V2: Daily W202 C250 TD Turbo Upgrade with 6mm EDC Pump
V2: Daily W202 C250 TD Turbo Upgrade with 6mm EDC Pump
Sorry for hijacking your thread title, Charlie - but I'm planning on doing exactly what you did .
Hi, guys
Been reading and doing some research on the STD forum for a few months now and got some valuable information. Haven't posted anything yet, though.
I live in Pretoria, South Africa. I drive a 2000 W202 Mercedes-Benz C250 Turbodiesel, which I've owned since October 2014. It hasn't been long, but I've come a long way with this car.
I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. I'll add my actual project details as a separate reply.
The day I got the TD. It's quite the lovely-looking thing, isn't it ?
It ran faultlessly for the following seven months, when one morning it didn't want to start. Long story short, a fuel supply issue (a common fault of one or more of the numerous o-rings that didn't seal anymore) that caused a non-running engine led to an extensive top-end rebuild in the end (stuck glow-plugs, also common, requiring removal of the cylinder head to get the stuck glow-plugs out). The glow-plugs were a side-matter at the time, but with the car out of action, I thought I'd get it sorted.
The semi-engine rebuild was not cheap, and probably not worth the money I spent - but it sure does run superb now.
So with the mechanics sorted, I decided to clean my car as a December-holiday project at the end of 2015. The car was only finished four months later . I suspect the car belonged to a farmer who drove long distances on dusty gravel roads...
Ah, stuff it - here's the car after I was finished.
Alright, so on to my project:
I'm planning something very similar to charlysays. However, I decided on a Holset HE221W turbo for my application. I have most of my required parts (this, again, turned into a rather big-budget project - don't all projects turn out this way...?).
seanyt also supplied me with two sets of maps for my ECU. I might get to install the milder map for the stock parts this weekend. I really want to see if I can get three sets of dyno-runs: one bone-stock, one with the "Stage 1" map with stock hardware, and a final run with all the new hardware and "Stage 2" software.
I really want to upgrade my intercooler as well. I initially bought a huge Iveco intercooler from a private seller, but after planning its fitment, I came to realise that there was simply no way that I'd get it to fit without cutting too much metal. All the usual custom intercooler installs that I've come across require some rather extensive modification of the radiator/intercooler support cradle - something I don't really want to do.
This is going to be my intercooler setup: I'm going to ditch my dual blower-type auxiliary fan unit and install my new intercooler in their place. I discovered on EPC that there are two types of auxiliary fans used in the W202: the dual blower-type fan and a huge single suction fan (used in the newer CDI and V6 models). Both types of fans are controlled by the same fan controller (identical part numbers). I managed to source a brand-new fan from a seller on Germany's eBay. Needless to say, it is one truly humongous fan! The placement of the new fan will mean that I'm going to have to remove my viscous fan (something I'm not too concerned about, as I suspect it's not working properly anymore).
I hope to put up some photos of my turbo flange adapter and turbine cover sometime this week.
Here are some photos of the parts I've bought so far:
The placement of the intercooler can sort of be visualised from this photo (replacing the dual-fan setup):
(11-09-2016, 01:21 PM)seanyt Nice work frans, send me your email address and ill send you the revised stage 2 map.Will only be able to start taking things apart in a month's time, unfortunately . Perhaps I can hitch a ride to work with my sister and start a bit sooner .
Now youve all the goodies its time to build the puzzle.
(11-09-2016, 01:21 PM)seanyt Nice work frans, send me your email address and ill send you the revised stage 2 map.Will only be able to start taking things apart in a month's time, unfortunately . Perhaps I can hitch a ride to work with my sister and start a bit sooner .
Now youve all the goodies its time to build the puzzle.
Looks amazing mate!! Well done. The W202 is an underappreciated car in my opinion, I really like them. Much respect for this restoration.
I guess your W202 probably didn't need any welding unlike mine I've considered buying a C250 TD from SA a few times in order to get a life long keeper.
Could you post the specs on the Holset HE221W like compressor, wastegate, turbine and housing dimensions?
Between us we'll get to the perfect turbo/ map / compromise between lag and maxing the 6mm EDC OM605, very close already.
Very nice W202. Clean white is pretty.
So, finally, at last and about time, my car is finished. I put my car on four jack stands on 17 December 2016 and lowered it back on the ground on 20 February 2017 - it was a much more involved project than I had anticipated, which escalated rather quickly as things came apart. I also learned that gauging stuff by eye is not the correct way of taking measurements .
I must thank Charlie (for his build thread, which I basically copied) and Seanyt (for the ECU maps) for their contributions in making this project a success.
