I haven't heard of a R170 chassis SLK ever having a V8. The R171 which is different than our cars did have a V8. I have looked at these to see what parts might make my job easier but haven't found anything that I need. I have all the conversion parts either in hand or am waiting for parts orders to arrive.

The toughest part of this is not really mechanical but rather the electronics. These cars have an immobilizer system that wants to see the right information from the key, dash and ECU. There is no way I believe to use the V6 ECU. It would be nice if I could as it is matched to the rest of the car. The V8 ECU will need to have the IMMO bypassed, and reprogrammed for the Crossfire. Still a lot unknowns here. Just for grins I called Brabus USA since they do the Startech V8 to see if they would sell me just the modified ECU. The person I talked to was very polite and said he would have to email Germany but didn't think Brabus would be willing to help. If they are willing to sell a modified ECU they will probaly want a rediculous fortune for it. I am starting to network with other hackers than are willing to help me. The reprogramming can be done by my local Benz tech that I mentioned before, but he wants me to research how to get around some of the other issues. Since the IMMO and VIN are embedded on a chip in the ECU, I wonder if I can remove the one from the V6 ECU and solder it into the V8 ECU? Any of you got any ideas?

 

if that was the case it sounds pretty simple... too simple, i am of no help as always, but i wish you the best of luck in this venture because if you get it i will probably be soon to follow!

 

I can help with the infomation I have from my own research and the info Bosch was able to give me regarding the PCM / ECU... When you remove the PCM you'll notice that it is an integrated circuit board and has a 1"x 1" chip along with all kinds of fun other electronic things... The chip is an EPROM that contains the valuable information that talks to all of the other (24) If memory serves me, sensors that integrate into the operation of the engine and drivetrain... The EPROM chip is the same that you would find in any (V6-V12) Mercedes within the 97 to 2006 range... Obviously the programming is different... The big problem you will find is that the inputs into the PCM are specifically designed for a V6 engine... So, you are going to have to figure out how to input / output the two additional singnals for / from the injectors and coil packs... There is not a port into our system that will allow this to happen... I thing you are going to need the entire PCM, not just the ECU "eprom" chip... Like I said on the phone when we spoke, your BIG headache is going to be the electronics since you are trying to keep this car operational with all the accessories... If you were just building it as a track car it would be really easy with a MOTEC M800... I would try to find info about keeping your OEM PCM in place and having a piggyback ECU system to run the engine only...

Best of luck... I don't envy the amount of work / research you have ahead of you...

 

HDDP, PM sent, Need you to look at something.

Today I received a right side valve cover and three coil packs with wires. I was able to buy everything for $130 shipped. My engine was missing three coil packs and had a crack in the right side valve cover. These parts were swapped and/or robbed to fix another car before I bought the engine. Tomorrow I will be cleaning the valve covers and making them look nicer. Exhaust manifolds should be here early next week.

 

I responded to your PM... I'm not sure how much help it will be... I would start a dialog with Stewart first... Then, contact the guys that did the C320 transplant... Last resort, contact Brian Sakata for the MOTEC system...

 

Thanks for the info. I know that Motec is a viable option. We happen to have one the best Motec tuners in the country here in Dallas. A guy by the name of Bob Norwood. He set a land speed record at Bonneville with a Motec equipped ferrari.

http://www.norwoodperformance.com/im...alsAndCrew.jpg

 

Yep, I'm sure he is... But I'm just adding my .02$... Take it or leave it... Here is a good bit of information you should read and understand about this person...
http://www.grand-am.com/Messageboard...63&UserID=1261

"Pretty ambitious I'd say. How are they going to handle such a huge trasition? The Bosch support engineers are great. Both of them. And besides Brian Sakata, Hasselgren, and the Porsche Motorsports folks, who else knows the stuff? The engine builders from Gentalozzi's Trans Am program? CRD? If you took every single person in the industry who is knowledgable about Bosch ECUs, you wouldn't have enough to support the Rolex series, much less Cup. Sure, people can learn, but its not the most intuitive software. There will be a leraning curve involved. And they're going to build harnesses too? Have you tried to get a harness built during build season? Again, between PRS, Sakata, MOTEC and EFI, there's usually a 4-6 week wait. I don't think there's enough capacity in the industry. It will be interesting to see how the decision makers manage the conversion of 125+ cars to a new system, building new harnesses, etc."

You can do what you want, but if it was my project, I would be sending my car to Brian... Wait, I am sending my car to Brian...

 

It's too bad we can't use a domestic ecu, LS1 edit allows a lot of manipulation of the GM computer.

 

I will definitely keep your ideas in my back pocket. am going to keep trying with the with the Bosch for now. the main thing is to turn off the IMMO which supposedely can be done. Or clone some of the critical information from the V6 ECU to the V8 Ecu. If I can't get around the IMMO, I will go Motec since I have used a Motec M48 on another car in the past. As far as I know you can't tune a Motec without a dyno, so my car would be tuned by Norwood here in Dallas.

Brabus used the Bosch ECU with their V8 conversion for both the SLK and Crossfire. Maybe they have a relationship with Bosch to get a custom ECU made?

