My new "AMG" Bus
I am sticking this here, I hope it does not offend sports car enthusiasts but I wanted to put a build thread somewhere for me to refer to
I sold my W639 Brabus Vito to my brother earlier in the year with the intention of upgrading to the latest W447 model. In the UK we have a tax law which allows one (very efficiently) to run a van as a company fully expensed vehicle but the van must have a load capacity of 3200kg so V Class ruled out.
My dealer searched hard in the new vehicle network and came up with the goods a 2019 Flint Grey 119 Sport 3.2Tonne Vito with lots of options including electric side doors and front and rear sensors.
I took delivery of the stock vehicle and the modding began.....
I wanted to brand this as an AMG so started to imagine what needed to be done for it to be able to wear the badge (IMO )
I started with the wheels which as we know are an important statement and in van circles are a huge talking point and there are a lot of companies making wheels for vans, mainly for VWs. One important consideration is that to comply with my vehicles 3.2 tonne rating the rear axle has a load weighting of 1750kg so I needed wheels capable of taking that weight (not that I would ever load it up that high but HMRC can be nasty when they want to). I looked at AMG wheels and they do some nice options but their load ratings were for V Class (ie low) and the biggest they do are 19" which was not quite enough .
I found a German company who had commissioned some wheels with very specific offsets and a really clever look which gave the rear wheels a slight dish compared to the fronts, both front and rear were 9"X20 with exact same offset. The first hurdle was the wheels only came in gloss black and I wanted them diamond cut. I bought them and had a local company do the business on them and they turned out great.
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Notice the small lip behind the wheel this is a small piece sold by Eibach which finished off the look nicely.
The next dilemma was the tyres, the rear ones in particular I had to get the load weighting right, the supplier only used a lower rating tyre (for the v class) so was of no help, I ended up getting Michelin PS4S in 265/40 ZR20 104Y for the rear which gave a solid 900kg (at 51PSI) and I used the recommended 245/40 ZR 20 99Y which gave 775kg per tyre easily enough for the front. I set the tyre pressures at 38PSI which gives a nice ride.
The new wheels were obviously a lot taller than the outgoing 17", the same company who did the wheels also had a fully TUVed Bilstien Sport Comfort B14 package which I fitted.
The van was dropped by quite a bit ~30mm and we ended up compared to standard height at -10mm rear and -12mm front, I didn't want to go too low as practicality then goes south !
My old W639 sported the V6 3.0 engine and was tuned to 275PS/600NM and put the torque through the 4 speed auto in a beastly manner. The new engine was the fabled 2.15l OM645 lump with 7 speed auto and tuning options are quite limited. The latest V class and soon Vito are powered by a new 2.0l motor which has 237PS in top tune but I really didn't want to wait and also didn't want even less cc !!
My research concluded that K & N air filter and uprated intercooler with a solid tune were the ticket. The intercooler has what the Germans call DIN nets (not sure exactly what the DIN refers to, maybe there is a spec for their manufacture ?) and is some 70% bigger than stock.
Front off an installation.
We actually had a bit of trouble with boost pipe coming off after tuning and my shop had to weld an extremely aggressive lip so that the clamps could hold the high boost !!
K&N filter installed, intercooler good to go off we went to the mapper. This guy specialises in mapping vans and has the latest Maha dyno, I left it with him for 3 hours and came back to this
Standard is 190PS/440NM mew maximum numbers 248PS/535NM and a red line of 4350rpm. This was 20hp more than the tuner had ever seen with this engine on his dyno, he kept EGTs to 900C so everything was well within parameters.
I also fitted a "tuning pedal" , some of you guys may have seen these they plug into the accelerator pedal wiring and change the map so when you give say 30% it now gives 60% throttle, it is very adjustable and I really like the way it changes the interaction between throttle and torque output.
So the "AMG" had a few badges and not much AMG, with its new found power it was time to change that.
I sourced a (expensive) kit which adapted the brakes from the ML63, massive 17kg each 390mm brakes for the front axle.the discs and pads were all aftermarket quality stuff from Zimmerman with OEM calipers and braided brake lines.
Next came the interior. I had Alpines latest module fitted which replaces the awful factory item and has the useful Appleplay on it as well as a great DAB system
The main seating layout is two Captains seats up front and a two + one in the rear, I had these redone in a black leather with silver inserts - note the (not inexpensive) OEM AMG floormats
I have the needs for more than 5 seats so after lots of searching I came up with a dual seat module out of a V Class in a lovely Black Nappa which I had installed in the rear on rails which allows for some movement so Ican adjust the load space or even use the quick release and remove them if necessary, but this is a two (strong) man job.
Note I had the rear fitted with a black high quality automotive carpet.
So The Van is fairly blinged up it has rear windows, lots of chrome bits and pieces, an aftermarket "GT" grill (which I think I like !) here are the pics of the exterior.
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