Here is some data from my Gtech Competetion Pro

Run 60' 330' 1/8m speed 0-60 mph
1 2.560 5.816 8.227 100.22 4.367

2 2.384 6.033 NA NA 5.113

3 2.680 6.072 NA NA 4.742

4 2.306 5.107 NA NA 5.107

5 2.753 6.132 NA NA 4.783

6 2.468 5.950 NA NA 4.810

7 2.475 5.804 NA NA 4.398

The acceleration is pretty damn good and makes my E430 sport feel like a slug.

The 5 litre 119, engine is rated at 332 hp without cats.

If you look at the stock headers and compare them to say the Renntech headers, there is not that much difference, because there just is no room. If I'm not mistaken Renntech calculate a 20 hp gain on their 6 litre engine (which is more likely to see gains because of its tuned nature) from their headers.

On a stock motor, if it could be done I would be surprised if you saw more than 10-15 hp from the headers.

__________________
David Hendy
'97 Renntech E60RS
'97 GMC 2500 Sub' Diesel
'95 E300D
'88 300TE
'88 250TD
'84 L/Rover 109

The stock 500E manifolds are not nearly as restrictive as the 560 SEC manifolds. I still think a very well designed system will give another 10% on top of the stock horsepower if the whole exhaust system is improved. The 500E exhaust, from what I've seen, is still not optimal and can definitely be improved. However, with that said, my project is not for the 500E. This header project is for a supercharged 560 SEC and a few naturally aspirated 560 SECs.

In order to show the dramatic improvement between the stock manifold and the new headers I took a side by side picture:

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Super SEC, no comparison.......!!

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Vince

'94 E500 2 piece SL rims, chip, K&N Filter, HR Springs. Mesa Valve "Y" Pipe, ASR Defeat, BW NOS, S600 Grille, SL600 300mm rear brakes

That's 10-15HP I'd be HAPPY to take!!!

For some reason, I think mine will be waaaaaaaay more than 15 hp. I'm surprised my engine would run with the stock manifolds. it was probably burning my valves to no end. No wonder I had to put new valve stem seals on the engine. They probably vaporized from the excessive heat caused by all that back pressure.

VERY NICE!!! Given your very tuned state of your SEC, it's probably gonna make more of a difference on such a car than compared to a stock Merc. At any rate, considering the cost of what some folks have put into their Mercedes, a couple of grand is a drop in the bucket and some wouldn't think twice about this option.
I remember a while back someone did a SEC dragster and did their stuff over at Burns Stainless. Man, that car was CRAZY!!! Neil, you might remember seeing this thing- the plumbing work was absolutely outrageous and the finish work was AMAZING!! I think it had twin or quad turbos or something like that. I went to the Burns site and the pics were not there anymore. If someone could find them and post them I'd certainly like to see them again....definitely eye candy....

How is this for Custom Headers?

May as well tack on Turbo's if you are going through the effort.
One bar produced 570 hp and 800nm.

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Nice side by side pic of the old vs. new headers. That picture only shows problem number 1 with the U.S. factory headers- the miniscule size and dumping ability. You should also mention that not only is this restricitive, but the stock driver side manifold actually has a collector pipe that wraps around the whole back side of the engine and connects to the passenger side manifold exit pipe, then into a pre-cat, then into regular cats... Man, how does exhaust even get out of that maze in the first place? Do they even consider the 560/420 U.S. cars dual exhaust? For other 560 U.S. owners out there, look for Euro 560 manifolds if you can't afford the tag on custom headers. They're hard to find but if you have a connection overseas, they're well worth it. I compared them to my AMG headers and I would guess they flow about the same. They're cast iron so they're heavy but who cares.

__________________
Mike
-W126C 560SEC 040 Black
*6.0L AMG M117 32v Hammer
-W163 ML320 Brilliant Silver
-W124 300E Pearl Black

EuroCoupe,

You can't really say enough about the poor engineering that went into making the US exhaust.

These custom headers are a good bit larger than the AMG tubular headers and a much better design to boot. A new set of cast iron Euro manifolds will cost over $1000 and the custom ones I'm having made are not far from that price. Not to mention, they are warrantied to never rust by JetHot coating. They will repair any rust or corrosion damage and recoat the headers for life.

I am very interested in headers, now; what are our (500E/E500) options?

http://www.burnsstainless.com/

My guy will make headers for the 500E if you can guarantee at least 5 sets. Someone would need to drop off a 500E and let it sit during the manufacturing process. I think the price would be around $1,200-$1,500 for mild steel and around $2,100 for stainless. JetHot coated mild steel will outperform the stainless ones by 1% to 3% even if the design is the same. He has been building headers for over 40 years.

I wonder how this ($2,100.00) might compare to a Burns Stainless project price.

I am in NorCal, so I would prefer to drive south for a few hours to get HOOKED UP!!!

Where is your fabricator/tubing guru located, SuperSEC?

I'm *VERY* interested!

I'm in Pensacola Florida. That would be a bit of a drive for you!