SLK55 AMG

[rev-erend]

Re 2 plugs per cylinder, I think its more to do with fuel burn efficiency than bhp / litre.

It's a V8 with 3 valves / cylinder.

Not many Rover V8's make 360 bhp .. most 5 litre TVR's are more like 300~305 and need lots of money thrown at then to make 340~350 bhp.

[DapperDanMan]

When I did my plugs I used the proper wrench


https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mercedes+benz+v6...

Fiddly job but doable at home with the right tools.

I have also done the head cover gaskets including the sealant ones that sit on top of the head cover and leak oil onto the exhaust. Need to take your time cleaning them up and be careful with any flakes that come off you don't want them in your oil.

These ones (this is the left head cover the right one is longer)



Again a home mechanic can do these but you need patience to clean off the old gasket sealant.

This was done on my SL55 which is the same engine with a Kompressor on top.

[slk 32]

Here's the wife's car

Slightly newer than mine..currently on 52k

She didn't want a silver car either

[Classy6]

CGCobra said:

Hi Rev,

Thanks for yor reply, that's good news about the exhaust valves being later cars, hadn't realised that when I read about it.

Strange that the plugs are changed by time and mileage. I had a Toyota MR 2 a few years ago which had comprehensive service records but I couldn't find any record of plugs being changed, went to Toyota to buy some, they asked me the milage (about 60k) and the guy said they weren't due yet as the interval was 80k, didn't matter that it was 10+ years old. Got a similar story from Yamaha with my R1. Sometimes you can't give money away!


I'm a bit confused about what you used the BJ splitter for, was that to remove the leads or the plugs?
Not something I'd like to pay thick end of £400 for if it can be done with simple tools (or at least tools which cost less than £400)

Edited by CGCobra on Wednesday 24th January 20:07

Use a medium sized pry bar/decent sized flat head screw driver. Place on the plug lead behind one of the raised points on the metal and lever it away from the top against the cam cover - do it very gently whilst wiggling the metal part of the lead up & down from underneath and it'll pop off very easily.

Used to fit them day in day out and have never used a special tool or damaged any on removal. Make sure you use some contact cleaner when refitting and push them home until you hear them 'click' into place and secure.

[CGCobra]

slk 32 said:

Here's the wife's car

Slightly newer than mine..currently on 52k

She didn't want a silver car either

Wow! That is also a fantastic colour. These cars look so good in a colour which makes you wonder why so many are black or silver (which aren't colours in my book), is that the later, facelift model?

[CGCobra]

rev-erend said:

Re 2 plugs per cylinder, I think its more to do with fuel burn efficiency than bhp / litre.

It's a V8 with 3 valves / cylinder.

Not many Rover V8's make 360 bhp .. most 5 litre TVR's are more like 300~305 and need lots of money thrown at then to make 340~350 bhp.

Yeah, my comment about the large bore short stroke is based on the wide & shallow combustion chamber this produces which is difficult to fire from a single plug.

With respect to the Rover engine, it was really at the limit of the head design at 3.9 litres pushing to 5 litres was never going to give a pro-rata increase in power (heads were virtually unchanged), but in the smaller capacities gives similar BHP/Lit re as the Merc' (my 3.9 is about 240 wit a few mods).
I don't know a lot about the Merc engine (yet) but it seems it's built on "big & simple" lines which is right up my street, "Swiss watch" engines are great at what they do but there is no substitute for capacity and its bether for reliability IMO.

[slk 32]

CGCobra said:

Wow! That is also a fantastic colour. These cars look so good in a colour which makes you wonder why so many are black or silver (which aren't colours in my book), is that the later, facelift model?

No pre facelift - although it does have the paddles where mine has the buttons. It's jasper blue

There are some amazing colours..I've seen one chablis coloured one with matching leather parked up once (it looks better in the flesh!)




One of my favourites, designo mocha..a very rich deep black metallic which has metallic gold and brown flecks. Changes colour in bright light to a deep brown


And finally designo graphite grey. Another lovely colour..I think I've seen two in this colour




It's a real shame more people didn't opt for the designo colours..I guess it was a matter of cost.

The problem is buying second hand is that it is inevitably a compromise (unless you are very lucky).

There was only a small pool of cars initially and with even the youngest being 7 years old now buying on condition is key. I bought mine in 2012 and managed to get a late 2005 with 22k miles that had been garaged all its life and used as a third car. It was comparitively light on the options and didn't have HK sound but at least it had duotone leather - a must I felt given how the cockpit is acres of black plastic

I had a kleemann remap, camshaft and exhaust headers put on mine..should be anywhere between 420-440 hp now.

Was it worth it? I'm not sure I'd do it again. Cost was circa 5k.The only reason I did was I was planning to get the supercharger and wanted to have the full package. It certainly wasn't as noticeable as the pulley upgrade on the slk32 kleemann did for me - that was like being fired from the barrel of a gun.

One tip, if you do plan any mods further down the line don't get an x-pipe and resonator / secondary cat delete simply because if you get aftermarket headers they will also remove the primary cats which are mahoosive.

Because I had the x pipe / secondary cats / resonator delete done already (which sounded great) adding the kleemann headers meant I was essentially running straight through pipes.

I lasted one day before getting a custom backbox made and sports cats added..it was undriveable otherwise

Edited by slk 32 on Thursday 25th January 22:58

[rev-erend]

CGCobra said:

rev-erend said:

Re 2 plugs per cylinder, I think its more to do with fuel burn efficiency than bhp / litre.

It's a V8 with 3 valves / cylinder.

Not many Rover V8's make 360 bhp .. most 5 litre TVR's are more like 300~305 and need lots of money thrown at then to make 340~350 bhp.

Yeah, my comment about the large bore short stroke is based on the wide & shallow combustion chamber this produces which is difficult to fire from a single plug.

With respect to the Rover engine, it was really at the limit of the head design at 3.9 litres pushing to 5 litres was never going to give a pro-rata increase in power (heads were virtually unchanged), but in the smaller capacities gives similar BHP/Lit re as the Merc' (my 3.9 is about 240 wit a few mods).
I don't know a lot about the Merc engine (yet) but it seems it's built on "big & simple" lines which is right up my street, "Swiss watch" engines are great at what they do but there is no substitute for capacity and its bether for reliability IMO.

On my TVR I changed the Rover heads to Wildcat as I went up to 5.3 litre.

[irocfan]

ocrx8 said:

Mods, please close this thread for the safety of my bank account - I was unaware of the blue one for sale on SLK World which is just round the corner from me.

you mean this one?





pop on over for a chat

[Dieselbob]

Thanks for all your responses, its looking like a R172 SLK55, can anyone tell me what comes with the performance pack, it would be nice to check they have what is listed.
TIA

[RussJ]

Are you still looking for an SLK 55 172?
My high spec car could be up for sale...
Russ
PS performance Pack cars have compound brakes, LSD, alcantara steering wheel and limiter removed.
They may also have lowered and stiffened suspension but I'm not sure about this.

[Sagpack]

RussJ said:

Are you still looking for an SLK 55 172?
My high spec car could be up for sale...
Russ
PS performance Pack cars have compound brakes, LSD, alcantara steering wheel and limiter removed.
They may also have lowered and stiffened suspension but I'm not sure about this.

I’m looking for a 172, and I’m in the shire of Norfolk. Could you pm me some more details, colour, mileage, full spec, service history etc.

[RussJ]

Sagpack, PM sent...