Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnM.
Honestly, my well-tuned....M103 with a fairly low mileage bottom end, and a fresh top end has oodles of power (even at 5500ft). I believe it is very close to the factory spec'd 7.5sec 0-60.
I can't wait to take it down to sea level. Not sure why people bag on the M103 so much. Honestly the published 0-60 times for the late M104 engined cars are slower than that of the early M103. Especially with first gear start, the 300E is a joy to drive. IMO, the M103 redlining sounds ten times better than an M104 under the same circumstances. No, it's not going to blast people from the line. But 20mph rolling starts, it's going to take something with considerably more power (or less weight) to put it to shame. The M103 loves to rev and I think some people are afraid to drive it hard, but that is where it performs the best. One of the favorite parts of my usual commute is a ~1/2 mile considerable up grade portion of highway, punching it at 55, and by the top of the hill I can just touch 100mph.....it's quite fun. I think many people don't realize how nice a proper low-mileage/maintained 300E engine is.  |
Hey, I'm not bagging on it at all, it's a fantastic engine! My 300E went to 333,000 Km all original - zero work done on the engine. Just saying it is a tad underpowered for the chassis is all. Just MHO, not fact. I thought it was a decently peppy engine until I got the E430, which changed the entire picture. Part of the issue I think is also that 4-speed tranny. It's hard to find a sweet spot and it has a mind of its own in terms of shifting. I got tired of either slamming it off the mark to force a 1st gear start, or using the shift down and back up method at stop to get the 1st gear start. That obviously makes a big difference, but I do remember times when I hit the gas hard (like passing on a hill, etc.) and I didn't get as much power as I'd hoped for.
The diesel vs. gas is a good point as well.
I guess all I am trying to say (in a long winded way) is that perhaps there is not as much wrong with the engine, but rather it is not delivering as per tbomachines' expectations in this case?
Yours sounds rebuilt and I'm guessing that would make a significant difference compared to a higher-mileage specimen.
I've driven an M103 300E, a M104 300E and a M104 E320 and in all cases the M104 pulled significantly harder than my M103 ever did. Nothing scientific, just seat of the pants observation. Significant differences in the two.
The M103 however, has been touted as being one of the toughest I6's around. Just check out the Performance board on this forum and see what those guys are doing with them and turbos...500HP+!
That would solve the little hill problem.
