Warp Drive controller?? No wait, Flux Capacitor? JK, I have no clue

 

Looking at the colors of the wires and the tracers on them, i'd guess it's something connected to the PCM for the transmission or something otherwise related but I could be wrong. Hope this helps.

 

I was looking at the picture for clues as to what was done to make the V8 run. Most of the wire colors in the picture are wrong as they are coming from the V8 engine harness. I sent Gerhard a message to see if he know what it is and if he can supply part numbers on the engine ECU and trans ECM

 

You are right. There is only one Startech Crossfire 6.1.

Startech is a subsidiary company of Brabus. Brabus ist specialized in the optimization of Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, Mercedes-Benz Mc Laren and Smart products, whereas Startech is specialized in Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge products. Both are located in the same company area in Bottrop/Germany.

Regards from germany

 

It seems that a company in germany called Kraftwerk has put a Crossfire AMG 55 conversion into practice.
Kraftwerk ? German engineered performance technology for al Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles.



Chrysler - Dodge - Jeep - Auto - Forum | Chrysler Crossfire - Forum | Tuning V8 Umbau - Technik/ Bilder

Regards from germany

 

Hello Tuners,

Here is my last updates:

I didn't receive Alternator (180A) yet, bu I made great progress in installing AMG V8 Kompressor Belt.
When I received tensionners and pulleys and try to fit theim, I noticed that water pump is quite different from the V8 55 with Komp one, because 55K pump holds Two parallel pulleys at the left side of front engine Part N° (113 200 01 01), hopefully I find it at the stock MB dealer.

I had to modify that pump in order to make possible water cooling system for oil filter cooler (I'll post you pics later).

I also modify mounting part which holds little pulley at right side (alternator Belt tensionner).

Another modification consists on water Thermostat, whitch is to be mounted in the opposite direction and grinding a piece of the water pump.

after that modifications, I mounted the new water pump, Kompressor pulleys and tensionners and finally INSTALLED KOMPRESSOR BELT .

I need the Alternator to install the other Belt: in V8 55k engine there is two parallel belts the first close to the engine is for: alternator, water pump, steering pump, A/C compressor and of course Crank pulley.
The other belt is for supercharger.

The german company GERMAN SPOB GMBH IHR ERSATZTEILHÄNDLER FÜR MERCEDES-BENZ GEBRAUCHTTEILE, ZUBEHÖRTEILE UND ORIGINALTEILE --- STAR PARTS --- from where I ordered the alternator said that i'll get it on monday it's 300€ cheeper then MB dealer and it's new brand .

I prefer mounting the engine in its housing when all actions terminated even if there is only two screws to install Alternator.

Another good new today that the RIEGER Body Kit I ordered is during delivery right now, I'll receive it today .

Sorry I could not post you pics right now because I'm at office now and I worked up to 4h30 o'clock in the morning, I had 2.5 hours sleeping, Idid not have time enough to prepare photos.

Keep you posted.
Karim.

 

Here the pics guys

Hope you like it.

Your faithfull.
Karim Tunisian from Paris.

 

Loool. And what about 1 missing amp in the crossfire hardware?
The V8 ecu has 4 (1 for 2 cylinders), the crossfire only 3.
Will not work!

 

Karim,

Thanks for the update. I received a bunch of photos from a guy named Gerhard in Germany. He has the only V8 Crossfire in the world built by Startech/Brabus. He sent me a buch of photos of the various electonic componets with the part numbers visibile. I haven't verified the part numbers of the body control unit or the transmission control unit but the ECU is for a V8. One this that was interesting is there is a buch of other electonics in the glove compartment which I am not what they do. There is so much wiring it looks like a whole other engine ECU. I wonder if it is possible they used two ECU's?

 

the little electroic box in with the ECU that I mentioned ealier and tried to identify is used to eliminate the speed limiter. Here are more pictures from the fromt the V8 Crossfire. Let's see how good you guys are at identifying these parts One is the trasmission controller, one is the body control unit, the EDU plus one is who knows what?


Update:

Done some checking and the the body control modle is Crossfire. The ECU cross references to ML500, CLK430, E430, S430-S500 and CL500. The transmission controller corss references to CLK430, CL500 and S430 and S500

The last picture is all of the electronics we all have under the upper section of the passenger side footwell carpet all OEM stuff looks like air bag and safety related electronics.

 

So Gerhards still tells he has the only V8?
He was proven wrong on german forum. But he is so jealous about that
that he keeps telling its not true.
Dont believe this guy too much what he tells. He is not such an expert as he pretends to be
BTW what do the ECU numbers help - you still dont know the software inside. Its only the hardware - which says 8 cyl. So NOT the x-fire hardware.
Why dont you ask the guys that converted 1 already (Eugen) instead of Gerhard...

 

What do you have against Gerhard? We been emailing each other and he has has gone out of his way to be very helpful and sent me pictures of anything I have ask about. He hasn't claimed to me to have the only V8 but He does have the only Startech V8 which I verified through Brabus. Knowing what electronics are in the car is helpful to me as there are many theories about how to make this work.

