1982 300D
WDBAB33A0CB008823

USA model
Exterior color code 623- Light Ivory
Interior color code 134- Date MBTex
Engine- OM617.952
Transmission- 722.315 automatic, increased modulator pressure
Turbocharger- Garrett GT2256V VNT from a 2003 Dodge Sprinter with a 3-stage mechanical boost controller (7-28-09), 18psi
Intake- Modified W115 300D manifold with Air to Water intercooler (9-16-09)
Air filtration- Fram 8038
Exhaust- Stock with resonator and muffler removed (8-23-09).
Injection- M-Pump (5.5mm elements, 6-30-09), 265 nozzles set to 140bar (3-18-09)
Engine Oil- Mobil1 15W-50 synthetic
Filtration- Stock oil filter, Baldwin BF7591-D (2-micron) secondary fuel filter (4-5-09)
Cooling- Stock radiator, 1.4bar cap, 6" water pump pulley and 9-blade plastic fan (7-13-09)
3.46 differential (5-18-09)
Brakes- W126 Gen-II 300mm vented front brakes (1-11-10)
Galant front seat
HVAC systems and heater box removed (4-7-09)
Manual sunroof conversion (4-7-09)
Battery relocated to the trunk (4-19-09)
Custom oil cooler hoses based on the 1976 300D (6-30-09)

Weight (without me inside)
Front: 1940lbs (1740 8-23-09)
Rear: 1480lbs (1560 8-23-09)
Total: 3420lbs (3300 8-23-09)

1/4 mile- 18.847@71.20mph (8-2-09)
Dyno- 115hp, 196lb/ft at the rear wheels (9-29-09)

Engine bay 10-15-09
   

Grats on the new ride. No more crank slap

(03-09-2009 08:41 AM)winmutt Wrote:  Grats on the new ride. No more crank slap

Just nailing injectors. I'm thinking of rebuilding them with the 265's out of my AAZ injectors.

Got the valve adjustment finished, 8/10 valves were very tight, 1 was OK and 1 was loose. Glowplugs were changed to Bosch and the holes reamed; All were Beru, only two worked properly, one had the glow point halfway down the plug and one plug was broken off and carbon frozen in the hole. Luckily all it took was a crank with the starter to blow it out.
   

While repairing the vacuum lines, I tugged on the shutoff actuator's hose and found the whole injection pump was loose! It worked out fine though since I planned to adjust the timing to 26*BTDC anyways.

It still shakes the whole car at idle, nails a little and smokes gray at WOT. Hopefully injectors will take care of that.

Some interesting information is on the Carfax report....

It was sold at "Southeast Region" Auto Auction, twice (93 and 98).
It shows 146k miles on the odometer right now but was reported with 113k in 1993, 145k in 1996 and 178k in 1998. (05/17/2000 and every one after in Florida lists "Exempt from odometer reporting".) That works out to a 10-11k miles/year average, which means it has about 283k miles! Looks like I need to pull the cluster and look for signs of odometer fraud.

Hmmm.... The car is mine so there really isn't much I can do about it.

Sweet Ride, I'm sure you'll get her all worked out. Currently I'm thinking about getting rid of my w116 . Sucks about the odometer, I had a W201 odometer go out on me at 138k. I was curious does the 82 300D use a mechanical oil pressure gauge? It seems my problem came from the oil line going to the gauge exploding and oil getting in the cluster.

I'm curious as too why your idle is so rough, when I got my 617 it shook like fat sugar mama but after the valve adjustment it all quieted down and the idle leveled out to a steady humm.

(03-13-2009 01:15 PM)Kozuka Wrote:  I was curious does the 82 300D use a mechanical oil pressure gauge?

Yes. W115, W116 and W123 use mechanical. W126, W201 and later use electric.

Quote:I'm curious as too why your idle is so rough

It runs a hell of a lot better after replacing the glowplugs and doing a valve adjustment. Injectors should cure the nailing and rough idle.

