jbadams

I recently purchased a 1994 e320 and would like to replace the muffler(s). I was looking online and am now under the impression that it has two mufflers? Does anyone know what the size of the exhaust pipes are stock, ie 2.5"? I was also wondering if I can get a k&n intake for it. K&N obviously doesn't have an intake specifically designed for it. Before purchasing this, I had a mitsubishi diamante and after talking to some people had put a 3000gt pod intake on it. I also had a straight through performance muffler that was custom made for diamante's only. I was impressed with my hp gains as well as the understated throaty growl. Thats what I'm looking for again with this car. A little snappier excelleration, a sweeter sound (not rice burner!). I was hoping some people could assist me in finding these items. Also, I lost a piece of my door trim, a triangular piece that fits right above the front drivers side glass. Does anyone know a good place to order a replacement?
Thanks!

jbadams

One thing I'd also like to do is chip the engine, who's best for that. I still want smooth running. Does anyone make a tranny chip to make is shift more aggressively? Pardon my spelling please

mike690003

Getting HP out a W124 will take more than an intake and exhaust. If you search the archives, you will see that this has been discussed quite a few times. The colad air intake will reduce HP, and performance chips are a gimmick. I think you should save up and do a custom turbo, and boost at 6-7 PSI.

AMG_Eric

what mike said and i would add that you can put an e420 motor where ur 320 lies.

CDP

Or a C36 engine.

Tikolx333

I have been looking all over for performance upgrades for my e320 but I didnt find anything. It is hard to beleive that there is nothign that can be done to that is simple to make this car accelerate faster.

There has to be something.

neanderthal

DO NOT USE A K&N with an MAF or HFM engine. the oil will stick to the wire (or film) and acuse it to read erratically. it will then need very expensive replacement.

AMG_Eric

well mine has a k&n on a m104 motor and i have had 0 issues. if you dont clean the filter or over oil it i can see issues.

CDP

exactly.

jbadams

I had great luck with my diamante putting on a custom muffler. I had it shipped to me from australia (where the diamante is made) and it was custom designed for the diamante. Sounded great and made the car less sluggish. It revved up quicker just in park and seemed to have a more sporty shift pattern and downshifted faster when I was passing people. I'm looking for a nice sound all told. These inline 6's sound nice, i just figure let them be a little louder and screamyer when your getting on them. I guess for now i'll just put in a k&n panel since I have alway put those in my cars and have always liked them. I also have had no problems with them and don't see how they would cause a prob.

NorCal124

K&N works great for me. What happens is people get impatient and don't wait for the filter to dry completely before re-oiling it. That causes the oil to sludge up and gets everywhere and in the sensors. Every vehicle I or my family owns uses a K&N.

AMG_Eric

yah that is it. we use an air compressor to dry the filter. remember oil and water dont mix.

mhorn

There is no maigc trick you can do on these engines that wil give you more HP or quicker acceleration without some kind of serious drawback. Remember these cars were built by the same guys who perfected rocket and jet engines when we were still making toasters. If there was a design or alteration that could be made to the motor that would allow for more HP or torque without sacrificing engine life or fuel economy, don't you think the engineers would have designed the car that way? Not to discourage anyone from wanting to modd their ride, but W124's aint the car to do it on.

shadowgriffen

I stand behind you 100%.

ashman

if you want the car quicker the best thing to do would be a differential with a higher ratio. say your car has a 3.07 then switching to a 3.27 would give you quicker 0-60, but you would lose top end and gas mileage may suffer.

