I have owned many many Mercedes through the last 3 decades including some of the AMG models. I have always known that Mercedes has consistently thought a lot of their cubic inches, i.e. going from the 5.0 to the 6.0 and beyond costs megabucks.

I know lighter can be better and power to weight ratio can be important in straight-line acceleration which is what an old drag racer like me is interested in. What can some well-informed person on this forum volunteer as to their estimation of best performance for dollar outlay? I'm open to aftermarket turbos, superchargers, what have you.

 

As far as MB's, the best bang for the buck would be a used E55 equiped in stage 2 configuration. You would probably be seeing mid 11's at the drag strip.

 

AJN, Thanks for the quick response. I mostly hang out on the Porsche forum and am not sure what stage 2 configuration is on this forum. I sort of thought an E-55 would be a good platform due to being lighter weight realtive to others in the line-up. Just not familiar with stage 2. What are the mods and what is the FWHP and RWHP? I'm also not familiar of the percentage losses through a MB autotrans drivetrain.

 

Al,

Three sites to peruse.

www.kleemannusa.com
www.renntechmercedes.com
www.brabus-usa.com

And a Benz forum to check out.....www.mbworld.org

 

Phoenix,

Tnx for the links---I will persue tomorrow when my brain is functioning more clearly.

 

Here is a vid you will enjoy. Keep an eye on the E55 on the right. Look at its time.

http://videos.streetfire.net/search/...74974806cd.htm

And the thread for the above vid......

http://mbworld.org/forums/showthread...ight=derek+e55

 

Yup, E55 is probably one of the better platforms to build on. I think the stock E55's have gone the fastest in the quarter. Stage 2 usually consists of a larger crank pulley, ECU remap, headers, and an intercooler pump upgrade. As Phoenix said, www.mbworld.org is a good place for more info on the AMG cars.

Ara

 

well, u can have this car for 24k & build the **** out of it. great platform imo & drives like a tank.

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...ad.php?t=62698

 

Phoenix,
Went to the Kleeman site and looked at upgrades. I assume the numbers are WHP, but in my brief scan, it wasn't made clear to me.

 

2024 CS,

Wow, what an amazing number of posts. Are there any tranny or other drivetrain problems with these high HP builds? What are the highest numbers (WHP) one can expect from stock internals and drivetrain components? I've had too many unreliable street rods in yesteryears and am not looking for more trouble.

 

Cant disagree with that

 

Al,

Here is a quote from Kleemann's FAQ section.

http://www.kleemann.dk/site/Main/faq

 

The stock transmission is pretty much bulletproof. It is the same tranny found in the S/CL/SL 65, which has been known to put down over 800 lbs. of rwtq when chipped. Thats why the 65's continue to use the 5 speed, while the new AMG 63's have gone to a 7 speed. I think the 7 speed is only able to handle about 540 lbs. of tq. You can probably expect somewhere around 500 rwhp, depending on how far you want to go with it. The fastest one to date in the quarteer was owned by DerekFSU over at the mbworld forum. He ran a 10.95 @131 with Stage 2 plus nitrous. Also, there is a guy by the name of Victor (username VRUS over at mbworld) who has been finding ways to fabricate performance parts, and using parts from the SLR parts bin. He is a good guy to talk to as he tests every change he makes. He has an airbox that will be available soon, and has already made some 80mm throttle bodies. He's got all kinds of stuff in the works.

Ara

 

Akara1,

Thanks for the info. I would not want to rely on nitrous for my horsepower; only to relax my patients

Can you just overdrive the blowers a little harder, or are there other things that can be done to get larger HP gains? My racing hobbies were heavily steeped in drag racing, both motorcycles and autos, so I am an acceleration junkie.

How much CI gain can you safely get with one of these 5.5 engines? Does anyone make a forged stroker crank? Do you know at what horsepower and torque levels (either at the crank or at the wheel) these engines begin to require different pistons, rods and other internal strengthening components?

Thanks for your help.

 

How fast do you want to go? What are your goals?

As far as I know, nobody has reached the level to require different pistons and internals. The regular path for mods seems to be:

1. Crank Pulley and ECU - overdrives the blower
2. Headers, and possibly cat delete. Upgraded I/C pump
3. Larger throttle body
4. Cams (SLR cams work pretty nicely too)

I know Victor is working on some heads for the car. Basically, if you want to get crazy with it, the main thing to address in my opinion is the cooling of the intake air charge. The stock heat exchanger/intercooler is mediocre at best, and is very inefficient. The SLR has a much better system. The E55's system loses, I think, 3-4 psi of boost across the I/C. The SLR's system loses something like .5 psi. You can crank up the boost but it would probably be better to make the motor more efficient first. I know Victor reported that with just headers, and no ECU or pulley, he picked up something like 30 rwhp, and 30 rwtq. And even though he was making more power, the motor was seeing a little less boost, because it was running more efficiently.

If you are thinking about any SLR parts, you have to get them quickly as they are going to start requiring a vin number to order those parts pretty soon. Hope this helps.

Ara