I was wondering, what if someone with a lot of cash on hand went in the direction of a modified 500E?

For those of use who read the article in the April 97' "Street Power" issue of the magazine, they covered a Twin-Turbo C36 conversion for the tune of about 30k equal to 561 hp and 0-60 times in the 4's (1/4 in 12's). What could such a beast like a 500E do?

Twin, single Turbo? Supercharger? Why not a big c.i.'er and all the above? I realize that room is tight under the hood, but there are some creative tuners out there. And if this board is any indication, there is definatley a market for the work (sorry Renntech, your way over priced for the true gearhead and speed freak!).

I wonder what Motorsport Design in Scottsdale, AZ would say if someone came knocking...?

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Ross
96 C280, Greenish Black

Give Scott a call at www.motorsportconcepts.net
He is taking my E320 cabriolet which has a mosselman twinturbo and full cylinder head work done already and he is bore and stroking it to 4.0 liter with new pistons, etc. to lower the compression ratio from the stock 10.0 so that we can have stronger, but not crazy, boost as well as switching to Koenig turbos and other things to give around 450hp rear wheels. Sure he could surpass that c36 twinturbo with a 4.0 twinturbo but this is my summer daily driver and has to be reliable. Email me if you have any questions. Regards, Mark

[This message has been edited by Webmaster (edited 07-30-2000).]

I've done some research on this and from what I've read/heard twin-turbos are out as the clearance between the motor and frame rails does not leave enough room for turbo plumbing. Either cut the frame (REALLY not recommended) or mount the turbo so far away from the motor that lag becomes a big problem. Being that turbos are out there are two possible methods for a supercharger. Though I've never seen them done they should be "do-able" to someone with the engineering prowess and $$$. (mostly $$$)

A) put a Vortech style supercharger in place of the OEM airpump. Boost wouldn't kick in till higher rpm's but it may well be hard enough to keep it pointed in a straight line through lower speeds with even mild boost. Mechanically I know it would fit, its just getting around all the computer/sensor work.

B) lose the stock intake in place of a big ole twin-screw (eaton style) supercharger. The M119 is a fairly big/deep motor so you should be able to fit one down there. Once you pressurize the intake charge a couple of psi intake manifold geometry becomes fairly moot. This would make for a mega gonzo torque mobile that is viscious at almost all rpm's.

Both of those options are talking about stock displacement/compression. Both of those should be good for 500+HP and even more torque. Lower the compression and/or do a displacement bump and the sky is the limit. If he can get a C36 up to 560HP one could probably get a 500E up to 750HP (or more) given the bump in displacement and extreme boost.

Hope this helps...Lee