Automotive exhaust help, mercedes 240d 1981

My dad gave me his old car which has been to quite a few shops for various services depending on what was wrong, seldom the dealer. THis may or may not be a good thing, espacially if any of the techs at the smaller shops car drive a stick shift is one, and what to use as replacement parts....

Since I inspected the car, lots is different than photos in manuals, online, etc. One thing is the exhaust system.

It has a pipe from the header to a small muffler out the back. The pipe is about the size of a toilet paper tube and I feel it is vary restrictive. The first 2 feet is covered in rust, rest looks fine. I want to upgrade it to a larger pipe if not stock, but am running into brick walls.

Muffler shops will only put the factory system up there, which is what midas supposely did when dad got it replaced a few years ago from a leak. Looks like online it can run me 400 bucks for a stock kit. Advance auto sells parts for exhaust systems, but I need to pick and choose and clamp it all together.

According to the performance website for benz, they show 2 mufflers, the rear one with dual tips and all the plumbing looks rather beefy compaired to what I saw under the car.

Any tips to put the stock or larger system under there to free up some power from this diesel engine that is ran in the redline to go anywhere and any speed on the innerstate? It maybe ok for idle use in the city, but cant be anygood for running 4 grand at 65mph. I dont mind noise, rather its like a performance Japanise car or a diesel truck.

Does this mean I just need to make some measurements and start digging through their selection for parts to make onemyself?

THanks.

I'm guessing this is a non-turbo model? Measure what pipe diameter it is, on most diesel's unless it's a turbo model the exhaust doesn't need to be too large at all.

I worked at a Benz dealership in the late 70's and if memory serves some of the older Benz's had a stainless steel exhaust system so that might be a consideration when looking for replacement parts. Older models did not have a real large diameter exhaust pipe.

I had a non turbo 300D and you are not going to get much power. I think mine had a listed horsepower of 77 and a top speed of 83 MPH.

Here in Indianapolis there is a small muffler shop that specializes in custom bending of pipes. Search out a shop like that and stay away from the big chains as sometimes they can't think outside the box and can't adapt to old equipment. Plus they probably want to sell you $$$$ Mercedes parts because you bought an expensive status car.

This small shop which is a local chain installed a muffler system on my 84 Camaro from the catalytic converter back for $40. Car-X, Midas and an upscale local chain wanted $115-$200 for a "factory recommended" muffler.

There is an online parts store that I used on my 76 that was not too overpriced but I don't have the URL since I killed my hard drive recently.

Look for a muffler shop with lots of polished stainless steel mufflers sitting out in the open. Where I live (California), almost every exhaust shop will install a new "performance" exhaust system with freeflow mufflers.

Having said that, I have made an exhaust system myself. I have a welder but no tubing bender, so bought various pieces of pre-bent 90-degree exhaust pipe from jcwhitney.com (or was is summitracing.com?) and a muffler I liked. Then I cut up the tubes to fit as appropriate.

Funny thing is, I temporarily held it together with muffler clamps (about 10 of them) and the whole system held up fine for about six months until I got around to welding it.

Anyway, I have to agree with Pellidon that chain muffler shops won't likely be willing to do the performance stuff... just the independents. If you can find a place that will mandrel-bend the pipes (no kinks in the bends) it would be worth a few extra bucks imho, if you want the extra performance.

Just so happens my wife has a 1983 240D with a 4 speed manual, and I have a bit of mechanical experience myself. :laughing:

To be blatantly honest, you dont have too many options. The non-turbo Mercedes diesels of that era have a reputation for being rather powerless. If you want a larger exhaust, you need to look for a little independant shop, like others have suggested. But it wont make much of a difference. What you have is a very heavy, solid car with a 67 horsepower engine. Unless you want to swap in a later, turbocharged engine, there isnt too much you can do for the beast. Unlike Ford's 7.3 liter diesel, or the Dodge trucks of the 80's/ early 90's, there;s not really any hidden power in the engine that you can unlock. It's already doing all it can.

My personal recommendation is that you do one of two things. Number one, just accept the car. It's old, underpowered, and has no potential to be a speed demon. However, it has an absolutely incredible coolness factor, and gets really good fuel mileage to boot. Take the car for what it is and learn to love it, or go for option number two.

