BRABUS R230
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2009
- Messages
- 658
- Reaction score
- 41
- Location
- London
- Your Mercedes
- BRABUS SL55 K8 (R230), SL500 (R129), B Class B200 CDi, VW T5 Transporter.
Hi All, I have not been posting for sometime, but have been playing catch-up on the forum, I have been so busy, not even enough time to play with my car. (Lol) Anyway for those who have joined more recently and don't know my car, it is a 2003 SL55 AMG but has engine, suspension and interior modifications carried out by Brabus in Germany, the power Bhp went from 476Bhp to 550 Bhp, it's quite a rare and unique car, as there was only 6 commissioned for the UK by private buyers.
I have had my car for a little over 3 years now and despite the many troubles that I have had with it over the years, (all documented here) I love it to bits, I would consider myself a true petrol-head and car lover, I wash and polish my car every chance I get, I have some serious car cleaning products, I even have a "Dual Action Orbital Buffer" for keeping the swirls at bay. I could go on and on for ages and ages!! Lol
Anyway, now that I have got that out of the way, let me start telling you about my decision to modify my car even further in search of more power, the thing is that over a period of time you get very used to your cars power, even though you may have 550 Bhp under your right foot, and seeing that my car is from another era, over time many manufactures have been introducing cars with more and more power, for example, in 2003 when the SL55 was introduced it had 476 Bhp (now 525 Bhp) Mercedes target was the Porsche Turbo which had 420 Bhp (now 500Bhp) and its weight was around 1,600Kg, despite the weight of the SL55 weighing 1,955Kg it would absolutely trash the Porsche Turbo, other performance cars around at the time was the BMW M5 with 400Bhp (now 500 Bhp and soon to be 550), there was also the Ferrari 360 with 400 Bhp (now 458 Italia with 570 Bhp) and even Audi has some serious performance cars now R8 V10 525 Bhp, RS6 with 580 Bhp and there are many others, so call me mad (which I understand) I decided to bring my car in to line with the times! and try to stay ahead of the competition!
My first quest for power took be to Brabus but they could not help, after much research, I looked at outlet manifolds (U.S call them headers) I spoke to Kleemann in Denmark as they produce a more free flowing outlet manifold at a cost of around £1,400, this adds around 30 Bhp to the S/C Engine.
Kleemann High Flow Header for the S/C Engine
I purchased these on line directly from Kleemann, I then set myself a target to find a competent exhaust specialist, that had experience with this type of work, after a lengthy search I was recommended to try EMP Performance located in Watford, I went to visit them prior to deciding to use them and spoke to one of the owners by the name of Eldin, I explained what I wanted. he put my car on the ramp to check how my Kleemann headers would mate to my Brabus exhaust, after checking he said he could not see any problems to mate the two, I also asked if I could hang around while the carried out the work and he said "yes sure no problem" .
I took my car to EMP several days later, and watched while they removed the Brabus exhaust system and other bits. the in the Kleemann kit there are two de-cat pipes that can replace the primary cats, the fitment of these are an option, but you do get less power gains if you keep the primary cats, because I wanted maximum gains I decided to have the Cats removed and use the de-cat pipes.
Here is a picture of my headers I took the day they arrived, the short pipes are the De-cat pipes
Here are more photos.
Work Starting
Comparrison of headers
Larger diamiter Log vs Kleemann.
.......for better flow, Log vs Kleemann.
Wow...what a difference.
Heders fitted, connecting outlet seen here.
Brabus Metalic sports primary Cats with pre cat o2 sensors still connected, notice holes for post cat o2 sensors.
I had an option which was either to remove the o2 sensors originally after the primary cats and have the engine management light switched off or relocate them to a new location which would need to be after the secondary cats, I decided on this option, this would require the extending of the cables and new holes with fitment for the o2 sensors new home.
Where the work was done.
The O/Side header had to be modified due to the steering column, as the Kleemann headers are for LHD vehicles, so there is not enough room between the steering column and the header, its only a minor mod which requires heating up and reforming (banging) the header with a hammer!
All put together, then the startup and test derive........****** HELL....WHAT A SOUND....MUSIC TO MY EARS!!!
I took it for a test drive....boy what a difference, it has so much more torque and when you put your foot on the loud pedal...mad she opens up, I cant believe the difference, its incredible, I am so happy, but there more!....I want he throttle body next, the 82mm from Eurocharged, in fact I have already purchased it, along with their Euro Tuner V2.0 with remote mapping done over the internet, but I will document them in another thread once they are fitted.
