I finally got Kleeman S/C and header installed in my 55.
Using dynojet, my car registered 300 WHP before the install - using same dyno, car showed 384 WHP after the install.
I searched online and it seems I should be getting around 430 WHP with S/C and header installed.
I am noticing two issues after the install:
1) The car is running lean...On the way back from the installer, I was able to drive for 440 miles on 7/8 of tank for 5:30 hrs (about 35 miles/gallon). I was never able to pull more than 310 miles from a full tank of gas. The dyno showed about 14/1 Air/Fuel ratio all the way to 5000 RPM which is crazy. I am told by GMP (the installer) that as the ECU adapts, this should get better. Well, I have put 600 miles on it so far and no changes.
2) A smoke test (where you spray the engine with smoke to see if there are air leaks in the intake/engine) revealed that there is leak between the supercharger and engine block gasket. It's not enough to leak any oil but you can definitely hear the wheeze sucking sound. The car did not have any problems over a long drive back and the installer told me that gasket may not have seated properly yet and told me to wait on this one also.
What are you guys thoughts on this one? I am open to all expert opinions on what to do, how long I should wait, and etc.
Mate your pistons will fail if your a/f is 14:1 under boost and this will happen very quickly. Much leaner than 12.5:1 under boost is serious danger territory. I always map 14.7 closed loop then 13.5 to 0.5 psi boost then 12.5 from 4 psi upto 12 psi. This was for non charge cooled supercharger. When racing I mapped boost to 11.5 a/f.
Kleeman said that there is no way that should happen and they want me send the ECU back. This is nuts... ECU was sent back already once for checksum error. GMP (my installer) had my car for over 40 days when they were supposed only have it for 20 days. I had to change my plane ticket twice and had to pay for 2 weeks of rental car (installer only agreed to pay for 1 week).
This is total nightmare. I installed Kleeman because it was reputable and I never heard of any problems. Now, my car's going to out of commission for months...
hey Hakaze, nice to see another VA SLK owner here. do you have any before/after torque numbers? not sure if this helps since you've already spent a lot of money and your car is somewhere else but Funktion Auto (www.funktionauto.com) in Dulles, VA is an authorized Kleemann dealer. they installed my Brabus springs and aligned my SLK350. i know nothing about installing kleemann supercharger & headers but does it really take 40 or even 20 days?
install shouldn't take more than 1 day. Getting the ECU tuned can take MANY trips unless they can custom tune your car.
Your install sounds like it was total crap. 14:1 airfuel on 93 octane is crazy... see if you can get some protection at least with 100 octane.
Also the gasket not sealing and letting it wait? Are they crazy?
I would call Cory and complain about the service from the installer and see if you can get a quicker resolution. Like having cory come down and teach HIS reseller how to do a proper install. At the same time custom tuning your ECU.
GMP is not that great for tuning, you should of sent your car to Kleemann usa for topnotch work.
with the hassle of plane tickets and rental cars, should've gone straight to kleemann usa in the first place? what's GMP's website anyway? what caused your CEL again alroumi? i forget.
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Originally Posted by algrensan
with the hassle of plane tickets and rental cars, should've gone straight to kleemann usa in the first place? what's GMP's website anyway? what caused your CEL again alroumi? i forget.
Kleemann long tube headers they remove the primary cats, just needed to have it removed via star diagnostics.
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with the hassle of plane tickets and rental cars, should've gone straight to kleemann usa in the first place? what's GMP's website anyway? what caused your CEL again alroumi? i forget.
I completely agree. I should have done that in the first place. There was someone else who did Kleeman install at GMP and apparently it worked out well. Here's the total run down of events.
1) Original finish date was 13 Apr. I received e-mail 5 days before the day I was to fly in that the car had supercharger installed but rear differential was leaking oil so they did not install the LSD. GMP wanted to know if I wanted to wait to have LSD installed or pick up the car right away. The problem is that they had 20 days to tell me and they waited until last minute to tell this.
