The resistor is the only way to adjust the ignition that I know. The European cars had a seven-position switch so that the car could be setup for the fuel of various countries. Removing the resistor provides the maximum advance. I have heard that removing the resistor equates to six degrees; I haven't measured because of the difficulty in seeing the timing mark while the engine is running. Rotating the distributor will not change the ignition timing.

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Jim Villers
190SL, 230SL 5-speed, 95 E320 Wagon, 01 E320 Wagon, MGB, Boxster 'S', 190SL "Barn Find"

great. i think using a pot in that spot will give me plenty of adjustability. it will allow me to run lower octane if 93 isn't available in other areas. i'll never really need more than 6 degrees of advance and i'll be able to get whatever retarding i need for the turbo when that buildup happens.

thanks again for the help.

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dew
86' 190e 2.3L 16v

All this talk about the 16V. Would it not be easier and cheaper to find a blown 8V motor and do a build up. There must be more room with an 8V. I do not know what the 8V compression ratio is but I am sure you could either lower it with some custom pistons or shim the headgasket and then run some serious boost. I guess you could do the same with the 16V. With less than 8 pounds of boost on a 16V, how much horsepower/torque do you think it will make? It might be more cost effective to sell the car and buy something else.

Tinker

The 16 valve model contained many more performance modifications than just the engine: brakes, suspension, seats, body moldings etc. A GREAT car with no mods (with an additonal 40-50 HP over a standard 8 valve). Plus, 2.3-16's have a following of people that make it an intestering community. You can buy speed but it is hard to buy a community.

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Jim Villers
190SL, 230SL 5-speed, 95 E320 Wagon, 01 E320 Wagon, MGB, Boxster 'S', 190SL "Barn Find"

Jim, that`s what I am talking about. Pull the 16V motor and save it and drop a 8V in there. You could always put it back in. There has to be a bunch of 8V available for this conversion and hard parts are probably cheaper/readily available.

Tinker

it doesn't make sense to pull the better motor in favor of the underpowered 2.3 8v and then rebuild it for higher than stock performance. yes more parts are available for the 8v but it's only the 8v. the 16v is a far superior engine and has much more potential with a buildup. there's more room for a buildup with the 8v but you'll spend half your money just getting it to perform like a stock 16v. it's not just about peak HP. the 16v has way more area under the RPM vs. torque curve.

that's like saying that you want to take a 427 out of a cobra and drop in a blow 289 to buildup.

for about $6k investment and 8 psi on a 16v i estimate just under 290HP at the flywheel. a $30,000 buildup on an 8v couldn't give you that.

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dew
86' 190e 2.3L 16v

Jason/Jim,

I should clarified my last post. I am talking about an 8V turbo vs. a 16V turbo. No question the 16V breaths better and has superior quality internals, but if you want to tun up the boost and make some serious horsepower, you will probably end up breaking something expensive. Also, with forced induction, the 16V looses some of the benifits of it four valve head. The 8Vs are readily available, it might be better to "learn" on that motor.

Just a thought.

i'm not trying to be confrontational here. here's what we're thinking about the 16v buildup vs. an 8v buildup.

yes, exactly. an 8v turbo does not have the potential of a 16v turbo. also, why buy another motor, rebuild components, and turbo when we can just buy a turbo for the 16v. and, all those high boost low compression ratio engines you see in the mod magazines run like dogs until the boost has built up at higher RPMs. for a good streetable engine it is better to keep a moderate compression ratio and use lower boost and mild cams to keep the engine able to put out power at low RPMs and have a more even and flatter torque curve. true, this doesn't give an engine the high levels of power that a high boost application does but the car will perform better overall for more types of driving, not just drag racing.

also, there isn't much "learning" that needs to be done here. the mosselman kit for the 16v is complete and will run well on an otherwise unmodified 16v motor. from there, my mechanic and i will be doing only slight tuning really. it's not like we're just slapping on parts and turning knobs, seeing what happens.

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dew
86' 190e 2.3L 16v