Coupe to road

[mathuisella]

Hey all, well it's not much of a secret, i bought Tony's W123 coupe with Turbodiesel engine in it.


Note: Any of the things i post here are not indicitive of Tony, it's a 2nd hand car and it's 30+ years old, gotta expect a few niggling issues.

Note 2: If anyone needs any more information on any of the steps or reasons why i did one thing or another just let me know :)

Shipped it to Brissie from perth.

On the short drive home.

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in the evening.

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So, after getting it home and a bit of a test drive to figure out what needs doing i also gave general inspection.

Lights need a freeeshen up

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A few random bits and pieces and mismatched things in the car, but that's kind of expected for a petrol to diesel engine swap, things don't always match up 100%

The interior was quite nice and clean :)

Just a tear on the upper side near the headrests at the rear to take care of,
but that's on the backburner compared to other things.

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Here's the real pressing issue....

The classic hood/bonnet hinge area, where leaves collect and water pools and then rust starts forming. Fortunately it's only very small holes and can be sorted out as i have previously done this job with other w123's

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Now, the engine...

It goes nicely, but that lump idle when the engine has warmed up was worrying me....

I was thinking a bad injector....

Injector 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCbY1yS76p4

injector 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbP-COShXnk


injector 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pTbfBMUuz8

injector 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8psQFTET9us


injector 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6fz49BVSZ0



So, these injectors were opening way too early before the specified 135 Bar pressure was reached ( 1950psi )

Here's a clean injector set at 145 bar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoxdWdrzJIE


Here's what a long time on Waste Vege oil can do....

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So, the vege oil seeps out everywhere, this is after a preliminary clean. going to brass wire-wheel the rust off the block and repaint.

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[mathuisella]

So, the car has an automatic transmission in it... This needs to be changed...

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To this

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getting the Auto shifter out.

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Disconnecting all lines to Automatic transmission

Fluid lines to radiator ( Auto boxes are liquid cooled and have a small section in the radiator in the w123. )

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as well as the speedo cable, shifter selector and link to exhaust.

Followed by the starter motor.


Then putting a jack under the transmission I undid the bolts holding it to the engine


Followed by the cross member holding the transmission to the chasis.

Lowering it out and away into the parts section it goes...

[mathuisella]

The flywheel uses a 12mm 12 sided socket. Make sure to get a good one and if the tip of the socket is bevelled in any way, you need to flatten it down so max contact area is made with the bolt. You do not want to strip these bolts.

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Also, there's a few sneaky ones on the other side accessed from behind the oil pan/sump

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Flywheel out.


Make sure to get a new pilot/spigot bearing when you do this, don't want the old one to be reused and have it fail 6 months later...

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manual flywheel installed

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clutch and pressure plate

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This arrived from the usa.
Tool to undo the prechamber locking nuts

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[mathuisella]

So, the inner part of the tool, it screws into the locking nut.

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Like so,

bleh how dirty the threads are.

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and the outer slips on ( before threaded into the locking collar/nuts )

Lets see how it goes...

But first, so much crud, it won't seat properly. and without a good seating the collars will slip and well, we cannot have that...

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Time to give it a shot

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Success, this is a very well made tool. Worth every penny. ( was about $130 AUD to my door, but much cheaper than new collars.... )

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Here's all 5 of them out, after 1 round of ultrasonic cleaner + brass wire hand brush

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Now for the prechambers...

These things are so siezed in there...

I was stripping threads

So i busted out the welder. Also leaving it overnight with some

penetrating oil.

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here's the passenger side, this is where the autobox lines come in. No need for them now, i'll get a blind grommet a bit later, for now just siliconed up the existing grommet

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Drivers side...


Got the auto pedals out...

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and then put the manual ones in their place, sorry no picture of this, it's very tight there working upside down and backwards in a cramped space.


Putting the manual gearbox in.

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[mathuisella]

Making a 28mm round hole for passage of hardline between clutch master and slave cylinders.

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after smoothing out the edges and getting it perfectly 28mm diamter, testing the blind grommet

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Now to paint to protect the exposed steel edges

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passing the hardline though.

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hardline was put through the ultrasonic cleaner, gotta have good clean connections on the hydraulic lines. No leaks please...

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That's about where i am right now.

A bit to go in all areas.

Any questions or suggestions are welcome :)

[mathuisella]

Oh, forgot to mention, make sure you take out the glow plugs before trying to take out the prechambers :)

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See the state of the glow plugs, this leads me to believe that the lumpy idle is a fuel issue.

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[John Green]

here's the passenger side, this is where the autobox lines come in. No need for them now, i'll get a blind grommet a bit later, for now just siliconed up the existing grommet

Cool conversion, don't you still need to run the reverse lamp switch though this hole?

