Underrated track car. Mercedes C230 Kompressor

[MGSmatt]

So I do Trackdays on a budget. As a ex Mercedes mechanic I’m fairly loyal to the star. I didn’t go down the 3 series route. I didn’t want front wheel drive. So for the money I picked up a lightly modded C230 Kompressor for £600. For that price it came with CL 500 front brakes. Slightly lowered and a few tweaks under the bonnet. Once in my hands it had 18 inch wheels fitted wrapped in some new AD08r tyres. All interior removed. Seat and harness fitted. The springs were chopped, some metal wider arches fitted. Cheap plastic windows fitted with all door gubbins removed. Small battery fitted to rear.
Updated crank pulley, remapped , got it weighed at 1250 kg, probably helped by the rust !!!
She gets some looks for the wrong reasons when I turn up at my local track of brands hatch but always performs mixing it up with almost everything there apart from really fast stuff. I can play with lesser powerful caterhams, Typer R, all the Clio’s, the odd Genneta and plenty more. 0:58 at the moment but when the season restart I’ll be trying some slicks. Maybe gain another second per lap !!!
All in all she stands me in at about £1500 and I have the best day every time. By the end of the day many people pass by and ask what I’m running. It’s probably only 220 bhp but the handling is very surprising. With a LSD I should iron out picking up on the inside wheel.
She done 178000 miles and takes everything I throw at it. Good old German engineering.
I know people won’t get it, I know there is nothing to purchase to modify it like there is BMs but it just works and is fast. Maybe I’ve just created a one off.
I seriously don’t think anything for 5 or 6k would be any better.
Look out for me at Brands. You won’t miss it.

[RB Will]

Nice to see something different and if it works it works.
I can see why people might be giving you funny looks though. It does look a bit like a I don’t care if I crash it so I’m just going to send it sort of car that makes everyone else nervous lol

[rallycross]

It looks more like scrap yard runner in that photo than a brands hatch track car - take it to wimbledon.

[CABC]

fair play!
down to a real 1250kg makes it viable for track fun (any chance of 1150?). i know you've achieved a good car on a budget as you know how to spanner it, but how about a better suspension set up? it could feel a lot better as well as go quite fast.
great project

[HustleRussell]

rallycross said:

It looks more like scrap yard runner in that photo than a brands hatch track car - take it to wimbledon.

Pretty snobby comment really.

That said, cut springs- do people still do that?

[Jimmy Recard]

Cut springs, slicks, no cage?

Are you planning any other suspension or structural work first?

[MGSmatt]

Should of mentioned.
It does have a cage.

[braddo]

Ha ha, I have a photo of this car that I took when I popped into Brands in April last year. It was nice to see something different on track and I'm a Merc fan, so it put a smile on my face.

Fair play.

[Sheepshanks]

I'm sad it doesn't have the proper Star ornament on the bonnet!

[anonymous-user]

For some reason I have the later shape coupe in my head until seeing the pic.

Surprised it takes the punishment, my friends was nothing but trouble just as a road car 15 years ago.

[pikeyboy]

Jimmy Recard said:

Cut springs, slicks, no cage?

Are you planning any other suspension or structural work first?

Cut springs - made me cringe.

[docklander]

Hey Matt, I am currently in the process of building something very similar.

Obviously a 1400kg, auto saloon with under 200bhp would not be mine (or anyones!) first choice for track car but my eldest of three boys (19)only drives auto. So my check list was:

auto
RWD
Safe
cheap

The hit list included Merc, BM, Lexus, etc. Then, I stumbled across this beauty on ebay:



It had been sold and both times the muppets messed the seller around. Their loss will, hopefully, be my gain.

The good news is that it was cheap as the cat had been stolen. The seller had it for 16 years, 73000 miles and mot for 11 months. How much did I get it for? Lets just say that a decent set of tyres would cost more...

I got it recovered to my regular garage in Enfield with a view to get a cheap cat fitted and it looked over. 3 delivered cats later and we still couldn't get one to fit. It seems that when they nicked the cat, they didn't carefully unbolt it (I know right?!) and hacked away other bits of the exhaust. But how desperate are some people? A new cat is around £150. Why risk being banged up for that? Anyway...

Plan b was to take to my exhaust dude in Essex. I figure without the cat it will make more power but didn't want to faff about with a remap. Even paying it for now to be moved to Essex from Enfield and having the remap was only slightly more then getting the cat replaced. I should have taken it straight to the exhaust dude and for once being sensible actually cost a little more money!


remap - may be essential if misfires due to cat removal
lowering springs - most likely cheap ebay jobbies
pads and discs - subject to their current condition
weight reduction - focusing on keeping it useable, so probably remove sound deadening and air con (not sure how the belts work on these or if they did a C200 without a/c?)

I am keen to see how well I can get her to handle. I have been racing for around 10 years now, so hopefully can use that experience to get the old girl handling well enough.

[docklander]

So its now back with me and has been decatted but not remapped yet.

I have started stripping it out and looking at suitable seats.

I have fitted a new steering wheel boss kit and just waiting on the steering wheel to fit.

Some questions Matt (sorry in advance for the number, but not a lot of info online!)

I removed the slip sensor/angle thingy to get on the boss kit. I guess that will cause BAS, ABS and TC lights but does that really matter?

There is no cat or lamdba, seems to run ok. Do you think a remap is essential? Anyone you recommend in Kent or Essex?

Smaller pulleys - mine is the M111 engine. Any good?

Airbox - I have removed as much mesh as possible, any thoughts on how to increase air flow? I was thinking about de-blanking the left hand side intake to provide another feed into the oe airbox or just fabricate something with a smaller airbox?

Any help is massively appreciated

[docklander]

The work continues and so does the arrival of ebay and Amazon purchases:

1 x steering wheel hub purchased
1 x embarrasingly cheap steering wheel purchased
2 x Cobra seats purchased
2 x heavy duty seat runners purchased
1 x cheap coilover kit purchased
1 x new intercooler purchased
4 x 50x25x3mm steel bars purchased

I stripped down the Merc's standard seats, separated the seat base and will be welding the seat runners to the bars to the OE seatbases. This should allow the seats to be adjusted.

The suspension kit should be fitted this week and hopefully ill get the car back to fit the seats this weekend.

After the seats, I will further reduce the weight as much as poss, try and fit the intercooler myself, sort the seatbelt vs harness question and then it should be finished-ish..