Don't mean to be a party-pooper, but every time I read threads about adding a turbo or a supercharger to a non-SRT6, the costs start to mount quickly. And you risk breaking things you didn't imagine could break. Plus tuning issues. At the end of the day, you probably have as much or more into it without the engineered reliability of the SRT6. Just my 2 cents.

I'm going to stay stock. I bought it for the looks, sound, pleasure of the 6-speed, and I don't want to mess it up. It still goes 140+ without any mods and that's plenty fast.

 

Here here! I love my Crossfire just as it is. I understand that it is not going to beat out a lot of cars on the road in a lot of ways. However... I pulled into a movie theater parking lot last night with my son to meet some of his friends and when we got out his friends all came over and were gushing over the car. "Whoa... is that a Crossfire?" AWESOME! Look how big those wheels are!" etc. etc. And when I pull up to the stop light, I know that I can leave it at an entirely unnecessary rate of speed. And when I'm cruising down the highway, I know that even where the speed limit is 70 mph, I can double it. If I want to. Chalk me up as content with what I got. lol.

However, I reserve the right to change my mind later and ask about swapping in a V8.

 

i agree there just doesn't seem to be any cost effective way of adding power to these cars and they are a bit peppy when compared to economy cars. anybody that has had a car with a little bit of get up and go can agree these crossfires (non-srt6) are turds. they may have a 140 mph top speed, but they just don't pull hard enough. i'm not bashing, i love my car, but fact is i would love to have more power as i've tasted it in other cars that didn't look as fast as my xfire does.

 

hey ... i'd like to buy the turbos ... count me in ... and keep us informed.

 

I am also new to this site, but very much interested in an affordable way to upgrade my baby. I am game for the turbos.

'04 Ltd Auto
K&N Filters
Custom Exhaust
2 10" MTX 5500's

 

There's been lots of talk, but very little action. You'd probably be better off getting a tune from SI.

 

Yea, I too was venturing over to the turbo thing and was 100% ready to dive on with a quoted price of 10K.

Once the written estimate was done the price was over 15K and the cost detail was "unavailable." Stick to intake, exhaust, a tune, and another car for speed.

 

Well, I'm a new '05 Limited owner and I coming from a highly modded '03 Mazdaspeed Protege and had a great time creating a new turbo setup for my car. In addition, to installing and learning how to custom tune a piggyback system, upgraded brakes, suspension, GPS systems with drop down lcd-screens hooked to a Xbox 360 and ran through the custom stereo system... Along with quite a few more mod's...

Our cars were a very limited run and the end of life cycle of the model. So we had next to zero aftermarket support for quite a few years, but quite a lot of us forged ahead and through trial & error and lots of wasted time and money ended up with some really good systems. We also gained quite of bit of aftermarket support (after quite few years) from a few vendors which, brought these options to others who did not have the time, money and/or patients to peruse such ventures from scratch.

I am hoping to upgrade the following in one form or another:
brakes
suspension
engine management
supercharger or turbo with intercooler
other engine mod's where applicable
rims & tires
GPS system

I have come to understand one thing over the last four years of (learning how-to and performing) high-level automobile modding, is that you do it for the uncontrollable desire that you can make your current vehicle better and no-matter the time, cost or end-results. A person will attempt to make these visions inside their heads a reality...

We will not listen to the level-headed or "nay-sayers". whether they be correct or not. We are just that type of person. We take what we have and use the "make diamonds from coal" mentality and forge on. Not to say we started with something unworthy or that there are other cost effective and more intelligent alternatives out there. We just simply ignore the oblivious.

I will be meeting with our car club and begin the modding process by creating project management documents and teams. Once that is done we will then research about the car as much as possible and then break everything out and review or findings. We will see what is out there, what have others already done and known or perceived limitations there may be to provide us with direction which will lead the creation goal defining, which should lead to a timeline and then begin to assign teams for the different areas of the project.

If you want to look at my past then go to www.msprotege.com and do a post search for ApocMan. I have not posted much in the last year and a half, due to being laid-off from my job of 14 years, my health problems and my family and I losing everything we own.

The crossfire was to replace the mazdaspeed and represents to me the rebuilding of my families life... As the Phoenix rising from the ashes.

I will do all that is my power to mod this car as much I as I truly can and provide detailed instructed steps, how-to's with pictures and video, just like those members of my car-club have done for free the past 4 years. We believe in real grassroots efforts and hope to possibly assist in creating a truly great self-modding movement for the crossfire. There is nothing impossible or not do'able with enough drive, belief and creativity with a strong dose of analytical capabilities.

Again, I understand there are much more cost-effective and intelligent alternatives out there, but again we are the driven! to take things a part and put them back together better than it was and make it unique in it's own way to separate it from the rest in the world...

I look forward towards this endeavor and the chance of making new friends on this forum. I truly hope we are all successful and create one of the worlds most robust, detailed and effective how-to's, instructions, communities and anything else that will propel and ensure this vehicle rightful place in automotive history for years to come...

ApocMan

 

ApocMan,

I can really relate to what you wrote,

I just bought my Crossfire last week. I was a drag racer in the late 70's and worked my way up in the car hobby car to where I was building a $100,000 GT40 with a 347 stroker that had an individual throttle body (Weber Look) FI system managed by a Motec M48. Then 9/11 hit I was in the travel industry. Next thing I knew I was laid off, divorced, taking care my three kids full time, and just about lost everything. I worked my way back and in 2004 I bought a Mini Cooper S and started modding it. I designed a big brake kit for the Mini that I was selling for $700 when the only other choice was spending $2,000. I sold a ton of kits including kits to many racers. I then sold that business and the Mini. I now want to move up a notch and fix up my Crossfire.