Progress today
Resealed the valvecover, for the third time. I finally got it to stop leaking (Lost a gallon of oil the first round).
Replaced the disintegrated shifter bushing. The other one is in so-so shape but it stills works. No more sloppy shifter.
Found I have a coolant leak from the bypass hose. (For future reference: 42mm ID, 54mm OD, 40mm length)

Tonight I'm going to repair the odometer and paint the needles (If my old bottle of paint hasn't hardened). Since the actual mileage is unknown and the currently displayed "146K" miles has been proven falsified, I'm going to reset the odometer to 000,000 for a fresh start.
EDIT: Wow, this tri-gauge cluster is even more charred than my 240D's! Looks like I need two good ones now. The speedo's tamper resistant screw coating is broken and the numbers have been cleaned, confirming that its been altered.
EDIT2: The odometer repair is done. I'll paint the needles at a later date since I must replace the gauge cluster anyways.

Nice odometer repair, I would mess with my cluster but with Dick's speedo and tach down the street I don't want to risk messing it up. Those needles like to break on you.

New (used) 265 nozzles are installed and set to 140bar. One of them nails a little so I'll have to figure out which one and redo it.
The shake was reduced from moving the whole car to annoying vibration. However, while adjusting the rack damper it smoothed out perfectly for one brief second then went back to shaking. I wasn't able to make it repeat.

The odometer works beautifully (I've put 50 miles on it already) and the speedo matched the school zone radar trap at 30mph.

Next steps: Obtain a temporary tag, get smog tested and register for plates so I can (legally) drive it.

Phew, lots of work done today to both cars and fruitless runs through 3 junkyards.

They both got their instrument clusters fixed.
The 240 got jumper wires to the chassis ground and to the climate control light harness for cluster illumination (With the trace cut to prevent a short).
The 300 got a ground jumper to chassis, ground to cluster light ground wire and a bridge between the main plug light posts to bypass the rheostat and its charred traces.
Now I can trust the gauges again, but the 300's fuel gauge is still questionable.

Both got a Diesel Purge and primary filters. It helped the 300 a bit but made no difference on the 240. The 300's primary was filthy, as soon as the tank is empty I'll clean the strainer.

Found the nailing to be the #5 injector. DP didn't make a difference.

Next weekend, engine mounts.

(03-22-2009 08:12 PM)ForcedInduction Wrote:  DP didn't make a difference.

Oh the quotes I could cut and paste in here from you about DP

Enjoy wasting your money hehehehehehe.

Meh, it was just $15 and now I can say from personal experience that it doesn't work.

Cleaned out the fuel sender. There was some sludge but the gauge is still stuck at full despite looking only 3/4 full though the sender hole.

Weight (without me inside)
Front: 1940lbs
Rear: 1480lbs
Total: 3420lbs

I removed and retested the #5 injector due to nailing. It popped at the right pressure, has a great spray pattern and doesn't dribble. Tried swapping delivery valves and #5 still nails. I listened to the injector lines and pump with my stethoscope and found #5 has a much different sounding injection "thump".

Based on the above plus the IP being found barely bolted onto the engine when I bought the car, my conclusion is it needs a new IP.

On the plus side, this means I'll need to get the Myna pump sooner.

Today I flushed the cooling system, replaced the 40mm bypass hose, blocked off the two heater ports, removed the external heater piping and installed the Baldwin BF7591-D fuel filter system.

NASTY brown coolant came out. It took 20 gallons of clean water flushing before it all came out clear.
The plugs will make it very easy to install 1/4" coolant hoses for the Holset. There will be no HVAC system, everything under the dash will be removed tomorrow.

(04-06-2009 06:23 AM)ForcedInduction Wrote:  Today I flushed the cooling system, replaced the 40mm bypass hose, blocked off the two heater ports, removed the external heater piping and installed the Baldwin BF7591-D fuel filter system.

NASTY brown coolant came out. It took 20 gallons of clean water flushing before it all came out clear.
The plugs will make it very easy to install 1/4" coolant hoses for the Holset. There will be no HVAC system, everything under the dash will be removed tomorrow.

