> On July 8, 2019 at 7:43 AM Dan--- via Mercedes <mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > > > Some guy was posting pictures of an intake manifold with a turbo mounted in > it. Not sure what it was for, but it looked hopped up. > > Maybe it’s for a 240D. Heh. I want to see that video. >
Back before the 617.951, Reeves Callaway came out with a 240D turbo kit. One of the magazines, I think Motor Trend, tested it. It was noticeably slower than a 300SD. I can't remember how it compared to a NA 300D, but it'd handily beat a non turbo 240D Ah, here it is, Motor Trend, 1983. I probably still have that issue in a box somewhere, I had a subscription in 1983 and I can remember reading that article when it came in the mail. So the article I read was AFTER the 617.951, and the 300SD they compared it to was a W126. 0-60 in the 12s for the SD, 15s for the 240DT > Source: Motor Trend, May 1983 v35 p76(2). > > >Full Text COPYRIGHT Petersen Publishing Company 1983 > >Diesel With a Difference > >Throw a leg over the bolster and slip into the Recaro's palm. Feel the soft >glove leather and fondle, please, the buttons for the contour bladders. Then >lock your hands on the 3-spoke wheel, using the leverage to snuggle your >buttocks to the seat. Pull the shoulder belt across your lap and hook it home. >Twist the ignition and watch the gauges snap to attention. The lights burn as >steadily as coals through the dash panel and the machine steals a few seconds >to ready itself for business. Time is measured by the pumping in your chest >and the wait seems much too long . . . > >Okay, okay, stop twitching. You weren't waiting for an electric pump to stoke >the Webers, you were indulging another electronic function, the one that >supplies juice to the machine's uuuuuhhhmmm, aaahhhh, pre-heat system, the >kind of system that brings life to a--yes!--diesel! > >(Fade to black. This little psychodrama was brought to you by Callaway Turbo >Sytems in Lyme, Connecticut.) > >Standing in the silence of the marrow-cracking January cold was Reeves >Callaway's sleepy 240D Mercedes, the unwitting cohort in a project meant to >freshen his perspective somewhere between twin-turbo 928 brain-busters and the >midnight shriek of the 4-cam Cosworth on his overworked dynamometer. Callaway >was fully aware that the 240D has been the subject of hotair experimentation >by others, but the Mercedes was largely unknown to him. He found something >special. He found a wonderfully over-built automobile, a product created for >the outer limits of the autobahn. But he also found the 240 to be a first >cousin to Torpor, the pavement sloth, and sluggish automobiles have no place >in Callaway's calculations. > >Perhaps more impressive than the M-B's bedrock physique was the way it >handled, even with the comfort-prone Continental radials. Enough potential, >reasoned Callaway, for certain owners to enjoy the car from a driver's >standpoint. Everything in sight exuded indestructibility, so could the inner >engine be any less substantial? His thought was to make the car respond at low >speed and undergo maximum pressure by the time it reached 60 mph. > >As Callaway puts it, "The conversion is a simple one and diesels are hard to >hurt. The diesel benefits from a turbocharger more than a gasoline engine >does, and it operates at an inherently lower exhaust gas temperature. The >strain that a gasoline powerplant finds with turbocharging is just not >realized in the diesel. The excess air generated by the turbo cleanses the >combustion chamber, recovers heat energy, and yields a boost in horsepower.' > >Underhood provision for the installation is prodigious. Despite the >4-cylinder's stock proportions, the distance from engine to fenderwell ensures >proper clearance and ventilation for a hot turbo housing. Since the standard >equipment is well engineered, Callaway's "Turbo Twins,' Don Miller and Kelly >Parsons, preserved as much of it as possible. > >For men of their experience, the 240 conversion was pure child's play. Rather >than create an exhaust manifold of their own, they simply cobbled a new one, >adding a stanchion on which to mount the turbo housing and modifying it >further with the addition of a wastegate. Then they fabricated an elbow to >link the turbo to the intake manifold; pre-production samples were tube steel, >but the production piece in every conversion is cast aluminum. > >At this point, an aftermarket oil cooler would have been included, but the 240 >already had a good one. Aeroquip stainless steel lines complete its >integration with the turbocharger. The brushed-aluminum air cleaner was moved >forward a few inches to finish the job. The exhaust system has extremely low >back-pressure (about 4 psi), so it, too, was left intact. (If there is need, >Callaway will bolt up the even larger pipes from a 300D.) > >By the boss' estimation, the result of this manipulation is a 45% power >increase, boosting the 240D's 67 hp to an estimated 95. Fuel consumption for >this vehicle with automatic transmission is 28 mpg, which the Turbo 240 has >dutifully retained during 12,000 miles of operation. The automatic >transmission has lost none of its harmony, and it shifts as smoothly as the >day it hit the pike. But the 240's 0-60 ramble has been reduced by nearly 5 >sec to the respectable vicinity of 15.5 sec, attesting to the turbo's healthy >contribution to low-end performance. > >Applying heavy leather initiates the hotair rush almost immediately and gives >the driver a feeling of muscle in reserve. Even without exciting the >turbocharger, Callaway finds that sluggishness has been transformed into >willingness. The effect is that of hacking tomatoes day after day with a >butter knife and then finding the joy and happiness that a freshly-honed blade >can bring. The buzz that permeates the normally aspirated 240 at 60 mph is >greatly subdued in the Callaway Turbo, and even at 70 the Mercedes feels >completely relaxed. At lesser speed on a secondary road, one gets the >impression that the engine finally has reached parity with the car's >suspension. > >A 300SD it is not. Years of Mercedes-Benz development have made the 300SD a >strong candidate for the title of ultimate turbodiesel. The 300SD whistles to >60 in the mid-12-sec range, which makes the 240D Turbo a matter of economics >and preference. At minimum, those four fleeting seconds will cost $6000 (the >price difference between a new 300SD--suggested retail $37,000--and the >Callaway 240D Turbo). The conversion includes everything we've mentioned, plus >a boost gauge and an exhaust gas temperature meter. It retails for $1800 and >will hinge itself to any 1977-82 240D. > >Those who design to do the work themselves (we'll bet against it) will >discover that the changeover requires about six hours, and putting the gauges >in place another three. The leather Recaros and special steering wheel are >Callaway's favors because he feels that man cannot live by turbo alone. > >And who would contemplate this aberration? That's right, lawyers, doctors, >"investors,' et al., with a strain of cayenne pricking their otherwise >immutable demeanors. Demand is going something like this: The Twins were >dissecting a stickshift mini-Panzer at the time of our test, shaking their >heads in disbelief over the dozen 240s already waiting to become schizoid >sports cars. _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
