C124 300 turbodiesel #2
C124 300 turbodiesel #2
Hi!
Bit of a detailed look into my C124 with OM603 Turbodiesel
First: dismantle car and throw this lot into the bin...
Then re-route hydraulics (car has SLS & ASD) to driver's side...
Bit of wiring for pre-glow relais, kickdown relais and ELR idle controll... also split passenger side wiring loom to re-route headlight washer & washer fluid reservoir wiring to driver's side.
and of course remove all the nasty KE wiring...
Next up: welding on the brackets for the large oil cooler.
Then dropped the prop shaft at the machine shop, to have it shortened, re-build and re-balanced. Didn't fancy doing it myself, as I wanted it properly balanced afterwards anyway...
Then mounted 2.65 ASD differential...
Switched ignition locks...
And in with the beast. Engine crane barely coped with the extra weight
Then a shit load of wires, hoses and vacuume lines, huge quantities of liquids and oils and she's ready to run.
And of course - diesel shifter!
Shortened diesel exhaust with cat converter (for low tax). 85€ delivered from Poland
New stronger turbodiesel springs & front suspension rebuild at the same time...
And she's ready for daily use. Wing will be painted next year
And: TÜV approved without any advise - fully street legal!
And that's basically how you build a 300CD Turbo C124
The technical term would be diesel oxidation catalyst. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalytic_c...el_engines
Taxes are based upon capacity & emission categorization. Euro 2 oxi cat cuts taxes in half, to 480€/year. Driving old diesels is a REALY decadent luxury over here But pays out - I almost solely drive autobahn and fuel consumption went from 10.5l/100km to 6.5l/100km - diesel is cheaper than gasoline - I do 20-25.000km per year. It pays out... (3l gasser with euro 2 emissions is 220€ tax/year)
Of course a oxi cat can fail. But it's not realy a common issue. And since it's post-turbocharger, it sort of doesn't matter if it should actually desintegrate And they'r rather cheap for the saving they offer They'r worthless to recyclers - used ones can be had even cheaper.
I'd be surprised if it doesn't... So what? I'm not after the last 0.5HP. I want a relaxed cruiser. I have a relaxed cruiser
Both. Every alteration to a car needs to be approved by a TÜV engineer (apart from installing a different radio, that's for free ) and registered to the vehicle's papers. But since I introuced the project to the engineer long before I even bought the donor car, it was only a formality, more or less. And the 2 years inspection was also passed without a single advice
The biggest concern was the front axle load capacity. The donor had 990kg, the coupé 800kg. With the OM603 turbo, the 800kg would hav been exceeded. That's why I had to invest in brand new springs from MB for 120€ each. Or in other words, we got that sorted no problem there.
And since then (august) I've done 12.000km without a single issue. Very convenient!
haha i like it #2
so what is your boost level? under full load driving i have 1 bar,
1,2 bar with water inj.
Stock boost, around 0.85-.9 bar Intercooler is next step before I try playing with screws
So, in the meanwhile I've put 205/55 R16 tyres on the 8x16s and added some very early R129 SL hub caps.
Did some minor welding to the floor pan (seat cross member literaly fell through the floor! WTF!?)...
Gave the rear suspension a full rebuild...
...and FINALLY got hold of all the required parts for stock transmission oil cooler setup, some double.
And the first unshedduled maintenance...
Hi!
It's in the same location as the engine oil cooler, just on the passenger's side, behind the bumper And was ONLY ever fitted to 400E/E420 V8 and 300D/TD Turbo IF they had both A/C AND tow bar from factory. I take it that cars for the US market never had factory tow bars fitted? This explains why you've never came across one before Bit difficult to see, but there's a bracket welded to the body to hold the fan:
At least all Euro-Turbodiesels have all the brackets pre-installed and can be retro-fitted easy. It's basically the engine oil cooler mirrored on the passenger's side - incl. all the brackets.
Cooler is the same as the engine oil cooler. But with thread for a temperature switch to activate the cooling fan. But you don't want to know the dealership prices for this... It's well beyond 1000€ for the parts alone!! Cooler is like 800, air intake 250+ and the electric fan is something around 450 IIRC. Hence I had a long, hard hunt for good 2nd hand parts They'r rare even in Europe!
