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differential

GSXR can help you with this. It is definitely possible to change the rear diff ratio with another gear set. You'd have to purchase a rear diff with gears from another car that has a diff of compatible size and design, and change out the gears with your own (or just bolt a full diff in to replace yours, if it's physically compatible at the housing/carrier level).

The choices for doing this are limited, particularly in the US. I think in Europe you have more options. If you want to get a used diff either as a donor for gears, or to bolt in (fully compatible), given that you are in NL, I would recommend that you either call or drive southward to Garage Van de Velde und Zoon, in Lokeren BE (not too far from Gent).

My friend Marc van de Velde runs this company, which is the largest Mercedes-Benz only wrecking yard in all of Europe. He will most definitely have what you need.

You could drive from Den Haag, NL to Lokeren, BE in less than 2 hours if you drive through Rotterdam and south, going around Antwerpen. Lokeren is about 1/2 way between Antwerpen & Gent.

http://www.autopartsvandevelde.be

Dijkstraat 8
9160 Lokeren, België
+32 09 340 53 53

Ma – vrij: 8.00 – 11.30 en 13.30 – 17.00

Marc is 100% fluent in: Dutch, Flemish, English, German, French, and Italian. If you speak with him, please tell him that his friend Gerry van Zandt in the USA sends his warm regards.

Cheers,
Gerry
 
I will do that Gerry,
If I ask him about this isue he will know what I need or do i have to loke it up myself?

Does anyone has experience with a diff change and wich one to use as a complete bolt on? What difference does it bring in 0-100 and top speed?

Tx
 
I think it is best if you do the research and then call Marc and let him know exactly (or close) to what you need. It would definitely be worth taking a day from work and driving to BE to visit Marc and his very impressive collection of parts in his warehouse as well as his wrecked cars outside. He has probably 500+ wrecked MBs in his yard.

I think GSXR here has some direct experience with this rear-end ratio swapping and can definitely help you out with an appropriate ratio and parts from other Benz models that would meet your need.

Cheers,
Gerry
 
Michel, it depends what you want... the stock 2.82 gears are a great compromise, which is why MB used them. If you install 2.65 gears you'll get higher top speed, but sacrifice about 0.1-0.2 seconds in both 0-60 and quarter mile time. If you install 3.06 gears you'll lose top speed but improve about 0.1-0.2 seconds in both 0-60 and quarter mile time. Fuel economy will change slightly as well.

I'm not sure what options are available for gears lower than 3.06 (i.e., 3.27) but I would not want those without an overdrive transmission. I also would not want taller gears (2.47 or 2.24) unless you had a huge amount of power, i.e. a supercharged 6.0-6.5L, etc; or if you really want better fuel economy and don't mind losing a bit of acceleration.

:5150:
 
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Most off the time i am driving in the city or 80 maximum roads so I want to know wich diff can i buy for a completely bolt on when I am going for 3.06 or 3.27.

Wich diff will fit on a 500e.

Tx
 
I don't think I'd go with MORE than a 3.06 on an E500E. I replaced the stock 2.47 with a custom-built 3.06 on my 560SEC some years back, and it spins at about 800 RPM higher with the new gears than with the old. This means it takes about a 1 MPG hit on fuel economy (7-8% reduction), and probably 5-10 MPH off of the V-max of the car. At 80 MPH (130 km/hr) the SEC is turning around 4000 RPM. Above 100 MPH (160 km/hr) it gets pretty noisy under the hood.

Indeed the E500E 2.82 is a good compromise, and MB used this same ratio for both Euro and US cars (unlike what they did with the SECs and other models). A 3.27 is just going to be too low for the car -- it needs to have long legs as it is an autobahn car.

Personally I would never change this gearing on an E500E. For the 560SEC it made much more sense to do this.

You can get a bolt-in 2.65 rear end from an early-generation R129 500SL. This should be an easy swap if you want to go with taller gearing. But it would be more difficult to go with "lower" gearing. The E500E uses a "mid-sized" diff housing and 210mm diameter ring. This is significantly larger than the "stock" smaller W124 gears that are used on six-cylinder and diesel W124s -- these wouldn't hold up to the torque that an M119 generates.

I think your options would be very limited here unless you wanted to go with a slightly taller ratio from an SL.

Cheers,
Gerry
 
The 3.06 would be my recommendation. You can get one from a W124 coupe that will fit, and you can make it LSD via either Quaife or factory clutch LSD. In the USA, this diff is quite rare as it was only used for about 2 years on a low-production model... might be easier to locate an appropriate donor in Europe though. It has to be in an ASR housing to be bolt-in (the input flange will still have to be swapped though - possibly the output flanges too).

Here's a document with more info, note that this is for US-spec cars only. All the info is from the EPC:
http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/ ... ntials.pdf

More good reading:
http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/ ... fo_Stu.txt

:5150:
 
Again, Marc van de Velde would be your best bet to find something like this. You are lucky that you are so close to his business location. You will be absolutely bowled over at the amount of both new and used MB parts at his multiple warehouses.

Cheers,
Gerry
 

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