Option two is to check what these bad boys sell for on Ebay. As I said, my wife spent 2400 for her '83 model on Ebay, then flew to Indianna to drive it back to Nashville, then we spent another 2000 bucks on repairs, and we got a really good deal. There are a lot of old Mercedes enthusiasts out there that just love the old 123 body styles, and are willing to accept their shortcomings- and they'll pay a premium for one in good shape. Check out www.benzworld.org, then go to the forums and read through the 123 bodystyle forum. A lot of people really like these old cars, and you really cant get any more performance out of them.

I've crawled all over the two my wife has had since we got married (an '85 300D turbo that got totalled, then the '83 240D), and they just dont have any 'oomph' to give up. The turbo models are a different story, but the naturally aspirated ones are already doing their best. If you tweak the injection pumps to get more fuel (diesels create power purely by fuel, you cant run one lean), then you need more air to burn off that fuel, or you just get a cloud of black smoke. Without a turbo, the engine cant get the extra air it needs to burn off the additional fuel.

It's a sad story, but that's just how it is. You can get a larger exhaust custom made, but it wont do any real good. If you want a cool, older car with a lot of personality, keep it and accept it's limitations. If you want something with a bit more 'oomph' and power, then you need to sell it and put the money toward a different car. After our first one got totalled, I watched 1980 year model cars in excellent shape sell for 12,000 bucks. Granted, those were showroom condition cars, but with the recent rise in fuel prices and the fact that these cars are great on fuel, demand (and price) has gone up. Way up.

Give it some thought, but just realize what you're getting into. These naturally aspirated Benzes dont have any more power, but they do have a great 'coolness factor', especially the ones with manual transmissions. Check out the forum I mentioned earlier, and get some information there. Either way, I wish you the best of luck.

I have a 1984 300SD. as for your car, i don't think the exaust is restrictive, and very few mods will make your car any faster. it is just what it is, they are slow, simple, and reliable.

Mercedesshop.com forums has a HUGE following for diesel mercedes. please check em out

Oh.......

I was hopeing it would get a few more hp somewhere in the power band if not torque. I know at idle it seems to blow a good stream of air out the midas pipe.

Of course by "stock" you are referring to the factor exhaust system with two mufflers where as I just have a straight piece of pipe and a muffler, maybe there is little to gain. I assumed since I felt no gain with the kn filter, the exhaust was the next spot to look.

Yeah, its a solid car, gets 31mpg and just the past week got the ac to blow cold. Something it has done since my dad owned it the past ten or so years.

Maybe its not too difficult to unbolt the header pipe to take it around the block to see for myself and tighten that back up and save the money for the paint job?

I am on the .org forum, but they have said the same. Since its a non turbo, exhaust size makes no difference in power output.

Ive called a few non chain stores and they have said the same thing, only factory exhaust if they can get the parts from mercedes.

I think I will my car money for a diesel calbriator or toyota car later this year or early next year.

Although I have found the muffler shops big and small referr me to the benz dealer or to order the system from the benz dealer to install, I did find a way to get MORE POWER.

I can now make my 240d squeal tires with 1/8-1/4 throttle at a dead stop facing up or down hill.

It kind of drives like a gas car now.

Ok, I can't wait. What did you do to gain the power?

Strange that you can't find someone to fab an exhaust system for you. In my small city, there's probably half a dozen places that would/could do it.
Maybe try a hotrod or offroad oriented shop. But I'm also in agreement with the other guys that you probably already have an adequate exhaust system.

you think less than 1 7/8 inches exhaust is ok for a 2.4l diesel engine that runs at 4 grand at highway speed?

I adjusted the alada regulator. I did a mini burn out this morning of a few feet on a quiet road. Man, its like driving a car from the 70s like an ltd or grand prix, if they were offered in a manual tranny verison.

Blowing out pure black coal smoke when you press the throttle in is fun to for those drivers behind you that blow their horn a few miliseconds before the light turns green. Nice having a tractor trailer length between you and traffic behind you.

Hope you've got an EGT gauge.


:buddies:

The vw golf my dad had was nice performance wise, just blew a lot of black smoke out. It got 42mpg and was fun for him to drive with jerks behind him on bikes, convertibles, etc. Now the benz seems to be in the same neighborhood.

Man, I cant wait to drive it to work tomorrow.