Mosselman Turbo Install



WARNING: The following pages are devoted to those who wish to seriously UP the performance of their Mercedes Benz. Those who do not apply, please use the back button on your preferred browser……thank you.

After Clinton took the pictures of his turbo install his computer was infected by a virus deleteing all of the pictures of the turbo install. He said if annyone has any questions about his turbo install email him at notnilC20@hotmail.com

Ok everyone, thank you for taking the time to read these pages…..I hope they help those who wish to add a turbo to their 190E. I know if I had these pics and pages when I was installing my kit, it would’ve went 10 times smoother…..The instructions that you get w/ this kit are very poor. They suck so bad. Anyway, that is why I’m writing this……for my fellow Benzers. It might be a little un professional but it is much better than the instructions that were provided with the kit. So here goes…..Pardon the bad humor….OK? BTW, this job should only be done by those that have previous experience in Mechanics……although it can be done by amateurs, it will be a big headache……but it is anyway. If you are thinking about doing the kit yourself without professional help, read these instructions first to make sure you can do the things it calls for.

Tools you’ll most likely need:

  1. Basic wrench set w/ sockets….metric.
  2. Open end wrench set, metric.
  3. A buddy
  4. Mosselman turbo system kit
  5. 3/8 NPT tap
  6. 9/16 or 14.5mm drill bit
  7. special compound glue (rubber to metal)
  8. a set of screw drivers
  9. gasket sealant
  10. these instructions
  11. my email notnilC20@hotmail.com for any Q’s you may come across
  12. A lot of time

OK, now that you have these tools, are you ready to make that Benz a street predator?

