The Mercedes-Benz M100 engine was a
produced by
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquarte ...
between 1963 and 1981. The successor to the
M189 version of the company's venerated
straight-6
The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bala ...
M186, it was introduced in the flagship
Mercedes-Benz 600
The Mercedes-Benz 600 (W100) is a line of ultra-luxury cars produced by Daimler-Benz from 1963 to 1981. The forerunner of the modern Maybach marque, the ''Grosser Mercedes'' ("Grand Mercedes") succeeded the Type 300d "Adenauer" as the compa ...
. In 1968, it was fitted to the high-performance
Mercedes-Benz 300SEL 6.3 sports sedan. The engine was enlarged to in 1975 for the
Mercedes-Benz 450SEL 6.9 (1975-1981). Mercedes-Benz refers to it as a "6.9", in spite of its actual displacement.
The M100 featured a cast iron block, aluminum alloy heads, and aircraft-style
sodium
Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable ...
-filled
valve
A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
s operating against hardened valve seats. As in all Mercedes-Benz automobile engines, the
crankshaft
A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecti ...
,
connecting rod
A connecting rod, also called a 'con rod', is the part of a piston engine which connects the piston to the crankshaft. Together with the crank, the connecting rod converts the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotation of the crank ...
s and pistons were
forged instead of
cast
Cast may refer to:
Music
* Cast (band), an English alternative rock band
* Cast (Mexican band), a progressive Mexican rock band
* The Cast, a Scottish musical duo: Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis
* ''Cast'', a 2012 album by Trespassers William
...
.
Each hand-built unit was bench-tested for 265 minutes, 40 of which were under full load. As introduced, it utilized a
mechanical fuel injection
Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines.
All comp ...
system designed and built in-house by Daimler-Benz. The version used a
Bosch K-Jetronic Continuous Injection System.
The 6.3 L power plant was conservatively rated at , with of
torque
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...
helping to compensate for the 2.82 to 1 final
drive ratio necessary for sustained high-speed cruising.
In non-US trim, the larger engine produced with of torque. The North American version, introduced in 1977, was significantly less powerful at and of torque due to more stringent
emissions control requirements.
The "6.9"-liter M100 used a "
dry sump
A dry-sump system is a method to manage the lubricating motor oil in four-stroke and large two-stroke piston driven internal combustion engines. The dry-sump system uses two or more oil pumps and a separate oil reservoir, as opposed to a con ...
" engine
lubrication
Lubrication is the process or technique of using a lubricant to reduce friction and wear and tear in a contact between two surfaces. The study of lubrication is a discipline in the field of tribology.
Lubrication mechanisms such as fluid-lubric ...
system, which both enhanced longevity and reduced overall engine height. Originally developed for racing as a way to prevent engine oil foaming at high crankshaft RPMs, which in turn would create a serious drop in oil pressure, it allowed sustained high speeds at full engine power. The M100 system circulated a massive twelve litres of oil through the engine and a storage tank mounted inside the right front fender, as opposed to the usual four or five litres found in V8s with a standard oil pan and oil pump configuration. The dry sump system also had the benefit of extending the oil change interval to . This, along with hydraulic valve lifters which required no adjusting and special cylinder head gaskets which eliminated the need for periodic retorquing of the head bolts, made the 6.8 nearly maintenance-free for its first .
References
Notes
Bibliography
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M100 M100 or M-100 may refer to:
* M-100 (Michigan highway), a north–south state trunkline highway in the U.S. state of Michigan
* M100 (Cape Town), a metropolitan route near Cape Town, South Africa
* M-100 (rocket), a two-stage Soviet sounding roc ...
V8 engines
Gasoline engines by model