Is this going to be a drag car? I understand not having A/C, but no heat?

A belated congrats on the new ride

Its going to be a summer car and I also plan on installing a really good air filter from a 2004 Ford F350 where the HVAC box used to be. I'll get a cheap-o $25 Bosch blower off eBay for ventilation.

(04-07-2009 08:29 AM)ForcedInduction Wrote:  ... I'll get a cheap-o $25 Bosch blower off eBay for ventilation.

What do you do with the climate control unit? Scrap it and put Gauges there?

Scrap? No. Sell? Yes, everything thats still good. Blower, heater core, evaporator, CCU, actuators, solenoid bank, etc. Maybe even the box itself...

As for the CCU panel, I can fit either 5 or 6 gauges in there or 3 and an electronic boost controller.

Now you see it...
   

Now you don't!
   

Here is the basic placement of the filter. The battery will be relocated to the trunk, filtered air will go through the firewall to the turbo and cold air will come from the factory HVAC cowl ducts at the top center of the firewall.
   
   
   

Coincidentally, I have lots of good vacuum pods and ACC parts for sale.

How was the heater element?

The core didn't leak but I couldn't get the heat to work.

Haha, Im in the process of pulling my interior apart. Got most of the hvac out. Good luck!

Wow, saved some weight there. Forget the fan, just hook the intake to the filter up to the vents below the windshield.

When we gutted the lemons car we gained at least 3" in height on the front wheels.

The sunroof has been converted to manual, the passenger seat removed and 85c collected from under the seats. I've got 13.5' of 1/0 gauge cable coming ($32) so I can move the battery to the trunk this weekend.

Dynolicious reports 16.5second 0-60, 21.21 1/4mile @ 68mph and 90hp at the crank (78hp at the wheels). Its not an official measurement, I'm sure it has some accuracy issues since it doesn't use GPS. Not bad for having a funky injection pump and unknown boost pressure.

FI, how hard was the manual sunroof conversion? Did you pop rivet the rails in place?

It was pretty much a parts swap job except the roller ramps, I had to make them from scratch and I riveted them in place. It definately needs new seals but it doesn't leak water inside the cabin.

So looks like this ones going to be the fun car? Strange it's doing 0-60 in 16 seconds. Maybe that's the floppy IP and mystery boost.

I replaced the leaking water pump and moved the bettery to the trunk using 1/0 gauge cable (New thread on that later). It sure frees up quite a bit of room in the engine bay! The sacrifice is the loss of my spare tire, however in 6 years I have never needed a spare (and I have AAA). The battery tray was rusted pretty well on one corner but luckily the body is undamaged. The trunk has surface rust all over the place, plus a 3" hole in the left corner of the deck. I buffed off all I could and used two cans of undercoating inside and out.

The weight after moving the battery, removing the passenger seat and removing the HVAC is:
Front: 1800lbs
Rear: 1400lbs
Total: 3200lbs

So according to the yard scale I've pulled 220lbs, but I don't trust it 100%. I'll try a certified scale after I register the car.

Pictures later. My home internet is down.

The 300D got its first taste of quality Sapp Brothers fuel today, 12.7 gallons. Now I can start collecting economy figures.

Today at Colorado Auto & Parts I scored a complete set of GenII W126 big brakes from an 87 420SEL for $45, and I talked the counter guy down from $65. It had some really nice 16" Mercedes wheels with good tires but unfortunately I could only find two of them and one of the two walked off after I left it alone for 10 minutes.

I noticed that you removed wire harness that's located right beneath the windshield. Is this strictly for HVAC controls?

Yes. It goes to the two control computers you see on the right and the blower resistor block in the engine bay. Mercedes designed it very well, they kept the different systems in their own individual harness instead of throwing it all in one wire bundle.

Very smart indeed. I've pulled at least 20lbs of wire and vaccuum lines from mine, these will join the pile.