  1. The first thing you need to do is learn the fundamentals of turbo charging. How a turbo works etc. A good web site for this is Garret’s webpage. If you are uncertain as to how a turbo systems functions, you will be confused on the install of this kit…get the fundamentals and you will have a sense that you know what the hell you are doing. Here is the link….it will take about 5 mins to brush through it: http://www.egarrett.com/products.html
  2. Ok, now that we understand the fundamentals, it’s time to open that hood up. Disconnect the battery. The first thing that needs to be done is removal of parts so they will be out of your way. Remove the single serpentine drive belt from the car. The first thing to go is the fan and fan shroud. The fan shroud is just clipped on the top with some metal clips and also at the bottom. It may be tricky getting the two out b/c they get in the way of eachother, but it can be done. Be careful not to break the blades of the fan. The fan comes out by taking the bolt out of the center. There are various sizes of washers that are on this bolt….keep them the way they are. After these are removed, place them where they won’t be damaged. Now it’s time to remove the alternator. Un clip the harness on the back of the alternator. Now it is only mounted by two long bolts. Remove the two bolts on the back of the alternator. Now you will need to remove the factory air box housing. You will need to unscrew the brass air temprature sensor and unclip the other air sensor as well. Keep the rubber circle piece that fits around the throttle body housing for later use.
  3. From here you need to remove the exhaust side motor mount top bolt that is holding the motor mount on. Remove the heat shield from the mount. Now you can lift the motor with a jack from underneath. I used a small hydrolic jack and some wood so as not to damage the car with the jack. I placed the jack underneath the oil pan. Remember to use a long 2/4 to place in between the jack and the oil pan. You will need to jack up the motor about 2 inches now.
  4. Now is where things might get a little hairy. It’s time to remove the stock exhaust system. You can get by with only disconnecting the downpipe from the exhaust headers. This way you can leave the rest of the exhaust system intact until further. You need to first disconnect the downpipe from the headers. This is done at the connecting flanges that you can see from the engine compartment….you will need to jack the car up and support on jackstands and get underneath to take the bolts out. You will need to remove the heat shield also while you are down there b/c the turbo will need all the room you can get. After the downpipe is disconnected, you can then unbolt all 16 nuts that mount the headers to the engine. Have fun…..this part is a bitch.
  5. What you will need to do now is to empty the oil completely from the car. On the side of the radiator you will see the oil cooler. It looks like a thin long radiator. Take out the plastic retainer that is mounting the oil cooler via. taking out the plastic bolts. Now undo the two bolts that hold the feed and take lines on the bottom of the oil cooler. There will be a bit of oil that will drain out so get a container ready. Place the oil cooler to the side.
  6. From here, it’s time to start installing some parts. In the kit you have a double sided thread with holes in the middle. The banjo that came w/ the kit slides on this double sided thread. You can see it in this picture for a more accurate look. Find the brake booster vacuum line. It is a thick black solid line that comes from the brake booster. Seen in the pic. Follow this line to the intake manifold. Unscrew it and put the double sided thread in there. Making sure the banjo is between it and the nostril is pointing towards the front of the car. Then re-connect the brake booster hose on the new thread. See the pic.
  7. Now it’s time to work on the oil supply for the turbo. Remove the oil filter. On the side of the oil filter housing you will see an Oil Pressure sensor (It looks like a bulky stop watch). Remove this Pressure sensor from the side of the oil filter housing. This will be difficult. You will need an open end wrench to remove the sensor. You may need to route the wrench under the intake manifold runners in order to get the wrench on. Then use another open end wrench and put it on the first wrench from above and press down on it. It sounds confusing now, but when you actually do it, it will be easy.
  8. After this Pressure sensor is removed, take the stainless steel braided hose that the kit came with, on the end you will see a similar banjo set up like the brake booster vacuum set up. See the picture. Then set this hose to the side.
  9. OK, now comes the hard part. The Mosselman instructions call for you to cut a hole in the front bumper spoiler to make a duct for the new position of the oil cooler. However, I didn’t want to do this. For those that wish to cut a hole in the front spoiler of their nice 16V……follow the Mosselman instructions. For those who wish to take a different approach, read on. You will have to reconnect the original feed and take lines on the oil cooler on the correct threads. Now turn the oil cooler horizontal. This is how it will sit. I used the original plastic retainer for the oil cooler to make a "custom" bracket for the oil cooler. Here is a pic of it. This part takes some engineering skills but it really isn’t that difficult. In order to get the right amount of flow needed for the oil cooler, use some ducting material to route the cool air to the cooler.
  10. Now you will need to remove the fuel distributor head. This is fairly easy. You need to remove the fuel lines with the 4 bolts near the fuel injectors and the four bolts on top of the fuel distributor. You will hear a loss of pressure like you opened a soda can but that is ok. After that…..you will need to loosen the bolts that attach lines to the fuel distributor. Now you will need a screwdriver or an allen head to remove the two bolts that are holding the fuel distributor down. After these are removed remove the head and look on the underside of it. You will see a rubber washer. Take this rubber washer off and use the special glue that you bought to hold this in place. I’m not really sure what this does but it says to do it in the Mosselman instructions. Next just put everything back together. I had to remove a line on the fuel pressure regulator in order to get another steel line back on.
