I've been kicking around the idea of selling my '97 BMW 540 and picking up a Benz diesel of around the same era. The purpose of this would be to start a project to make enough power to outrun the BMW. I'm not a newbie in regards to making diesel pickups faster (I currently own the record setting VP44 powered Dodge that makes over 1000hp at the wheels and is a daily driver) I also have an extensive background in building Hot boats and drag race cars (Mostly Chevrolet big blocks)

I want to begin with a good platform that will allow for my goal to be attained with the fewest headaches. I would like to make over 400 hp at the rear wheels.

I plan on adding fuel (Combo of turning up the injector pump and installing larger injectors/delivery valves/lines, Etc..) and building a custom twin turbo setup. I am an expert fabricator, so it doesn't matter if the car comes stock with a turbo or not.

I want to stick with 1994 and newer.
So here are some questions:

Which injector pump is easiest to turn up?

What kind of injector pumps? Any pictures of the pumps?

How much power can one of these motors handle before it comes apart?

How much boost will the motors take before they spit a head gasket?

How do the transmissions hold up and are there upgrades that can be done?

Thanks for your help.
Adam

 

Thanks for the reply. I had no idea what I could expect with one of these little diesels. 500+ hp? Is that at the wheels?

I had a '95 come through the shop the other day and it had an inline pump that resembled a Bosch P7100. That interested me since we modify those in house. Is that the pump that will be on a 98-99?

I'm shocked they are running HX40's, I would think they would be laggy on that small of a motor. We used to use those back in 1999 on the Dodge pickups for an upgrade, and thats a 5.9L(not many people would consider it now due to reliability issues of th hx40.) I was planning on running an HY35 for a primary and use something like a 64mm/s300 base for the seconday in a compound setup. And I thought that the HY35 might be to laggy. I was planning on running a Bell water/air intercooler and thinking I could run 60psi with that turbo combo. Have you heard of anyone with a similar combo? Or am I way off?

Thanks for the other forum, it looks promising.

This will be a fun project!

 

Is anyone playing with a compound set up?