Hello all,
I am planning on installing a turbocharger on my 300E this summer and would love to have a little guidance from the boost experts here. What i am looking to get is about 4-6psi boost, which is adjustable, out of a single turbocharger feeding pressure before the air flow meter and the throttle body (to keep things simple). Most importantly, I am looking for no drivability issues. I want to be able to use the car as a daily driver with no problems caused by the turbocharger. Now the questions: Can it be done? Can or should i run all six exaust banks into one turbo? Is it feasible/safe/economical to run pressure pre air flow plate? What size or kind of turbo should i run? do i need to use a blowoff valve to reduce lag? How is a leakdown test preformed? Is there any other place i can put the oil return line other than the oil pan? What kind of fuel enrichment is recommended for my parameters? Your comments Will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Adam

__________________
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

Adam, sounds like quite a project you have there!

Be sure to document the whole thing for us. I'd love to see the entire transformation as it is happening, and exactly what is being done.

Be sure to dyno your car before and after so we can see the results.

Alon

__________________
'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

BUDGET METHOD: Get a good turbo off of a Buick Grand National.
a turbo from an old Mitsubishi Starion would be excellent choice also (It spools really fast! expect boost around 1800 rpm)

$$$: If you plan to go with a New turbo get a T3 hybrid with a TO4E Compressor wheel. It is basically a Ford style Turbo from the SVO Thunderbird & Mustang. This combination offers a lot of CFM at lower speeds. less noticable lag. (I doubt if you will have much lag with the 6 cylinder.)

Building a custom manifold would be nice. but if you can have a muffler shop make you a custom Y pipe then you got half the battle won. We left the stock exhaust manifolds and and used 2"
pipe to form a "Y" pipe merging to 2-1/4" pipe then routed it to the front of the engine and mounted the turbo (mitsubishi) above the front manifold. (I WISH I HAD PICTURES!)

The Compressor outlet pipe has to go down and under the radiator and back up then to the intake. You will have to make a custom box to cover the air-flow sensor. adding a blow off valve before the airflow sensor plate would help when you back off on the throttle to bleed the excess air.

The mitsu turbo is set to about 6psi.

FUEL ENRICHMENT:
We made a device that plugged into the Fuel Pressure Regulator to make the car run richer under boost.

Never dynoed the car but we did manage to get a 14.6 quarter mile time.

Parts was less than $1000.00,
Labor was less than 3 days.

keep us posted! GOOD LUCK.

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WARNING: Bastard Mercedes Builder/Tuner
Sorry if I don't answer your email or questions
I don't check here too often.
I am normally on the 190revolution.net board.
Thanks

a couple of things.
you do want to route all of the exhaust gasses thru the turbo.
the oil drain needs to be above the oil level in the pan, it is gravity feed and if it is restricted the oil will drain past the seal in the turbo and cause it to smoke.
a blow off valve is a good idea, if you do not plum it back in to the intake (in front of the turbo) it may cause stalling (it blows off metered air)
you can use tons of stock parts for other cars, audi's, saab, mazda, volvo.
for fuel enrichment you can do a couple of things
1. replace ecu with aftermarket ie, haltech, motec, lots of wiring
2. buy a piggy back fuel computer like the apex-i super afc
http://www.apexi-usa.com/electronics_safc.asp
it allows you to change the fuel curve +/- 50% at eight points
3. a rising rate fuel pressure regulator, this simply raises fuel pressure "faster" than the stock one. instead of 1/1 it is 2/1
i dont know enough about the stock ecu/injection to say what is best it might have enough capacity that you dont need anything

mike

Adam, do yourself a favor and go and pickup and copy of "Maximium Boost" by Corky Bell, http://www.rb.com/product.htm?code=GTUR.

This book should be able to answer all your questions regarding planning and building your own system.

CIS-E notes:

1. There are no piggy back computers for CIS-E
2. Rising Regulators don't work on CIS-E
3. On the CIS-E cars the blow off valve does't need to be rerouted back to the intake since it is before the metering unit.

On CIS-E cars to get fuel enrichment you either have to:
1. Send false signals to the Fuel Pressure Control unit under boost.
2. Add external injectors L-Jetronic type and control them by HKS Additional Injector Controller or equivalent.
3. Convert the car to an aftermarket Fuel Injection system.
4. Add a booster pump ala Porsche 930 style which will require fiddling wth the Fuel Regulator.

