khelawanb

Hi guys. I've been playing with the idea of putting a 55 AMG motor in my CLS500 for a while now. After visiting my friend Jake (mbworld: money-one) at the dealer here in Md, and seeing a 55 motor in his 1998 C42 W202, I was seriously inspired to do this to my CLS500. Just want to give many thanks to Jake and Rudy Compart (Accelerated Industries) for the hard work and dedication to making my idea a reality.

Here is a pic of the motor when I picked it up in NY. Bought the motor from mbworld member fiftyflyve, and the motor was in good working condition just as he described it . Picked up the motor in my old 2000 Voyager mini van

Got back to Md safely, then started the installation a week later. Took the original motor out, then cleaned up the 55 motor.


CLS500 with no motor:

Changed my oil pan by using the pan from the 5.0 motor. CLS55 has a different subframe.

Lowered the beast slowly into it's new home.

Motor was mounted and prepared for the intallation of belts, oil cooler lines, and heat exchanger hoses. Oil cooler lines are not cheap

khelawanb

Before I picked up the motor, I bought a used 150A Alternator and sent it out to Ohio Generator to beef it up and recondition it. It came back with a 234A rating.


After installing all lines it was time to do the SCN coding. Rudy Compart (Accelerated industries) flew out from Minnesota to take on the task

Installed the Heat Exchanger (which I want to upgrade ASAP), and oil cooler



Motor with everything installed and ready for a test run, which was successful.

Front bumper installed and motor swap completed


Here is a video of the motor starting up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odpcnQuhBnk

Here is a video of a quick run. Notice the tail of the car swirve during the gear change from 1st to 2nd. Motor is strong and works great!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3hOcCP3UZo


Thank you for reading my long thread. The car runs great, but the 7 speed tranny must be changed to the 5 speed. The ECU refused to code my transmission, and disabled ESP, which disabled my power steering. I will be working on taking care of these problems with the help of Rudy and Jake very soon. Overall, this project was a huge success, and I want to thank you guys once again for your help

quaalude

Very nice job!! Are you running the CLS500 ecu that has been recoded for the supercharger or a different ecu?

khelawanb

Thanks man. No, I am using the doner ECU. Motor came with ECU and wiring harness.

CLK Masters

Damn, that's serious! nice work.

Esleeper

HERO!

Nice job bro. That's some big task.

griza

Holy Crap! Congrats on having the ***** and talent to take on a project like this.

V12Godspeed

Excellent work man. Big props for your innovative idea.

320 dreamer

awesome build!! i know rudy and he is fast becoming a force in the mb world. check out his sl55 xfire build its a massive beast! money-one if you read this before rudy leaves can you give him the part# for the circlips we emailed about. he is helping with our wavetrac lsd build for the xfire, slk32 rear diffs

money-one

I still think we should of went with the V12 swap.

Enjoy the ride. Next we can work on getting that quaife in there with a beefier trans so you can plant your feet down right.

Avoid those speed traps because you will be speeding more.

MercedesFTW

You made it look so easy...!

Did your 500 motor have a Kleeman blower installed?

Props to a very sick and unique CLS"500"

Roverron

Great job! Nice serious mod. Is it a huge difference over the Kleeman blower?

ShangoAshe

props to an amazing car and even MORE props for a dedicated owner!

emoving

Where did you get the headlights?

khelawanb

thank you guys for the great comments

The Kleemann blower was recently sold, and there is a big difference between the two. I enjoy the cluch system on the AMG system for times when I want to take it easy. Very cool design

It gives me a new outlook on AMG vehicles. I now know whats involved in building these cars, and there is allot of engineering with these vehicles.

Jake, I know you got tired of seeing me in the parts department every day
By the way, Lucas is still asking "where is Mr. Jake?"

khelawanb

Headlights are one off with a carbon fiber inner bezel. Done by my friend Paul at IGT Automotive.

khelawanb

Thanks Shango, I've been at it for a while now.
It really takes dedication.

Just want to say that I shared this idea with a few people in the business, and I was laughed at (Literally), told that it will not work, and.. was told that I wasted my money on the motor.

Thanks for the support

sprins

That's serious customization right there.

I see you also transplanted the headers to the new 55K engine.

is3mike

Congrats Brent, you're a ture innovator.

You really made that look easy!

khelawanb

Thanks Mike

Jake did most of the mechanical work, and I was right there to assist. Rudy Compart took care of all ECU related issues, which is just as time consuming as the mechanical work. I learned allot about this car from both of them. I got a chance to mess around with the oil pan and oil pump. Got my hands nice and dirty doing that, lol! It was a FUN project.

Thanks sprins! Keeping those headers was a must

M-bENZ

khelawanb,

Where did you get your LED (foglight) ? was that a real deal ?

Andy

turbotom1

Rules don't apply to one of a kind cars like yours so try and see if you can get an electric power steering kit installed and don't sweat the esp, its useless anyway.


Electric Power Steering Systems - EPS - Automotive & ATV Electric ...
Universal Electric Power Steering Kit. $995.00 ... Power Rack an. ...electricpowersteering.net

Universal Electric Power Steering Kit - $995.00 : Electric Power ...
Electric Power Steering Systems - EPS - Automotive & ATV Electric Power ...
electricpowersteering.net/index.php?main_page=product... -

khelawanb

I bought those foglights at a car show. They were on display, so I got a chance to see them on, and I measured them as well for my application. They fit perfectly where my Lorinser fogs used to be. I almost bought a set of those new LED's that come on the new Benz's, with the intention of doing a custom application, but next time you see one on the road, notice that you can't see it from the side, only when you are in front of the car. I did't like that, and you can see mine from a side angle.

My good friend Steve made a custom bracket to hold it in place, and painted the bracket black to hide it a little.

khelawanb

Ha! You read my mind Tom!!!

I will attempt to solve the issue, but if we can't solve this problem then that will be the next step. Have you guys ever driven your car in dyno mode? Well thats basically what my my car feels like. If I'm at a light and I stomp on it, tires burn then fish tail activated. Once I get traction she moves like a bat outa hell. I need to get the 5 speed tranny anyway. Once I get to 100mph with my 7 speed tranny, it starts creeping its way through the higher gears.

Ohh, and now I know why you guys change those heat exchangers. I found out what limp mode is. When the car is cold, supercharger activates with no problem and car is a beast, but after playing around for 30 min and really punishing the car, the supercharger gets hot and stops turning on. Will the upgraded Heat exchanger cure this?

Sonny@Marranos

That is a grewsome task you took on there,well done !!!! Get a good size heat exchanger and a really good intercooler pump to pump the fluid & put it in a location where theres plenty of air flow,as long as the temps stay down,performance will be consistent.




regards sonny