2) I decided to have LSD installed. I incurred $850 for rental car for two weeks and new plane ticket. Two weeks later, I call the day before I arrive and get an assurance that the car is ready. Next morning, I fly into Charlotte and I am told that ECU is having problem with checksum error and it won't start. Apparently, GMP did not send the ECU out until 4 days before and they just got it back last night. So the car was not ready on 13th anyway.
With the car not ready, and wasting a day of leave, I fly back to DC which takes me a whole day and $300 since I am buying the ticket at the last minute. Another week of rental cars cost me $230.
3) On 29th, the car is finally ready and I fly in at GMP's expense. They tell me that car's running 14/1 Air/fuel ratio and ECU needs time to adjust. They do the smoke test to see if there are any leaks at my request and find the leak between the gaskets. They also tell me that it needs time to sit properly. Tired of arguing, I settle for GMP reimbursing only about $500 of my cost and drive home 550 miles.
4) I notice that car's getting 35 miles to gallon - no way it's happening on V8. I called Kleeman and I am told to send the ECU back. Kleeman is supposed to call me back with instructions on Friday and they never call me back.
At this time, I am ready to rip it all out and go back to stock. But what's done is done so I want Kleeman to fix it right. I am going to talk to them again on Monday and see what they willing to do fix what their approved installer messed up. Based on the outcome, I am ready to go to court and sue for all the cost incurred, emotional distress (I go nuts when I am not driving my car - my co-workers can attest to that), and possible damage done to the car.
I am done with playing with GMP or Kleeman...I hope they do the right thing in addressing this issue.
I received e-mail back from Cory and he said that only way to really measure A/F ratio is to install a wideband O2 sensor - that's what he wants me to do before sending the ECU back. I guess calculating MPG from onboard computer or at gas station is not entirely correct - I can see that.
I will need to do another test on the air leak between the gaskets and install O2 sensor - hopefully, when everything is squared away, missing 40 HP magically returns.
I would venture to suspect that the gasket air leak is a big part of the problem. If the car reads the MAF but has additional air or less air due to the leak that is not measured by the MAF the A/F ratio will be way off.
Get GMP to fix the gasket air leak before reprogramming the ECU.
I have an appointment on Monday to have the car look at by Funktion Auto, another approved Kleemann dealer. Hopefully, they can diagnose what the problem is. It seems that MPG is back close to normal (around 18 - 20 MPG) but now the engine's misfiring.
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Originally Posted by Hakaze
I have an appointment on Monday to have the car look at by Funktion Auto, another approved Kleemann dealer. Hopefully, they can diagnose what the problem is. It seems that MPG is back close to normal (around 18 - 20 MPG) but now the engine's misfiring.
Man I hope it works out for you. You've put up with a lot of cr@p already.
I received e-mail back from Cory and he said that only way to really measure A/F ratio is to install a wideband O2 sensor - that's what he wants me to do before sending the ECU back. I guess calculating MPG from onboard computer or at gas station is not entirely correct - I can see that.
Excuse me?????
So using the odometer and the gas stations measure of how much fuel you bought to determine your per tank mpg is not a valid way to determine your per tank mpg?
Both the odomoter and the gas stations flow meters MUST be accurate to within a predetermined tolerance - by law.
There is no law governing wide band lamda sensor accuracy.
If you are getting 400+ miles from a tank you ARE running lean. I can't get much more than 250 miles from my 350 - but then all my driving is inside London.
If you are getting suction through a gasket then this is way downstream from the MAF sensor and will not be accounted for in the fuelling. It WILL be running lean as a result of this.
I am not sure exactly why a gasket would bed itself in to seal better over time.
I'd be asking them straight away to lift the new suspercharger and reinstall it with a new gasket and ensure there is no leak.
I wouldn't rely on it fixing itself. It sounds like they may have retorqued the bolts to squash the gasket down. I do hope it's ok like that.
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Problems after Kleeman S/C install 
SLK 350 6 MT