Some before photos:
Right, so where to start. Initially I thought I was very clever by designing a very compact flange adapter for the Holset to mount to my exhaust manifold. My eyeball measurements indicated that the Holset wasn't much wider than the stock Garrett, so I thought there would be enough clearance for the Holset to mount where the Garrett was. The Holset fitted, but it was jammed against the steering box and there was no free space for the waste gate actuator to move.
I had to resort to a similar solution to Charlie using 50 mm diameter short-radius buttweld fittings. Furthermore, I designed my own turbine cover by scanning the turbine housing to my PC and tracing it to scale in AutoCAD. I then had it laser cut and machined. After test fitting the turbo to the flange adapter, I trial fitted a downpipe to tie in with my existing exhaust's downpipe flange. I didn't have to cut any part of my stock exhaust system. I also used 50 mm diameter buttweld fittings for the downpipe. I realised only after having the turbine cover and downpipe fabricated that the downpipe may be too narrow. However, so far it doesn't appear to be too restrictive.
This is the scanned image of the turbine housing I used for the turbine cover . I'm not kidding when I say that my laser cut housing has less than a millimeter of deviation to the turbine housing.
I ported the manifold's standard 40 mm-odd opening to 50 mm using my (slightly overused) Dremel tool. I also had the EGR opening welded shut.
Exhaust manifold and flange adapter fitted:
Oil return drain pipe fitted:
Oil feed line fitted with P-clamps to hold it in place:
I didn't my intercooler plumbing to be the oily mess that the stock system was. I almost bought a cheap Chinese oil catch can, but happened to come upon the Provent 200 oil catch can system (made by Mann Filters in Germany). A local guy imported one from Australia for his C250TD, but sold the car before fitting it. I wanted the setup to be as stealth as possible - and I think I succeeded .
Although fitting my intercooler was fairly straight-forward, getting the plumbing right was not. The stock radiator cradle was in the way of fitting the 2.5" intercooler piping. This required me to have a custom radiator cradle fabricated. However, this new cradle had to be fitted to my car's front cross-member. It seems my car had been in a small bumper bashing in its previous life, which had left the cross-member rather badly bent in the area where I wanted to mount the new radiator cradle. Not wanting to deal with misalignments, I had a moment of insanity and went about to carefully grind off all the spot-welds that hold the cross-member in place (it is not bolted on like more modern cars). I managed to source a brand new OEM cross-member for very cheap from Germany. Instead of welding the new cross-member in place, it is now bolted on with 24 Grade 8.8 bolts and nuts. It's not going anywhere .
After having removed the cross-member:
The new radiator cradle:
Brackets for the intercooler that I had cut and bent (I couldn't fit bottom brackets, but the intercooler is very well supported):
The one thing I'm not extremely proud of, is my labyrinth of intercooler piping - it is extremely complex, with endless bends . However, all bends are very smooth radius stainless steel (except for the ones going into and coming out of the intercooler). Hot side is 50 mm diameter 1.5 mm thick stainless steel, cold side 63 mm 1.5 mm thick stainless steel. I test fitted all the pipes by using an epoxy adhesive. I then marked each joining pipe, after which I broke everything apart and had them properly welded.
Another issue was engine cooling. I decided to remove my non-functioning viscous fan and in its place bought a 17" Tripac two-speed fan. This fan also replaces the two brushless auxiliary fans where the new intercooler is mounted. However, this brushed fan does not like the soft-start and variable voltage of the fan controller. So, I'm going to keep the fan controller plugged in, but have the fan connected to a W124 two-speed fan switch as well as a W124 a/c pressure switch. These I still need to connect with three normal SPDT relays. It's not very high-tech, but I reckon it'll do the job.
My Chinese boost controller, which I'm still to connect (currently running on the stock Holset waste gate pressure).
And the end-product, taken tonight after some driving in the rain:
I installed the Stage 2 map of Seanyt tonight, with about 1.2 bar boost at the intake manifold (I'm going to install a replica Defi Advance ZD gauge this weekend - it did indicate 1.2 bar intake manifold pressure after quickly hooking it up). I'm going to crank the boost up to about 1.6 bar and see how things turn out.
At this stage, however, all I can say is this: WOW!
Nice clean build there, can I suggest you check to make sure the pulleys don't contact that rad fan, as the engine does rock axially on the fluid mounts, and also check under the top rad hose where it runs near the pas pump pulley, again because of engine rocking, mine rubbed until I clocked the pipe round!
Beers
Nice clean build man, thumbs up. One note.. why to hell did you keep that stupid stock-like charge air pipe which runs around whole engine.