  11. Lets now hook that computer up. I mounted the computer in the battery compartment behind the firewall. On the computer there is a red wire, a ground wire and two other wires with harnesses on them. Take the red wire and route it to the fuse box and connect the wire to any 12V fuse that is on when the car is on. I used the windshield wiper fuse. Next take the ground wire and connect it to the negative terminal on the battery. Next take one of the harnesses and route it to the fuel distributor head. On the fuel distributor head on the side there is a black box with a factory harness attached to it. Take the factory harness off and connect it to the harness on the computer……then take the computer harness and connect it to the black box. Pretty cool eh?
  12. Now it’s time to make the oil drain line from the turbo to the block. Sounds very scary I know. This is why I chose to have a professional do it for me. This is the only part of the install that I had to have professional help with. I recommend you do the same for the fact that Mercedes Blocks are not cheap and especially the 16V blocks. But make sure the mechanic/machinist drills in the right spot for the drain line. Plus make sure that the machinist uses thread lock compound and puts the spout that comes with the kit facing up. After the hole is drilled, use a giant magnet and get the scrap pieces of metal out. Also have the machinist use a magnetic drill bit. Then tap the hole.
  13. This next part is a tricky part, but with some help from a buddy "you can do it" hehe. Ok have your buddy get underneath the car and take the turbo manifold with the turbo already attached and try to maneuver it in place. I had to remove all the exhaust heat shields that were down there in order to make room. It seems impossible, but it isn’t. After you get the part in place, fasten the manifold to the motor using the original bolts and gaskets. You may want to clean the gaskets before you use them again. On the turbo you will see a vacuum hose that runs from the turbo unit to the wastegate. I had to use a 90 degree adapter for this hose in order to avoid the hose from being kinked on the motor mount bolt. You can purchase them for around a buck at O’ Reilly’s.
  14. After the turbo is in place put the drain spout on the bottom of the turbo using the gasket and gasket sealant and connect the silicone hose to the drain hole on the block. Make sure there are no kinks.
  15. Now you have your oil feed and drain lines for your turbo. Connect the Stainless Steel braided oil feed line to the top of the turbo. Next use the two 3-4 inch steel studs that came with the kit and place them in the throttle body housing. You will need to remove the two screws that are holding the throttle body in first. Next get that black powder coated new housing that you received in the kit and place it on top of the throttle body housing along with the factory rubber fitting. Use the two close end bolts to fasten the black housing down. Screw in the brass temprature sensor in the threads on the side of the housing.
  16. From here you need to fit the intercooler. It’s going to be a tight fit but it will fit. First look at the area where the oil cooler used to be. That is where the intercooler is now going to fit. However, you will need to do a little bit of body trimming here. You will see a vertical slab of metal frame that is extending perpendicular from the horizontal frame that goes over the top of the headlights. This vertical piece extends all the way down to the bottom where there is more frame. It is not a critical piece and is really too thin to do anything anyway, so you need to cut this piece out. I used some special tool that cuts metal to get this out. It cost me about $8 from a hardware store. After you cut this piece out, the intercooler fits nicely in there. *Note, the intercooler piping did not line up for me so I had to modify it a little bit in order to get it to fit. Email me about details if necessary. notnilC20@hotmail.com.
  17. After the intercooler is fit you need to connect them with the silicone hose and two fasteners. From the bottom, get the piping that runs horizontal and over towards the turbo charger. Connect this to the intercooler pipe. Next take the smallest pipe and connect it to the turbo compressor housing oulet and the end of the pipe.
  18. Now put the filter in the filter housing and from underneath the car squeeze the filterhousing up underneath the alternator. You may need to loosen up the anti sway bar in order to get the filter housing up in there. I had to make a custom bracket to fasten the air box up. Connect the flexible ducting hoses to the turbo inlet and the filter housing.
  19. On the filter housing you will see a nostril for the breather. Connect a heater hose to that nostril and run it over towards the hose that was attached to the back of the original factory air filter housing box. See the picture for better details.
  20. Now you need to connect the downpipe. I had to use the factory exhaust system so you need to measure where the downpipe ends and cut the factory system with a hacksaw where the two ends line up. Connect them either by weld or by an exhaust repair kit which can be bought from O’ Reilly’s for under $10 dollars. Use the factory hangers for the rear muffler and mid muffler. If you had to remove the O2 sensor don’t forget to reconnect it. Install the new spark plugs that came with the kit.
  21. Next reconnect the battery and cross your fingers. Start the car. If it does not start, you need to use ether to start it. You can take off the small bolt that holds the black box on top of the throttle body and spray some ether in that small gap. It should work. Break the turbo in for about 50-100 miles before really pushing it. It is very tempting.
  22. Remember if you need help with anything……email me. I respond to my emails daily. Good luck and happy driving.




Regards,

Clinton Davis

’86 190E 2.3-16V turbo

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