2.3-16v advice/tips?

[Eza Gadson]

I'm taking delivery of a minty '87 2.3-16v with 115k on Wed. and I'm looking
for any tips/suggestions out there.

1. Wheels & Tires: It's coming with the stock wheels and a set of new
Yokohamas on it, but the purchase also included a set of 16" BBS rims. MANY
people go with 16" or 17" rims and tire upgrades, but I have heard from one
source that changing the wheel size can damage the drivetrain. I don't
understand how that might be true. Also, how much ride comfort do you give
up in this swap? I'm going to be using this car as a daily commuter between
CT and NYC and while the roads in Southwestern CT are perfect for this type
of car, the roads in and around NYC are on par with the roads in many third
world countries (despite all the tax dollars). If I go with the upgrade,
I'll be thinking about Potenza RE-950s as I need good wet performance.

2. Cosmetics: I think the car looks great stock but I may want to have the
trunk-lid identification removed. Is this a hassle to do/get done
correctly?

3. Suspension: The fellow I'm buying from has already lowered it slightly
and put in a swaybar from the E500. I probably won't do anything else.

4. Performance: I'd like to get some extra muscle without a lot of
modification for now. It seems that K&N air filters are popular, and I've
heard that dual tip spark plugs are also beneficial. Anything else? I'm
toying with the idea of a rebuild with a supercharger kit down the road.

5. Audio: Any guidance for putting in a good (but simple) system would be
appreciated. What fits? What looks like it'll fit but won't?

Any other advice welcom.

Thanks
Eza

[William Balmer]

The best advice I can give you is to go to http://mb190.tripod.com/.
There's a lot of info there and a link to the Delphi 190E forum, which is
the best internet forum of any type I have ever used--friendly,
non-condescending, knowledgable people. The Delphi format isn't the
greatest and they're working on changing to a different host, but the people
are what counts.

> 1. Wheels & Tires: It's coming with the stock wheels and a set of new
> Yokohamas on it, but the purchase also included a set of 16" BBS rims.
MANY
> people go with 16" or 17" rims and tire upgrades, but I have heard from
one
> source that changing the wheel size can damage the drivetrain. I don't
> understand how that might be true. Also, how much ride comfort do you
give
> up in this swap? I'm going to be using this car as a daily commuter
between
> CT and NYC and while the roads in Southwestern CT are perfect for this
type
> of car, the roads in and around NYC are on par with the roads in many
third
> world countries (despite all the tax dollars). If I go with the upgrade,
> I'll be thinking about Potenza RE-950s as I need good wet performance.

I use 17" wheels most of the year but my snow tires are mounted on oem size
15" wheels. The difference in ride comfort is substantial, but so is the
difference in handling. If you're concerned about ride comfort, the 16"
wheels are probably a very good compromise. I've never heard of damaging
the drivetrain with a wheel size swap, and most of the people I know with
16-valves have up-sized their wheels. The previous owner of my car is a MB
tech and national technical service advisor for BMW club car racing. He did
the change to 17"s on my car. I wouldn't give it a second thought.

>
> 2. Cosmetics: I think the car looks great stock but I may want to have
the
> trunk-lid identification removed. Is this a hassle to do/get done
> correctly?

Not sure. I have heard that some are glued and some have pins. Obviously
if there are pins, it would require more work (filling and painting) to do
the job. See if you can determine how they're held on.

>
> 3. Suspension: The fellow I'm buying from has already lowered it
slightly
> and put in a swaybar from the E500. I probably won't do anything else.
>
> 4. Performance: I'd like to get some extra muscle without a lot of
> modification for now. It seems that K&N air filters are popular, and I've
> heard that dual tip spark plugs are also beneficial. Anything else? I'm
> toying with the idea of a rebuild with a supercharger kit down the road.

Here's where the forum will give you a wealth of info. More than I can go
into briefly here.

>
> 5. Audio: Any guidance for putting in a good (but simple) system would
be
> appreciated. What fits? What looks like it'll fit but won't?

Also lots of info on the forum for this topic. Briefly, it seems like mosts
guys upgrade the speakers to something decent and add a subwoofer that fires
up through the hole where the first aid kit sits. You can do a little or a
lot more than this.

Hope to see you on the forum, and welcome to the 2.3-16 club!

Bill Balmer
1986 190E 2.3-16
first 2.3-16 in the US
featured in Car & Driver March 1986

[J. Harvey]

"William Balmer"

> Bill Balmer
> 1986 190E 2.3-16
> first 2.3-16 in the US
> featured in Car & Driver March 1986

Quick question if you don't mind.

What is the family relationship between your 2.3-16 engine and the 2.3
Kompressor engine in my 1999 C230 Kompressor sedan ? I've heard the name
Cosworth mentioned, but my engine's 'rev characteristics' seem more
argricultural than race-bred.

Just curious. TIA.

[William Balmer]

I honestly don't know the answer, but I've wondered too! I can tell you a
lot about the 2.3-16 engine with Cosworth head in my car, but I know next to
nothing about the newer 2.3 used in the C230. Sorry. Maybe someone else
will have the answer.

Bill Balmer

" J. Harvey" <JM002.Harve...@Sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:rZmT8.9904$j23.7...@news20.bellglobal.com...

[rich]

How much interest do you think there would be if I were to "donate" Hosting
services for a forum for MB owners?
I own an ISP co and could setup a forum (without all those damn pop-ups from
tripod). ?

[William Balmer]

I don't know, but I'll sure ask. Are you offering to host the 190-specific
site or are you only interested in an all-model encompassing MB site?

Bill Balmer

"rich" <ri...@richrock.com> wrote in message
news:3D20C430...@richrock.com...

[rich]

Actually, I would be willing host an 190 only group and or ALL models, what
about a different group per model?

What I was thinking was to offer either a web based forum (message board) or I
can actually host New groupsfrom my server (richrock.com). This would require
anyone who wanted to join to add the news server (richrock.com) to their list of
news servers and subscribe to the group of their particular interests, just like
this "alt.auto.mercedes" group, but My hosted group could be called say:
"mercedes.190" "mercedes.all" or something like that.

[Marco]

Hi Eza,
i'm italian and webmaster of: www.190e-16v.comm.it
This site is dedicated ONLY at 2.3-16 with a lot of important information.
If u want information about 2.3-16 send a mail from site. But "sorry", my
english is no good and the site is in italian language only...
I drive 2.3-16 from 1989... good car.
Bye bye, Marco.

"Eza Gadson" <gad...@netzero.net> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:lljT8.815$Cd5.50...@newssvr10.news.prodigy.com...