see that in the list of mods. One of the best sounding cars I've ever heard was a Weistec supercharged M156 with long tube headers. The headers will really open her up.

 

I could only dream of that. I’m in California so I have smog every 2 years. Long tubes would allow me to go to a stage two pulley as well. I can only imagine how this car would sound with some quality headers!

 

Just move to Texas, Florida, or Idaho like just about every other person in Ca and finish your mods. I mean, you've gone this far.......

 

Ha! You’re not wrong. I’m tied to this state for the time being, unfortunately (state employee). So I have another 15 or so years before I can leave. Texas is definitely calling my name, however.

 

How is traction with the factory tire size? Not being familar with CA smog, do yo have to stay within factory specs or would a long tube system with cats work?

 

For having the base 18’s and an open diff, traction is surprisingly good. Granted, I haven’t put a 1,000 miles on the build yet so I haven’t done full throttle from a dig. With that said, I now have to be mindful of when I gas it from a stop. The first time I had traction off and gave it maybe 30% throttle, the car’s rear end stepped out on me (fun). If I let the car rollout a few feet then get heavy into the throttle, it more or less hooks and goes.

In CA you can run aftermarket emissions equipment if it has a CARB exempt number. I don’t know of any long tubes that have such a number. The main reason I went with this Weistec stage 1 is it’s the only boosted application (that I know of) for the M156 that has a CARB exempt number.

From what I understand, and I may be wrong, but a company must prove to CARB that their product will not increase emissions. I think most companies find it’s too pricey and not worth seeking that exemption number. I don’t blame them.

 

We have almost same spec stock vehicles.

I’m in CO and have been contemplating going the same route due to smog restrictions.

Awesome build and congrats. This is reviving my desire to force induction on my 2011.

I take it you went with a Weistec ECU tune?

 

Sweet! How has your E63 treated you thus far? Having the 2011 should negate your need to worry about head bolts. I would highly recommend going this route. The install was mostly straight forward and doesn’t require massive supporting mods.

Yes, the package included a stage one tune. The turnaround time on shipping the ECU was about 2 days.

 

I’ll have to inquire to Weistec about the ECU. I thought for smog, the facility checks for a modified file.

Mine has been great and yep, updated head bolts! Already have a ECU/TCU tune and a bunch of maintenance that had to get updated so it’s running well.

Your post is giving me the itch. Makes me regret purchasing a new IM to have in the event corrosion with current one haha.

 

I've read some of the 2011's still were suffering from the failed head bolts.

 

With the updated head bolts? News to me. I guess it can happen…just like there’s m156s with old head bolts well over 100k

 

The stage one package comes with a CARB exempt placard. That will cover the supercharger and the tune.

As for head bolts, I know the 2011’s after a certain VIN have the updated bolts. You’d simply have to check your VIN to see if you are after the affected bolts. Honestly, given the condition of my “bad” bolts, I would have just left them.

How do you like your ECU/TCU tune?

 

Not all 2011's were yet updated with the new head bolts.

 

Thanks for the tip. Good to know. Yeah, I have the updated bolts. The ECU/TCU tune has been running great. Sometimes the TCU in M mode is a bit aggressive on the downshifts but overall great.

I was able to get a good increase in power at 5400’ altitude on a Dynojet. Started at 416hp/389tq and by the 10th run ended up at 467hp and 436tq all on stock logs, cats, aftermarket x-pipe.

 

That’s a pretty solid increase! I actually like to hear that your TCU tune is aggressive. That’s what I’m lacking now. The stock tuning is too lazy for this current power level.

 

So I’ve run into an issue. The car currently won’t stay running. Starts with no issue and then dies out. We took it for about a 2.5 hour drive and it was completely fine. Came home and all the temps and pressures were fine.

I took it out a couple hours later and it was business as usual. Roughly two hours after that, I started it up in my garage and it was perfect. I put it in neutral and gave it a few revs (I’ve done this a bunch of times) and it seemed fine. On the final rev as it came down to idle, it stalled out.

I started it again and it died right after it fired. This was repeated about 2 more times. I grabbed my scanner and plugged it in. I started it and gave it some gas to keep it running and it ran long enough to finally trigger a flashing check engine light.

I’m getting a misfire on 8 and 6. I tore into a bit. I pulled all the coils and plugs from that bank and stuck my inspection camera in each cylinder. Each cylinder looks exactly the same. As do the plugs.

I initially thought maybe the injectors are stuck open. But they are brand new and have 900 miles on them. Plus, I’d expect to find fuel in the cylinders which I didn’t see. Anyhow, I moved all the coils and plugs around to see if that made any difference and it did not. I ran the car again and the only difference was now I’m getting a misfire on #5. So same bank.

I went to the other bank and pulled all those coils and plugs. I inspected those cylinders and they all basically looked the same as the other side. The oil is good, the battery is fully charged, and the coolant level is fine (hasn’t moved since doing all this work).

At first I thought it threw a belt but that is perfect as well. This a strange one. Any thoughts? Before I throw a bunch of parts at it or waste time tearing into it only to find a broken part that is above my pay grade, I may just have it towed to a local speed shop to see what they say. I’m hoping it’s something dump and easy.