DITTO... Heck, I'm not even willing to do that. I might as well buy a new Formula Sports Racer for $44k and get on with it... I'll allocate about another $10k for the car over the next year and that's pretty much it. I figure that will get me to 250 hp and install the required safety systems and get it dialed-in the best it can be. Then it will be up to my driving skills to take it to the podium.

Here's the list of things I'm going to do to the car and then let it alone.

Install the Super Sprint Headers that are sitting in my garage. (headers were $1,800) (install will be $600) if we have to pull the engine.
Custom down pipes and exhaust system installed. ($600)
Purchase and Install the Schrick Cams. (Purchase $1900) (Install $1,100)
Extrude Hone, Port Match, intake and exhaust ($1,900) (labor $1,200)
Roll cage build and install. ($2,200)
Dyno before and after with FAM ($500)
Custom ECU / FMU mapping ($1,000)

I have decided that this is all I'm going to do with the car... And this can only be done as the funds become available. Also consider my race entry fees run about $250 per weekend and tires (which only last two weekends) cost $1,140... Hotel Room, Gasoline, etc, etc, etc...

 

...and it assumes 100% reliability with no big bills for transmission/engine rebuilds or heaven forbid accident damage! There's no doubt about it, racing ain't cheap! It really is a case of 'How fast can you afford to go?'

Its all really academic, but the reason for going the MB V8 route is based on the similarity to the V6. See attached.

 

that's a great point, the 4.3 should damn near bolt right in...only thing would be the tranny, no manual v8 benzes, but i don't know if that would be a problem or not, never done a swap on an engine without swapping the tranny also...someone with more technical knowledge than i should really investigate this...

 

I think the bell housing mounts are the same but the flywheel/clutch/input shaft assembly may be a problem if the V8s are only fitted with torque converters. It is by no means a bolt-in swap as the radiator etc would all have to come forward. There have been (old model) V8 SLK's running around as safety cars on race circuits, so I know one will fit. I have some contacts at MB Racing Engines and they do a lot with the V8s, I'll ask them. Like I said I would pursue this as a business if I thought it was viable, but I really don't think the numbers add up.

 

...Some clues here:

Brabus SLK

 

does any one know the spline count on the benz v8 auto trans?

 

Very interested to get an update on your supercharger install - is it still in the thought stage or have you found a way around the ecu issue?

As a new owner of a 05 six speed xfire, I had been thinking of doing the same thing you had done ... add an SRT6 blower to a non blown xfire. I have to admit I had not done any research into this until AFTER I bought the car. I did not want the SRT due to the automatic, and know it should be easier to install a blower on the car then to change the transmission.

Obviously, it would be much easier to follow a trail blazed by someone else - so my question is, who has installed either an SRT or a Mercedes blower setup on a six speed crossfire?

Henry Payne
HPMotors

 

I also have an '05 crossfire and would love to make it a sleeper. There has to be a way.

 

kleeman US will sell you a very well engineered supercharger kit for $6,500 ... have it installed at one of their dealers and it comes with a one year warranty ...

i have built turbo kits a plenty so i was talking to the kleeman engineers to find out if this kit is worth the money ... i say it is, the fueling department is taken care of right with a auxiliary injector for a precise fuel tune (no volume drop in fuel flow from the stock pump like you would get with a fuel pressure regulator), and the supercharger used has won my heart ... read up about it on their website, you'll love the concept of the supercharger they use, instant torque ...

plus, open your hood, no one will think it is aftermarket...

 

Is this for their low cost supercharger without the intercooler?

 

I don't see the necessity of going with an aftermarket system when a factory engineered system already exists. The only reason I could see to consider one would be if there was more horsepower than in the SRT version. The price makes it unattractive for me.

It is obviously possible to convert the non blown 3.2 to the blower version. The only real question is what is the simplest (ie time and money) way to do this? The mechanical bits should be a direct bolt on, whether from an SRT6 or some Mercedes. That leaves the ecu programming to deal with. Is the OBDII system in the crossfire flash programmable? If so, mods to that unit would be the way to go. If not, an ancillary ecu (piggyback?) to handle fueling and timing issues under boost would be an option. A third option to look at is bringing in the entire ecu from an SRT6 and program it to forget about its transmission duties. A 4th option would be a standalone new ecu (ie, an AEM type) that has the capacity to handle the supercharger - AND more!

Which Mercedes models of the 3.2 V6 in the xfire were supercharged? This information would be very helpful in tracking down used bits to put on the xfire.

Right now, the car I am evaluating has about 7,000 miles on it. The ability to add a blower will have a direct bearing on whether to keep this car or not. Right now, it is just a hoot to drive, and of course I love the style. It would just be a LOT more fun with 330 HP vs 215.

One minor point, anything that looks like a xfire has a real hard time being consider a sleeper. Most people that have seen mine already think it is faster than it looks. A sleeper would be my 1991 SHO, as it obviously looks like a Taurus, and 99% of the world has no idea what the SHO on the bumper means.

Henry

 

yes it is...

