Renntech 400E

[colombian_gringo]

I received a text today from a guy that I've been trying to buy a LSD diff from.


"How would you like to buy a 1992 Renntech modified 400E? 6 liter M119, custom headers and stainless exhaust, Gleason torsen LSD, custom 5 link rear suspension, custom tranny, custom radiator, $32k spent on engine bore stroke and cams, 12k on exhaust, 5k on rear, 5k on suspension, 5k on trans."


I replied, "How much? How many miles? Where is the car?"


"175k miles, Gainesville, FL"

I replied, "Your car? Price?"


"Story goes that it originally had 6.2 liter that blew up at 100k, and replaced with 6 liter.
Yes, my car. Needs work. Been sitting. Has SL 600 brakes, the 334 mm brembos that you must have seen on net. Tranny was rebuild 2 years ago.
Renntech installed 500e brakes back in the day, but I upgraded to SL600
Also have brand new in box Bergwerks nitrous. Never installed cause car is already too powerful for tires.
Whole package with brand new, never installed Michelin tires, $12000."

I don't know much about the seller other than my previous communication with him about the diff he was selling. If anyone's interested PM me for his contact number.

 

[samiam44]

Does he have reciepts?

$32.5 would indicate a non-base motor - Big cams?



Michael

 

[Glen]

Assuming the engine is as described and mechanically sound, the asking price would be an easy and affordable way to get into a 6.0 liter, especially if all the other upgrades are viable as well. You could either drive it as is or swap the good stuff into an E500E.

 

[colombian_gringo]

No idea if he has receipts. I posted all the info I have on the car.

 

[dernt]

The car is mine. I don't have receipts, but I have a price list from Renntech from back in the day listing upgrades on the car. I also contacted Renntech years ago to see if they had records on the car and they said that they do not. Too bad for me. It would be nice to have it all documented.

 

[samiam44]

There were several different level's of 6.0 liter build. Base build is 20k.



Michael

 

[dernt]

I am about to do a timing chain on the motor, so if there are any identifying marks, I will document. If anyone knows what to look for, info is appreciated. The car has the following done by Renntech:

6 liter engine, the valve covers are powdercoated gold, which does not prove anything, but I think this was one of Renntech's signatures. The documentation I have from Renntech lists the engine at $27k with OE cams, $32k with Renntech cams
Renntech carbon fiber air box
Stainless Steel headers
Stainless steel exhaust with cats
Custom aluminum radiator
Gleason-Torsen LSD with 2.82 gears
Corrected speedo
It had 500E brakes which I replaced with SL600 (334mm front, 300mm rear) brakes
Bilstein shocks
5 link rear suspension replaced with adjustable rods and heim joints
ASR defeat 5 relay system with custom fit switch in dash panel. It looks OE.
The transmission had extra clutches in it when it was rebuilt, which was a Renntech thing. I assume Renntech modified the valve body, but no proof.
Hella Euro Headlights

I think all of the above was done by Renntech.

I have 6 wheels for the car, 2 drag radials, and 4 brand new Michelin's with zero miles and have not been mounted.

I also have a brand new, never installed Bergwerks nitrous kit. As mentioned, the car had too much power for the tires without the juice, so I never got around to it.

There were several different level's of 6.0 liter build. Base build is 20k.



Michael

 

[samiam44]

Many of Renntech's limited slips diffs were Factory clutch style and not TG. Almost all the TG's failed early.

You need to measure lift on the camshafts to determine which camshaft you have. Measure several lobes, intake and exhaust.

A picture of the Renntech chip in the LH would be helpful to determine what the engine was setup to run. To my knowledge, RT never added clutch discs to 600e transmission. That is a V12 clutch pack kit. RT built transmissions always have increased line pressure and shift kits installed.



Michael

 

[samiam44]

Doesn't seem to add up on the 6.2 liter story. Why are you replacing guides/chain on an engine with 75,000 miles?

