I recently purchased a 1984 300D turbo with 170,000 miles. I'm really enjoying it so far. I know these cars aren't rockets, but having never driven one before, I really have no feel as to what the performance of these cars should be. Does anybody have an idea what the 0-60 specs were for the 300D turbos when new or timed their own out of curiosity? I've searched extensively without success.

My "speedy" 1982 300D does the trick in a mere 13 seconds after it's warmed up, on level ground. Not bad. My goal is to get this bad boy into the 12's. Maybe a free flowing intake and a straight exhaust pipe can help with that.

Thanks for the reply, Speedy. That'll give me a better idea of how mine's doing and what I should expect. When I get a chance this week, I'm going to pull out the old stopwatch and see how mine does. Even though the car's pretty heavy, I've noticed it's got plenty of torque.

Speedy,

Souping up a diesel is a whole different ball game from a gas engine. All the things you do to a gas engine to increase flow will do NOTHING for the power of a diesel without increasing the amount of fuel injected into the cylinder.

The ONLY way you can increase the power of a diesel, is to increase the amount of fuel squirted in those cylinders. The ONLY way you can make the engine maintain its health when doing so, is to adequately increase air flow.

In a gas engine, you cool the cylinder by adding fuel to the ratio. In a diesel you cool the cylinder by drawing more air into the cylinder before injecting the fuel.

So, turbo's, intercoolers, resonance systems, free flowing intakes, free flowing exhaust systems, etc. make absolutely no power gain without increasing the amount of fuel. This, of course, has the side effect of increased fuel consumption.

The truckers call this "turning it up". There have been many truck engines given a very short life by truckers illegally "turning them up". So, be careful in modifying your diesel. If you adequately increase air flow and then "turn up" the pump. You are playing with a delicate balance that could result in a very short lived engine.

Good luck,

Here is a website with various specs for Mercedes diesels:

http://www.wagoneers.com/DieselBenz/mercedes-diesels.html

I make no promise regarding the reliability of the data, but it is pretty comprehensive.

__________________
Ben

The MBs:
1976 300D (W115) - 330K and still going (sort of)
1991 300D 2.5 Turbo - Sold at 221K
1983 280SEL - Sold at 206K
1981 300SD - Sold at 232K

Thanks, Ben. I found that site a couple of days ago. Believe it or not the ONLY model they don't have 0-60 times for on the chart is the '81-'85 300D Turbo! Just my luck. It's a nice site, though.

Larry,

I was being just a *little* sarcastic I'm totally happy with how my 300D performs. What gave me a better appreciation for this 120HP monster was after I drove a 240D for an hour or two. Makes my 300D feel *almost* like a gas car!

My 0 to 50 mph time is an accurate 10.4 secs. I've not timed it to 60 mph. This is an '83 300D, 334,000 miles, no rebuild, old timing chain and a max boost of 13 psi.

How much torque do the 300D Turbo Diesel's have ?

My '83 300 D when it was new was spec'd at 168 lbs-ft at 2400 rpm. SAE net to the rear wheels. Net bhp was 110 at 4200 rpm. Car weighs 3,825 lbs empty.

Robby

Hey Speedy and Robby,

I just got done timing 0-60 on my '84 300D turbo.
I had a 140lb friend in the pass. side doing the timing and the gas tank was totally filled up.
It's not pretty: 29 seconds!
The car idles fine, accelerates smoothly (albeit slowly), doesn't lurch or buck. Any idea on what the problem could be? I intend to change both fuel filters. The small, clear one does appear to be a little dirty. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike

yikes... 29 seconds??? That's unusually slow. Maybe your turbo is dead?

Did you time this immediately after a cold start? Or was the car warmed up already?

Speedy,

I definitely warmed up the car first. It had reached the normal operating temperature on the coolant gauge. I drove a few miles and filled up the tank, then I drove a few more to the highway to do the 0-60 run.

Georenbas

It sounds like something simple like the overboost protection switch on the firewall above/near the brake booster. Some people refer to it as the ALDA. Try bypassing and run a speed trial again. There is a clear plastic hose running from the intake manifold to this switch and then a line running from the switch to the aneriod compensator on the injection pump. Run the line from the intake manifold directly to the aneroid compensator. I just bought a new switch from my MB dealer for about $25/$30. Also the fitting that the hose is attached to in the intake manifold is known to get plugged with oil/coke. It's a 5 min job to remove and clean it.

Robby