Tuning the Mercedes M160

"Comprehensive guide to tuning and performance parts on the Mercedes M160 engine!"

We are regularly getting posts inquiring about getting more power from the M160 and wanting to know what are the optimum M160 mods that work. So let us look into Mercedes M160 modifications and outline the best upgrades on this great engine and point out some problems along the way.

The Mercedes M160 make a good tuning project and with carefully chosen parts like remapping, turbo kits and camshafts you will definitely enhance your driving pleasure.

Here we outline options for your M160 tuning and summarise the best modifications for your car.

When talking about the optimum parts for your M160 engine, we are going to focus on the tuning mods that give the best power gain for you money.

The cam profile plays a big part in the engines power output so cam upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake and exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen cam profile, so large power band gains are on offer for cam upgrades.

NB: Fast road camshafts commonly increase the power through the rev range, you could drop a little bottom end power but your high end rpm power will be higher.

Competition camshafts, increase the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

A Motorsport and race camshaft will just annoy you whilst driving around busy urban areas.

You should ideally optimize your power band to your preferences so for a car driven daily stick with a mild fast road M160 camshaft

Different M160 engines respond better to mild camshaft durations check your engine on a rolling road.

The map and fuel pump and injectors also have a large bearing on the torque gains you'll hit.

A longer valve duration can alter the torque band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

M160 Tuning Stages

Stage 1 M160 modifications: Drilled & smoothed airbox, Panel air filters, Fast road camshaft, Intake headers, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold.

Stage 2 M160 modifications: Fast road cam, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head, induction kit, fuel pump upgrades.

Stage 3 M160 modifications: Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Competition cam, Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing & blueprinting, Twin charging conversions.

ECU flashing allows a tuner to unlock the full potential of all the upgrades you've done to your M160.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the outcome often rely on the upgrades you've done and the condition of your engine.

It is the main goal to any engine performance tuning task to get fuel and air into your M160

Intake headers carry the air during the suck phase from the intake filter and allow it to be fed into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

Design and flow characteristics of the Intake headers can make a substantial change to fuel atomisation on the M160.

Commonly we find the air intake manifolds are improved through a performance upgrade, although a few OEM provide well optimised air intake manifolds.

Fitting big valve kits, getting 3 or 5 angle valve jobs and porting and head flowing will also increase torque, and significantly will permit a greater torque increase on other parts.

Turbo upgrades for the M160

NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your M160

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes significant power gains.

If a car is turbocharged, mods are relatively easy and most turbocharged engines use uprated components.

There are common areas of failure for every engine, with some being over specified and some only just able to handle stock power

Research these limitations and upgrade to higher quality crank and pistons to cope with the power.

There are many people spending a lots of money on turbo upgrades on the M160 only to experience the engine go up in smoke soon after it's finished.

Large turbochargers will usually suffer low end lag, and smaller turbochargers spool up quickly but do not have the top end engines power gains.

Thanks to new tech the market of turbos is always developing and we commonly find variable vane turbos, permitting the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp and torque.

Twin scroll turbos divert the exhaust gases into a couple of channels and direct these at differently profiled vanes in the turbocharger. They also boost the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is common that there is a restriction in the air flow sensor MAF/MAP on the M160 when considerably more air is being fed into the engine.

We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor was restricting power at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large power gains, although more difficult to get working. We have this article on twincharging if you want to read more.

Uprating M160 fuel injectors

Don't omit to look at the fuel system when you are increasing the power - it makes the car more thirsty. Most tuners we speak with say to over specify your flow rate on the injectors.

As a rule of thumb add 20% when fitting an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and affords you some spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.

We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.

Best M160 performance exhausts

Only look to boost your exhaust if the current exhaust is creating a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you'll see the flow rate is still good even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Sports exhausts can help equal out the flow of gases through the engine.

But if your exhaust pipe is too big, ie: over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose a lot of your flow rate and end up lacking power and torque.

Common exhaust restrictions can be traced to the catalysts installed, so adding a better flowing sports alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Problems and issues to look out for on the M160

The M160 engines, if regularly serviced and maintained, are generally very reliable and have few issues.

Regular oil changes are vital on the M160, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

For more information on Tuning your M160 engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss tuning options in more detail with our M160 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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We really like hearing from our readers, and hearing about which parts were the most effective for them, it helps us improve our recommendations and articles to reflect current trends in modifications and ensures that our M160 guides and tips are kept up to date.

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This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Mercedes. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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