 

[dernt]

I think I took a picture of the chip at one time, but I can't find it now. If you can really tell something from an image of the chip, I will dig for it. Since the LH module has 6ltr written on it with some German, if there's anything to the 6.2 story, the module was changed. I have nothing to back up this story, and I am not trying to claim that this motor has only 75k miles. Since the odometer has 175k miles, anyone that is really interested should assume it all has that mileage. I think the German means something like without rev limiter and with remapping, but no clue really. The tranny had and still has an extra clutch which were replace along with the front pump. The tranny was rebuilt 4 - 5 or so years ago by the tech that did tranny work at MB of Gainesville at that time. He is a friend. I guess I don't know if it's a Gleason-Torsen diff. I do know I could burn both tires off the rims if I were inclined. There is a tag on the diff which I think says 2.82 gear ratio. When I get around to the timing chain, I'll see what I can see from the lobes, but it's going to be a while. I'm 1800 miles from the car now, and I won't be back for a few months. The car dynoed at 320 RWHP and 360 ft.lb torque in 2009. I have put less than 5000 miles on the car since then.

Many of Renntech's limited slips diffs were Factory clutch style and not TG. Almost all the TG's failed early.

You need to measure lift on the camshafts to determine which camshaft you have. Measure several lobes, intake and exhaust.

A picture of the Renntech chip in the LH would be helpful to determine what the engine was setup to run. To my knowledge, RT never added clutch discs to 600e transmission. That is a V12 clutch pack kit. RT built transmissions always have increased line pressure and shift kits installed.



Michael

 

[jhodg5ck]

what kind of dyno did you make your pull on?

 

[dernt]

what kind of dyno did you make your pull on?

Sorry, don't read in this forum any more. What kind of dyno? My certified butt dyno. Kidding, and I do not know. It was done at Rollin's Speed Shop in Gainesville FL around 2010. If you are really curious or if it really matters, you could call them and ask what they have/had. I also have the results somewhere.

 

[Maui]

If this is truly a renntech 6l the car is a bargain, especially if there are no major mechanical issues. Why are these cars always on the other side the country? Couldn't someone swap all these upgrades into a high mileage 500E and have pretty fun car?

 

[dernt]

Time to get serious about doing something with this car. I am going to Gainesville next week to access the state of the car. Posts #7 and #10 above pretty much sum up what the car is. I will start a new thread under another heading so that it is not buried in the 400E section. It is a RennTECH car. You can see the decal on the LH module, and I really don't think that anyone else was doing such extensive mods. If anyone has a contact at RennTECH, it would be cool to get into their records and see what was done on the engine and transmission, but RennTECH does not want to give out the info, which is also understandable. When I called a few years back, they said that all of records from that period were organized by customers' names, not VINs. The car must have been done in the early 90s.

The car is in limp home mode right now, which makes the throttle act like a binary switch, practically on or off. I'll see what I can figure out next week, but if someone offered me $7500 for the car as is, I would take that. That price does not include the Bergwerks nitrous kit mentioned above.

 

[leadphut]

can you post more pictures of the car, such as the engine bay for starters? would love to see what they've done under the bonnet.

 

[dernt]

Not much to see under the hood besides the RennTECH air box, the gold colored valve covers, and if you look closely, you can see the ASR defeat relays in the upper left. This is an old picture, and the clear coat on the air box is in much further degraded condition. I'll update when I get to the car next week.

 

[dernt]

Sale Pending.

 

[dernt]

SOLD.

 

[M104-AMG]

So who purchased this . . .

neil

 

[126v8]

Anyone???

 

[gsxr]

So who purchased this . . .

Beats me, but I found this video on the interwebs...



[video=youtube_share;ERkZf42-yCA]https://youtu.be/ERkZf42-yCA[/video]

 

[gerryvz]

Wasn't Boondavi hallucinating a couple of years back that a dirt-cheap, bargain-basement 400E he bought with his pal Cascade had a RENNtech 6-liter? Swearing up and down that it did, but when push came to shove, he absolutely wouldn't couldn't prove it.

And then he was very rudely hitting up everyone he could on this forum to try to beg, borrow or steal a 6-liter EZL and/or an LH unit for his hooptie?

When three or four people came to me via PM, noting he was pestering them, and combined with his past insults of me, his actions got him banned from this forum.