Tikolx333

I have seen alot of people talking about this. Now how much would that cost and where would I get this?

jbadams

I think you may be missunderstanding a bit. I'm not looking for crazy mods that bump me up 50hp. A lot of what i'm looking for is a sweeter sound. maybe 10hp. I don't think that is unreasonable to ask from exhaust, air filter and chip. I'm not trying to street race. I just like to know that i've done the small things to make sure i'm getting top performance. Whether or not the germans were making jet engines when we were making toasters, i think in the 90's we probably have them on tech stuff. Maybe it doesn't always show in our auto industry but that doesn't mean we don't have it now. They are well engineered cars but they were a touring sedan. They were built for good cruising speed and passing power, quite operation. Take away some of the quite operation, and you should get a little more low end power. Add some strut braces. Bigger rotors, or as you said, turbo. All of these would be upgrades, yet they weren't included in the original. I'm not saying they are poorly engineered, I think they hit their mark quite well. I just want to move the mark a little.

mhorn

To your point, there have been a lot of advances in technology since these cars first rolled off the assembly line in '86. You will certainly be able to gain some performance by adding an aftermarket exhaust that is less restrictive or possibly tweaking the ECM, however, the parts to do this are prohibitively expensive for the upgrade they offer, and in my opinion, not worth it.

I don't know about the M104 exhausts, but M103's have dual headers that connect at the resonater, then a single pipe that connects to the muffler, then a dual tip downturned exhaust. I'm sure there are aftermarket manufacturers for the exhaust that will be less restricive, but hold onto your wallet. The cheapest, most effective performance mod you could do to this car would be to take out all the dead weight.

ashman

If you want nicer sound, go to a custom muffler shop and have them make you a custom exhaust.

The factory airbox is already going to give better flow than any other air intake system for the car. you could potentially add another air intake tube to the factory airbox which AMG did to the car when they made the AMG 300CE 3.2 in 1988, I am not sure if you will get any gains.

And I have alooked into chips for the car, and every chip manufacturer that said they could do it also said I would see little to no improvement unless I was able to run much higher octane than what I am able to get.

Chappy

Listen to what Alon is saying....as he speaks the truth.

I purchased my 300CE ten years ago and still drive it daily. I've asked a lot of questions about performance upgrades and seen many, many inquiries posted here and other MB forums.

There was an article that ran some years ago in the MBCA Club magazine The Star. The advice was that if you wanted a faster W124 300E, sell it and buy a 400E!

Seriously, VERY LITTLE can be done to these cars from a performance standpoint without spending some bucks. Just because you can bolt on 20hp on a Mustang, Civic or 300Z is irrelevant as the same DOES NOT apply to the W124. Your only real options are to increase displacement or go with forced induction. Again, at that point, it would be much less expensive and fewer headaches to go with a 400E, 500E or newer MB V8.

Good luck

jasong

you might look at putting on a system from MSD. they make a low end system for 6 cyclinders and that would help in power and performance. the biggest problem that internal combustion engines have is, oddly enough, combustion. that is why MB went to COP and why formula cars run it. an MSD send multiple sparks during the mid-range of revs. which gives more complete combustion which gives more power/performance. above say 5000 rpm it won't matter because of the physics but you probably won't run it that hard anyway. also don't be put off by folks talking down better air flow (both in and out) because it is a matter of simple physics that combustion works off O2 (put a plastic bag on your head and see you can run faster). point is that better air flow ALWAYS helps performance, whether its's worth the cost is another story.

neanderthal

yeah, all true except for the fact where you omitted to mentin that the 103 engine (and 104 to an extent) are pretty much optimised out of the box. thats why its hard to get more performance out of them.

you can port the heads, get better flow and only get 1 or 2 hp. same thing with exhausts. the whole thing is a well oiled machine from the factory. how many 3 liter cars were making 190 hp in 1985 and passing emissions better? or 217 in 1990?

and dont forget mercedes has always made the engines more torquey than powerful, in order to move the heavy bodies around, and give them that high speed effortless cruising ability they are known for.

jasong

as I stated earlier, I make no judgement as to the cost-effectiveness aspect. the only thing that I think would really work is the MSD. that's because of the dynamics associated with ignition. another thing that might help is to pull the motor and go with a Rodac, they really cook. by the way I have seen the MSD for a few hundred dollars which is not too bad. my course of action was to focus on tune up and enjoy the ride. I use my good old fashioned muscle car for punching out.