Nov 20

Nov 20 Guide: Mercedes-Benz C 36 AMG - a Historical & Technical Appraisal

Mercedes-Benz - AMG - 1990s Supercars - 1990s German Cars

Background

At the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1993, Mercedes-Benz unveiled the C36 AMG - their first model conceived jointly at the pre-production stage with the legendary tuning house from Affalterbach.

As the 1980s progressed, the two firms had begun to forge ever closer ties and, in 1989, AMG became an official Mercedes representative in the DTM (the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft).

The following year, Mercedes signed a contract that saw them begin to cooperate with AMG on the development of high performance models. Included was an agreement that also enabled AMG vehicles to be sold and maintained through Mercedes’ worldwide dealer network.

During this period, AMG products were still highly individual and very low volume.

However, that was to change with the C 36 AMG, production of which officially began in January 1994.

This first AMG model to be constructed in any real numbers was based on Mercedes’ Gen. 1 C-class which had itself been launched back in June 1993.

Conceived to replace the old W201 190 that had been Mercedes’ initial attempt at a compact class offering, the new W202 C-class was initially released as a four-door Saloon with a choice of four different petrol engines (a 1.8, 2.0 or 2.2-litre inline four or a 2.8-litre inline six, all of which ran dual overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder).

There were also three diesel engines on offer with either four or five cylinders.

On top of this, customers could initially select from one of two upgrade packs: Elegance or Sport.

Whereas the Elegance pack focused on additional luxuries, the Sport pack included firmer Bilstein shocks, stiffer and shorter springs, solid instead of hollow anti-roll bars, bigger alloy wheels, some different trim and Sports seats.

For the new AMG-badged high performance flagship, Mercedes sent partially assembled examples of the C 280 Sport from their factory in Bremen to the AMG facility 600km south in Affalterbach. Upon delivery, these cars were stripped of their surplus-to-requirement equipment and brought up to C 36 trim with the engine, gearbox, suspension and brake systems all coming in for significant attention.

Chassis

Each W202 C-class was based on a galvanised steel bodyshell with 2690mm wheelbase (25mm longer than the outgoing 190). A 62-litre fuel tank was installed under the trunk floor.

Suspension was via double wishbones up front and a multi-link arrangement at the back with coil sprung dampers all round and an anti-roll bar at either end.

To improve handling, AMG equipped the C 36 with stiffer gas-filled degressive shocks. Spring rates were unchanged, but ride height was slightly lowered and thicker anti-roll bars were installed (35% stiffer front, 49% rear).

Instead of the solid 284mm front and 258mm rear discs that each C 280 Sport arrived with, AMG improved the stopping capacity of both axles.

At the front they installed the 320mm diameter vented discs and four-piston calipers from the R129 600 SL while the back end got bigger 278mm solid discs from the W124 E 420. However, a few cars are known to have left Affalterbach with 288mm vented front discs and single-piston calipers.

In terms of the wheels, AMG’s handsome five-spoke 17-inch diameter Monoblock 1 rims were fitted instead of the standard 16-inch Sport pack items from Mercedes. The AMG alloys measured 7.5-inches wide at the front and 8.5-inches wide at the rear (up from 7-inches all round). They were originally shod with 225/45 ZR 17 and 245/40 ZR 17 tyres respectively.

Track was 21mm wider at the front of the car.

The power-assisted steering was given a faster ratio for improved responsiveness.

Engine / Gearbox

Each Type M 104 E 36 AMG engine started life as a standard M 104 E 28 iron block straight six with aluminium dual overhead cam 24 valve head.

Following delivery to AMG, each motor was removed, completely dismantled and then re-assembled to C 36 specification by hand with items like the pistons, crankshaft and intake camshafts sent back to Mercedes.

Engine capacity was taken from 2799cc to 3606cc by enlarging the cylinder bores by 1.1mm (from 89.9mm to 91mm) and extending the stroke by 8.4mm (from 84mm to 92.4). To enable such a dramatic change of stroke travel, AMG used the crankshaft from Mercedes’ 3.5-litre OM 605 D 35 A diesel engine which for this C 36 was specially machined with turned counterweights and a re-balanced shaft. The crankshaft’s torsional damper was also reconfigured.

Enlarged cylinder head ports increased airflow and sodium-filled exhaust valves were installed for improved heat dissipation.

New forged aluminium DTM-style pistons featured shorter skirts to facilitate the longer stroke travel and also enabled a higher compression ratio (increased from 10.0:1 to 10.5:1).

