Mercedes CLK 320 W208 Peformance Upgrades

iBanwell

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Hi guys, i dont post often on here, but i know the peformnce is already good enough on a clk w208, but what can you recommend to upgrade peformance to the max? i am not going to do this as i am not a boy racer and the car is fast enough, but i was wondering? i see crazy youtube videos of german people kitting these cars right up and would love to know what they do and use. if you know please fill me in. kind regards.
 
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iBanwell

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are they that much quicker then?
 

turbopete

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a 55 will be yes!
 

Alex M Grieve

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are they that much quicker then?

Much more torque, so for mid range acceleration, quite a bit quicker.

Although that statistic is probably the most important for everyday driving, it is rarely quoted in motoring reports or reviews, or by the manufacturers.

IIRC 0-60 mph was an invention of the USA. It was a measure of how quickly a car could accelerate from a toll booth on the interstate back up to the (fuel saving) speed limit of 60 mph. Not hugely relevant to everyday motoring, as is maximum speed (anything over 70 mph is redundant in the UK).
 

turbopete

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IIRC 0-60 mph was an invention of the USA. It was a measure of how quickly a car could accelerate from a toll booth on the interstate back up to the (fuel saving) speed limit of 60 mph. Not hugely relevant to everyday motoring

is that the case though? just playing devils advocate for a moment, if on a long motorway type run in particular, is it more economical to accelerate hard to get to an 'economical' cruising speed, or to accelerate gently, i wonder?

on dads manual car, when the cruise control is reactivated, it accelerates at full whack back to speed. always has. is it the most economical way, i wonder? discuss!
 

whitenemesis

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On my car the cruise will reestablish the set speed with the same acceleration as was used to first get there (if that makes sense?).

I was always told for best economy one should accelerate briskly to cruising speed. The sooner one establishes a steady speed the better, within reason!
 

Alex M Grieve

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is that the case though? just playing devils advocate for a moment, if on a long motorway type run in particular, is it more economical to accelerate hard to get to an 'economical' cruising speed, or to accelerate gently, i wonder?

on dads manual car, when the cruise control is reactivated, it accelerates at full whack back to speed. always has. is it the most economical way, i wonder? discuss!

I think gradual acceleration is preferable. "Foot to the floor" on a petrol car will overfuel the car during acceleration and must be wasteful.

The most important factor is smooth driving in the cruise - easing off when a problem is foreseen, rather than braking, and picking up again gently from there.

We have a guy with a Porsche 911 4x4 lives near here, but he can't get away from me on the country roads in spite of massively greater power and crossing double white lines.

I just weave my way along, backing off before corners and powering through them on my side of the road. But I always keep 100 yards behind him so as not to hassle him.
 

turbopete

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On my car the cruise will reestablish the set speed with the same acceleration as was used to first get there (if that makes sense?).

I was always told for best economy one should accelerate briskly to cruising speed. The sooner one establishes a steady speed the better, within reason!

i appreciate that it does that on an automatic car, i just wondered if the manual was programmed to act this way in the interests of fuel economy

also does it make a difference nowadays if the car is petrol or diesel for effects on consumption (relative) given that fuel injection and cats/lambda sensors etc should be much more petrol efficient than an old fashioned carb?
 

jibcl500

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You cant really do anything to a Mercedes to increase performance, ok exhaust, possibly air filter, a remap might help but unless done with a rolling road then forget it, "yes sir I fitted this chip and you now have 622bhp" Pants.

If you want BHP then upgrade to a bigger engine as suggested or buy a Jap motor that can be uprated.

jib
 

Alex M Grieve

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You cant really do anything to a Mercedes to increase performance, OK exhaust, possibly air filter, a remap might help but unless done with a rolling road then forget it, "yes sir I fitted this chip and you now have 622bhp" Pants.

If you want BHP then upgrade to a bigger engine as suggested or buy a Jap motor that can be uprated.

jib

As the Americans say, there is no substitute for cubic inches (or litres)!
 

