Specifications of Aust delivered 380SL's

[AndyS]

I've read a lot of posts and information about the Aust delivered 380's, mostly related to whether the Aus cars have the single row or double row timing chain.
It seems that the general consensus is that only the U.S. cars got the single row chain.

However, sitting reading Brian Long's "Mercedes Benz SL and SLC 107 Series" there's a section on the 380 motor, where it states;

"The 3.8 litre was unique to America, and a handful of other countries with strict emissions regulations (like Japan and Australia). With K Jetronic CIs injection and an 8.3:1 compression ratio, the 155bhp SAE nett it delivered was nothing to write home about"

Now I knew that the U.S. 3.8's were significantly de tuned, but it never crossed my mind that the Aus 380's were as well.
So this got me to wondering, is this accurate, were the Aus 380's heavily detuned as stated, and if so, why would the 'US' spec motor get a double row timing chain in Australia, but a single in the U.S. ??

[CraigB]

Good logic but I would say just beware of single sources of info. See if you get some supported replies on here. I can only tell you that 380sl and sec here both have double row. I thought our cars generally were less powerful than europe but still better than US, although the SEC does have a smog pump on it so maybe it is same hp. If looking at buying a car its easy enough to check the chain and i think even in the US most survivors have been long converted.

[brycedunn]

I've read a lot of posts and information about the Aust delivered 380's, mostly related to whether the Aus cars have the single row or double row timing chain.
It seems that the general consensus is that only the U.S. cars got the single row chain.

However, sitting reading Brian Long's "Mercedes Benz SL and SLC 107 Series" there's a section on the 380 motor, where it states;

"The 3.8 litre was unique to America, and a handful of other countries with strict emissions regulations (like Japan and Australia). With K Jetronic CIs injection and an 8.3:1 compression ratio, the 155bhp SAE nett it delivered was nothing to write home about"

Now I knew that the U.S. 3.8's were significantly de tuned, but it never crossed my mind that the Aus 380's were as well.
So this got me to wondering, is this accurate, were the Aus 380's heavily detuned as stated, and if so, why would the 'US' spec motor get a double row timing chain in Australia, but a single in the U.S. ??

The Brian Long book is good, but most of the information about Australian models is wrong. For the most part it assumes they are the same as the USA models and perhaps the closest one is the 560SL, but other than that there were significant differences. e.g. USA got cats in 1975, we got them 1986; they got the single row timing chain, we didn't etc.

You can find performance info here for W126's, the W107s are similar but in some cases slightly less due to a more restricted exhaust etc.
http://www.classicjalopy.com/2017/02/me ... australia/

[T-Modell]

Hi,
I can't tell you about Oz cars, but the US 380SL is by far the lousiest R107. 155hp ... it doesn't pull the sausage off the plate. Also be aware, that the US-450SL only has around 180hp (Euro-Spec 380SL either 204 or 218hp, 450SL either 217 or 225hp).

Regards
Thomas