W123 300D Mystery Box Rally

[Dktaylor9]

Recently participated in the Mystery Box Rally for the NSW Cancer Council in my 78 W123 300D,I can report that the car performed better than expected and a lot of the W124 & W126 drivers in the rally were very impressed with the lack of problems we encountered!!
The quality of the engineering in this car is evident as there are no rattles and the car is still drives as good as when we left Sydney....
Thanks all for the help and suggestions in previous posts...its about to be stripped of all its supporters logos and cleaned up to be used as my daily again!

[tsharkey]

Would be very interested to read a trip report of said adventure.

[mathuisella]

:D Awesome, i hope you got a few happy snaps along with good memories :)

[Lance]

More photos please.

[Dktaylor9]

Apologies for the delay in responding but with the lead into Xmas work got the better of me!

The rally started in sunny Dubbo on the 25th Nov. and finished back in Dubbo on the 29th. The 5 days in between proved to be rather adventurous and only a small number of the original 140 cars failed to finish....sadly i believe 2 were W126's out of the original 11 strong Merc contingent.

Day 1] was a comfortable 380+ km drive to Tilpa Pub for the night, although we did end up with a loose AC belt and lost 3 rubber O rings of our muffler! After some cold beers and a bit of swearing all was repaired!
Day 2 proved to be a very challenging 690K drive to Cameron's Corner via Wilcanna....only about 120k's of grey stuff but DAS BOOT handled both the heat, dust and corrugations with ease....only a flat tyre! The old AC system was up to the challenge and we were the envy of a lot of other cars as we drove in a cool dust free environment while temps reached the high 30's.
Day 3, while only 440K' was 100% unsealed roads....a mix of gravel, sand and at times bull dust, it was along day, ranging from 20kph to stretches where we could drive at 110+. Finished the day in sunny & hot Wanaaring and with no damage to the Merc. this day did claim one of the big W126...fuel pump and electrical issues!
Day 4 (450k's) saw us head to The Glengarry Hilton (near Lighting Ridge). This was a day of mixed weather and road quality. Made all the more fun with extreme heat,mud, rain, cows, rain, road works and loads of dead roo's!
Day 5 ended up being a strat drive back to Dubbo via Walgett due to the weather!

A great trip and the W123 300D proved to be a winner....now driving it about as my daily and already planning the next rally in Nov 18.

[mathuisella]

Love it. Absolutely love that people envied you with working AC that could stand up the the task ;) a good thing these cars were tested in africa ect:

- Proud owner of a w123 300D with working AC :D

curious, what sort of temps were you getting ? mine sits between 90-100 when it's a hot day with the AC on.

[T-Modell]

great pics and trip, congrats! "Fast and furry arse"

Best regards and have fun with "Das Boot"
Thomas

[Dktaylor9]

the temps averaged about 34-36 with a day of over 40! car sat on 90-100 degrees with the AC on, had a scare while in Bourke as we were idling waiting for some people and it almost jumped into the red but once moving it went back to the 90-100 mark.

the car is a 78 and the actual motor/gearbox are original, the AC unit has been replaced but this was done back in 92!

I'm the 4th owner with the original having it from new until 2000, put 400,000 on the clock and it was serviced religiously in his care. The last 18 years it has done 93,000, 12K being mine since i purchased it in May 17, the service history is sporadic and ive had it serviced 3 times since picking it up...runs like a dream!

[Dktaylor9]

a photo of the remaining Merc's at the end of the rally, DAS BOOT was beaten for the oldest car n the rally by 5 months! Another Sky Blue W123 300D! though it only had 380K on the cloak!

[mathuisella]

So, the best car there was a w123 ;) no failures and working AC :P

Just read the page, at the end were there awards given out ? :)

[Dktaylor9]

No official Awards I'm afraid.....just bragging rights!

[GrampiansMerc]

So Mystery Box rally lets you keep the car?!
Shitbox rally "makes" sell it...

[GREENPEDRO]

Wonderful Dktaylor9, good to see the W123 perform so well.
Maybe I should enter next year with my W123 300TD manual.
Have been on several outback rallies in the past, all 4WD type things but they are so enjoyable and raise funds for others.

Congratulations, well done. :occasion5:
Larry

[brothermaynard]

good to hear these diesels are happy doing long days in the Australian heat and on corrugated gravel - what tires were you running for this? and is your 300d running stock springs/shocks?

[Dktaylor9]

ran the car on the original 14 inch steel wheels, put commercial 205/75r14 tyres on them, worked a treat although we did get one flat!

I kept the front shocks that were already on the car, i decommissioned the SLS at the rear and replaced both shocks and springs, raised it 65mm. replaced the front springs and raised it 25mm, when the boot was loaded up the car sat level with improved ground clearance all round. Handling was brilliant and with a W123 sump guard only bottomed out a couple of times but nothing to be concerned about.

comfort level is fantastic both on and off road and for a car that has almost reached 495K there is virtually no squeaks or rattles....only noticeable one is in the drivers door which will take about an hour to fix when i find the time to pull the door card off!

with all the time i spent getting it ready for the rally and making sure to protect it as much as possible i only have to get a service, buy a new tyre and put a smile on the dial when i start her up for the next rally!

totally love this car, would recommend to anyone to buy one....not being overly mechanical I've managed to rebuild the injectors by replacing the old bosch nozzles with new monarch(cut the idle noise down by 50%) which has improved performance, rewired the front lights and even made some running repairs on the rally without any outside assistance...... such an easy car to work on and with no electronic engine management its doesn't take long to work it out as you go!

[Dktaylor9]

ran the car on the original 14 inch steel wheels, put commercial 205/75r14 tyres on them, worked a treat although we did get one flat!

I kept the front shocks that were already on the car, i decommissioned the SLS at the rear and replaced both shocks and springs, raised it 65mm. replaced the front springs and raised it 25mm, when the boot was loaded up the car sat level with improved ground clearance all round. Handling was brilliant and with a W123 sump guard only bottomed out a couple of times but nothing to be concerned about.

comfort level is fantastic both on and off road and for a car that has almost reached 495K there is virtually no squeaks or rattles....only noticeable one is in the drivers door which will take about an hour to fix when i find the time to pull the door card off!

with all the time i spent getting it ready for the rally and making sure to protect it as much as possible i only have to get a service, buy a new tyre and put a smile on the dial when i start her up for the next rally!

totally love this car, would recommend to anyone to buy one....not being overly mechanical I've managed to rebuild the injectors by replacing the old bosch nozzles with new monarch(cut the idle noise down by 50%) which has improved performance, rewired the front lights and even made some running repairs on the rally without any outside assistance...... such an easy car to work on and with no electronic engine management its doesn't take long to work it out as you go!