Well, the garage let me down. Fuming isnt the word. I left a massive set of 11s leaving the place and TBH. I think the burnt rubber cloud is still there.
Either way , came home , unboxed em and waxed them .
I might have accidentally ordered some coilovers and they will be fitted in time for the festival at Blyton. I wasnt desperately unhappy with the handling , its soft and pliable on most surfaces , but when I changed over to the very light OZ Ultra HLT my handling was improved 10 times. It turns in a lot better and the lack of unsprung weight changed the car for the better.
Coilovers were ordered ( I went for the BC ones as the KW have horrendous failure rates for some reason and H&R are low/mid end - the guys who is putting them on for me - Charlie @ CGR Automotive highly recommends them ) and I a after something that looks a bit like the pic below in terms of front nose drop, bum up high ( relatively )
After ordering the coilovers I struck a deal with Charlie to build me some ninja spec manifolds for the c63. Lets liberate some power. They are being fabricated right now ( well , not quite now , its 2252 as I write this )
The ports on the m156 are massive ! The manifolds are restrictive …
I got a little bit dun off the wife from dropping some serious wedge on alloys , coilovers and now manifolds on a already expensive car. I best not mention supercharger this week …
I cannot recommend CGR Automotive enough for their fabrication work. They dont just do mega expensive stuff ( mine isnt , they do McLarens/Porsche/Ferrari etc ) they also do stuff like we have - clios , megs etc. They aint cheap , so dont expect to pick up an exhaust system for £150 , but they are worth it.
Lets rewind to the end of July. I asked CGR Automotive if they were interested in building me some manifolds for the c63. They also fitted me some coilovers. I collected the car on the morning of Blyton and it was low. Really low. Too low.
I did 10 laps. Car felt fucking supreme in the bends , for a few laps , and then could not wind on any opposite lock and did a half spin. @Scott_higgy was in the car with me at the time. He went kind quiet as we spun towards the infield in slow mo.
All I could muster was , the steering feels weird.
I was right , it was .
Thats fucked it then.
Pulled the car off the track , inspected the damage. Offside lip was pulled back , nearside dented , offside alloy scuffed , offside tyre almost shredded.
I parked up the car near my tent. Went to the toilet for a little cry and came back out with the theory that no one was hurt , no one died , and in true first world problem solving methologies adopted throwing cash at the problem will fix it.
I had the car resetup and a friend who worked wonders with the bodywork did this :
Some fixed up pics …
I have been at RS Tuning ( rstuning.co.uk ) today. Along with the awesome manifolds from CGR Automotive ( CGR Automotive ) we made some very healthy gains across the board.
Paul spent ages tweaking and refining the map , fiddling and setting. Impressed as ever at his attention to detail.
The end result was this :
Just look at those numbers.
400ibft from 2300rpm to just over 7000rpm
450ibft from 3000rpm to around 6300rpm !
I only drove it on a heavily trafficed A road and motorway on the way home, but its effortless ! Really happy with it !
I think this concludes Project C63. I am not sure I can justify £8k+ for a supercharger.
( at least not yet )
During my tenure I have noticed sometime that water temps go quite high , and the design of the rad layout is suboptimal. I guess AMG know what they are doing , but some things are done for budget reasons .
This is an image of a stock rad combo setup on a C63
Pretty impressive number of coolers there , right ?
The problem I have been experiencing when on track is the gearbox has been reverting from manual to sport , or even comfort after 6-8 bazai laps at Blyton. I also noticed once that I got the water temps high enough that it cut power ( this was pre long tube manifolds BTW ! )
I have been speaking to the ever helpful and super knowledgeable @Paul B of Diamond Performance for a few weeks on what can be achieved to improve the cooling, and what cant.
We decided on a rather simple “blocking” sheet fitted to stop the lovely cold air going across the front faces of the coolers and heading up towards the bonnet and actually force it THROUGH the coolers. The crucial one for me was the transmission cooler - thats the one located towards the bottom and two metal pipes exiting on the drivers side.
Some pics of the device being fitted.
I can confirm that after a run back from Pauls the water temps never went above 92 degrees and were often bang on 90 degree C. This is around 10% lower than before. I have no dyno figures , or transmission temps to check on track . Best sort that …
The part looks OEM fresh , fits perfectly and most importantly does its job. I believe Paul @ Diamond Peformance will be selling these soon !
I am delighted to announce that the long tube manifolds are suitably anti social in a mutistory car park at anything over 2k revs.
I watched a 5 year old climb up his Dad when doing the “barrier emergency start” to get into the multi story.
Since I put the coilovers on I have been cursed with a bloody knock. Every time I went over a crisp packet or a pothole a KER DUNK was heard. Wound me up something rotten.
Bit of digging and I purchased two of these - Top Strut Bearing 2049810025 Front 29475 | eBay
I also noted the rear end brakes were letting the side down asthetically and they were due a change as well. I appear to have had my monies worth out of the rear discs as well as the fronts that I changed earlier in the thread.
Along I popped to RSTuning and left the car there while me and my youngest went to fill our bellies.
The knocking has gone ( get in ! ) the brakes feel super , superb ( they never felt bad tbh ) and the only downer is we have identified that the rear tyres need changing tout de suite !
Some images of the day :
Two brand spanking Continental ContiSport 5P MO fitment , fitted.
I left the garage sideways , with an arm full of lock.
I left the T Junction at the end of the garage road with an arm full of lock
I did a u turn with more lock than a very busy locksmiths.
I think I have bedded them in now. They are a vast improvement over the rather knackered MPSS that I had on before.
After further use of the OEM Conti I can confirm that it feels a more grippy tyre in the cold.
I also can confirm I got a bit dun from the Police ( verbal warning ) for overtaking a car. I did hammer past , but my reasoning was I didnt want to be on the wrong side of the road for more than I needed to be.
I ordered 1l of PAS fluid ( or transmission fluid as its marked ) from MB along with my rear discs and pads. It never arrived with that package , but ultimately I have it now.
Filled it up and steering is now silky smooth. Its my fault for letting it drop as I had sling at Blyton and didnt check. Silly me , was low , not none existent.
In other news I wanted to drop the arse end around 20mm as I think its on stilts. Got all the kit out ready to measure up and prepare the drop and could I find me spanking new C Spanner ? Could I fudge …
Ordered a new one. No doubt next weekend it will be raining …
Dec 2017
I can confirm this week that cold damp roads are slider than a slide factory on slide sale .
Nothing exciting to report really.
New Contis on the back are fine. Feel more assured in the wet than the PSS that I had on before. Wouldnt mind trying the PS4S next. IT wont be long I feel.
Its due a service in ~40 days. Plugs are involved in the A service this time. Might ask them to change the gearbox fluid as well , just cos then I know its been done.
I noticed that bank 1 ( LHS ) was slightly tappety when gently revving. Unsure if it was a poorly pressuring oil filled tappet , or the cam follower initially. Oil level is fine.
I think its just cos I havent been using the car much TBH , took it on a drive to Leicester and a late night run back and the noise has gone. Its either destroyed itself and is swarf around the engine , or its fixed
