Friday, March 22, 2013

Auxiliary battery replacement ordered! (14-BS)

Several models of Mercedes have a 2nd battery - often referred to as the Auxiliary Battery.  It's hidden in the E55 under the cabin air filter in the engine bay.

FYI - The primary battery is in the trunk :)
I was informed of a fantastic deal on the aux battery on Amazon - 50% off!





Installation was a total breeze, the bolt/washer setup is different from the OEM setup, but now there are no issues with my electronic brakes and/or other 12V items in the car :)  Highly recommend this battery - save yourself about $200 in the process!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Akebono EUR983 and EUR984 Ceramic Brake Pads - less dust, less washing - same stopping!

If there's one thing that drives me nutz about my car it's the brake dust!  When I purchased the car, the previous owner had OEM Mercedes-Benz pads installed; which is good for serviceability and was an easy one-stop-shop solution - but dang they're dusty!






Several of my friends have pointed me to Akebono pads - which I believe are OEM for Honda (and some other automakers) - they're very low dust!  It's crazy to say, but I can't wait to replace my OEM pads for some of these...  Not bad pricing for these high-performance Brembo AMG brakes!

  


Looking for feedback if you've had these on your car, and if you're ready for a new set, give them a look!

Monday, March 11, 2013

Trimming the fat... not what you think!

OK - not really about weight loss or removing stuff from the car to make it lighter, but ever since I had the larger heat exchanger mounted, the E55 has had a bit of a 'swollen lip' look to it... notice the bottom of the chin spoiler, you can even see a chunk taken out of it from scraping... oh the joys of bigger parts...


Well, over the past 9 months of that little 'extra' fat lip, took its toll.  Here's what I found a few weeks ago after a long drive to Monterey, CA and back.  


Yes, that's a little rubber strip that is usually below the oil cooler, and part of the underbody tray directly below the heat exchanger.  The wear and tear of little bumps here and there eventually cracked the parts off.

So, now that I have more clearance due to the plastic pieces coming out, I figured I'd give a trim to the fat lip.  Used a simple utility knife to gracefully trace the lines between that 1/4" edge and the rest of the bumper lip.  

And here's the result of my handiwork.  I think it slimmed things down quite a bit, even though it's only a 1/4" edge!

Hopefully I wont run into any more sharp pointy things!



Saturday, March 2, 2013

Gotta love Dyno time!

After my previous dyno results, I had to get my inter-cooler pump replaced.  It's amazing how much power is lost when you have lots of heat.  My IAT (intake air temps) were in the 170-180* range which is way too hot.  Since that dyno last summer, the pump was replaced and I have a heat exchanger that is 2x the OEM stock size.  Now my IATs hover ~10-15* above ambient temps - woohoo!



I took my car to Universal Technical Institute (UTI)  in Sacramento.  Nice thing is that my nephew is a recently graduated student (and driver in the video below) and we ran the numbers on the Dynojet - MUCH better!  The instructor was a big E55 fan and it was great to see about 100 students crowded around the dyno room - man it made some noise!





The printer was almost out of ink so sorry about the hard to read graph.. 446HP and 487ft-lbs!
Gotta love that crazy torque!