Does the oil cooler on the other side have a similar fan? I'm only interested in getting a fan for the engine oil cooler on the other side. None of the MB cars shipped to the US are setup for towing, only a few SUVs and thats a dealer installed option. All cars in the US are limited by law to towing 1500LB MAX.
No. Engine oil cooler doesn't have a fan... See picture in first post.
(06-30-2014, 12:13 PM)tjts1 Lame. I want to put an electric fan on the oil cooler.
(06-30-2014, 10:35 AM)DiseaselWeasel Hi!
It's in the same location as the engine oil cooler, just on the passenger's side, behind the bumper And was ONLY ever fitted to 400E/E420 V8 and 300D/TD Turbo IF they had both A/C AND tow bar from factory. I take it that cars for the US market never had factory tow bars fitted? This explains why you've never came across one before Bit difficult to see, but there's a bracket welded to the body to hold the fan:
At least all Euro-Turbodiesels have all the brackets pre-installed and can be retro-fitted easy. It's basically the engine oil cooler mirrored on the passenger's side - incl. all the brackets.
Cooler is the same as the engine oil cooler. But with thread for a temperature switch to activate the cooling fan. But you don't want to know the dealership prices for this... It's well beyond 1000€ for the parts alone!! Cooler is like 800, air intake 250+ and the electric fan is something around 450 IIRC. Hence I had a long, hard hunt for good 2nd hand parts They'r rare even in Europe!
DiseaselWeasel And el cheapo boost gauge for less than 15€... tyre gauge, bit of hose an T-connector in the ALDA boost feed.^needs improvement, but it's only temporary to test boost level.
(06-30-2014, 12:13 PM)tjts1 Lame. I want to put an electric fan on the oil cooler.
(06-30-2014, 10:35 AM)DiseaselWeasel Hi!
It's in the same location as the engine oil cooler, just on the passenger's side, behind the bumper And was ONLY ever fitted to 400E/E420 V8 and 300D/TD Turbo IF they had both A/C AND tow bar from factory. I take it that cars for the US market never had factory tow bars fitted? This explains why you've never came across one before Bit difficult to see, but there's a bracket welded to the body to hold the fan:
At least all Euro-Turbodiesels have all the brackets pre-installed and can be retro-fitted easy. It's basically the engine oil cooler mirrored on the passenger's side - incl. all the brackets.
Cooler is the same as the engine oil cooler. But with thread for a temperature switch to activate the cooling fan. But you don't want to know the dealership prices for this... It's well beyond 1000€ for the parts alone!! Cooler is like 800, air intake 250+ and the electric fan is something around 450 IIRC. Hence I had a long, hard hunt for good 2nd hand parts They'r rare even in Europe!
DiseaselWeasel And el cheapo boost gauge for less than 15€... tyre gauge, bit of hose an T-connector in the ALDA boost feed.^needs improvement, but it's only temporary to test boost level.
Hi!
You'd be surprised about the amount of rust a W124 can hide! I spend most of my working days under W124s, welder in hand, and it still does give me surprises now and then Would i buy one again? Probably not. But *knocks on wood* - this was one of the few things that needed welding...
Apart from one jacking point.
And of course some voluntary welding in the boot...
Which resulted in a gimmick usually only found in the wagons. And which is usefull in every car, in case - you know - want to got fast around corners AND cary big lumps of scrap metal (aka. precious spare parts) around.
I didn't open it... It's a MB replacement unit, albeit with some miles on it. My car had ASD from factory, all works as intended. It effectively prevents single-wheel-spin on gravel & snow, that's enough for me Only gave it a couple of fluid changes with Castrol Syntrax LSD to flush it out. I hope it never breaks, finding another will be a nightmare!
(07-02-2014, 08:23 AM)DiseaselWeasel Which resulted in a gimmick usually only found in the wagons. And which is usefull in every car, in case - you know - want to got fast around corners AND cary big lumps of scrap metal (aka. precious spare parts) around.
(07-02-2014, 08:23 AM)DiseaselWeasel
(07-02-2014, 08:23 AM)DiseaselWeasel Which resulted in a gimmick usually only found in the wagons. And which is usefull in every car, in case - you know - want to got fast around corners AND cary big lumps of scrap metal (aka. precious spare parts) around.