[mathuisella]

here's the passenger side, this is where the autobox lines come in. No need for them now, i'll get a blind grommet a bit later, for now just siliconed up the existing grommet

Cool conversion, don't you still need to run the reverse lamp switch though this hole?

I can run it without cutting it, through the centre console to the shifter. :)

[T-Modell]

Wow,
you're progressing ... hats off! I was sitting on the passenger's seat in this car in April
Thomas

[merc-304]

Gd stuff...a new business oppurtunity for you - W123 Auto to Manual conversions..
What was the freight cost to Brisbane ?

[mathuisella]

Hi there.

So today's efforts..

It looks like the model i got my manual parts from has a different switch for the reverse... I accidently broke it, from the outside it's the same as my other one :'( going to repair it. and make it work and use the original plugs and make some adapters.

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I put in a 3mm drill bit to keep the selector/shifter into neutral and spent a few minutes looking at the rods

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Had to cut a spanner, restrictive space.

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Got the drive shaft in place.

4 bolt transmission mount in place

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Made myself a 7.5kg slide hammer, and yet these prechambers still won't budge :'( any ideas ?

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spent the last little bit of light polishing

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Still a lot more polishing to do though.

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[mathuisella]

Gd stuff...a new business oppurtunity for you - W123 Auto to Manual conversions..
What was the freight cost to Brisbane ?

$1200 if i remember correctly, paid $300 more so Tony can put some boxes of things in with the car. I believe he has no more W123 stuff and was kind enough to pass them onto me to use on the coupe.


Yeah. This is my 3rd conversion.

Happy to help someone else do theirs, or do someone elses for them if they paid for my time and supplied the manual parts.

[merc-304]

Thats one hell of a slide hammer....penetrating oil not helping ...have you tried the heating and cooling cycle a few times then the slide hammer
A last resort apply Hydrochloric acid between head and prechamber let sit for 30 mins will help..sounds extreme but it works
be sure to wear safety glasses...

Can you get a snugger fit from your slide hammer weight to the shaft so as it can pull up even to the Top stop ?

[mathuisella]

Not possible to get a snugger fit with the weight to the slide hammer shaft, it wouldn't do anything any way.

I thought about heating, but i don't have a propane torch and no luck with the penetrating oil :/

I believe that waste vege oil has hardened between the prechambers and the iron head they're seated within and acting like a glue. :(

[merc-304]

Have any luck with this prechamber ?

[mathuisella]

Have any luck with this prechamber ?

Took the day off today. No car stuff.

Possibly going to make a puller instead of a slide hammer.

[John Green]

Have any luck with this prechamber ?

Took the day off today. No car stuff.

Possibly going to make a puller instead of a slide hammer.

There is a factory tool for that, would get them our easy. Maybe someone can loan you one?

[merc-304]

I still think its your slide hammer set up letting you down..you have prob seen Kent Bergmas vid on removal..and a few others on U tube ?

I think the chamber removal relies on the jolt of the slide hammer to get things moving esp if your suspicious that Black death stuff is stopping removal and fabbing up a puller is a waste of your time.

[mathuisella]

I still think its your slide hammer set up letting you down..you have prob seen Kent Bergmas vid on removal..and a few others on U tube ?

I think the chamber removal relies on the jolt of the slide hammer to get things moving esp if your suspicious that Black death stuff is stopping removal and fabbing up a puller is a waste of your time.

I have yes, and i even bought kent's tool from the usa for this job. I used a smaller slide hammer to no success, all it did was strip the threads off the slide hammer. So i got the welder out and made something a little more substantial.

[merc-304]

Time to call mercmad on this problem..
Have sent you a PM

[Mercmad]

had a chat today .

[John Green]

At a guess Ron, has the factory tool. It does not rely on shock treatment, but is literally a puller that slowly exerts pressure on the pre chamber until it comes free.

[merc-304]

One of those factory Merc tools on ebay Buenos Aires ..expensive little buggers $335..US dollars

Seller has a gd range of NOS parts - mb_classicfinds Ebay.

[mathuisella]

One of those factory Merc tools on ebay Buenos Aires ..expensive little buggers $335..US dollars

Seller has a gd range of NOS parts - mb_classicfinds Ebay.

wow, i could make my own puller for $20 of steel, the problem for me is the 22mm X 1.0mm thread, so hard to find and when you find it, they want $100 for 100m of it :/

[mathuisella]

Hi there.

a touch of work today.

With the prechambers, Mercmad advised that i should just ream out the prechambers and that the bad glow plugs may be because the other fuel injectors were set at the wrong pressure for the turbo engine ( 115 bar instead of 135-145 )

Any ways,

Before the injector pump needed a clean...


nice metal under the scum

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The old vs new glow plugs

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Putting in the cleaned up prechamber collars back in as well as the injectors.

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[mathuisella]

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[mathuisella]

So, a touch of work...

before things start to get too " assembled " and back together, time to disassemble some more and clean it up....

