yesterday i picked up an old Mercedes inline 6. can anyone out there help me on where to start performance upgrades. not expecting alot of answers, being and odd engine but, never hurts to ask...
Do you know anything about the motor ? Impossible to know what could be done without even knowing more than "old Mercedes inline 6".. Might want to try and look for ID #s..at least.
I used to help a friend (and still do when he puts a gun to my head) work on his lifelong involvement with old Mercedes (mainly late 50's, 60's & early 70's) stuff. The engines were very well crafted & lasted a long time, but they're (in relative terms) hard & expensive to fix & rebuild. The parts aren't exactly lying around the local junk yard. There's a lot of electrical relays & things that a guy that grew up with small block Chevys (me) can only scratch his head at. I don't want to piss on your parade, but does it run?
I'm putting together a rod using a Mercedes 4 cylinder diesel. My guess is I won't be p***ing too many people on the uphills. Good to see another twisted individual using a Benz plant!
http://www.mercedesshop.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mercedes-Benz_platforms http://www.schumanautomotive.com/forums/ http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/index.php Start Reading,,,,,,,,you will luv em!
its a M130 2.8 liter from a 71' 280 S, well actuall i havent tried to turn it over yet. i got it from a local harry's u pull it...
performance upgrade #1. find another motor performance upgrade #2. purchase said other motor performance upgrade #3. install other motor performance upgrade #4. go fast Just yanking your chain. I know Benz engines are solid and dependable but, how much aftermarket support is there and at what expense. However, with enough $$$$ anything's possible.
Excellent choice. Why? because in 1970 a W108 Mercedes 280 S was a 130MPH motorcar .Imagine that engine in a light weight roadster half the weight of a Mercedes!. Manual trans are around but you have to really hunt. The 4 speed auto is better but hard to locate in the USA. There are two different 4 speed auto's too,one has a fluid coupler and one is a torque convertor trans. Unlike the previous poster who said they hard to work on,thats no nothing ****!. They're actually very easy to repair and beautifully engineered . The big secret is to spend time on the Benzworld and mercedeshop forums in the vintage section and ask plenty of questions.(I usually answer a lot of them...) .These are also a place to access cheap parts. I have several engines laying about the place here because they have no real value. The engines are so long lived that they never wear out so knowone wants them. Get rid of the carbs and intake,exhaust etc and fab up some intakes for webers or dellorto sidedrafts. mainly for the look cool factor but they will also unleash more of those german horses. Get rid of the points in the distributor by either a pertronix or a distributor,coil,twin resistor and switch box from the twin cam M110 engine. (almost the same block!). Most M130's are 8-1 compression so there is no need to attempt to increase it. The engines rev easily to 7000 rpm but the limit should held to 6250. Other great things are full lube to the piston gudgeons and cam lobes,Overhead cam,great port flow and easy parts availability. As i have mentioned,there are tons of the M130's laying about if you need a head or crank etc. so don't be put off if one engine is sick . This is a friends 230S ,same engine but smaller which he races in South Africa against contemporary Mustangs etc and often places well. Stock cam etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXd4liZ6Io8 If you need advice ,rebuild specs etc just send me a PM.
yea..do not expect much although perfection..trying to find a cancer thread that was posted...sometimes ..most of the time the search enging ****s..I wanted to be so vain to respond to Ryan's thread about the flat duo jets...tell him he should chase that down with a dose of ***** Galore..john spencers first gig...before the blues exposion..talk about trash can lids blowing up..then trying to support a cancer thread...so many posts are here can not even find it...just blink and the thread is gone....my bad...I just support anything podsted cancer....yea..I am defentyly down with veggie rods..ben playing with benzes for years
I got a Finny (63 230S) with the big honkin twin Zenith Carbs and factory dual exhausts. I originally planned to slap a later model Benz V8 in it.....until I drove it!!!!! 4 speed auto and 4.1 diff gears scoot in a big heavy Benz......would do much better in a light little roadster!!! And thats ONLY the 2.3 !!!!!! Many 'little' tuning things to check (eg solenoid on top of trans etc) that will change EVERYTHING about the way these things go!!!
You won't find too many 'bolt on' upgrades, mostly because the stock parts are pretty good. More power, tubular headers and maybe having the base circle of the cam ground to give slightly more lift and duration can make the Merc in to a fair ole animal. The stock ignition may have a rev limiter, so changing the ignition might allow the motor to spin a bit quicker making more ponies. That's about it, I kind of like old Merc engines, here is a trike I built arround one a couple of years back; 450 Injection, iron block, more than enough power !
Possibly, But I still rate Merc motors, The cars are not exactly slow, but take away all that excess wieght and they really fly. Quarter the m*** is the same as four times the power, and uses a fraction of the gas, sounds like a 'win win' to me.
I had an old 280 CE when I was a kid. The old guy i bought it off couldn't afford to rebuild the injection system so Had his buddy slap on a big pair of carbs (Webers I think) and hokey tubular headers. Man that thing could move, sounded great too! Loved that car till the frame rotted and it cracked in two. The motor was smooth as hell and had TONS of torque and all the cast alloy parts look cool too. Sounds like a good choice for a light weight rod.
Try Toyota parts prices. or if in OZ,Chevy parts are the same as Toyota,both more expensive than old mercs and mercs ,if looked after don't need parts very often. I'm a mercedes fan ..my daily driver is a 300SEL 6.3 .
In my younger days I made a living wrenching on Benzes. I was an "Authorized Technician" from '83-'86. I worked on many 2.8's and even some 6.3's, like previous post. M-B engines generally are well designed, over-engineered with superior alloys to be virtually bullett proof. The carbureted engines always had problems, as I recall, with the factory carbs (warpage). Fuel injection (Bosch) was reliable and trouble free. There are places that offer different cam grinds, not sure who though. Valve guides are only significant wear concern... they are replaceable bronze inserts. that 2.8 would make a nice speedster/track racer looking rod.
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