(07-02-2014, 08:23 AM)DiseaselWeasel
LOL - it's far less complicated than this... But obviously not as obvious as I thought it would be. Well - to ease your tension; I merely put in those cargo loop. Or whatever they'r called in no-tow-bar-country
And I see you raving about hydraulics - well, nothing to add in this department. It's all there, thank you Mr. 1st owner for your considerate ticking of options
Yes, factory SLS.
Shocks with hydraulics attached...
However Mr. options ticker didn't see that there was the option of a tow bar. Which would make sense with SLS. Without a tow bar SLS is - well, no the most sensible choice. But oh well - things can be improved. So in with the factory tow bar, some 25 years later. Drill 9 pre-peened holes, some bolts and there you go.
The worse part is the electrics, the loom runs acros the car into the fuse box...
(07-03-2014, 07:46 AM)DiseaselWeasel LOL - it's far less complicated than this...
(07-03-2014, 07:46 AM)DiseaselWeasel But obviously not as obvious as I thought it would be.
(07-03-2014, 07:46 AM)DiseaselWeasel Well - to ease your tension; I merely put in those cargo loop. Or whatever they'r called in no-tow-bar-country
(07-03-2014, 07:46 AM)DiseaselWeasel And I see you raving about hydraulics - well, nothing to add in this department. It's all there, thank you Mr. 1st owner for your considerate ticking of options
Yes, factory SLS.
Shocks with hydraulics attached...
However Mr. options ticker didn't see that there was the option of a tow bar. Which would make sense with SLS. Without a tow bar SLS is - well, no the most sensible choice.
(07-03-2014, 07:46 AM)DiseaselWeasel
(07-03-2014, 07:46 AM)DiseaselWeasel LOL - it's far less complicated than this...
(07-03-2014, 07:46 AM)DiseaselWeasel But obviously not as obvious as I thought it would be.
(07-03-2014, 07:46 AM)DiseaselWeasel Well - to ease your tension; I merely put in those cargo loop. Or whatever they'r called in no-tow-bar-country
(07-03-2014, 07:46 AM)DiseaselWeasel And I see you raving about hydraulics - well, nothing to add in this department. It's all there, thank you Mr. 1st owner for your considerate ticking of options
Yes, factory SLS.
Shocks with hydraulics attached...
However Mr. options ticker didn't see that there was the option of a tow bar. Which would make sense with SLS. Without a tow bar SLS is - well, no the most sensible choice.
(07-03-2014, 07:46 AM)DiseaselWeasel
It's beech wood, Sir Most readily available, long burning and cheap. Oak would be better, but expensiv... So beech it is for home heating.
Anyway. As nice as the SLS is, it's got one big problem in the sedan/coupé; the lower shock bearing. It's a spherical bearing and not up to the job. Well, not forever. After 20-25 years the bearing has had it and starts to make knocking noises. The problem is that it's not available - you need to buy the whole shock. Shocking expensive! Worst case is if you have a 500E (SLS from factory!) with AMG-suspension. In that case you'r looking at 1200€. Per single shock!! How's that for a price tag??
Now i hear you say "take the wagon shocks". And I reply: "nope!". And if you'r asking why, I can tell you. And since a picture says more than a lot of blabla;
Wagon has 1. two bolts, 2. is shorter and 3. has different connectors.
I'm currently looking for set of 2nd hand sedan SLS shocks to explore possibilities for repairing them. Spherical bearings are standardized items - I'd be very surprised if the shock manufacturer used special-made bearings for a comparably low-volume product (it was very rarely ordered with sedans/coupés). Watch this place!
And thanks for the nice words The car has done about 25.000km now in less than a year - and never broke down. The only unplaned work i had to do was the leaking core plug. I love this car!
You're on the right track with the rebuild approach. Good luck with hunting down a spare set of rams and those bearings. Have you tried the parts catalog yet? I'd hop on epc and see what interchangeability exists and get exhaustive list for parts numbers. Surprising just how many models can be fitted with the hydro-pneumatic suspension. Close to all of them probably.
MBZ123
Been there, done that Not available individually. The interwebs recommends to fit Golf MkII A-arm bushes, but they'r bare rubber. And since the SLS strut is load-bearing, I don't think that's a good idea, as far as longevity is concerned. But I may well go down and try that route. Though a proper spherical bearing sounds better to me.
What does that ecu behind the battery do? Ke injection?
