Awesome 190E 5.0 32v

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Mark300SL

1962-2010. Gone, but not forgotten.
Joined
Jul 21, 2002
Messages
1,641
I have kept this one quiet until today - because I have just bought his previous project car - A 3.2 24v 190E saving me a lot of grief on the engine conversion for my turbo project :)


The owner is a really top guy called Ben from Plymouth who seems to live and breathe Mercs yet also appears unkown on most internet forums. I went down to pick up the 3.2 190 yesterday and got to see this one in the flesh.
Apparently he will never sell sell it and I do believe him - he had the 3.2 190 for about 12 years and was only prepared to sell it because he had almost finished this one to take its place. I did talk of selling my wife and kids into slavery but apparently that wouldnt raise enough cash!

Full height adjustable suspension with a decent lift makes short work of speed humps too :D. The SLK55 AMG 6 Pot brakes are amazing and the fitting thread is a good read in its own right
Apparently the total build time was a couple of years of many hours a day and most weekends.
The car has been on the road for the last 4 years, though he thinks it will be another 3/4 months before its completely finished


I have never been jealous of someone elses car - but this one makes me green with envy. I can honestly say I would rather have this one than a brand new AMG, because I really believe this one may be better built!


Anyway - enjoy

All pictures and words are Bens cross posted from the 190 forum and I take no credit for any of it other than to share with you guys



Engine sits on 129SL cross member which is adjusted a bit at ends and welded in. As for engine bay mods lots , brake servo moved about 80mm towards driver seat, new brake pedal and accelerator pedal had to be made. Firewall had to be reshaped, back end of engine bay widened about 12mm each side, transmission tunnel widened and heightened by stretching out each side and up. Also steering box lowered.
Brake servo area being modified with firwall removed drilled out spot rivets.
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After reshaping. Just had to reshape firewall and weld back in.
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Engine cross member removed at spot welds/ seam welds. All chassis/ suspension points measured before cutting out as when cross member is cut everything moves by upto 20mm!! You then need dimensions to true the chassis before welding back in new cross member.
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trial fit of cross member.
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The battery is in the boot as shown.
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The motor on final fitment.
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The engine bay stripped and painted.
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The unfinished engine bay.
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The partially stripped interior.
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Heres one of the outside will take more when shes clean.
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The brake servo had to be moved towards rear of car by about 80mm to make clearance for engine!! Think this photo shows it, theres not alot of room in there. Although during build i made sure i could remove cylinder heads with engine in the car.
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Heres some finished engine bay photos
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Thought you might like to see my brake upgrade SLK55 AMG 6 pot calipers and 340mm floating discs.
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I dont think anyone can blame me for wanting to buy a modifed car from this guy !



Pics of the 3.2 when its clean and tidy as 3 years of doing not a lot has left it less than clean and it cant do him justice



Mark
 
Thanks for sharing Mark.

That looks like a proper job! I agree, that's one 190 I'd like to own.
 
Congratulations Mark, that is one hell of a bit of kit. Very impressed :)
 
Get some pics of the one you bought up, if its anything near that one it will be stunning.
 
Get some pics of the one you bought up, if its anything near that one it will be stunning.

It is a very nice conversion - in a 1987 car that hasn't been used in 3 years since the blue one was roadworthy.

Pics will be forthcoming in the gallery once its ready, but at the moment it doesnt do Ben justice just because of the lack of use.

I spent today cleaning and unfreeing loads of electrical systems that had stuck, Now all the windows sunroof etc all work as they should, all underbonnet surface corrosion has been treated and the induction/intake/plugs/leads/coilpacks have been thoroughly cleaned and checked.
I will be removing the front end in its entirity tomorrow to clean and underseal everything in sight, change the radiator and scrub areas I cant get to with lights/bumpers/wings in place.


Anyway we are going off track here - this thread is for the V8, and that car truely is amazing :)


Mark
 
that is going to one heck of Q car ...
 
That looks stunning !!!
 
Interesting.

What's the power outputs on the respective cars?
 
Interesting.

What's the power outputs on the respective cars?

My 3.2 was dyno'd at Alan Jeffries (Dyno Dynamics) at over 250hp - when I asked Ben how it made the extra power over the 228 ish stock he said it is apparently due to the S320 engine being slightly more powerful than the E320 version and the complete lack of cats which are not required in a 1987 car :D

1997 SL500 is "booked" at about 315hp - but I bet there are no cats in this one either !
 
Why do big Mercs make such poor power (relativley) to other Marques? You only have to look at BMW M3's and M5's to see what I mean, even my 630i makes 276bhp. I am probably missing the point but surely an SL500 should be making more than 315bhp?
 
Why do big Mercs make such poor power (relativley) to other Marques? You only have to look at BMW M3's and M5's to see what I mean, even my 630i makes 276bhp. I am probably missing the point but surely an SL500 should be making more than 315bhp?

BMW engine tech is admittably more advanced than MB's, but look a bit deeper, certain BMW engines need a fair bit of revving to get them underway. The 500 engine you talk of has much more torque, lower down than the 630i engine in your car (221lb/ft vs 300+ lb/ft). Doesn't peak power arrive at 7000rpm in that model of BMW, much higher than in the MB. Different driving characterisiics.

I know the BMW L6 is a fab engine, I had one in my X5 and not even the 4.4i V8 came close, but its suited for a more revy car...
 
Why do big Mercs make such poor power (relativley) to other Marques? You only have to look at BMW M3's and M5's to see what I mean, even my 630i makes 276bhp. I am probably missing the point but surely an SL500 should be making more than 315bhp?

What year is your 630 ? you are comparing M engines to run of the mill production V8's of almost 20 years ago!
the m119 engine was made from 1989 to 1999 and can hardly be described as a bastion of modern technology even though it used variable cam timing.
It can be made a LOT more potent quite easily but in an SL it is more Rolls Royce like in as much as the power is "sufficient" with its longevity being legendary.

I think that over 10 years ago 300+hp in a daily driver would have certainly been acceptable

Its replacement M113 5.0 (3v per cyl) actually has slightly less power - but the 5.5 and AMG versions of the M113 certainly deliver the goods as we all know :)


Mark
 
The 113 in the SL500 is all of 306 bhp

Very nice work and very well done. congratulations,, and you kept it all quite
 
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The 630i is a 55 plate, its either 272 or 276 I can't remember, the 3 litre M3 engine from the mid 90's made 286bhp from memory, I suppose that I expected a bit more from Mercedes than a run of the mill V8 but I see your point. What I dont see is an SL as a daily drive in the sense of the word that means it is common, I jusr expected more from a lump of a motor like that.
 
Different engines with different aims though. The E36 M3 3.0i engine is a peaky revy thing. The 306bhp 500 MB V8 is very different in terms of power delivery and aims i.e. its a effortless wafter of an engine, the M3 one much more frantic.
 
Great project Mark.

Did Ben say why all the interior was stripped? Is there other mods not mentioned that we could find out about?

You aught to persuade him to join this Forum, as his expertise would be very useful for people doing their conversions etc.
 
Different engines with different aims though. The E36 M3 3.0i engine is a peaky revy thing. The 306bhp 500 MB V8 is very different in terms of power delivery and aims i.e. its a effortless wafter of an engine, the M3 one much more frantic.

This could be said of my 295 BHP V70R that is almost as fast as the SL,but you have to work hard to get it there , where as the SL does it in its sleep
 

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