more than 90bhp please?
 

I've just got a 190 2.0l 90bhp carb model from 1984. Though it looks the mutts nuts i'm finding that its under powered for accelerating in the higher gears. I'm not wanting much just 10 to 30 bhp more than the 90 its already got. I'm willing to spend upto £300 to do it.

Any ideas wellcome especially if they involve things i can get in the UK? :D

Get an aftermarket exhaust.

2 Words.....

NITRIOUS OXIDE!

Joking, joking!

Exshaust seems like a very nice upgrade for what you want...
Also make sure you engine is in top condition... to make sure you really are getting all the hp you expect...

Exhaust alone won't do very much. Maybe 2-3HP. If you couple it with an intake and cams, you could probably get 10HP. NOS would actually be a very good option if you can somehow add additional fuel. Beyond that, there's not really much you can do for 300 pounds...
Make sure all of the maintenance items are up to snuff, like the oils including tranny and diff, and plugs and wires, etc.
Good luck!

300 quid is not a lot of money dude for that kind of performance gain wanted on a benz. Sorry :( I feel your pain though...

Take out the AC? And catalyst if it has one. lighter wheels and maybe smaller ones too,could handle funny but it might seem quicker.

Thank one and all :D Think i'll sell a kidney on ebay to get more ungrades LOL

But i'll probably just keep upgrading stuff one bit at a time. I'd love to put NOS on it though ;)

I'm going to keep the 2litre engine though.Upto now decided on :-

Stainless steel exhaust
Cotton direct flow air filter
Cam
Spitfire plugs
Decent Plug leads and other stuff for a good spark

I may also try Fuelcat fuel catalist to help a little but not sure if that does anything for more power.

Then i'll save to get the NOS properly fitted :D :D :D

Hi Gwil.
A definite budget and a gradual spend are two different things. If you're only going to spend so much then the choices are limited to independant bolt on improvements like cold air induction and windage trays. However if you're prepared to spend more over time you can afford to get enhancements such as exhaust and camshafts which will give a better return in the long run, when combined with other modifications.

For example, according to my models a cold air induction setup is worth about 4hp on a SOHC aluminium, carbie 2.0 litre. A windage tray in your sump and a thermoelectric fan another 2hp. You should also get another 4hp removing the ERB (exhaust reburning) and any useless piping to your intake manifold (more hp may result blocking the water heating...so what you'll have to warm it up before you go booting off in the morning). This is projected with a stock exhaust system typical of an '84 Mercedes.
So there's your 10hp and it'll cost you around 300 pounds. It'll be enough to subtly feel a difference in upper end performance you're talking about.

But you've discussed spending far more than 300 pounds, namely that stainless exhaust will cost you a fortune if you do it how you need to. So let's have a look at some open ended mild improvements.

Firstly a four doesn't make anywhere near the exhaust of an eight and so doesn't necessarily gain big returns over stock sporty exhaust systems like Mercedes. A far bigger concern is that carbie and intake manifold, because to put something anywhere near performance orientated on it is going to mean custom and that's expensive.
Is there anywhere a Weber sidedraught setup can be adapted to it? Let's say you spend big on a custom no-heat manifold for a single sidedraught 45mm Weber. I get a calculated, straight up increase of 14hp on top of the other modifications above right there. So we're talking around 115hp now.

But with the extra fuel capacity we want improved flow rates through the engine and that means headwork and cam grinds. To start at the beginning, go the headwork. Problem with cams is they push power production up the revs and that's bad for bottom end, needs good component balancing to take advantage of and absolutely requires good flow rates through the ports anyway if you don't want a dog that sounds better than it goes.

A good aftermarket port job and flow benching with something around 1.67" and 1.35" stainless valves should push power production up to better than 125hp nicely and still give a stock exhaust note (you might hear a little induction roar from that Weber under the bonnet, nothing a bit of insulation won't fix). It would also have been shaved to push static compression to around 10:1 (this gets reduced by cam timing in dynamic compression).

Throw in a typical aftermarket cam grind of around .495" gross valve lift and 278/266 degrees overall duration int./ex. and you should be looking at up to 150hp at around 6000rpm and good pickup from around 4000rpm, though it'd pull clean from 2500. On standard pump grade unleaded (92 RON).

Of course this is all assuming you have good plugs a couple of heatranges cooler over stock and good leads, plus a recurved distributor timing (graduating from 25 to 35 degrees advance over the rpm range).

That's with the stock exhaust. Total cost around 1800 pounds? It's hard guessing these things.

*forgot, NOS is illegal for the street, emergency crews don't like it. You can have one fitted, but it may only be connected off-street and appropriate stickers have to be displayed.
Anyway, cylinder pressures are ridiculous for stock engines, especially brittle aluminium ones. People put NOS at the drag strip either for engines they frequently replace or rebuild anyway, when all they care about is competition times for one-off runs.
"mild" nitrous boost is like shoving a race turbo on a stock engine without water injection. Performs great...for about two weeks. It's too harsh in characteristics for long term reliability.

Vanir, you have some knowledge! Great reply. I used to work for Batten Heads here in Michigan. However, I have to disagree on some things.

Both forced induction and N2O produce higher cylinder pressures and EGT's. Both are harmful, if not devistating, if not properly tuned and the A/F ratio's are lean. Nitrous is cheap and easy to install (I would NEVER run a "dry" setup...too risky). I modified and installed a wet Chevy LS1 kit on my Pontiac Sunfire (2.2) with fantastic results and never a problem. Well, until the throttle body activation switch decided to freak out and poured and pooled fuel into my plastic intake manifold and BOOM! Engine was fine, but had to replace the manifold.

N/A is definately the way to go, if you want to spend some serious money AND have reliabilty.

N2O may be illegal for street use, but unless the local cops pull you over and pop the trunk to see the bottle connected, it's only illegal if you get caught ;) .

I agree completely with Vanir. Start small with the airflow. Get a good high flow intake and exhaust (including a header). It won't do you any good to do just the intake or just the exhaust.

As far as cheap speed/power, forget it. Speed costs money, how fast do you wanna go?

Engine swaps are always popular in this situation.

A swap to a fuel injected engine is probably rather more technical, but if you did go with the 2.3 8v injection (from a 230E) it's a fairly easy 136bhp bolt-in engine upgrade.

Alternatively you can presumably very easily stick in a 2.3 8v carb version from a 230 or 230T (estate). From what I see these make 109bhp and decent torque.
N.B. this engine was only found in the older W123 pre-1985 E-class, which sounds old but the engine is of the same M102 family as your 2.0 carb.

good luck

Russell