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removing lines

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The inside of the lines, definately need a clean

.

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Loosening things up in the ultrasonic cleaner

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making sure the insides are clean as well

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after some cleaning and then polishing

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How the engine bay is looking thus far

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[mathuisella]

got the shifter to gearbox linkage rods in place today

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then for any testing of the shifting i would like to have the clutch working, so i moved to that...

draining all the old liquid out, it's always good to have a fresh load of liquids in a vehicle that is new to you. So you get a good base start.

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and well, might as well give it a clean

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[mathuisella]

while the brake/clutch fluid res is out, time to clean the brake booster...

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then we have 3 coats of paint

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i then started to polish a few things

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i also took apart the air filter box

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i sanded it with 120 to 320 to 1500 grit sand paper, it came up really nice after a sand then paint

how it's seeming to be coming together

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and a preview of things to come...

we all know the dreaded hinge area :(

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[tsharkey]

i also took apart the air filter box
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That air filter box looks like an NA version. Does it have a wire mesh around the inner diameter as I would hate for that Turbo to suck the NA air filter into the works ..... The Turbo boxes are larger and has said mesh.

[mathuisella]

i also took apart the air filter box
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That air filter box looks like an NA version. Does it have a wire mesh around the inner diameter as I would hate for that Turbo to suck the NA air filter into the works ..... The Turbo boxes are larger and has said mesh.

Not sure what you mean, any chance of a picture ? ( i didn't notice a wire mesh )

edit : just did some interwebs searching, looks like it is the NA version.

I may have to either source a turbo one, or go with an in-box pod filter or something custom.

[tsharkey]

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The factory setup also had the U shaped tubing.

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The snorkle and tubing is also much larger.

If you want this setup, I can ask a guy I use in Sacramento to source one form the wrecking yards (if they are still around, might be getting thin on the ground over there).

[mathuisella]

Thank you.

I think i'll stick with what i have for now. $$$ :'(

[mathuisella]

So, i went to put liquid into the clutch line today, no go the pedal won't build any pressure :/

filled up the empty res with new liquid.

liquid flowing out of res's clutch line port

liquid making it to master cylinder and squirting out the bottom when pressing clutch pedal.... so it's making it to the slave cylinder.

i think maybe the slave cylinder is leaking all the fluid into the housing :'(

[mathuisella]

Also, the brakes were impossible to bleed as well, i had no travel with the brake pedal at all, it was really weird.

[pastelgrey300D]

So, i went to put liquid into the clutch line today, no go the pedal won't build any pressure :/

filled up the empty res with new liquid.

liquid flowing out of res's clutch line port

liquid making it to master cylinder and squirting out the bottom when pressing clutch pedal.... so it's making it to the slave cylinder.

i think maybe the slave cylinder is leaking all the fluid into the housing :'(

I have had the same problem with mine. I couldn't get it to bleed the normal way. I haven't yet worked it out but apparently these need to be pressure bled and you do it in reverse - I.e. pump fluid under pressure into the slave cylinder and let it flow up into the master and then out through the reservoir.

Someone on here suggested connecting a hose from the bleed nipple of the front brakes and feeding this into the slave - because the fluid ends up in the same place you don't have to worry about overflowing etc - although if you're brakes aren't bled that doesn't help!

[mathuisella]

So, i went to put liquid into the clutch line today, no go the pedal won't build any pressure :/

filled up the empty res with new liquid.

liquid flowing out of res's clutch line port

liquid making it to master cylinder and squirting out the bottom when pressing clutch pedal.... so it's making it to the slave cylinder.

i think maybe the slave cylinder is leaking all the fluid into the housing :'(

I have had the same problem with mine. I couldn't get it to bleed the normal way. I haven't yet worked it out but apparently these need to be pressure bled and you do it in reverse - I.e. pump fluid under pressure into the slave cylinder and let it flow up into the master and then out through the reservoir.

Someone on here suggested connecting a hose from the bleed nipple of the front brakes and feeding this into the slave - because the fluid ends up in the same place you don't have to worry about overflowing etc - although if you're brakes aren't bled that doesn't help!

brakes are being weird, but yeah that's the factory method which i've tried many times, all to no avail :'(

best way is the 2 man method, takes only about 3 minutes to do and so straight forward without hassle. Just need a friend who's not a complete mechanical numpty to lend a hand.

Today i decided to pull the slave cylinder.
not looking good.

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looked through my little box collection of parts and a miracle happened...

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also as a bit of a side note, if you cannot get the tool into the space between gearbox and tunnel, then cut it in half and put a notch in it so you can use a screwdriver and hammer to give it a tap to loosen it.

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Now, i don't know if this slave cylinder is any good, but hey, may as well give it a shot, new one from Mercedes is $217 + GST approx $240 :( the rest are overseas from the USA which charge more than the slave is worth in shipping costs :/ there's a couple in Aus on ebay, but it says they are for the 5 speed transmission. hmm. Lets see how the spare one i have plays out by the weekend.