 

This is a tough one... My Bosch US contact stated that MB is VERY tight lipped about all of their programming software... I do know that they use the ETAS INCA system to program the PCM... Like I said before... I wish you good luck with the electronics on this car... It's going to drive you crazy...

 

It is a good thing that I like a challenge. Since both the stock and donor ECU are Bosch 2.8's I wonder if the V6 ECU could be programmed with the V8 map/software? This would be ideal since the V6 ECU is already coded to the car, keys/VIN ect.

 

It's not just the ECU "eprom" that you need to reprogam... You need to deal with the PCM as well... This runs your fuel pump, auto trans, etc... Then you have to deal with the BCM which integrates all of your accessories...

Take a good read of the "electronics / sensor" section of the maintainance manual... This should give you and idea of how the systems are completely integrated...

 

All good points. The local mechanic I am working with can do the adaption which is basically associating the ECU with all the things you mention above. Before he can do this the ECU must be unlocked or cloned with the Crossfire Imobilization data which includes VIN, dash and key data. This cloning is what I am having trouble with. You mention this to some and thay react like they have fallen into an FBI sting. Even though I want to do this for honest reasons, car theives all also interested in this capability. I did find the following link that even has a free down load. What do you think of this:

http://www.goapr.com/VW/support/immobilizer.html

 

nice find, maybe you should start a thread over on MBZ forums where more people knowlegable in mercedes benz reside.

if you can clone your vin and oem ecu onto the new ecu that would be spectacular.

ain't is a b1tch being on the leading edge of the sword. good luck!

 

I did start a thread on two MB forums, but haven't heard much. I am going to make some calls in the morning. I think cloning the Crossfire IMMO data to the CL500 ECU is the ticket. I should hav more news by tommorow nght.

 

Yeah, it's kinda dead over there. Guess there isn't much interest in a V8 swap into a 3,000 lb car ... but we're all still here.

 

All good info... I can only repeat everything that the people I have spoken with ... The Bosch / Mercedes system is the toughest to reprogram because even Bosch US is not priivy to the codes that Mercedes uses on the hardware that they provide to them... And even if you ask the Bosch North America office to cross reference the Crossfire Bosch ECU product #, they will tell you that they have no information on that product and it was never imported into the USA (go figure)... And it does not show-up in their computer system... For that matter, many of the specs. for the Bosch sensors don't show-up in their system either... All of the specs. I have gotten for the injectors, etc. from my Bosch rep. had to be gotten via his e-mails to the German headquarters... This usually takes s few weeks for him to get a response... He has been very forthright with me because he knows my car is strictly a race car, but even he can't get most of the information I need... Because as he stated, "Mercedes is the WORST for sharing that type of information"...

I really hope your efforts are more fruitful than mine have been over the past 2 years... I know there is someone (Stewart) out there that has the software, I just wouldn't want to pay him the $400 per hour that he is asking...

Here's one more possible contact for you... His name is Branden Keller, he is the crew chief for Deiter-Heinz Kajora who's family owns MB dealerships in San Diego... And Deiter races with us in NASA... They are building a full race SLK55 for next season... 858.395.6361 I have not spoken with them for a few months, but they may be able to help you...

 

You might want to talk to James at InMotion .... he's been good at upgrading my ecu... Tazz

 

I appreciate the tip, but I did speak to Inmotion on Friday. He was very short with me and was being borderline rude. He made it very clear he wanted nothing to do with this and would not discuss it at all.

One thing I have found when calling around is that there are two tpyes of ECU tuners. The parent company that has invested $100,000's to do all the acutual work and then their dealers. You can become a dealer for much less, but you also don't need to have all the know how either. InmotionUSA I believe is a dealer. I read somewhere that Inmotion is based in Austria.

 

I am feeling much better about the electronic aspect of this conversion. I called three different credible companies this morning and they all said the same thing. It is nice to finally get some consistant answers.

As mentioned much earlier in this thread my local mechanic told me about a Company called Beckmann Technologies. Beckmann works with independent mechanics that have customers that need a new ECU but can't afford a new one. Beckmann sells re-conditioned used ECU that have been unlocked so that they can be programed to the customers car. Unlocking wipes the ECU clean of any codes that associated it to the previous car, such as VIN, key and cluster codes.

I spoke to Bob Beckmann and he can unlock my donor CL500 ECU for $250 It then needs to be programed in the car with a Mercedes Star Diagnostic system to adapt the ECU to the car. After the car is started about three time the ECU will lock in the new information including. cluster codes, VIN, and key codes.

To get other opinions, I spoke to the owner of ICS performance who is also a Kleeman dealer. He told me the same thing and that I needed to use Beckmann to first unlock the ECU and then the Star diagnostic programing.

He gave me a contact at Kleeman USA to call and they also told me the exact same thing and that they had dealt with Beckmann technologies many times in the past and that I need to listen to Bob Beckmann.

BTW, I mentioned to Kleeman that Brabus has done this and isn't talking. I also mentioned that stage two of my project would be a supercharger. As soon as I mentioned supercharger they couldn't have been more helpful.

So for now I am sending the ECU to Bob Beckmann since other credible sources are all telling me this is how it is done.