Hey guys new to this forum but def not new to forums (no newb here) and kinda new to Benz's but not new to diesel, again no newb here.

I just picked up a 1980 240d about 2 months ago, she has only 415k on her but to a MILLION MILE ENGINE!!! that should be nothing. This is my third soon to be drifting car.

My first was a 1993 civic (heavily modded, cut springs, turbo, eBay intercooler, accord brake system all around, straight pipe to custom whistle tip, ya know... The works.) she had to be pushing 350 400 horses.

My second was a Mazda Miata drop top that pullllled!!! Basically the same mods as my civic but no turbo. (Civic threw a rod so I frankesteined all my upgrades into my drop top) something was wrong with the turbo so I just left that out. What I did was spliced the IC piping straight into the intake, so i was at least getting ice cold air in there. In theory that should be pretty close to the same effect as a turbo. (This was the BEST IC on eBay btw)


Ok but anyways now that u guys know that I know my way around an engine let's get to my current issue. I took my 240 to my local DYNO and ran it multiple times and she kept hitting at only 55 wHP!!! Hahaha this cannot be correct I told the guy and he just wanted to argue, I wanted a refund but he wouldn't have it so I just got outta there.

And so ill bring this to u guys, the guru's!!! I figure I'm somewhere around 230-240 wHP by the amount of mods I've thrown at this car in the past few months, lemme know what guys clock me in at.

--- So I've spliced in a twin cold air intake set up. It's just a Y pipe connected to two intakes, I ripped off the POS stock dishpan intake and thrown this in place of that. (17 HP per intake so 34hp)

--- exhaust manifold and exhaust piping DELETE. I've completly removed it straight off the engine so there is NO manifold at all. This obviously allows less air restriction and MORE air the be pulled thru the engine, especially since this paired with my twin cold air intake!!! (I'd say this must add another 30-40 HP, but also atleast double the input of cold air at the Twintake (hence my handle) so that bumps it to 68 HP)

So this simple mod alone Adds a conservative 100hp so with just that I'm at 165 wHP, DYNO must have been wrong right guys!!! Haha ya obviously, but there is MORE!

--- synthetic oil complete swap from conventional, when these old diesel are ran with heavy duty conventional diesel oil it really bogs them down (can someone say Black death!! Haha) so switching to a thin synthetic allows the pistons and and crank And etc to move and spin faster. ( So another 15 - 20 HP here)

--- removed extra weight, interior is gutted (500 lbs lighter) now they don't make carbon fiber hoods trunks door etc for these cars, for reasons unknown. So basically I have left the main frames of these body parts and cut out as much of this heavy metal as possible with my disk grinder (750 lbs) so 1250 pounds lighter give or take (so that should add another 30-40 HP)

--- and lastly ivr fitted my civic's (rip) spoiler/wing onto the 240. I just don't think a DYNO can take this into account (along with the lightness of the car) because it's not actually moving on the DYNO. I mean duh guys it's physics, so what the wing does is hold the whole car onto the ground tighter allowing here to really get a good grip on the track, hence MORE WHEEL HORSEPOWER!!! and just straight pull (so again I thibk this should add another 20 - 30 horses)


So with all these simple DIY mods my ride is at a VERY CONSERVATIVE ~235 horse power to the wheels.

So if anyone else wants a FAST w123 this is what u need to do. I haven't been able to get her out on the road yet because my license is suspended until next month. That's why I've had the time to add all these updates to the car. She really idles Strong rigjt now tho and she sounded soooo fast on that DYNO.


everyone please help!!! What do do u think I'm at! I know we can l agree the DYNO was broken but are my number correct!?

I'll do a DIY thread next weekend on how to cut springs on these cars to lower then and make them more aerodynamic which adds 30 HP.


So