Other new equipment included additional oil-spray jets on the engine block, high-lift intake camshafts and a big bore variable-length intake manifold from the E 320. The variable-intake valve timing was reprogrammed to increase valve overlap when the intake and exhaust valves were both open in the engine’s mid range. The exhaust cam timing was altered by way of a modified chain sprocket.

The existing Bosch HFM engine-management was comprehensively re-programmed and a new free-flow exhaust system was installed.

All told, peak output was 276bhp at 5750rpm and 284lb-ft at 4000-4750rpm (267bhp for North American spec. examples).

For comparison, in C 280 trim the engine had produced 190bhp at 5500rpm and 199lb-ft at 3750rpm.

The C36 AMG was offered exclusively with a four-speed automatic gearbox which had been adapted from an E 420 item and fitted with a direct 1.00:1 fourth gear ratio.

In order to handle the extra torque on offer, the C 36 came with a heavy-duty differential designed for the next generation W210 E-Class which featured wider faces on the ring-and-pinion gears.

Bodywork

For the C 36, the W202 (which had been designed by Olivier Boulay) was equipped with some sporty new additions, but nothing too radical.

Most notably, the bumpers and skirts (fashioned from Xenoy resin) were redesigned to reduce high speed lift and give the car a more purposeful stance.

The front bumper’s lower apron was reconfigured to incorporate an enlarged intake aperture which featured a slatted grille and a fog light in each corner. Underneath was a more pronounced AMG-branded chin spoiler.

A similar approach was taken at the back of the car where the bumper was given two instead of one ribbed upper sections and a deeper profile with cutaways for the partially shrouded chrome-tipped exhausts.

Down each flank were deep side skirts and new B-pillar trim with an exposed carbonfibre look (instead of black plastic).

C 36 and AMG badges were added to the trunk lid.

The bumpers and skirts were colour coded and subsequently became an option on the regular C-class.

Interior

As per the exterior, the C 36 interior came with a few bits of special equipment that made it stand out from the rest of the C-class range.

Housed behind the regular leather-trimmed four-spoke steering wheel (the lower section of which was uniquely trimmed in contrast hide), each C 36 came with an AMG-branded 280kmh / 160mph speedometer. Off to the right was a slighly smaller 7000rpm rev counter and to the right a combined read out for water temperature and fuel (both of which were imported from the regular W 202).

Other special equipment included a light grey instead of satin black instrument fascia and a C 36-branded gear knob (normally trimmed in bi-colour leather to match the steering wheel).

As per the C 280 Sport, the C 36 came with Sports seats and faux exposed carbonfibre trim for the central console.

Velour upholstery was standard in most markets with Sport Check seat centres and matching door panel inserts.

However, certain markets like North America automatically came with leather upholstery, wood instead of faux carbonfibre trim plus other normally optional items like an electric sunroof.

Options

Most of the W202 options that Mercedes offered could be specified on the C 36 to include a rear spoiler, rear sports seats, leather upholstery, two-tone upholstery, heated front seats, wooden trim inserts, an electric sunroof, an uprated audio system with CD changer, an in-car telephone, an ASR traction control system (switchable via a button on the centre console), an adjustable steering column, headlight wash / wipe, a split-folding rear seat and an alarm / immobiliser.

In addition, all manner of personalisation could be carried out at the AMG facility (albeit at not inconsiderable cost). AMG are known to have fitted certain cars with bigger three-piece split-rim wheels and rolled fenders, extended leather (to include a leather headliner), Birch wood trim packs, perforated leather steering wheels with contrast stitching and full chrome delete.

Weight / Performance

As a consequence of its beefed up engine, the C 36 AMG tipped the scales at 70kg more than the C 280 Sport (1560kg as opposed to 1490kg).

However, it was a dramatically quicker machine in every respect.

The 0-62mph time was cut from 8.9 to 6 seconds. Meanwhile, had the top speed not been electronically limited to 155mph, 162mph would have been possible (whereas the C 280 topped out at 143mph).

1997 Model Year

For the final year of production, Mercedes made a number of updates to the C36 AMG.

Mechanical changes included a five-speed automatic gearbox to replace the outgoing four-speed unit, Siemens ME engine management and ASR traction control fitted as standard. Power output for North American variants was now the same 276bhp as Rest of World iterations.

Mercedes also introduced AMG’s updated Monoblock 2 wheels and a new steering wheel.

As per the rest of the C-class line-up, there were new door trim mouldings, smoked tail light clusters and a rear windscreen with integrated radio antenna.

Additionally, a handful of very late production cars came with the more sculpted bumpers and crossover side skirts as fitted to the subsequent C 43 variant.