Hey I have an 89 190E 2.6 and wold love to add a few easy hps and maybe reclaim some gas mileage on highway.I read a post from someone else under tech forum saying they needed to be cleaned every 1-3K miles which sounds preposterous seeing as K&N themselves say they don't require cleaning for up to 40-50K miles under normal conditions.Many people swear by them. Would it be safe? I have heard they filter even better than paper elements because of the oil used in them. Also read that in my car it would bring a 59% cfm increase(I know the box and snorkel will restrict alot anyhow. Can I possibly modify the snorkel maybe a kit to re-route it for more air or is there any kind of noise silencer screen or anything I can do in 5 minutes to get improvement. I would also like a little more sound from my exhaust for performance sound. I don't want to put glass pack tips on it because I would need 2 and they would be sticking out too far and likely to get stolen unless I have them welded. Sorry for such a long post but any feedback would be much appreciated.
Thanks Very Much

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Rob C
89 190E 2.6
Beige

You will probably not gain any measurable performance off the K&N swap. The K&N's will give you more intake noise. K&N's might get you 1% gain over the OEM but I'd bet good money the OEM filters do filter better. If a K&N is going 50K between cleanings then the dirt has to be going somewhere. If it isn't clogging the filter it is going into your engine. A clean OEM filters works well enough and there does not seem to be a significant enough performance gain in my experience to justify K&N use except perhaps on the track. Sometimes, if it sounds faster it will seem faster to the driver. The mind can play tricks on the "butt dyno". Not to be a party-pooper but there isn't much you are going to do to the intake plumbing in 5-mins that will improve what the factory has already accomplished. The exhaust is what it is going to be unless you swap out much of it or a piece of debris rips a hole. Since I don't think either of those are appealing options my recommendation would be to leave the exhaust as-is for now. I've heard M103's with a stock exhaust except for a rear Remus muffler and the sound was not changed much. (though you could trip over the big exhaust tips that stuck out when you walked behind the car) To really get an aggressive sound you'd have to change the resonator, rear muffler, and the associated plumbing in between. Sorry I can't offer better news.

Hope this helps...Lee

PS If you want real performance gain off that motor there are some twin-turbo kits good for very impressive performance to the sticker of about $7000 plus 20 or so hours of install labor. Tuner engine mods would be about twice that so for that kind of cash its easier to trade up to something faster.

Thanks for the info bud. About the dirt on the K&N, it is supposed to be held in the oil which allows for more air flow even when dirty but from what i have read from other people it won't give me any more than an extra cat-power or something that could peel a sticker. Something I thought would be really cool to have even though I probably would never do it is to have an exhaust switch to flip to an open exhaust and attack a pipe to go out the side or back. that way I could get some extra power and extremely loud for a quik stoplight stomp and then switch it back. I think it would be easier and more common to put in a good set of springs and shocks like eibach for some better handling in the future.

BenzoX,
Handling was and is the forte of the W201's. You will have much better luck tweaking the car for better handling than you will for dragstrip performance. In fact, the W201 can be made to handle about as well as anything given its relatively light weight and nimble size.

The first step would be a swap to more aggressive wheels and tires. From there go for shocks+springs (either aftermarket or factory Sportline conversion). Then finally an upgrade to heavier anti-sway bars. Let me know what your budget and goals are and I'll be happy to help you work something out.

Hope this helps...Lee

What exactly does a sway bar do?

Stops body roll and lets the car move less in the corners basically, I know lee will probably have a better explanation but this is basically what it does.
cavan