C-111 engine set up?
 

Ok,

Maybe somebody would know...

The mercedes C-111 prototype was the initial trial of the the 617 turbo diesel engine. that baby was putting 225hp and something like 370lbft of torque with an early 617 (basiquely the one that was put in the 300SD W116).
The question for this honorable audience would be: what was the set up around the 617 to squeez 225hp from it? What would it take to raise a
300SD to the glorious level of a 450SEL 6.9 ?

Mercedes started the 617 on that course why did they tone it down afterwards?

PD:Maybe this has been discussed before. in that case sorry.
PD 2: No the crazy finns won't help, their specialty is the 603 not the 617.

Hmm. from what I read
 

the motor had like 25psi of boost... I am sure their were other differances.
John

25 psi of boost, larger plungers on the IP, intercooled,tuned specifically to harness all the power aval.. learn finnish and the fins will tell you

Try searching this forum using the search terms "Finns" and "617".

The 617 has not entirely escaped their attention!

Reliability and longevity.

Getting more power out of an engine than it was designed to produce means more wear and tear on the engine. The OM617 wasn't designed to produce those power levels, it was pushed there. For example, I'm sure they ran much more boost than normal. This would increase wear on the rings and bearings.

I'm sure that the C-111 was more than just a record attempt and publicity stunt. In engineering its not unusual to push a design beyond its designed operating parameters for an extended period to see where it breaks before the design goes into production. This way weakness can be identified and corrected before it becomes a major problem.

They may have been able to get 225HP+ out of it for some time. But it's like a nascar engine. It might be okay for one or two races, but they have the money to rebuild them many times/year. It would be out of the question to send that into public circulation.

nice specs on this puppy
 

http://www.classicdriver.com/uk/magazine/3200.asp?id=11583

Punctually at midnight of April 30, 1978, the five pistons in the diesel engine of the Mercedes-Benz C 111-III began to work, supported by an intercooled exhaust gas turbocharger which, at 130,000 revolutions per minute, pressed enough air into the combustion chambers to boost the output to 230 hp. That was more than enough power for accelerating the Mercedes-Benz in record-hunting trim to a top speed of around 325 kilometers per hour. Because of its very “long” ratio, the car did take its time, however – a complete 12.66 kilometer lap of the circuit in Nardo in southern Italy, to be precise - to reach this speed.

Yeah, I don't think it will go 1000000 miles much less than 10K I bet.
kinda hard to warranty that sucker!

IIRC, it had a specially built aluminum head, which was never available to schmucks like you and me. I've never seen a pic of the engine, so maybe it was a cross-flow design; possibly even a prototype for the OM60x heads. 225-230hp sounds a bit tame by today's diesel engine standards, even with straight mechanical injection.

Here's a photo of the setup I scanned from one of my books.
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...5/2cc886c0.jpg

10,000 miles and 0-60 in 6.8.

the oil filter looks like it is separated from the rest of the block ( a dry sump maybe?). From the pic looks like the only odd thing is the intercooler and the white box with a lever (what's that?). the view makes also the transmission look funny but i think is mostly due to staring at the engine from behind.

not a cross flow head i dont think. actually looks pretty stock. but a fairly large turbo. yeah prob dry sump.

cool.

tom w

Lower Compression
 

The biggest advantage of the C-111 engine was that it didn't have to start on a cold winter day, therefore lower compression could be used to allow higher boost pressure without detriment to the engine.

good point.

tom w

Any data on the compression rates?

On the second version of the OM617, the higher output engine put out 230 hp. The compression ratio was lowered to 17.5:1.

The first version, with 190 hp, had the standard 21.5:1.

According to my information which is a couple old magazine articles. Both engines had reduced compression but the second engine was reduced more to 17:1. The second engine was also running 30psi boost with an intercooler of course.

The fuel economy average for the run was 14.7 mpg and that is running over 200 mph. I wish my 6.3 could get that at 55 mph.

The bottom end of the engine was completely stock with some special coatings on the pistons and the cylinder head according to the article.

White box with a "lever" is an illusion: its an oil varpor separator for the PCV.

If you go on to the Mercedes-Benz International website, you can watch videos in German of the C111 diesels in action.

I pulled my information from their website.

Here's something of interest.

http://www.mercedes-benz.com/content/mbcom/international/international_website/en/com/international_home/home/heritage_new/history_new/racing_new/record_breaking_vehicles.html

Click on the hyperlink below the C111 (Special: Mercedes-Benz record breakers) once you get to the site. A Flash program will launch, and you will be able to peruse all of Mercedes record-breaking vehicles stats.

All of the technical data will be at your fingertips. Everything anybody needs to know.

The BEST part is, you can watch the C111 in action with its 190 hp and 230 hp OM617 engines equipped. They have German documentary videos of each of the test runs. One is for 1976 (190 hp), the other for 1978 (230 hp).

Those are great videos. I thought it was pretty cool to see them do a valve adjustment there on the track. :D

The take-off sounds kinda lumpy, like it's bogging down. Once it's running it sounds exactly like a standard OM617 without a muffler. :D

Raw OM617 power.

Doncha just LOVE these engines?