(02-22-2017, 02:29 PM)starynovy Nice clean build man, thumbs up. One note.. why to hell did you keep that stupid stock-like charge air pipe which runs around whole engine.Thanks. Believe me, I investigated all possible options. There's simply too little space below the intake manifold (fuel, power steering and a/c lines) to have implemented your suggestion in Charlie's thread. It doesn't seem to have affected boost times that much.
(02-22-2017, 02:29 PM)starynovy Nice clean build man, thumbs up. One note.. why to hell did you keep that stupid stock-like charge air pipe which runs around whole engine.Thanks. Believe me, I investigated all possible options. There's simply too little space below the intake manifold (fuel, power steering and a/c lines) to have implemented your suggestion in Charlie's thread. It doesn't seem to have affected boost times that much.
stage 1 is 134kw.
at the level of fuelling now it would be around 160-170kw smoke free, more if you dont mind drawing attention.
this car also has a raised rev limit and is running low boost at present,
Also this is a soft launch. No high rev and drop into drive.
when boost and revs are raised it would knock a considerable time off the 0-60.
You need to hold it on the brakes with your foot on the gas, stalling it on the torque converter until the boost builds, then launch.
Fantastic build frans... what's your background work wise? Looking very professional Glad you're enjoying the power.
You'll probably find that you really notice the extra power on certain hills or overtaking spots. Because they're big heavy comfortable cars the power delivery is deceptive especially with the auto.
My only suggestion would be a couple of stays bracing the T2 flange back to the manifold and block.
The way I see it is that the stock turbo has a brace and is much more rigid than a mild steel adapter, so I fitted two to mine. One going from just below the T2 flange onto one of the 6mm heat shield studs on the manifold (compressor heat shield) and one going down onto one of the four engine mount blocks. I just used 3mm flat bar.
Tobi had lots of issues with his adapter cracking. So far mines done 8,000 miles all fine but Tobis could have also been cracking due to using a SSteel flange and mild pipe.
(02-28-2017, 05:47 AM)charlysays Fantastic build frans... what's your background work wise? Looking very professional Glad you're enjoying the power.Thanks, Charlie. I'm in the civil engineering industry .
You'll probably find that you really notice the extra power on certain hills or overtaking spots. Because they're big heavy comfortable cars the power delivery is deceptive especially with the auto.
My only suggestion would be a couple of stays bracing the T2 flange back to the manifold and block.
The way I see it is that the stock turbo has a brace and is much more rigid than a mild steel adapter, so I fitted two to mine. One going from just below the T2 flange onto one of the 6mm heat shield studs on the manifold (compressor heat shield) and one going down onto one of the four engine mount blocks. I just used 3mm flat bar.
Tobi had lots of issues with his adapter cracking. So far mines done 8,000 miles all fine but Tobis could have also been cracking due to using a SSteel flange and mild pipe.
(02-28-2017, 05:47 AM)charlysays Fantastic build frans... what's your background work wise? Looking very professional Glad you're enjoying the power.Thanks, Charlie. I'm in the civil engineering industry .
You'll probably find that you really notice the extra power on certain hills or overtaking spots. Because they're big heavy comfortable cars the power delivery is deceptive especially with the auto.
My only suggestion would be a couple of stays bracing the T2 flange back to the manifold and block.
The way I see it is that the stock turbo has a brace and is much more rigid than a mild steel adapter, so I fitted two to mine. One going from just below the T2 flange onto one of the 6mm heat shield studs on the manifold (compressor heat shield) and one going down onto one of the four engine mount blocks. I just used 3mm flat bar.
Tobi had lots of issues with his adapter cracking. So far mines done 8,000 miles all fine but Tobis could have also been cracking due to using a SSteel flange and mild pipe.
Hi, wery good project!, I have question about liquide gasket you use on exhaust flanges...and is it good enough?
(04-08-2017, 03:33 AM)dieseltorque Hi, wery good project!, I have question about liquide gasket you use on exhaust flanges...and is it good enough?Thanks. I would have preferred to use proper metal gaskets, but I couldn't source them quickly enough at the time. So far it seems as though the Permatex Ultra Copper is holding - I haven't noticed any obvious exhaust leaks from the flanges yet. I do think that the temperatures are way above what the Permatex was designed for, though.
(04-08-2017, 03:33 AM)dieseltorque Hi, wery good project!, I have question about liquide gasket you use on exhaust flanges...and is it good enough?Thanks. I would have preferred to use proper metal gaskets, but I couldn't source them quickly enough at the time. So far it seems as though the Permatex Ultra Copper is holding - I haven't noticed any obvious exhaust leaks from the flanges yet. I do think that the temperatures are way above what the Permatex was designed for, though.