I am going nuts trying to find out about a gear swap for the crossfire.

Berg werks apparently made gears that fit but they closed down.

Any idea on where to locate used or leftover ones on a shelf?

Is there a different Mercedes model that had taller gears that would work?

Could a company like upsolute reprogram the ecu to work properly?


I have no need to go 150 mph and want to transfer some of that power down low.
I am not concerned with gas mileage.
I think this would be the single best upgrade for street driving next to forced induction, i don't have 11k for a kleenman.

 

I would be interested in knowing this as well. Let me know if you find anything out. Also- you want a "lower" gear which would be a higher number- a "taller" gear is a lower number, higher gear. Hopefully you hear something.

Joe

 

Yes lower gear is what i meant. Hopefully someone with some more experience will chime in.

I work on cars for a living but mostly 60's and 70's mopars this mercedes thing is new to me.

 

HDDP, is the only guy I know that seriously got into doing a gear swap.

All the info you need is in this thread.

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...ight=gear+swap

The price was around $2,200.

 

hddp...was going to purchase a differential through "berg werks". but they are now out of business. this was his only source according to hddp's past posts.

 

Yeah, lol, i found it afterwards, and was going to edit my post. But had no time had to make it to church on time.

 

seems every mod falls through eh.

 

Actually pretty far from it. I am no where near a pro in car modding but working on some of the vehicles from the years you listed in the past and some more current projects, can say things like ring and pinion gear changes work wonders on cars that came with awful (i.e. purely emission-minded) gearing from the factory but is for the most part "fine-tuning" on everything else.

Not only will you be giving more donations to your local gas station on a more freq. schedule, you will gain a "this gets really old really fast" droning sound coming from your car on long periods of highway driving.

While I think your intentions are great, my 2 cents and experience would tell you to begin with a car that has more potential.

While I do not want to restart the old topic of "well with 10k I could get super mod A. that would give me 1000 more hp" rubbish...I will say if you like the crossfire, look for a good deal on an SRT-6 then start your modding quest. Just off the top of my head and to give you a general example of what I mean...you can get a solid 325ish (dyno) or more hp from an ECU upgrade and a $250 SL air intake upgrade from an SRT-6. Both of these mods are very hard for the dealer to find (the SL full intake is basically a bolt and looks almost identical to the stock SRT-6's just bigger) so this also means the full warranty is still intact.

The warranty issue is also an area that some of the "weekend modders" like to say they don't care about but I can almost guarantee they would change their tune when they would see the total cost from a parts and labor bill for one of our engine overhauls.

Just some food for thought...

 

you have an srt-6, don't wanna be rude, but you sort of are. every mod with the base you rip. just let us do us, you do you. consequences are something people learn early on. i think we understand the potential backlash of our actions. don't be critical of modding, it only helps everyone in the end despite a few rough starts.

 

While you might understand some of the potential problems that can come from modding, it is pretty plain to see some of the other members don't from there suggestions. I've never said I havent had my own my fair share of past mishaps from mods, so I am basically sharing what I have dealt with in the past and ss I put in my last post "just my 2 cents" and "food for thought."

So as with any one else's comments feel free to take or leave mine as you see fit.

 

I would give Reider Racing a call. They live differentials for all sorts of racing applications. They may be able to help you source a set. I have one of their posi-locking gear sets in my Cobra.

www.reiderracing.com

Going to a higher ratio rear end is interesting... Would probably make first gear totally worthless.

You will also probably have to change the driven gear (if there is one and a replacement can be found) for the speedometer, as your mileage readings would be lower than actual. This could also effect the deployment of the rear wind wing? And who knows what else...?

 

The stock crossfire gear is pretty good for how it is set up stock, I think a lower gear will help some, but if they are $2000 for the set, the gains won't be nearly equal to the cost. Also, you lose some of that "pull" when you go to a lower gear, the motor just revs, but you are not using the torque. The Crossfire trans is also geared differently, so while our gears may not be all that low- we don't have 1:1 in the trans until 5th gear! That compensates a lot for the rear gear ratio. I think the auto cars would probably feel more from gears than the 6 speeds would.

I am interested in seeing what is out there for later on based on what my car will "need" once modded. I won't know until I start seeing what gear/rpm it is in at the track (drag racer lol) once it is done.

Joe

 

by the way, i have an automatic.

 

Yeah, from the test drive I had in an auto, it wouldn't hurt to have a lower gear in it. Good luck and let me know if you find anything. I'm sure gears from other MB models will work without paying $2k for a darn ring and pinion, just need someone who is familiar with them to tell you which ones.

Joe

 

are the rear gears different in the auto and stick? i know some cars, ie. fords have different ratios in the autos and the sticks. usually the auto having the lower gears than the stick. if this were true of the xfire the stick owners could just get gears out of an auto.

 

The gear ratio is mentioned in the owner manual along with the others dimensions. They are different, particularly AT has 5 and MT has 6.

 

As far as i can tell from my research the REAR gears are the same for auto and stick.
I am trying to confirm that the srt6 (and slk 320 amg) has a steeper gear ratio, as HDDP stated.

 

I looked in the manual and saw nothing about the rear end ratio, just the trans gear ratios. I just took a quick look though, so I probably overlooked it.

Joe

 

Hey guys, glad to see we're on the same path... I was a week away from having my rear diff. done at BergWerks and the "knucklehead" Steve went out-of-business! He was the only CA based shop that I found who had experience in doing a diff. gear change for the SLK320 & SLK32. It's a very difficult process because of the limited slip differential and if not done properly, the new gears will humm and buzz and drive you crazy. His process was to only to remove the entire pumpkin, then as he stated, send the diff, gears and all, to Germany to a vendor (he never told me the name) to have the gears matched perfectly, then re-install the pumpkin.

After the demise of BergWerks, I spent weeks speaking with MB tuners, mechanics and the like, looking for a different MB model that shared the same pumpkin but had a higher gear ratio 3.85:1 vs our 3.27:1 /// I struck out at every corner... The only lead I had that seemed plausible was a late 80's MB wagon, but that didn't pan out because of the new LSD that we have on our cars.

So, back to square 1!

I'm starting to work closely with Werks II, a Porsche GT2 prep shop and racing team that seems to have taken a liking to my little Crossfire, especially when they run into me on the track and watch me turn Porsche Boxters into crying little girls... Gimme a few weeks and I should have an answer from them... But, I'm sure it ain't going to be cheap. BergWerks wanted 3k for the diff change and this may turn out to be one-off custom gears.

I'll keep everyone posted on the progress.

 

If they end up being one-off custom gears- "ain't going to be cheap" is an understatement unless your last name is Trump. Interested to see what you find out though!

Man, I haven't looked under it too closely to see how involved it is, but at that point, it would be cheaper and more durable to have a crossmember and axles made to run the ford 8.8 independent rear's center section out of the T-birds, cobra, etc. A lot of the RX7 guys went that route instead of dealing with their stock rear. Much stronger and gear options are practically limitless!

Joe