Captain Chris

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I am with Alex and others on this one; there is no substitute for cubic inches.

On the road it is torque that really counts, big engines give loads of bottom to mid range pulling power. Flooring an E55 at low rpm produces a surge of power that literally pushes you into your seat way past 3 figure speeds and beyond! Turbo cars produce power but only after the lag has gone and the rpms have risen enough to produce the boost. By that time a car with a big naturally aspirated engine has long gone!

A chip change, exhaust and air filter change will help the engine breath better but only produce a small, but noticeable increase. Any thing else will produce power (cam change, compression increase e.t.c) but usually at a higher rpm and also with a potential negative effect on reliability.

In the 1990's I was fortunate to be able to race an American 'muscle' car in Historic Touring Car racing. In factory form the engine produced 270hp. After simple mods to the engine (we were regulated by strict rules and regs as to what we could change) we were able to get 540hp and 490 lbs /ft torque at the rear wheels (as measured by Osselli engineering in Oxford). All of this was possible only because the engine capacity was 7.2 litres! (454 chevy big block). The car was geared for 160mph (max attainable on shortish straights on UK tracks) and would spin the tyres past 90mph in the dry and at any speed in any gear in the wet. Scary, exilarating and above the most fun I've ever had behind the wheel!

I raced that car for 6 years and in that time I only ever changed the oil in the engine. 100% reliable.

As previously stated, in my opinion and experience, there is no substitute for cubic inches (cc's)

Incidentally the car was fully road legal, but it only did 8 mpg on the road and 3mpg when racing!! (That is probably the only big disadvantage of big cubes by the way!)
 
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garysanderson

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a 55 will be yes!

I can vouch for this :)

3rd gear, 3,500rpm and just squeeze the throttle all the way to the bottom - my God it's quick... Can't believe they upped the power by more than 30% in the 63 (next on my list).
 
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iBanwell

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is there a 63 w208?
 

MarkCL

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is there a 63 w208?

Nope. There was a W209 CLK63, but the CLK as a model seems to be discontinued now :( Not that I could ever afford one of the new ones, but it really is a yummy car to say the least, especially the Black edition :cool:

As far as the W208 model was concerned there was just the one I have, the CLK55. Naturally aspirated V8, 342bhp, 390lbft torque (I think).

For the W209 series they started by making a more powerful variant of the 55 motor, increasing power to first 362bhp then 382bhp. Then from 2007 they introduced the 63 with 475bhp. The most powerful though was the AMG CLK63 Black, final incarnation of that engine coming in at around 507bhp and 465lbft torque :shock:

Re your original question about power upgrades, short of a bolt on supercharger kit, new ECU and remap etc, your best bet is to save your pennies and upgrade to the AMG edition as and when you can. Performance for the 55 is literally in another league to any of the non AMG variants :cool:

Cheers,
Mark
 

Thincat

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The 320 V6 petrol engine is not one that can be tuned very easily. The turbo and supercharged engines can be fairly cheaply tuned to deliver considerably higher bhp but the 320 requires expensive measures. If you hunt around you'll find a few firms who offer tuning packages for it, but it's really a case of "if you want more power don't start with a 320". Anyway the beauty of the 320 is its high torque all the way from low revs and it would be a shame to lose that.
 

FELLOW

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Just enjoy it

My CLK 320 is 11 years old and still hits the book times for 0-60 and electronically limited top end.

The 90 to 140mph time is reasonable and the noise is low.

Kleeman offer many packages;
Induction - supercharger, exhaust, gas flow head, high lift cams, new injectors but then you will probably want to stiffen the suspension and upgrade the brakes.

I am tempted to supercharge it as it would be a wolf in sheeps clothing but the cost makes me think a Subaru Cosworth would be more fun and economical as I would probably need a new g'box and diff to cope with the engine mods.

PS has anyone on this site supercharged a 320 yet ..did you use a Kleeman kit or Merc. parts ..how did the rest of the package hold up?

Has anyone put on a stainless steel exhaust?
 


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