Videos
A quick video I did during check for exaust leaks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1aL-d-9OjI
Startup (bad sound due to background noise)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVq-f-3BvSI&feature=related
Second Test Drive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pbh7rqNBrk&feature=related
More later!!!
Thanks for reading.
I have had my car for a little over 3 years now and despite the many troubles that I have had with it over the years, (all documented here) I love it to bits, I would consider myself a true petrol-head and car lover, I wash and polish my car every chance I get, I have some serious car cleaning products, I even have a "Dual Action Orbital Buffer" for keeping the swirls at bay. I could go on and on for ages and ages!! Lol
Anyway, now that I have got that out of the way, let me start telling you about my decision to modify my car even further in search of more power, the thing is that over a period of time you get very used to your cars power, even though you may have 550 Bhp under your right foot, and seeing that my car is from another era, over time many manufactures have been introducing cars with more and more power, for example, in 2003 when the SL55 was introduced it had 476 Bhp (now 525 Bhp) Mercedes target was the Porsche Turbo which had 420 Bhp (now 500Bhp) and its weight was around 1,600Kg, despite the weight of the SL55 weighing 1,955Kg it would absolutely trash the Porsche Turbo, other performance cars around at the time was the BMW M5 with 400Bhp (now 500 Bhp and soon to be 550), there was also the Ferrari 360 with 400 Bhp (now 458 Italia with 570 Bhp) and even Audi has some serious performance cars now R8 V10 525 Bhp, RS6 with 580 Bhp and there are many others, so call me mad (which I understand) I decided to bring my car in to line with the times! and try to stay ahead of the competition!
My first quest for power took be to Brabus but they could not help, after much research, I looked at outlet manifolds (U.S call them headers) I spoke to Kleemann in Denmark as they produce a more free flowing outlet manifold at a cost of around £1,400, this adds around 30 Bhp to the S/C Engine.
Kleemann High Flow Header for the S/C Engine
I purchased these on line directly from Kleemann, I then set myself a target to find a competent exhaust specialist, that had experience with this type of work, after a lengthy search I was recommended to try EMP Performance located in Watford, I went to visit them prior to deciding to use them and spoke to one of the owners by the name of Eldin, I explained what I wanted. he put my car on the ramp to check how my Kleemann headers would mate to my Brabus exhaust, after checking he said he could not see any problems to mate the two, I also asked if I could hang around while the carried out the work and he said "yes sure no problem" .
I took my car to EMP several days later, and watched while they removed the Brabus exhaust system and other bits. the in the Kleemann kit there are two de-cat pipes that can replace the primary cats, the fitment of these are an option, but you do get less power gains if you keep the primary cats, because I wanted maximum gains I decided to have the Cats removed and use the de-cat pipes.
Here is a picture of my headers I took the day they arrived, the short pipes are the De-cat pipes
Here are more photos.
Work Starting
Comparrison of headers
Larger diamiter Log vs Kleemann.
.......for better flow, Log vs Kleemann.
Wow...what a difference.
Heders fitted, connecting outlet seen here.
Brabus Metalic sports primary Cats with pre cat o2 sensors still connected, notice holes for post cat o2 sensors.
I had an option which was either to remove the o2 sensors originally after the primary cats and have the engine management light switched off or relocate them to a new location which would need to be after the secondary cats, I decided on this option, this would require the extending of the cables and new holes with fitment for the o2 sensors new home.
Where the work was done.
The O/Side header had to be modified due to the steering column, as the Kleemann headers are for LHD vehicles, so there is not enough room between the steering column and the header, its only a minor mod which requires heating up and reforming (banging) the header with a hammer!
All put together, then the startup and test derive........****** HELL....WHAT A SOUND....MUSIC TO MY EARS!!!
I took it for a test drive....boy what a difference, it has so much more torque and when you put your foot on the loud pedal...mad she opens up, I cant believe the difference, its incredible, I am so happy, but there more!....I want he throttle body next, the 82mm from Eurocharged, in fact I have already purchased it, along with their Euro Tuner V2.0 with remote mapping done over the internet, but I will document them in another thread once they are fitted.
Videos
A quick video I did during check for exaust leaks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1aL-d-9OjI
Startup (bad sound due to background noise)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVq-f-3BvSI&feature=related
Second Test Drive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pbh7rqNBrk&feature=related
More later!!!
Thanks for reading.
Last edited:
my current premium is around £1,300.00!
