I was at the book store not to long ago and saw a book on Mercedes cars produced in the last 100 years . When I saw my 560 SEL listed for 300hp in the euro version I wondered what the dramatic differance in parts was to yield that kind of an increase . What parts are different in US form ? If I could find Eurospec parts would I be able to gain 50-60 Hp ? Thanks for all the great advice .

Well, back in W126 era, emission problem was not as well-recognized as now. Some European/Asia spec cars back then don't even have a cat. This may be one thing that make everything different. And probably Europe specs have different computer managements.

1992 400SE/SEL
US spec - 282hp/302ft-lb
Europe spec - 286hp/302ft-lb

Check with Bekkers Import, they used to have an Euro exhaust that claimed to deliver 300HP. I am sure that it would not be street legal but it would probably pass emission test. And 300 horses may be stretching it a bit.

I have an Euro spec 500SEL w/o cat and it is a rocket. It passed the emission test easily. Let me know what you find out.

The 560 engine was in 2 models... What you are talking about is the model with a compression of 10:1 which delivers 220KW
but the other model, which is the most common, has a compression of 9:1 and has 200KW...

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So what are the differences ( parts wise )
between the two engines ? Could you raise the compression on a U.S. engine to increase horepower/tourqe ? Thanks guys >

Compression, cams, and the exhaust were different for different driving styles.

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I would not raise the compression ratio on US model because, as is, it already requires 91 octane. Both AMG and Lorinser made headers and exhaust for the US model that is probably good for 20 to 25HP. Replace the stock cats with ones from the 928S4/GTS is probably good for another 10 to 15HP. Of course none of this is cheap but it is still a lot cheaper than replacing the pistons and reliability will not suffer.