Originally Posted by
TruTaing
I spent an hour+ reading this thread beginning to end and I cant get enough of this thread. You had so many different combinations of attempts at programming to get this to work that I lost how you got it to work. v6 ecu tricked into thinking its a v8, right?? Either way, Great work!
Coming from the MB scene, where most tuners generally say "its impossible due to tuning/programming," you've done a lot more than most MB tuners would even attempt. Swapping in the v8 AND getting it to pair up w/ the 6 speed is pretty damn awesome.
Do you have any plans for strengthening up the trans or do you feel as if the 6spd is up to the task of 300+ hp from the 5.0?
Again - I'm in awe at the amount of work you put into this. I hope you can figure out how to do this for people in the future as m113 e50 prices are falling like bricks. Some day, when my motor / trans decides to die, I'm gonna be hittin' you up!
Yeah it was a mission, that's for sure lol. I never said what I actually did in detail, and I won't. At first I was going to, but I got to the point where I realized it was my research and struggle so it will become my business for others. What I can say though is that it's a completely custom ECU that you end up with and you would only end up with one.
Tons of companies I talked to said it couldn't be done. Big names who tried failed. The one other person in the entire world that could figure this out was Mercedes themselves. No V8 came with a manual since '97 and no AMG either. I figured out both. My motor obviously isn't an AMG but with my customers thus far I have been able to do a lot of experimenting. My whole thing with customers is "If it works with my car it will work with yours". In saying that I'm referring to the transponder (old style) key, old style cruise, and transmission. The thing with the trans is if it works with mine, the manual, then it'll be a walk in the park for the auto's. Thank you though.
The trans is more than up to the task for this motor stock or modified. This was a debated topic but no one knew. The first part to go would be the clutch and I figured that mine with 70xxx miles on it would have gone quick with how I drove after the swap... So far a thousand miles and that sucker is fine. I have a brand new as back up waiting, but I feel by the time I need it I'll have a different motor and the SPEC clutch anyway. There are people who keep telling me to buy this or that trans but until this one breaks it's not going anywhere. I feel that Mercedes down played capability of it quite a lot.
Not sure if it was missed or I'm missunderstanding but I already did it for someone else who is driving it around daily. He has a white crossfire just like mine and for ~3 years went to every tuner or Mercedes "go-to" guy for answers who failed every attempt, after attempt, after attempt. He was about to put it back to stock when I finally figured it out. We had a hiccup with the first ECU I sent (learning curve for me) but it was solved as soon as I got it back and he's been all good to go since. Ours were both running CEL free the same day. I was waiting on DAS, he ended up having a bad O2.
JimmySkullz, the guy I'm talking about above has also gone extemely beyond generous and given me countless ECU's for testing work, we've worked out countless deals for all kinds of parts, he helps me research and kick over theories for all my customers and he also helped guide me through putting the engine in even when he considered it a lost cause due to his struggles with the big names in Mercedes.
I also have another customer who will be sounding the alarms of rejoice tomorrow if all goes well. It's also another first for the Mercedes record books. -- A lot of possibilities were opened with this one.
Then we have Steve who I am hoping we can get up and going for my first 55K project. Since I need testing time with his we will see if a 55K 6-speed is possible as well. Two birds with one stone.... We will know if they can be programmed for crossfires with auto's as well as with manual's.
Other than that it's been my personal work with various ECU's from Jim and for Jim. I'm currently working on a way to cut the BS and cost of the current ECU for 6-speed 5.0's.