 

No problem, you can´t know how childish and jealous he behaves (or better behaved? After he was proved wrong, he disappeared) on german forum...
He still insidted that the "other" V8 did not exist, was a fake, although
other forum useres have been with that car.
When there were no more excuses, he finally ended saying that the car is ****, low quality and will break down.
Only his car is the best.

He bought a ready car. Eugen (the other guy) built the car.
So if Gerhard now wants to tell about how to build the "first" V8 except his, i (and many others) cant take this guy serious anymore because he should know better...

Like a little child that you took away his toy.

Anyway, good luck to you guys with the project, you do a good job and sure will get it working. But dont rely too much on self proclaimed experts that only know how to do it in theory, not in reality... Thats 2 different worlds

 

Hi,

the Crossfire 55 AMG V8 isn´t any joke and I am not an liar like Gerhard Daun calls me in the German Crossfire forum. He **** of about a guy they are smart enough to set up V8 technologie in an Crossfire they he never done before. He don´t understand that isn´t my target to sign in all construction sheets and paperwork in internet.

The car is real, is very fast, all parts are confirm with german goverment rules.

Max.

 

Well there are only two people who have made this work, a former Brabus employee who built the Startech V8 and can't be located and MAXIMUSQUO who probably has business interest in not providing any information. Without any help from the two people who have made this conversion work, I am left to develop the best theory and try to make it work. Through tons of research I was able to hook up with Beckman Technologies who is one of the only guys who has been able to hack the Mercedes computers and unlock used ECM's. He put me in touch with Robert Kraus who is the best MB electronics geek I have found and who has an independant MB shop five miles form my house. He as every option available in the Star Diagnotic System (SDS) including remote internet access so that Beckman in North Carolina and him can program the car as a team. He also is able to use the SDS developer mode which is in German language only. We have been working through the capabilities of the SDS system and trying to anticipate problems in advance which at this point include working out concers about transmission gear ratios, and rear end ratios and if all the systems will work together.

The other leading theory and the one that is closest to being proven is Kanzus. Kanzus has been great at sharing his experience and I hope he is successful as his approach is much easier than what I was planning.

 

Holy crap Lantana, Looks like there are Germans coming out of the wood work everywhere. Please explain to them that Gerhard didn't say he knew how to built it or anything, Just giving you pics of his to help your build.

 

I have received some interesting emails and PM's. I went to the German site and used Google translate which is a slow way to read a thread, but there is a bit of a fire storm in Germany when it comes to V8 Crossfires. I thnk they understand that Gerhard is helping to the best of his abilities but is not Brabus employee who built the car. I am starting to feel like I am a character in a Dan Brown novel.

 

Thank you LantanaTX, I hope success too .
As the mechanic level will be terminated soon: normally at monday 18-05-09, I will start level 2 of my CLK V6 to V8 55K project conversion which is electronics.
I have many idears and 3 possibilities to approach the problem:

1- simply use DAS Developper mode to encode the ECM and EGS ECUs;
2- swap EEPROMs from ECM to another;
3- make ECM virgin and recode it within normal DAS Module;

I tried DAS training module to see how developper mode works, and it's very interesting, espacially it is possible to recode ECU without SCN number which is only can be provided by MB itself.

My Goal is to start the car first, I hope it will start from the first possibility (DAS Dev). At a second time I will test the others and provide community a how to do manual : HOW TO HACK MERCEDES-BENZ ELECTRONICS .

I found an interesting software to virgin the ECM, but have to desolder EPROM reprogram then re-solder it.

How do you think about my approach?

Karim.

 

My understanding from the guys I am working with is to unlock you computer which gets rid of IMMO data and then use the Star Diagnotic system to re-associate the ECM to your car. Be careful becuase an unlocked ECM will re-lock the third time the key is turned. I think developer mode can be useful to reslove other issues if needed such as gear ratios in the trans and diff. Again this is information from the smartest guys I could find over here but they have not attemped a V6 - V8 engine swap so they can't be 100% sure it will all work until we try it. They have warned me that there is a possibility that I could end up with a V6 back in the car. I wish I could play with the system myself and see what is possible. But I am hoping that you will have information that I can share with my tuner so that the V6 does not end up back in the car.

One thing that all the pictures confirmed to me is that it is all done with standard MB electronic hardware which has been programmed, which leads me to believe the better you can use the Star system the more likely you are to succeed. You may want to consider sending your donor ECM to Beckman and have them unlock it. Their business is built on allowing mechanics to offer reconditioned ECM's to customers at a much better price than having to buy a brand new one costing thousands.

 

Here is a little something to keep us motivated. Since the SLK is the Crossfire's closest cousin I thought this McLaren SLR / SLK swap looked interesting. Here is the text that I found with the pictures:

"Stare as long as you like, it's not a Photoshop job. That is the 617-hp McLaren SLR motor shoehorned into the bay and sticking through the hood of a Mercedes SLK. If the forum posts are true, the owner appears to be a Mid-Eastern rally champion named Mohamed Bin Sulayem. The story goes that Sulayem performed this transplant because his other supercars weren't suitable in the traffic-clogged streets of Dubai. He liked the comfort and ride of the SLK, but felt it was a little weak on power. Needless to say, he's alleviated the SLK's shortcomings and then some."