Okay I just wanted to know whats the first step to turboing a 300e. Is there a way to do it custom not buying a $6000 kit?

First step: Make sure your engine is up to the job of handling more HP.

This subject has been beaten to death.... Do a search on "turbo M103" or "turbo 300E"... Tons of info!!

__________________
Current Stable:
01 ML55 AMG
92 500E (a few mods)
87 300E (lots of mods)
00 Chevy 3500HD Diesel Box Truck
68 18' Donzi Marine
06 GT i-Drive7 1.0 Mountain Bike (with GPS!)

PREVIOUSLY OWNED:83 300SD, 87 420SEL, 88 420SEL, 90 420SEL, 86 560SEL, 86 190E 2.3-16V AMG, 94 E320

...speaking of which......

HURRY UP Adam!!!

__________________
-Kevin

300Evil, how's your 450hp M103 coming along?
I'm aiming for 400hp using the C36 crank & rods, Megasquirt EFI kit plus the Mosselman twin turbo kit.
The turbos are currently being rebuilt and will probably be the first thing to go on the car (an easy 290hp).
2nd stage will be to swap in the C36 parts, bolt on the oil sprayers I got from an OM603 and hook up the EFI kit.
Since you've probably already done a lot of research, what things are likely to break or bottleneck on the way to 400hp?
Car is a 1989 300CE with 722.358 auto gearbox and M103.983 engine.

Hi guys,
All the engine parts are basically done I just need to get some cash to pay off my machine shop. Sounds like your heading in the right direction Ortolan. I don't remember if the Mosselmann system comes with an intercooler or not, either way I would go with a large(er) one to prevent detonation. Switching to programmable EFI is a must. The megasquirt is good and cheap. An autronic is way better.
http://www.autronic.com/index.html
I have discussed and showed the bottom end of the M103 with many performance engine builders. They were very impressed with the quality and pointed out many good things about the design and manufacture of the crank, block and rods. They all agreed that the bottom end should easily be able to handle 450HP. I went ahead and cryo treated everything for extra durability. Since your going to be in there anyway, I'd go ahead and have some custom pistons made to lower compression a little as well as reciprocating weight. I also used coatings on the head and pistons to further eliminate a meltdown problem. Your oil sprayer mod will help here. I wanted to go overkill on everything to eliminate the possibility of problems. However, the bill gets big really fast! My two concerns now are the flywheel and the trans. The trans will need more friction disks in the drums or they'll burn up. This is fairly easy since the parts are available off the shelf. I'm going to cryo the gear assemblies as well. I haven't completely decided what I'm going to do about the flywheel but it won't be too hard to strengthen. Another possible concern is ballooning the torque converter. there are guys that can take apart and strengthen TC's but I haven't decided weather it's needed or not. Either way,, more $$$$!!
BTW, Supposedly there are Porsche's using the 722.3 trans and have built them up for 450HP+ so it can be done.

__________________
Current Stable:
01 ML55 AMG
92 500E (a few mods)
87 300E (lots of mods)
00 Chevy 3500HD Diesel Box Truck
68 18' Donzi Marine
06 GT i-Drive7 1.0 Mountain Bike (with GPS!)

PREVIOUSLY OWNED:83 300SD, 87 420SEL, 88 420SEL, 90 420SEL, 86 560SEL, 86 190E 2.3-16V AMG, 94 E320

Sounds like you'll have the most powerful (and expensive!) M103 around.
I had initially budgeted AU$10k for my project but I'm up to $6k in parts already with nothing installed yet. I can only imagine how much you would have spent so far.
Then again, if all goes well I'll have CLK55 performance at a quarter of the cost.

I've run into the first snag with the turbos. The shop that's looking at them says they can't source the replacement parts for less then $3k. I'm now looking at putting in a pair of brand new Garrett T25s which should be a close match for the K16s and cost me a whole lot less (I believe Mosselman used T25s for the M104 twin turbo kit).
A picture of the installed kit is attached. Note that the intercooler mounts directly over the intake plenum and isn't in the typical frontmount position.

The other things I've been told might not handle 400hp are the valve springs, fuel & oil pumps. Can these be upgraded cheaply?
I'm hoping to have the turbos on and running within 6 weeks and the whole project finished by Xmas.

Attached Thumbnails

 

You got that right!


looks to be around $13K USD so far... Not to mention personal labor and research. It's a great learning experience though.


You and I think alike!

The T25's will be fine but expensive. If you have the money,,, go for the ball bearing ones for better bottom end spool up. Well worth it.... I believe your turbos are KKK brand? Did you check with online turbo rebuild kit suppliers?? I imagine someone still makes parts. Also, turbos are easy to rebuild, you may want to consider doing this yourself.

Sweet! Thanks for the pic, I'll save that one. I'd upgrade to a front mounted intercooler or an air to water for above 10 psi.
For my system I have a 550HP Sparco air to water intercooler connected to a 20GPM bilge pump and a huge NASCAR oil cooler that fits perfectly under my bumper. It's long and slender. I'm building a controller that will monitor IC water temp, injector load and air output temp. This will control the water pump and turn it on only during high boost allowing the water to cool in the radiator during low boost. This method saves on alternator current draw and will keep the charge air ultra cool during instant acceleration. Again OVERKILL!


The stock valve springs are questionable, however, they have a considerably large opening pressure. Sorry I forget the number. I'm going with these new funnel shaped springs with titanium retainers. I can get you info on them when I finish my research. I also had some custom stainless valves made by a company called Ferrea. Very high quality. I had to make custom valve guides for the exhaust though. They don't stock 9MM valve stems. The fuel pump is a must if your switching to EFI. As for the oil pump, I think your fine. Very good design and high pressure. You can make the pressure higher by changing the spring in the pump and the oil filter mount if you like.


I can't wait! I'll continue to help if you keep us posted and take some pictures!

__________________
Current Stable:
01 ML55 AMG
92 500E (a few mods)
87 300E (lots of mods)
00 Chevy 3500HD Diesel Box Truck
68 18' Donzi Marine
06 GT i-Drive7 1.0 Mountain Bike (with GPS!)

PREVIOUSLY OWNED:83 300SD, 87 420SEL, 88 420SEL, 90 420SEL, 86 560SEL, 86 190E 2.3-16V AMG, 94 E320

I've been shopping around for a new fuel pump and apparently the 300CE uses a twin inline pump system. The listing on ebay suggest that the same pumps are used on models right up to the 600SL (290kW).
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/In-Line-Fuel-Pump-for-Mercedes-Benz-Dual-Pump-System_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33555QQihZ009QQitemZ190037626073QQrdZ1
Does this part really need to be upgraded if it can handle the fuel demands of a V12?

WooHoo! My C36 crankshaft & rods finally arrived from Germany. This was one heavy crate (45kg!). Anyone know the weights of the stock M103 crank & rods? I took one of the C36 rods out of the packaging and weighed it on my kitchen scales. 700g including the bolts.
Now I need to take this down to the mechanic and have some custom pistons made up.