Find out about "M275 Modifications"

How to modify and upgrade the Mercedes M275

"Comprehensive guide to tuning the Mercedes M275 engine!"

Our friends at TorqueCars often are seeing threads about how to improve the M275 from people wanting to know what are the best tips on M275 mods that work. So let us look into Mercedes M275 modifications and outline the best upgrades on this great engine and point out some common pitfalls along the way.

We shall review M275 tuning and highlight the optimum mods that work. Mercedes M275 are popular tuning projects and with the best tuning mods like remaps, turbo upgrades and camshafts you will noticeably maximize your driving experience.

Just because particular mods are are common on M275 it doesn't mean you should fit it, we shall concentrate on the best mods that will give your M275 the best power gain for you spend.

Without us subscribing to the common myth of 'if it's shiny and makes more noise it must be good' you seem to get in many tuning magazines and on car forums'.

Improving air intake on the M275

You need air matched to fuel for an engine to work. If there is too little fuel then it will run lean, if there is a lack of air it runs rich losing power which risks damage to the M275. We'll pick up on fuelling later in this article but for now we shall look at air supply.

So the goal to any car tuning job to get air into the M275 engine but this has a knock on effect with the air flow sensor.

It is not unusual that there is a limit in the air flow sensor AFM/MAF on the M275 when considerably more air is being pulled into the engine.

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

Intake carry the air during the suck phase from the filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine cylinders.

The size of bore and shape and flow rate of the Intake headers can make a large change to fuel atomisation and engine efficiency on the M275.

We often see headers are in dire need of a performance upgrade, although some car makers provide reasonably well designed headers.

Increasing the M275 valve size, carrying out port matching and head flowing will also increase performance, and as an added benefit will permit a greater performance increase on other mods.

M275 performance cam tips.

Different M275 engines respond better to extreme camshaft durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The ECU mapping and injectors and fuel pump also will make differences on the bhp gains you'll get.

Altering valve durations can alter the bhp 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.

Significant air intake, and exhaust improvements on the M275 can be made from cam upgrades. Changing the cam profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the engines power and power output.

NB: Fast road cams commonly bump the performance across the rev range, you could sacrifice a little low end torque but your high end rpm power will improve.

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

In a road car you should ideally to match your torque band to your typical driving style.

You'll never have found a M275 Race cam is a pleasure to live with when in heavy traffic.

Stage 1, 2 and 3 mods for the M275

Before we break the best tuning upgrades down into stages of tune, let's list the most effective tuning upgrades for you.

1. Suspension Upgrades - always improve your cars handling
2. Brake Upgrades - Even before adding power improve those brakes
3. Intake - make sure the intake is not restricted, use filters and intake upgrades to improve this
4. Exhaust - as with 3 ensure there is not restriction in the exhaust, cats are the usual bottleneck
5. Tunes - remapping, piggyback ECU's and aftermarket ECU's can all make decent gains
6. Fuelling - when you've increased power you'll need to match this with more fuel
7. Turbo upgrades - Improving the intake with a large turbo and better flowing intercooler will be the biggest power gain you'll see (but one of the most complex).

This video guide to tuning cars is a great starting point to work from in your project.

Stage 1 M275 parts:

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

Stage 2 M275 parts:

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

Stage 3 M275 parts:

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

ECU flashing will help to establish the full potential of all the parts you've done to your M275.

You will typically expect to see gains of approximately 20-30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but figures achieved usually depend much on the parts you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

Turbo modifications on the M275

To get a turbo working on a NASP engine there is a lot involved, from lowering compression ratio to improved fuel supply and mapping, so we have found a great guide to helpavoid the common pitfalls or end up with an unfinished project because you were not told what you were getting into by doing this on the M275.

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.

When an engine is turbocharged, upgrades are more reliable and we find turbo charged engines are built with strengthened components.

However most engines have limits

Research these limitations and install higher quality components to survive the power.

We've seen drivers spending a loads of money on turbocharger upgrades on the M275 only to have the motor explode soon after it's first rolling road session.

Larger capacity turbos tend to experience a bottom end lag, and low capacity turbos spool up quickly but don't have the peak end torque gains.

We are pleased that the world of turbo chargers is always improving and we are seeing variable vane turbo chargers, permitting the vane angle is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end performance.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust gases into a couple of channels and flow these at differently designed vanes in the turbocharger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

Beefing up the air intake by adding a supercharger or additional turbo will help you achieve very large performance gains, although more complex to setup. We have this in depth look at twinchargers if you want to read more.

Tips about fuel supply on the M275

When you increase the bhp and torque you will need to look at to the fuelling.

More bhp and torque needs more fuel. Care modifiers usually say to be generous with your injector capacity.

The accepted safe increase is to add 15% to the flow rate when specifying an injector, this allows for injector deterioration and provides a little spare capacity should the engine need more fuel.

Don't forget that different fuel grades will usually require different settings, a high octane fuel will burn more efficiently than lower octane fuel for example. A car will trim fuel supply to keep within the ideal air fuel mix but at the extreme ends you may need to adjust your injector capacity, or the mapping or you'll get flat spots and potential lean or rich fuel issues..

Recommended M275 performance exhaust upgrades

You only need to to increase your exhaust system with an upgraded one is if the current exhaust is actually causing a flow problem.

On most factory exhausts you'll see the flow rate is fine even on modest power gains, but on a serious tuning project with a big boost in power you will certainly need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Sports exhausts can help balance the flow of gases through the engine.

But if your exhaust pipe is too big, ie: over two and a half inches diameter, you will lose a great deal of the flow rate and end up losing power and torque.

Typically exhaust restrictions can be located the catalyst installed, so adding a faster flowing high performance alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Decats (NB:catalysts reduce harmful engine emissions) is illegal in most countries and regions.

Faults issues and things to look out for on the M275

Like most engines an M275, should have few issues if it gets properly serviced and looked after.

We cannot stress enough the need for oil changes with the correct grade of oil on the M275, failure to do this will exacerbate engine wear, on a tuned M275 this is more important than ever and close attention should be paid to your maintenance schedule.

If you are interested in learning more or getting impartial tuning advice for your M275 why not pop over to the forums at TorqueCars where you can chat about M275 tuning options and read about others projects who may be planning to do similar modifications on their M275.

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This entry was posted under Makes and Models. Tags: engine, mercedes
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