There are ecus for ABS (the big one), ELR (idle control), ASD, Kickdown&A/C and of course the infamous OVP relais.
The empty bracket was for the KE ECU - and may serve as holder for the parking heater, if I fit that. But I'm not yet in the mood for that...
Abs ecu! Thanks jan
(07-13-2014, 07:31 AM)uli124125 but wtf i see there?
an unpainted fender :p
Little catch up...
(07-13-2014, 07:31 AM)uli124125 but wtf i see there?
an unpainted fender :p
(10-05-2014, 11:29 AM)DiseaselWeasel Little catch up...
^didn't turn out too bad for a quick rattle can job Some polishing, some waxing and it's all good. Colour is no match, but depending on daylight & viewing angle it's good. From dfferent angles not so good. But I'm fine by that... It was cheap enough and it's a VERY hard colour to mtach my painter told me...
(10-05-2014, 11:29 AM)DiseaselWeasel
(10-05-2014, 11:29 AM)DiseaselWeasel
(10-05-2014, 11:29 AM)DiseaselWeasel Little catch up...
^didn't turn out too bad for a quick rattle can job Some polishing, some waxing and it's all good. Colour is no match, but depending on daylight & viewing angle it's good. From dfferent angles not so good. But I'm fine by that... It was cheap enough and it's a VERY hard colour to mtach my painter told me...
(10-05-2014, 11:29 AM)DiseaselWeasel
(10-05-2014, 11:29 AM)DiseaselWeasel
Same guy allready crushed my 300TD donor
Can oyu see what the sunroof is made for? ;-)
Soooo - since it seems almost impossible to find good 603 heads I thought "fuck it!" - and went the whole nine yards.
We took my Taxi and went to Franconia to collect a low-milage single-owner E300 with 243kkm on the clock and full MB service history.
Swapped bonnets with the seller's E240T...
Dinner...
...and off we went.
Plan is as follows:
- OM606 & 722.6 goes into the Coupé, with electronic pump. Will remain stock for now... At the moment it's more than enough power for my likings.
- the OM603 will go into storage and once I find a usable cylinder head will go into the Taxi. I have all the parts for a conversion left over from the grey '87 300D Turbo. Some even double. Only one deviation from the stock engine: intercooler.
So - there's a lot of work ahead to make it all work...
yes - i like!
Stripped the drive train from the car, now there's "only" some wires left to remove... I must be a madman to try and keep electronic pump...
Also found engine & transmission cooler with electric fan - ist this normal setup? Never seen it before. But feel like it's a bit "over the top". But I'll try and add it, I think cooling fans there are a nice touch, especially for traffic jam or prolonged city driving. Also found 115 amp alternator which is a nice bonus.
As soon as I have gutted the rest, will strip OM603 from the Coupé...
Oh bloody hell! What the fuck is this!?
W210 wiring - totaly awesome! Looks like the worst backyard wiring imaginable...
and people wonder why w210's suffer electrical failures!
I'm starting to get a bit dizzy in my head Might be a copper worm infection? I don't know... I've touched a lot of unprotected wires lately.
It would all be simple - but mr. stressed worker on assembly line just randomly stuffed wires in, next random conveyor belt worker put a carpet on top - hey presto! All done with the premium best-or-nothing Mercedes. Sigh... Most "looms" are entangled and meshed together - pure CHAOS. Still, I made a lot of progress today. Extracting the gearbox wiring loom which runs across the whole car. I removed the carpet & dashboar prior to opening the wiring channels. I'll let the pictures do the talking here...
And of course the TCU is filled with oil
But since it was still working well, I assume it's not damaged. I'll let it drain, give it a clean and invest a couple of bucks in a oil-stopp cable.
Well it might appear like nothing has happened, but now I know the basic wiring setup of the gearbox, know where everything is running to and what's connected to what and how. I labeled all up, tidied and split the loose wires into actuall wiring looms - not it can be extracted from the car next.
The more time I'm taking with this now, the less time it'll take to install everything later.
I'm starting to get a feel why mechanicall pumps & gearboxes are such a popular choice
(05-05-2015, 12:18 PM)DiseaselWeasel And of course the TCU is filled with oil
But since it was still working well, I assume it's not damaged. I'll let it drain, give it a clean and invest a couple of bucks in a oil-stopp cable.
