Review of Bergwerk 1st gear shift kit...

[spinedoc]

I received the first gear shift kit from Bergwerks in the mail yesterday. For those of you that dont know, Mercedes had some years and model autos starting off the line at 2nd gear, taking away some of our fun. For $200-$300 Bergwerks.com sells a kit which would force your car to start off the line at 1st gear.

Ordering and shipping:
I spoke with Carl over at Bergwerks and placed my order. Carl is a true gentleman and took the time to answer my questions and address my concerns. He offered to walk me thru the install when I received the part. I thought he was just making the sale, more on that later. I received my package, which I tracked thru a provided tracking number, neatly packaged. It consisted of the main first gear start module, a security module, wiring, crimps, switches, etc etc. Out of the box it looks quite daunting, but rest assured, it is very easy. The day I received the package I called Carl to have him email me the instructions. He offered to walk me thru the install again, I told him I was doing it on a Saturday, but Bergwerks was closed on Sat. Carl gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him with any installation issues!! When is the last time you ordered some kind of a kit and the vendor offered to walk youthru the install on his personal day off over his cell phone?!

Instructions:
The instructions provided via email deserve special mention. These instructions make installation an utter and complete breeze. Bergwerks has taken the time to instruct you on taking off the center console, along with caveats and common mistakes in taking it off, they provide full color pictures of the exact wiring you need to tap into. Basically these instructions literally assure an untrained monkey success in installing this kit. With pictures, printed out these instructions are about 15 pages long. They could have fit the instructions on one page, but chose to be detailed and specific and make our lives easier.

Installation:
Install consisted of removing the center console and tapping into about 6 wires, drilling 2 holes into the cosole wood for switches, and programming the upshift and downshift points as desired. There is also a security mode which locks your doors at a certain speed that you could install, which requires work under the passenger footwell. If you didnt want this then all your work was in the center console only. I would say this project, from start to finish, took about 2 hours, well under what they estimated for a DIY job.

Results:
After installation and programming was complete I took the car for a spin, literally!! Having the car start in first gear was like launching a rocket, and the only downfall was the ASR engaging if I let the tires slip too much. You can opt to get a switch to turn off the first gear, for those snowy or rainy days, and also opt for a sport switch which will let you set a second set of upshift and downshift points for a more sporty drive.

For all you early 90's MB owners check on Bergwerks home page to see if your car starts in 2nd gear. This kit is an absolute MUST for us guys!! Additionally the great service and support I received from Bergwerks was awesome.

Thanx again Carl!
C. Rick

[williambishop]

I'm just curious, but can't you manually put it in 1st gear like my old 190E? Just pull from drive into second and then back to drive? My 15 year old car can leave black marks for quite a way if I do that. As to the traction system, there are ways to disable that, maybe you should pursue them?

[DuckMuck]

I was always under the impression that M-B chose to program their transmission to start in 2nd for their torquey V8/V12 models due to the fact that starting in first put too much "strain" on the transmission...I once tried putting my car in "B" and starting off from a red light, and the car just lurched forward the minute my foot tapped the gas...the ASR light came on...and I got a lot of wheelspin...it wasn't exactly a very refined start...but it definitely felt powerful...but I can't imagine it coming off the line like that every single time...

[suginami]

MB went to second gear start to improve fuel economy.

Stu Ritter has discussed this in The Star Magazine that 2nd gear start is harder on the transmission. First gear start is less stressful.

[Snibble]

Is this 1st gear start any good for a M103 motor in a 300SEL(w126)? Or is this pointless regarding the size and weight of the car?

[MTI]

The second gear start was also to reduce "creeping" while at a stop. It's unfortunate that more of the US cars didn't come with the Sport/Economy switch that was standard in Europe.

[pentoman]

I think the US models are permanently in the equivalent of our (Europe's) 'Standard', as its referred as in the owners book, mode. We get the bonus (?) of Economy, which prevents my car from revving over 3500 rpm before changing up. It's quite funny, as the engine starts to pull at its hardest from about 3400 rpm

[Snibble]

I drive back and forth from school and home on the weekends and each way is roughly around 60 miles. When I am on the highway... I usually travel at 75MPH or so and the Tach is at about 3500. Will this cause harm in the long term?

[suginami]

Your car can travel all day long at 3500 rpm and have no problems.

[williambishop]

Arguably, ALL WEEK. It is after all....A mercedes.

[gsxr]

My 1987 sales brochure states that the 2nd gear start is to prevent creeping at idle, but it also helps with economy & sneaking past EPA regs. The diesels were, thankfully, exempt from this stupidity.

The Euro sport/standard switch was just a signal to a servo that shortened the Bowden cable, to allow later (higher RPM) shifts in "Sport" mode. Neat setup, too bad all the US cars didn't have that. Oh, right, all the US buyers had gray hair and would prefer the "economy" setting, so I guess they compromised and set them all in the middle.

Here's a trick for 124 chassis owners, that may apply to other cars as well with 2nd gear start. At a stoplight, pull the lever back to "2" or "L". You will feel a light "thunk", this is the tranny dropping back to 1st gear. You can now put the lever back in "D" and start in 1st. If you leave it back there, it won't upshift until you move the lever to "S" (that "S" means Slope, not Second). Pull it back immediately after the 1-2 shift to keep it in 2nd gear until you want 3rd, then move to "S", then to "D" for 4th. Alternatley, most cars will start in first at full throttle if you click the kickdown switch under the pedal. I found that annoying as I wanted part-throttle 1st gear starts in my 300E, so I used the manual lever-rowing procedure above. (Or just get the kit!!)


Regards,

[domchang]

the above method works as well on a 87 560SL, though you move the gear shift to B when stopped then back up to D....nice zippy takeoff.

[mbtjc]

My car has the E/S switch and from what I understand, the S mode doesn't even start it in first.. only if you punch the accelerator really hard will it do that. So I know there are ways to start it in first, like that way or the ways mentioned in other posts, but it seems kinda like a pain to move your lever all the time or have to really punch it. So I want to order this module. I talked to BergWerks and they said it would work fine on my car and I could rig the two functions (1st or 2nd gear start or "Winter Mode" to my current E/S switch so then it would really be a economy/sport mode! And then I can wire the sport function (different upshifts) to the little child window lock switch. Clean and no extra switches that have to be installed.

I really want this thing!! I just can't afford it right now with all the other things that need to be done to my car!

[mbtjc]

I am really hoping that you are just excercising your sense of humor here!!!

[mbtjc]

Wow...apparently you weren't kidding. Yeah, I'll go ahead and try it, but before I do that I'll be sure to make an order at FastLane for a couple flex discs and a few other driveline parts, so I have them right there when they blow out and my driveshaft is sitting on the pavement.