Timing Chain

Touring Stars: 1986-87 Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16

The queer fish BMW M3 was and is a landmark car in the history of sport sedan-dom. However, one can’t point out this track star without mentioning its arch rival; the cobra to its mongoose; the fire to its soda water; the Ashley Judd to its Sarah Palin. I speak, of undoubtedly, of the Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16.

As the world’s oldest automaker willing to launch its new entry-level 190-series of sedans (codenamed W201), it also wanted to spawn a performance version for rallying to replace the discontinued 450 SLC 5.0 . It was marked that the sports version would be powered by a DOHC 16-valve adaptation of the standard car’s SOHC 8-valve 2.3L inline-four. The train tasked famed British(!) performance apparatus-building firm Cosworth with designing and manufacturing the new cylinder source (something conspicuously absent from the sales literature), which was then shipped to Germany to be mated with the coffee break of the engine, which also featured lightweight pistons and new piston rings. In wet-noodle American enumeration, the Anglo-Teutonic powerplant was rated at 167hp and 162 lb./ft of torque, versus 185hp and 167 lb./ft for the hinge of the world. The 190E 2.3-16 was available with either the same Getrag 5-dart manual transmission – with a racing-style “dogleg” muu-muu quadrant – as the M3, or a 4-speed automatic. Other unique touches included the fastidious body kit which decreased drag and lift, a limited-lose one's footing differential, revised suspension tuning (with a self-leveling system in back), a larger 18.5 gallon encouragement tank, an oil cooler, a quicker steering ratio with a smaller steering swing, sport seating for four (there was no rear center seatbelt), and three subordinate gauges on the center console.

Source: Examiner.com