KirkVining

I've owned a couple of 280s over the years and have always marvelled at what a fine little engine the dual overhead cam six is that was made from 77 to around 85 or so. I've noticed that they now have become plentiful in the junkyards, so I was thinking of attempting to rebuild one with a supercharger and slip it into my 83 280SL. Has anyone in this forum had any experience supercharging or turbo charging this particular engine? I'd love to hear their experiences.

DslBnz

Too old for these guys. A lot of them probably didn't even know the M110 existed.

Good luck. That would certainly be interesting.

The M110 has actually been around in carburated format since the late sixties, I believe. Went all the way through the early '90's in the Galaendewagen.

MARK CUMMINS

Check over at Mercedesshop.com
Lots of older Mercedes..and Tech info!

KirkVining

dslbenz, I think it might be even older than that. I was watching a History Channel program on Mercedes race cars, and in one under the hood shot of a thirties model racer I distinctly observed the dual cam shaft hemi head setup. I tried to find some more info on it but there just isn't that much out there either on the net or in my local bookstore on technical details of the early race cars. Lots of pretty pictures, but no meat.

Mark, thatnks for the info, I'll check out the site.

DslBnz

Wow, that's incredible. Maybe the engine started out in racing and made its way into cars later on. I know the M110 EFI was used in the '70's to replace the 3.5 liter M116. According to Mercedes, the M110 had the same performance as the V8, but with less fuel consumption.

KirkVining

That's why I love the engine. You can cruise at 80 mph and get 24 mpg while your doing it. My 280E sedan could hit 125. I got 450,000 miles out of it before I sent to the junk yard, and it wasn't running all that bad. The junk dealer probably changed the plug wires and drove it another 100,000. That's why I'm thinking that an engine that strong would be a good candidate for some old fashion american hot rodding. I believe it has a forged crank and pistons, and the hemi head as well - perfect for supercharging. My only worry is that the compression at 9:1 is too high. Otherwise, it looks like I could pull out the air box and mount a Paxton type supercharger there, and just plumb the supercharger into the air intake of the existing fuel injection.

DslBnz

Tell me about it. My dad drove a W116 280SE for 350K miles when he finally decided to sell it to a customer. These engines never quit.

Fluid

I have some experience with blown engines - but not MBs. Drive a self-installed Paxton NOVI-blown truck now in fact. The 9:1 compression ratio is a bit high but could be handled with lower boost values. Alternately you could use a custom head gasket to reduce the compression, although this could cause issues if there is much 'squish' in the chambers, and the cam timing would be changed slightly with the thicker gasket.

The largest issue with installing a blower is insuring adequate fuel delivery. It isn't the amount of air you force into the cylinders, it's the air AND FUEL that matters. The biggest enemy of a blown motor is a too-lean mixture; that guarantees detonation and eventually a destroyed motor. Getting the extra fuel with the extra air can be a problem, and it is usually most successfully cured with auxillary injectors located ahead of the throtle body. An easier solution, but not as good for highest power, is to use a fuel management unit along with a high pressure fuel pump to increase fuel delivery pressure to the stock injectors as boost increases.

There are several excellent books on the subject - my favorite is Supercharged! by Corkey Bell, ISBN 0-8376-168-1. Lots of good information there.