CLK430 vs C43

Hello all. can someone help me with these questions
What makes the C43 have 302HP and the CLK430 have 275hp?
what can i do to make my CLK430 have 320hp?

does changing just the muffler with like a remus really help?

chipping?

changing the diff to 3.07 which is what the C43 is and the CLK430 i believe is only 2.87?? why?

where can the diff. be changes safely?

today, i just raced a BMW m3. He couldnt keep up. i am from NYC. I was doing 120MPH in the Long Island Expressway!! and the sick thing is that it didnt feel like i was going fast at all!!! sick!!!!

thanks in advance for helping me answer these questions...

i dont have the exact data, but i have a good guess. the C43 motor is AMG preprared and you would at least expect a little more cam, improved intake flow, improved air flow, different pistons/rods/and crank, and improved exhaust. i dont know if the block is the same. if that is true then AMG would not have changed the stroke obviously or it wouldnt be a 4.3L. those changes alone would increase HP. they are both i believe 3 valve motors. twin spark i dont know. the gear ratio differnce would give the off the line advantage to the C43. i dont think that it would be worth it to change the rear end...the cheapest way really to improve the 430 would be to get a CLK55. there you have the whole package of awesome handling and awesome power. to have renntech or brabus do to a 430 that way would be way over what the 55 costs and the performance will be very similar. my 55 is truly amazing. what a sleeper. the available torque is shocking. it handles great. think about a 55. with the market going bad, you might be able to get a deal on one..

[CaptAlex300e]

The C43 is AMG tunned. Like BlokDok stated the AMG motor has special CAM's , intake etc. I bet that if you play with the 430 you can get some nice gains from it. A AMG muffler or Remus muffler would add power however it would also add a nice growl to the car D) A nice burble. I like that

thanks for the replies.
how much gain can i get from a remus or eissenman (bekkers) mufflers? will i feel it? (where can i get a good price on a good muffler?)
is the stock CLK430 muffler restrictive? i noticed that from Cat-back, the CLK430 is not true dual exhaust. does that make a huge difference?
what if i change the rear end diff. to 3.07 instead of the stock 2.87? could i knock off .5 sec from my 0-60?

thanks!!

Gains from exhaust alone will be minimal. Don't expect more than 10hp even if you add a K&N filter at the same time. There is an AMG cat-back exhaust, identical in appearance to the exhaust on the CLK55, available for the CLK430. It costs about $1K, which is more expensive than Remus or Eisenmann, but less expensive than Brabus or RENNTech, and it gives about the same performance.

For 320hp, you'll have to at least change the chip, air box & air filter, and cat-back exhaust, but that still might not get you all the way to 320hp. Those mods alone are going to be $3K to $5K, and anything more starts to get real expensive and could easily make upgrading to a CLK55 look cheap.

Check out this link for some info on Wetteraur's chip-tuning. This info claims 300hp for $795 on a CLK430.
http://www.mbworld.org/faqs/wett.shtml

You might also ask the guys on this CLK forum if they've successfully tuned their 430s to 320hp.
http://www.mbworld.org/forum/w208/board/home.html

Brian,
thanks for the info. i made a typo error. i ment to say 302HP. i just want to make my CLK430 as powerful as the C43. its the same engine, but the C43 has about 25 more HP.

thanks to your info on the wett chip, i would like to investigate further and get one, then an cat back. that's it!!

lastly, springs, sway bars and rims.

so, minor changes but just enough to get more power and acceleration.

what do you think?

take care

A chip, exhaust, and K&N should get you to 302hp. Although I'm sceptical of chip tuner's figures and I would demand a money-back guarantee based on before & after dyno test by an independent shop.

The differential change will make more of a difference in acceleration than a chip and exhaust. You'll easily shave half a second off the 0-60 by changing the differential, although you may have to go with something lower (numerically higher) than 3.07:1. However, the differential change will hurt your top speed and your fuel economy.

Also, even though it will improve overall acceleration, changing the differential might hurt certain acceleration figures. For example, if you previously could accelerate from 0-60 and using only 1st and 2nd gear, then you change the differential ratio from 2.87:1 to 3.07:1, you may have to shift into 3rd before you get to 60mph, and that can hurt the acceleration time.