GOOD LUCK!

Thanks for all the replies!
I do have that book on order plus another one. I currently have Corky Bell's book on supercharging and have done and will be doing plenty of research on the subject. I just want to find out what has worked for other members on their Mercedes.
I do have another question i need answered. If i purchase a turbo with a waste gate set for 6psi how can I adjust it down to 4psi? Different actuator, maybe? I want it variable so i can adjust it to fit my power needs without affecting drivability. Also, is there a way to tap in an oil return hose without removing the oil pan to install one? Can i install a "T" fitting at the oil pressure sender to feed oil to my turbo?
Thanks!
Adam

1. BOOST CONTROL: To lower the boost you lengthen the rod to the actuator. some actuators are adjustable. the one on the misubishi can be bent because it is in a Z shape. To increase boost you shorten the actuator.

2. OIL SUPPLY: you can top it off of the factory oil pressure switch.
I forget the thread size but if you need a special "T" adapter VDO has a few. Look at their catalog.

3. OIL DRAIN: you can drill the oil pan on the car but it is not recommended. I have done it many times but it is scary. The trick is to use grease and drill slow. the grease catches all the chips. That goes the same for taping the hole. sometimes you have to stop and clean up then apply more grease and continue. I never had a engine go bad from doing this and I cut apart the oil filters to make sure.

4. Corky's book is good but he hates CIS. I use to fight with him over the phone all the time about the subject. I have turboed over 50 CIS cars of various makes and they all run excellent.

GOOD LUCK!

The engine in the picture is of my old rabbit race car. I have put it here to show that is BOSCH CIS and it runs 11.81 quartermile back in 1991. This car made over 250 11 sec. runs on the same setup! Never had as CIS problem.

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You might want to also consider a supercharger. The Vortech can be easily installed and adapted to the serpentine belt. I did some preliminary study of installing one and it seemed fairly easy.

This site has some good info.
http://www.80tq.com/background.html
Particulary the exhaust manifold.

Although I'm in the middle of a 500E purchase, I've been wondering what to do with my 92 300E. High mileage (160k miles) but I replaced the headgasket and did the valves at 150k m, now it burns absolutely no oil, and is very clean. Also, trans is in good shape. What year 300E is the best candidate for turbocharging? Also, how well do these M103 engines deal with the added heat? Anyone who has done this, please respond?
Tom

Tom,
Obviously, the better the condition of the engine will determine if it is a candidate for turbo/supercharging. A leakdown test is highly recommended to test the cylinders for holding the boost. (ex. if your rings are bad). There is no particular year in the 124 M103 that is better for turbocharging. Although, the newer the engine the better. The M103 stock is a hot running engine off the bat. You should do the best you can to eliminate as much heat as possible from the engine compartment and the intake. I plan on ceramic coating the exaust parts and adding an intercooler to the system.
Good Luck!
Adam

Sounds killer Adam, but where are those 1/4 mile numbers you were going to get with the new diff?
I would like to know what you are running now.

On a note about drilling the oil pan; you could take the lower oil pan off and drill it, this would make for ceritan that all flakes would not get in the oil. I have seen the grese used and it to works.

Subman

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Factory trained Mercedes-Benz Technician
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-2002 C32
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The best way to contat me is e-mail.

Holy cow...I need to see more pics,Did you do the custom manifold?

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96' E320

Kidding
Thats actually a pic of Benzboy1's turbo install, Im currently checking to see if he will make the manifold for me. He has a few pics of his procedure on his website. http://home.bellsouth.net/personalpages/scripts/community.dll?ep=16&groupid=20308&ck=&userid=18841925&userpw=x0C8DE0G0&uh=18841925,2,Tapani&uzip=33462&ver=3.0

Subman,
Your right, Ill head up to the track soon. I have been super buisy setting up my new business. As for the oil pan issue i don't believe my oil pan is a two piece. If it was it would sure be a lot easier!

Speedtek,
Thanks for all your help! You sure are quite knowledgeable on the subject. Come to our Mercedesshop Midwest gettogather That would be awesome , I will pay for your plane ticket ! I wish! I did consider a supercharger but due to the fixed ratio i did not want to mess up the math and make a custom pully thats not correct. I don't like the mechanical part of setting up a supercharger. Are there any other important tips you can give me? They would be much appreciated!
Thanks!
Adam