Our friend MAXIMUSQUO (V8Max) posted this in another thread but some of you may have missed this. Max was the second V8 Crossfire in the world and helped me with information when I was doing my V8 conversion. Max swaped the entire dirve train including the rear end from a CLK55. The CLK55 has a 3.07 gear so this would be a good swap for high HP SRT's and V8 swaps. Also the Quaife posi has been available for quite some time for this rear end/Diff at decent prices. I believe the Startech V8 Crossfire also uses this rear end.

Here is what he posted:

"The rear end you call is diff and will fit from CLK 55 AMG W208 and E 55 AMG W210 to the Crossfire with no mechanical work on body. The MB part# is A208 350 20 14 but you will need the both axis too, the part# is A208 350 07 10. The axis from CLK 55 AMG W208 will fit to roller bearing in Crossfire too.

The next point is that the rotor shaft from Crossfire is different than from MB like CLK or E class. So you will move the wheel from diff too!

regards V8Max "

Looks like a relatively easy bolt in swap! Thanks Max!

 

Well, I may have spoken too soon. It looks like this rear end has a 2.82 rear gear.

 

Lantana,

Thanks for posting this! Yea I missed it for sure.
What does this part mean: "The next point is that the rotor shaft from Crossfire is different than from MB like CLK or E class. So you will move the wheel from diff too!"

I followed everything else....basically the CLK55 rear diff bolts right up, but you need the axles too...


Thanks again,
KrzyFast

 

The gear ratio would require that you use a compensator that would adjust the axle pulses to make the computer think that the rear was going at the correct ratio. Its doable but requires some digital design. Woody

 

Kleemann makes an LSD diff for our car and its not to badly priced.

Kleemann Differential

 

Sorry to bust your bubble but it's just a really expensive Phantom Grip. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

This the the flange that connects the drive shaft to the diff. Our cars have a three prong flange and the CLK55 has a four prong flange. You would remove the three prong from your stock diff and bolt it on the CLK rear end.

The Keelman thing does look like a phantom grip and doesn't replace the spider gears. The point of this thread is a stronger rear end that also has a quaife posi already available. It would be interesting to find out if this housing was ever used in other cars with 3.07 or 3.27 gears. Maybe we coold look for rear ends that the same quaife fits?

 

I spoke to Quaife Engineering and learned some interesting things. They put me in touch with their exlusive distributor for BMW and Mercedes, Kevin Bird at Bird Auto in the UK. He seemed very knowledgable about the various MB diffs and believes he may already have a Quaiffe to fit the Crossfire. He did mention that they have done CLK55's with both a 2.82 and 3.06 ratios. He said the MB part number for the 3.06 is A209 350 1014

He mentioned that there are mainly two tpyes of rears, one with a 10 bolt and one with a 12 bold ring gear.

After talking to him it looks like there could be two choices, put a Quaiffe in our existing rear ends or put a quaife in a larger rear end that is compatable with our cars. Not sure how big of a problem it would be to go from 3.07 to 3.06?

Kevin birds web site: Bird Auto-Precision's Home Page

He mentioned that with 5 units there is a 30% discount which brings the price of the Quaife to about 650 GBP. This would seem like a pretty good price for a Quaife.

 

This would be a good thing provided it fits our diff. If we have to get a new diff and new axles to use it, this would really increase the cost. It is good to have options though.

 

Rudy, do you see us being able to change the gear ratio in the near future??

 

Kevin Bird asked if we could send him pictures of our rear end and the MB part numbers on it. He mentioned that they have just produced a new model that may fit our car and will have 50 units available in about a week.

Rudy, Have any pics?

 

As of right now, I have yet to come up with a solution to this. I've been working with lots of people and so far, we keep hitting roadblocks. I will be sure to let everyone know when I have something that works though as there are lots of people interested.

I'm pulling it out as soon as I get done typing this and I will email them to you shortly.

 

Bird Auto-Precision is just down the road from me. More than happy to run my car in if they want to have a look!

Regards, Andy.

 

That would be great! Go in and ask for Kevin Bird. I sent him photos from Rudy, but he said it would be best to have a car to look at. Please do and let us know what he says. Thanks!

 

For 650ponds and if it's just a straight fit (no changing of axles etc) count me in!

 

I've just spoken to Kevin Bird on the phone and he didn't seem to have the first clue what I was talking about??? If you do contact him again and he wants to see the car can you ask him to contact me on 07952 791019 or davisonandy@yahoo.co.uk.

I would be v. interested in this and would be happy for one to go into my car!

Regards, Andy.

 

Andy,

It appears that I made a mistake and posted a link to the wrong web site! I looked for his site after we hung up and since the name on the site was Kevin bird, I assumed it was the right site. Sorry for any confusion.

Here is the right site:

Birds - The U.K's premier BMW tuning company.

I also want to point out that I first talked to Quaife Engineering and who referred me to Bird. Quaife said that Bird is the distributor for all BMW applications and has recently become the same for MB applications. When I spoke to Kevin it was very evident that he had a lot of knowledge of MB diffs and had already done quite a few of them.

 

Thanks Rudy, no pressure but, WE'RE ALL COUNTING ON YOU! LOL!

 

May not be nessesary since we did find that the CLK55 also came with a 3.06 I confirmed with Kevin bird that he has installed Quaife's into CLK55 with both 3.06 and 2.82 gear ratios. Rudy believes that 3.06 is close enough to 3.07 to be within the tolerances of the computer and would not cause a problem. If you were to do this swap you would just have to make sure you are not getting a 2.82 finding a used one would make this swap fairly reasonable. Just remember you have to use the CLK55 axles as well and swap the flange that connects the drive shaft from your old diff.

 

lol at Andy going in there asking about it to some random guy ... but if it was me