1978 C-111/lll - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

#1 03-23-2005, 08:53 PM

1978 C-111/lll ...... how many horse did this thing have?

Johnhef · #2 03-23-2005, 09:02 PM

all of your questions shall be answered.
http://www.mbspy.com/c111_III.htm
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2004-37,GGLD:en&q=C111%2DIII

#3 03-23-2005, 09:19 PM

thank you

hanno · #4 03-24-2005, 08:21 AM

Great car, but (and its hard to say) I would really prefer the gasser version C-111 from around 1969-70... 4 rotor Wankel, 400 hp. Don't ask about "gas mileage" as it would be a "so-what" consideration.

Johnhef · #5 03-24-2005, 07:55 PM

How come that wankel engine never made it into any production cars?

I don't like MB for holding the super turbodiesel back from us....

Capt Kirk · #6 03-24-2005, 10:08 PM

the C-111 was the test bed for the Wankel engine for Mercedes (the owned a chunk of the company) but then the gas crunch hit and they realized Diesel was the way to go. The sold their interest and never touched the rotary agian.

Imagine how great an engine the rotary would be if it had the backing of Daimler-Benz's R&D money

-Alan

#7 03-24-2005, 10:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capt Kirk

Imagine how great an engine the rotary would be if it had the backing of Daimler-Benz's R&D money

Yeah, insted of groaning about "Made in india" injectors we would be complaining about "Made in india" Apex seals.

#8 03-25-2005, 09:08 AM

I got the idea from one of the posts that someone is under the impression that this car was available for sale to the public. It was a testbed, not a production model.

I don't know if they made more than one, but I have seen one in the MB museum in Stuttgart and it's a great piece of history to stand next to. It is even smaller than it looks in the pictures.

The museum is set up in chronological order pointing out the innovations in each successive model. The C111 is near the end and it's interesting to see the other milestone cars near it, such as a beat up 190 race car and a Formula One car from the Mercedes annual championship a few years ago. There are many other milestone cars there to see and if you ever get the chance to go to Stuttgart, make SURE you don't miss the MB museum.

Have a great day,

Dee8go · #9 05-09-2006, 12:51 PM

Did this engine die on the vine because of poor gas mileage or what? I remember reading about it many years ago and thinking it sounded quite promising. I believe Mazda actualy used it in the RX 7, didn't they?

97E300D · #10 05-09-2006, 01:39 PM

Maxda still licences the techology from wankle. I think Mazda actually prefected the engine, it had problems with rings (not round rings) wearing out.

t walgamuth · #11 05-09-2006, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 97E300D

Maxda still licences the techology from wankle. I think Mazda actually prefected the engine, it had problems with rings (not round rings) wearing out.

true. and it is still offered in the rx 8 at least. it never got big because it uses a lot of gas and it is difficult to make meet the emissions standards. so it is useful where performance is important as it is very light for its power.

tom w

83-240D · #12 05-09-2006, 08:17 PM

apex seals is the words you are looking for here. the rotary is not round but oval and the three apex seals wore out fast and the engines used a lot of fuel at a time when gas was hard to come by(hard to believe today when it is plentiful but bloody expensive, by usa comparisons anyway) and the quality of the cars was suspect. hence you do not see many rx3-sp coupes or the cosmo bigger coupe just the rx-7s that are still in good shape.

actually the 4 rotor did do a pretty good job in the early 90s. it was 91 i think that mazda won le mans with a 4 rotor engine. they now race a 3 rotor in the alms and can be seen sat nite on your local cbs station. it is a tape delay of a friday night race.

97E300D · #13 05-09-2006, 08:48 PM

Smooth running and well balanced. the closest thing to a turbine.

Jay Leno has the best example of an early Cosmo I have ever seen. I can't believe you knew about the Cosmo....... Jay can has a newer style engine however...

83-240D · #14 05-10-2006, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 97E300D

Smooth running and well balanced. the closest thing to a turbine.

Jay Leno has the best example of an early Cosmo I have ever seen. I can't believe you knew about the Cosmo....... Jay can has a newer style engine however...

just no torque for the street engine. just a flat wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhthat starts at 60db and goes over 150 on a racecar.

that car is featured in the may isue of pop mech.

83-240D · #15 05-10-2006, 10:10 PM

great marques mercedes benz

daimler acquired rights for the engine in 1961. nsu made the wankel available in their ro80 sedan. the warrenty claims for the engine crippled nsu. mb deciced to keep their rotary to themselves and used the c111 and the rotary for engineering purposes. first shown in 1969 at the frankfurt autoshow the engine weighed 141kg and produced 380bhp from a 3.6l engine. the equivelent gasser was 225kg and 200bhp at 3.5l. certainly there was power but there were also the apex seals. in 1972 mb produced a 350bhp 4.8l that did 0-60 in 4.8 sec and topped out at 187 mph. d-b eventuially resolved the apex seal/rotary tip problem but the rest of the shortcomings, heavy fuel consumption, poor low speed torque and 'dirty' exhaust caused them to shelve the engine.

in 1972 the c111/2 was brought out with a 2999cc 5 cyl turbodiesel engine. the car had 190bhp that ran at 4500 rpm. the garret turbo spun at 135k rpm. it captured 16 international speed records previously held by gassers, alot of them porsche 911s. at the fiat test track at narda ,which is 7.8 miles in lth, the c111/2 with four drivers ran 10,000 miles at an average speed of 157mph in 64 hours avg 14.3 mpg.

not content to stand still the c111/3 was built with a narrower track, longer wheelbase and was tailfinned. pumping up the boost to 30 psi the engine put out 225bhp at 4500rpm giving it a top speed of over 200 mph. paul frere set several world records up to 500 miles but a tire shredded and damaged the front of the car and that test was stopped. m-b had built 2 cars and started over(good german single mindedness don't you agree?). the second set of tests beat the first records but were stopped at the 12hr mark when a luckless hedgehog met the front spoiler. at this time the car was averaging, let me say that again, averaging, 195.4 mph!!! even at this the car broke/set nine new world records and in the first hour ran at 199.984 mph(where is the OMG!! icon?)(damn that struggle to get up to speed!!

) the fuel consumption at that speed was a staggering 17 mpg. after that the c111 series was retired permanently according to this book.

great marques by robert bell thru octopus books.

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