How can I find out what ratio Im running on my 87 300E euro, are there any markings on the diff? can the diff be opened to look at ring and pinion, Im curious because I raced with a friend that has a 190 with a five speed and a 300 engine, surprisingly I held a 1 carlength on him througout the quarter, dont have a time but my speed was a bit over 165 kmh.
Could I possibly have a demon in disguise and dont know about it?
ANY THOUGHTS??????

Scrape the machined surface on the diff with a razor/gasket knife blade. You will see it stamped.

Thanks a lot,I will do it this weekend

If memory serves, the M103 300E all had the 177hp SOHC engine through 1992. I don't think the US versions were down on power.

Your "quarter mile" is inaccurate, as there is no way your car (no matter how steep your final drive) is doing 165 km/h at the end of the quarter mile. My C36 with 268hp could just break 160 km/h in a quarter mile. If you could, you'd be running with the C36, E500 and AMG crowd. Unlikely. For a 165 km/h trap speed, you'd need about 275 or so ponies.

A 300E should be able to run mid 16 sec quarters with trap speeds in the mid-high 80's for mph. Even with a 4.11 gear set, you don't have the power to pull 100mph. You'd just run out of each gear faster, with your car huffing and puffing at the finish line.

An early (read: light) 300E in good tune with all it's ponies still present, running a 3.27 or 3.55 gear might break 15's, but forget 14's. You're about 100hp shy.

__________________
John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

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