If you can help with some forced induction, I can handle the brakes. Having the supercharged Mini with a 19% underdrive pulley I was thinking of trying to do something with the new Rotrex supercharger as it is supposed to give you the best of both worlds (turbo and S/c). check it out and let me know what you think. It is very compact, doesn't need an oil source, no exhaust and downpipes to fabricate and so on. The Rotrax uses some new type of "traction" drive system.

I can build a big brake kit that would include $13"+ slotted rotors, billet four or six piston calipers, pads, braided stainless lines, brackets and all hardware.

 

All ya need is $$$, guts, tools - and another ride while the XF is laid up for a while, oh yea - did I say lots of $$$.

Anything can be done. You can spend all that money and time and I am willing to bet an SRT will keep up with you. You still won't have the internal engine components, etc...that come with the SRT-6.

How much more $$$ will you spend then a "new" stock SRT-6 selling for $25K? Add another $3K for an overdrive pulley system and tune and you will spend (I spent) $28K and have a 400HP beast with the best tires, nice rims, double piston big brakes (see gallery), awesome suspension, tighter steering, nicer seats. And I still have factory warranty. And you never have to replace the spoiler motor.

For me it was about the most performance and best style for the least cost. Sold the '06 Limited and got me an SRT-6.

Now, if you purchased a nice used low miles '04 with expired warranty for around $10K - Then GO FOR IT!

 

Well it looks like you are into your car about $11K more than me. I have been building cars for since the '70's and never lost a penny on a car and always sold them for a profit. I am pretty sure I could do some amazing things with $11K. Keep in mind I never pay anyone to work on my cars. Big savings. My cost to out brake you is $525 that leaves me with a little over $10,000 to figure out how to blow your doors off. Supercharging will cost me less than $3,500. Turbo is similar in cost. For what you spent, I could drop in an E55 engine, (and it does drop right in). It isn't that hard to build a very fast car without the goofy spoiler. There is also plenty of room for a Nitrous bottle for that extra 150 HP when ever you need it.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2000-...QQcmdZViewItem

 

Good luck - and be sure to post pictures and keep us all up to date with your progress.

So far, many have talked the good talk - but no one has yet to walk the walk. Much less post pictures and tell their story. I have yet to see a stock XF that has turbo'ed, supercharged, NOX, etc. Not saying it can't be done, or hasn't been done - just that no one has posted anything to this forum that I know of. I'll keep an eye out for your progress.

Sure - you could drop another motor in - but most people don't buy new cars to do a motor swap. Startech offers a 6.1 V8 rated at 426 HP motor swap. But that seemed like a ton of money and long lay-up time for only +30 HP gain.

http://www.startech.de/p13e.htm

I wish you luck, you seem like a good mechanic with lots of tools, time and money.

 

My CarClub and I will do our best to assist with anyone, who tries to mod their car. Of course, talent, time & money will dictate how much we are able to help, but let the journey begin!!!

 

I have seen the Startech, Kleeman and other crazy priced kits. It seems as though very few people who buy a Mercedes know how work on their own cars and are more than willing to pay astronomical prices to get the work done. There are many of us that have gained experience modding other cars and we are now starting to buy Crossfires. for example, I have built some kit cars / replicas (Cobra and GT40) from bare frames and had to come up with my own brakes. So when I bought a Mini and they guys couldn't afford the Brembo kit, I came up with my own kit and sold for less than half the cost of anything else on the market. When I got out of Mini's I sold the business to Detroit Tuned See Link:
http://www.detroittuned.com/products...20050219180642

Anyone want and big brake kit for the Crossfire?

Building kit cars also taught me that you can use just about any new engine in any project as long as you get the whole engine with all accessories, the engine wiring harness and the computer. Other than the cost for these parts the only other real expense is getting the exhaust hooked up. Putting a Mercedes V8 into a Crossfire looks like an easy natural swap (or at least easier than any other swap I have done).

I think it may be easier and cheaper to just add a supercharger or turbo. I am interested in learning more about this new compact supercharger: http://www.rotrex.com/

 

Here is a good link for anyone considering building their own supercharger kit. Lots of good info on design considerations.

http://www.rotrex.com/pdfs/Rotrex_C-...tions-V1.5.pdf

 

**** that's a pretty awesome brake kit. Maybe you should make stuff for the Xfire.

 

LantanaTX, I am really looking forward to this, so let's begin using PM. I will send you my contact information via PM. I want to get together via instant message, email, or phone sometime this week. I to begin fleshing out our Project Management documents and begin the process of forming the required teams, i.e. project management team, research team, design team, build out teams. We will want to create a time line and charts to show progress and we will need to create the milestones to ensure we stay on track and keep a perpetual forward motion until we have finished that project. We will also assign responsibilities and accountabilities for everything that will be required to complete that particular project.

I noticed using the P/M documents and constantly keeping track of things and holding team members accountable to follow through with their tasks really helps the total success of the build out. It also fishes out those who are really working and pulling their weight and those who are just wanting to hangout, which there is nothing wrong with just hanging out, but if you go "I can make the custom stainless steel lines" and then you never follow through then we got a problem. If you just want to hangout then just say it at anytime and enjoy becoming and observer/commentator/backseat mechanic, just remember you will be expected to bring something to drink for everyone there ort be asked to chip in on some food etc...

 

what ever happened to the guys over at SI, they made claim to put out a twin turbo kit with in the past month? Have they started production yet?

 

BUMP!!! Any news???

 

I think only two people have attempted a supercharged and twin turbo mods. And I've yet to see them run, but give it time it will happen, and when it does it will be fun.