Well it might appear like nothing has happened, but now I know the basic wiring setup of the gearbox, know where everything is running to and what's connected to what and how. I labeled all up, tidied and split the loose wires into actuall wiring looms - not it can be extracted from the car next.
The more time I'm taking with this now, the less time it'll take to install everything later.
I'm starting to get a feel why mechanicall pumps & gearboxes are such a popular choice
(05-05-2015, 12:18 PM)DiseaselWeasel And of course the TCU is filled with oil
But since it was still working well, I assume it's not damaged. I'll let it drain, give it a clean and invest a couple of bucks in a oil-stopp cable.
Well it might appear like nothing has happened, but now I know the basic wiring setup of the gearbox, know where everything is running to and what's connected to what and how. I labeled all up, tidied and split the loose wires into actuall wiring looms - not it can be extracted from the car next.
The more time I'm taking with this now, the less time it'll take to install everything later.
I'm starting to get a feel why mechanicall pumps & gearboxes are such a popular choice
Hi! I know how to go the easy route, but I explained it here: http://www.superturbodiesel.com/std/show...3#pid72973 - I'm too old for half-legal shit Those times are over.
Neither am I planing to go over 200HP with this...
Ok, thanks! I since found out with the new plug Not expensive - cool!
(05-06-2015, 01:54 PM)DiseaselWeasel Ok, thanks! I since found out with the new plug Not expensive - cool!
(05-06-2015, 01:54 PM)DiseaselWeasel Ok, thanks! I since found out with the new plug Not expensive - cool!
Are you quite sure you have enough different types of trolley jacks?
UK spec. E300TD has engine oil cooler under wing, no fan. Tranny cooler is in engine coolant radiator headder tank.
So you might have towing- spec. or tropical- spec. car which is a bonus.
Ha! Now you've triggered me! This is my next passion... Or shall I say "weird hobby #1"? I'm collecting these... Currently in my "fleet"; 1 big high lift jack (1.25t), two medium jacks (1.6t), one smal jack (1.25t), 1 mechanical gearbox jack (750kg) and 1 hydraulic gearbox jack (1.6t). The youngest dates from the 70's, the oldest from 40's to 50`s (the mechanical gearbox jack).
And this I sold on since it's only capable of lifting 800kg (which was more than enough in the 50's/60's), after giving it a light restoration.
Sorry for the off-topic, but I love these jacks to bits, and they have proven to be invaluable if you don't own a pit or lift And despite the age, they still work very well!
Those are some cool jacks! The ones we have in the states are very bland and uninteresting. I LOVE that old transmission jack! Neat pieces of engineering! My weird hobby/collection is Coleman lanterns and other gas-pressure appliances and kerosene heaters! And firearms but I wouldn't call guns "weird" really.
Great build BTW. If I can find a clean C124 here, I think I would swap everything over to one. They are hard to find.
Ha that's a cool hobby! I am on the look out for an old jack too but I guess most of them got scrapped when they were upgraded. Something that looks like it's from the industrial revolution would be the best.
I am actually looking for an old jack as I have an old 12VDC hydaulic power pack and I want to make an elctro/hydraulic Franken-Jack..
Car looks nice too..
I'm looking for an pre-war example, but they realy are hard to come by... On the other hand they'r build for eternity - IF the owner maintains them. They have needle rollers for the castor & load wheels and every moving part has it's own grease nipple. The big one has 13(!) grease nipples in total If neglected, they wear out quick, though. It's all mild steel.
Anyway. Back to the OM606... I've unwrapped & split the main wiring loom into stuff I don't need and stuff I need.
But crossed wires like this make this very time consuming; I don't want to cut them straight away - so I keep looking where it runs, what does it connect to and then cut if not needed.
That's just a smal example... There are soo many wires like this, it's beyond believ. A mechanical IP is SO much simpler But I hope taking time now will pay out later - as now I can see where everything is runing and what connects what.
I am assuming you are going to put in all the drivetrain computers, including traction control and the related sensors. How are you going to deal with the wheel speed sensors and other related traction control sensors?
Well as far as I have read up, it will run without the traction controll. If that's wrong and it doesn't - Plan B comes into action. Here's (all of) my fingers crossed and a lot of hope If I've observed it right, the ASR even puts the steering angle into calculation?
Anyway...