I have this build posted elsewhere but seems like it belongs here as well ☺.
I have been building this 190e for the last year or so…definitely GRM as all modifications have been done by me in my garage when I find time and with a tight budget. I am trying to keep costs under $5k all in. The plan is to build a neat non-daily driver street car that can see some track time maybe. I am probably still about a year away from it being drivable.
I bought the car with a blown rear end for a super deal off of Craigslist. It came home wearing an authentic an AMG body kit, Eibach springs and cool ACT (made in Germany by Ronal) turbo fan wheels. The rest of the car was in pretty decent shape for being 30 years old. The driver’s seat had some rips so I got another seat upholstery set off ebay and the passenger window motor was seized.
What has been done so far?
Motor/trans install
I have always really liked the 190e body style but every one I have driven (no 16v’s) have been pretty gutless…..in comes the 4.0l Toyota all aluminum V8 1uz-fe to save the day! After removing the cast iron MB 2.3 and auto trans from the car I weighed them and found the new powertrain is within about 20-30lbs of the old!! That is for the 1uz and the 350z six-speed standard. The trans is mounted via an adapter plate and custom flywheel. There was some cutting and welding required to get the stock cross member to clear the sump and to be level on either side for the new motor mounts (urethane C5 Corvette). I haven’t done the trans mount yet but it looks like it will be easy to make.
Took the motor out with my little helper...
After some cleaning and "de-slimeing"
New motor mount areas fabbed
Adapter plate and flywheel
Low mile 350z trans
Rack and pinion conversion
Cool plan…but… the biggest challenge with fitting any V8 into a 190e is the bowling ball sized factory steering box that is in the way. While researching online to see what others have done I came across a car built with a nasty SBF that was well sorted out and a track terror. I contacted the owner through a MB forum and he was gracious enough to share his R&P installation details and measurements. This put me in a very good place from a bump steer and fine tuning position – Thanks Toby! The car now sports a MKII Jetta manual rack fitted to a custom ¼” thick mounting plate. The plate is welded to the factory cross member (bolted initially) and bolted to the lower rear suspension pivot points. This should also strengthen up the front suspension somewhat. I still have to make a shaft to connect the rack to the stock column and finish the tie rod end mods.
I will weld up the hole in the front of the crossmember...I welded another thick wall box tube inside to beef it up a bit.
Induction
The motor was going to have ITB’s originally but a great deal on a M122 supercharger (07+ GT500 Mustang) came up and plans changed. I “edited” the stock lower intake manifold to accept a new plenum that would work with the SC. I also had to switch out the snout for one from a Ford Lightning truck – about an inch longer and makes it easier to get the pulley in the right location. I am not quite finished the manifold but getting close. With about 12psi I should be in/over the 400rwhp area. I have a Snow Performance water/meth injection kit (another local CL score) instead of an inter-cooler..kinda nervous about this but they seem to work well so long as they don’t run out of liquid.
Cut down area:
New plenum taking shape
Everything in position and looking like it will work - won't clear the hood unfortunately.
Rear end
The stock rear end would not have survived the new power train even if it wasn’t already blown. I got another rear sub-frame from a wrecker and edited it to fit an R200v Nissan center section and added some beefing up and gussets. These LSD diffs are pretty bullet proof and will handle 500+hp stock. Same unit found in the Skylines. This one has 3.91:1 gears…which may be a bit too much with the six speed in first gear? Quite a bit of cutting and welding to get the axle center line in the same place as the stock diff but it is ready to install. I still have to get custom axles made at this point.
Beefing up a known crack area
Added some reinforcement to the diff mount side
Ready to bolt in
Driveshaft
Since the trans was out of a 350z I needed to find a stock driveshaft to cut off the slip yoke. I found a “track model” Nissan carbon fiber one on CL for $40! Seemed like a shame to cut the yoke off …In a moment of “What if” I looked up the wheel base of the 190e as well as the 350z. It turns out that both are within about 15mm of each other? I am hoping that it might “just fit” with a little forward/backward motor placement. It would be great if I could use the driveshaft as is.
Future plans
I am thinking I will be running the car on Megasquirt probably.
Possibly lower the car a bit more, go to 18’s and do some flares?
I will update more if people are interested as things progress.
Pierre
...in the best possible way
