MINIz guy

I may be stupid, I may be eccentric, but I always love weird manual transmission cars. I've got a slight urge lately to purchase a C240/C230k with a 6MT and autocross it in SCCA G-Street. There's a C240 locally for $3200 and I'm sure I could talk that down.

From the looks of it, it doesn't weight that much more than a FoST, but is severely underpowered. It looks like OEM camber bolts can be added to give copious amounts of front camber and I'd just add on a fat front sway bar to minimize camber loss from the mcstrut front suspension. Throw on a Koni yellows to dampen everything, and I could probably squeeze on 245's under the car too, right?

How stupid does this sound to you guys?

I'm only speculating right now. I'm a BMW guy at heart but can't find a good BMW that fits me. My 318ti competes in STX and is hopelessly outrun by the FRS'. I want to go back to something comfortable, top 50% pax and unique, kinda like when I autocrossed my E39 M5 but without the M5 maintenance costs.

tommy

A 240, manny or slushbox, will be out of class no matter the class you're in. Besides being underpowered, the mannies are pretty sucky, do not have great gearing, have low redlines, and the cars are very heavy. So the answer is yes, and in addition, these cars hate being pushed too hard; with expensive parts, it's just not a winning proposition.

I'd swap in an M3 into that ti, which would be a much better combination, and in the end, much cheaper and satisfying. I have no doubt the FRS owners are kicking your booty; that car's made for it.

MINIz guy

Yep, I just checked the gearing on the C240. Topping out 2nd at 49mph? No thanks.

Time to look at other oddball cars that may have a chance in stock class. I don't want to dump more money into my ti and may be getting rid of it, since it isn't the perfect car for me.

ncmudbug

instead of participating in self destructive behavior like trying to autocross a Mercedes, why don't you find a nice Honda S2000? They are really nice!

I've already posted my complaints about my C230K 6MT but I have to say that at about 90K miles, it has settled into a much nicer tranny than it used to be. It's still not as nice as it could be but I don't think it's bad. Maybe it just took 90K miles to break in! I don't know if it helped but I've been using Red Line MTL 75W80 GL-4 (I know it's not approved).

tommy

A nice Honda tranny with a short shift kit is like butter, and I usually cringe a little when I go from my CRX's shifting back to the Benz.

An S2K would be a great autox car, I agree. Though HPDEs are much more fun, the older I get; arriving somewhere at 6am to set up the car, memorize the layout, get assignments, and then chase after cones for the better part of a day has lost much of its romance.

ncmudbug

A friend let me drive his S2000 and I was in love (with the car!)! Everything was perfect. It was even fun to just sit in it!

Yep, My autocross days are long over too - even now that I have my Lotus Europa on the road. I used to race SCCA but that stopped when I got married. I really enjoy a nice brisk ride on curvy roads on a cool day in my Europa, though!

tommy

Have you ever posted pics of it? Would love to see some. I was more of an Opel GT stalker myself growing up.

ncmudbug

I have a few in my garage area. I don't want to be presumptuous but if you PM me your email address I can send some more recent ones.

KSKarl

I once heard a mechanic say he "fixed" plenty of manual transmissions with RedLine MTL.

ncmudbug

That's how I got hooked up with it. I'd known about Red Line oil since I was racing in the late '70s. I heard people rave about it but really thought they were exaggerating. When I got my Lotus on the road, the used transaxle I put in it had a rough 1-2 shift. I took it to a shop that works on a lot of exotic and race cars to do some tuning I didn't feel qualified to do and mentioned my tranny problem. He said put some Red Line in it and swore that would clear it up. I did and it did. Red Line made it a new tranny.

I was unsatisfied with the MB 6MT so I tried Red Line in it. I can't say it made much difference at the time. As I say, I'm much happier with it now but I don't claim Red Line helped (nor did it hurt). I suspect it just broke in and is much lighter and easier to shift, now.

arielC320

if you still like mb find a C320 coupe with 6mt and i bet you will not regret it thanx