[Bartman4800]

FWIW:

You can take that slave cylinder to your local brake specialist, and have it resleeved with Stainless, including some new seals.

This should not cost you more than 150 aud.

Here in Perth we use Perth Brake Parts: http://www.perthbrakeparts.com.au/


Bart

[tsharkey]

You can also buy a seal kit and hone it out yourself. A stainless steel resleave does make it a very long term proposition tho

[mathuisella]

Thanks guys.

I'll give the spare slave cylinder a crack and if it's good i'll take the original to a brakes shop. If the spare one is also bad, i'll take the original down to the shop. I prefer things to be original even if they are restored.

Any recommendations in regards to a good brakes hop in Brisbane area ? ( open question to all )

[mathuisella]

I put the spare slave cylinder in today.

it doesn't want to bleed. the clutch fluid is reaching the slave cylinder though and the slave isn't leaking... it's very odd.

in other news

putting this back together with a few new copper washers

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also, 1 of the injectors didn't have a heat shield

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new heatshields in

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and also doing the valves today. 6 of them needed adjusting

also, turbo engine is 0.35mm exhaust, unlike on NA where it is 0.30

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[Bartman4800]

Put a pan under the slave cylinder, and take the bleed nipple out.

Gravity should do its work. Check the bleed nipple whether the tiny holes are open.
If that is not working, check the hose...

Bart

[mathuisella]

Okay so took your advice, i undone the slave cylinder from it's mounting and orientated it so there were no " high" spots with the hose. undone the nipple and let gravity do it's work.

After letting it drain for a while, i pressed the actuating rod in by hand to see how it goes, worked well, then let gravity do it's work again and then tightened up the nipple and reassembled it back onto the gearbox.

clutch feels great now, thank you.

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then decided since that didn't take me long, kind of work on the fuel lines inside the engine bay...

mocking things up after a slight clean.

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[Bartman4800]

Looks like gravity is your new best friend! :dance:

[mathuisella]

Update time.

put on the exhaust heat shield

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the put the exhaust on with new hangers and clamp

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put in new lines

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reassembled the linkages

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used this method to bleeding the hardlines and getting the engine started.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovnj-vhePGw


Lots more to do, but it was nice to see the engine kick over and run for 5 minutes.

[tsharkey]

Great progress - have you ironed out the lumpy idle ?

Just notice you have the mechanical cruise control - Better add to your list a switch on the clutch pedal to kill the cruise if you engage the clutch ....

[mathuisella]

Cheers for the reply.

The lumpy idle doesn't seem to be completely solved, it's not shaking at idle once warmed up. but it doesn't idle anywhere near as smooth as my other 300D.

Done a bit of reading and it seems that fuel delivery differs between cold and warmed up engine in the fuel delivery valves inside the injection pump can wear.

However, putting in the proper PSI rated injectors has really helped, the only way i've been able to tell the idle difference is that since the car hasn't run for some time and the battery has slowly drained over the last few months where it needed a slight boost to kick the engine over, so i used my other 300D to do so, and having both of them idling right next to one another gave me a direct comparison.

I'm not sure how long the lumpy idle has been present. So next is looking at the engine mounts. seeing if one of them has callapsed or really worn.

to recap.

So far, in regards to lumpy idle
done:
Valve adjustment ( 6/10 needed adjustment )
new injectors Done at a shop for 145Bar ( all within 2 bar of one another ) ( previously were 115 bar which is for NA engine, not turbo )
fresh diesel

to do:
Engine mounts
delivery valves
diesel purge

[mathuisella]

small update...

today i needed to sort out either going after market air filter, or fix the current one.

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used these

mind you they are a 5/16 imperial UNF fine thread.


$7 each from Bursons instead of $40 each from mercedes

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going to have to sort out a new tube setup from the filter to the turbocharger.

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[mathuisella]

So, it was time to look at the injection pump in regards to why i have rough idle, especially when the engine is warmed up to the point of lumpy idle and car shaking

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the outer part wouldn't come out, i had to go through the take off all the gummed up vegetable oil everywhere.

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finally got it out.

looks like it has been coated in glass, but it's gummy vegetable oil that acts like tar.

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cleaning inside as much as i can, went through a dozen or so
cotton tips, but looks nice and clean now.

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I didn't have any rubber washers, o rings or copper washers in mine, not sure if it's supposed to be like this, but anyways, the parts are soaking in low odour turpentine overnight before ultraconically cleaning tomorrow.

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and only doing 1 at a time as to not mix them up by accident.
and now i'm off to uni.

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[mathuisella]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC1RbgXMATE

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVZKwf5II3k

as my references

as well as a big thank you to Simon
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