 

unless you buy a SRT 6 after selling your regular crossfire it is not a very good solution to attempt to use the SRT 6 blower... as you may have read from members such as HDDP, the stock ECU is not very easy to reprogram (any daimler chrysler ECU is this way, they are diehard about protecting their engine management programming, unlike GM who hands out the coding to aftermarket developers months before a car is released) and using a piggy back solution will land you fighting the stock engine controller the entire way... make any adjustments to the fuel table using a traditional piggyback that alters MAF signal and you are altering the spark table unknowingly... the only way to really do this is to clamp the MAF at maximum NA flow and clamp the MAP sensor at barometrics pressure (14.7 psi) then use a system like the greddy emanage to splice into the coil on plug system (six individual ignition coils) and also use the emanage to control a auxiliary injector (7th injector, placed on short pipe after the supercharger but before the MAF... this way you can add fuel at the points you need to using the auxiliary injector without messing up your spark table and you can retard the timing where you need to as well considering with boost you cannot run crazing timing like you can with a NA motor...

either way, considering the type of people that drive crossfires, there is not one person here that it would be a good way to go if you want to supercharger the NA version... this is something that is good for a person with more time than money and what i have seen is crossfire owners have more money than time as they are mostly high grade professionals in their field... i designed the majority of my turbo kits when i was 18 - 21 and just did my last one when i was 22, i have to say the last one i did i swore i would not do it again because the time involved to get it perfect could have been spent making much much more money than it was worth doing side contracts in the IT field...

 

too low production numbers, and even fewer enthusiasts... to give you an idea, to get the weather pack connectors reproduced for a SRT-4, it cost AEM 400 dollars per unit... couple that with development cost (each plug n play AEM unit has to be able to control the gauges properly and use all the stock sensors, this takes many hours of reverse engineering) and the unit production costs... and you can see how this would cost over 3000 per unit for this car which no one would be willing to pay...

trying to use the universal AEM unit on this car would be a huge undertaking as you would need to leave the stock ECU in to control the gauge cluster and hope it worked when you hand over the engine controls to the AEM unit...

its just no the right kind of car for this kind of undertaking, its too new, too few enthusiasts, too expensive to start hacking and slashing with your fingers crossed...

i can see myself using this car in 6 - 8 years as my toy box where i will rip out the entire engine and tranny, place a 2.4 turbo engine out of a SRT-4 in it with a jeep liberty RWD 6 speed manual transmission, all controlled by a AEM unit, with a gauge cluster filled with VDO aftermarket gauges... but for now, its too early...

 

agreed, it would be more fun, i considered this and figured out i should have gone with a 350z if i wanted to modify my daily driver... greddy twin turbo kit with a custom made set of intercoolers and it would of been a great daily driver... but selling the cross would cost me too much cause the resale sucks on them and i really do enjoy the style just as you do... but i very much agree it would be fun to have all that horsepower in the end.

 

Sound advice Intenseblu, this is a sophisticated car with a lot of inter-dependant systems. Its never going to be as simple as 'bolting on' more power. Anything is possible of course but it will need a lot of development to engineer the reliable, refined conversion the car deserves.

 

Everyone raises valid points, but I am interested enough to pursue. My shop does mostly Miata work, and admittedly, they are far simpler than the xfire. That said, I am not convinced the ecu issue is a dead end. Mostly it depends on the cost of the parts and their availability. So far, I haven't found any donor 3.2 engines w/blower, not to mention all of the ancillaries that are required.

I believe the fueling issues under boost can be resolved. I further believe that the stock na motor can tolerate an increase in power AND that the drivetrain is up to it. Mostly this is based on the premise that we are putting over 300 HP through a Mazda transmission/differential "designed" for about 116. Surely, MB has a bit of safety factor in their design? Worst case? Rebuild the dang motor with better bits. No biggie.

I realized AEM will not be making a xfire specific ecu, but we have had excellent results with those things in the Miatas, and am amazed at the flexibility and power of that ecu. Their generic unit has the same programming capabilities as their model specific ones do, but come as a blank canvas vs. one mostly painted in.

Like I said, I'm dumb enough and interested enough to tackle this thing. I also believe we have the expertise in house to handle a great many of the issues - I do the mechanical stuff and my partner does the electronic part.

I looked at xfires for over 2 years, and looked at a lot of competing models, M series bimmers, G35, 350Z & RX8. Style and mechanical layout of the MB drivetrain were a huge +. Lack of a manual in the SRT a huge - , lack of power in the NA version was a - . At the end of the day, I decided it would be better to add a blower to the six speed then to add a six speed to the SRT. Was I right? Damifino, but I will find out.

Henry Payne
HPMotors
Miatas for the Street or Track

 

at least you have a shop to work out of... using the AEM you'll need a all new gauges as the stock ones require the ECU to drive them (they're dumb gauges, no controls in it, all controlled by the ECU)...

the engine can handle 300 hp easily... going any higher i would begin to worry cause it has aluminum pistons, very easy to damage with a bad tune, you won't even hear the ping...

you can get a stock rod and piston and send it out to JE or a similar company and have them make some nice strong forged components for the engine...

its not impossible... it is something you should only do if you have more time than money... with you working at a shop, i see you may have alot more time to work on your car than most so it may be a good way to go for you...

 

Gauges - at this time, one option is to use the AEM for engine control and the stock ecu for whatever it can't handle. BTW, the xfire really doesn't have any gauges, does it? Where is the oil pressure, oil temp, afr, egt, water temp with numbers, etc? One AEM serial gauge can handle 19 different parameters.

Pistons - all cars today have aluminum pistons, most are cast. Haven't seen a car yet that would not handle at least 6 psi which should give about a 40 - 45% increase - say 305. We use JE for pistons when building a NA racing engine with high compression. Stick with stock pistons when going FI. Cast pistons in a Miata have been standing up to 18 psi without melting. Key is proper fueling/ignition under boost. I'm willing to bet the stock MB pistons and rods are good to go.

Don't think it will take that much time. For us, the biggest issue is finding a proper donor vehicle at a reasonable cost.

Cheers,
hp

 

Are you looking for an srt-6 or base donor? If you need a base my car is yours.