Good progress was made today.
Afterglow mod is done and makes a very big difference after a cold start. Shutoff override valve is installed to allow the engine to stay running without the key. Engine to body ground strap was added. Vacuumed out the 10lbs of dog hair and found my missing screwdriver under the back seat insulation. Installed the 4-light brake mod. The replacement valvecover is polished and tapped for a 1/2"NPT blow-by fitting.

I should have my Holset housings back tomorrow.

Wow this is progressing very quickly. How soon till that autotragic is swapped for a 5 speed?

Probably never. It will likely get upgraded with S600 internals when the time comes.

Automatics are for play, manuals are for work.

More progress today. I finally got my gauges in the mail so I couldn't wait to install them.

Boost turns out to be 9psi (as I expected). I must be spoiled to my VNT, boost builds painfully s-l-o-w.
EGTs get up to 1250*f by the end of a 0-60 run. EGT and boost are 700*f and 5psi cruising at 70mph, same as my 240.

   
   
   

The gauges are 30psi for boost and 60psi for EMP.
   

(04-29-2009 04:26 AM)ForcedInduction Wrote:  More progress today. I finally got my gauges in the mail so I couldn't wait to install them.

Boost turns out to be 9psi (as I expected). I must be spoiled to my VNT, boost builds painfully s-l-o-w.
EGTs get up to 1250*f by the end of a 0-60 run. EGT and boost are 700*f and 5psi cruising at 70mph, same as my 240.





The gauges are 30psi for boost and 60psi for EMP.

Here is how I set up my gauges to give you another perspective on possible ways to mount them. Not sure if you could squeeze three on the pillar though.

(04-29-2009 04:26 AM)ForcedInduction Wrote:  More progress today. I finally got my gauges in the mail so I couldn't wait to install them.

....

I take it you don't give a hoot on drilling into that manifold with that T3 turbo still attached to it!

---

(04-29-2009 05:43 AM)MB TECH Wrote:  ......


Here is how I set up my gauges to give you another perspective on possible ways to mount them. Not sure if you could squeeze three on the pillar though.

Where did you get the pillar pods? I've been looking for pods with the correct mounting angle and those look like they are the correct.

(04-29-2009 11:04 AM)DeliveryValve Wrote:  I take it you don't give a hoot on drilling into that manifold with that T3 turbo still attached to it!

Yep. Both the EGR manifold and T3 are gone as soon as physically possible.

The pillar mount is from summitracing.com (it is the universal 2 pod)


Also on the subject of drilling into the manifold for EGT, when I drilled mine I did it while the engine was running, that way the exhaust pressure will push the metal filings out instead of them entering the turbo

Got the diffs swapped tonight. The 300D now has the 240's 3.46. The 3.46 stayed sealed since it has oil less than a few months old but the 3.07 got Mobil 1 75w-90 synthetic. I didn't have time to swap the speedo so I didn't bother taking it out for a run.
   

The right axle turned out to be a CVJ reman.

Woo hoo! The 300D is finally 100% legal; registered, insured and smogged.
Unfortunately, it "passed" emissions with 37% opacity at 50mph. I really only got away with it because I used to work at that shop.

The EGR sludge in the intake must really be choking it off. I installed a scratch-built boost controller but the spring I had puts the boost at 18psi at its lowest setting. Even with that much boost it can't get enough air ingested.
   

this is my first post here, just wanted to say that i really enjoy checking out the work you have done to your cars, im new to the MB world but not so new to diesel i have a owned a slightly modified 01 f350 for a little while now.. anyway again awesome work and i cant wait to start posting up about my mods to the 83 300d i just picked up tonight!

Welcome aboard!

The more people participate the more we all can learn from each others experiences.

(05-25-2009 12:10 AM)ForcedInduction Wrote:  filtered air will go through the firewall to the turbo and cold air will come from the factory HVAC cowl ducts at the top center of the firewall.

what a great idea... if my wife didnt need any kind of ventillation, i'd prolly end up doing something similar... I just roll down the windows when I need air, but shee doesnt like the wind noise or something...

Some progress and a major setback today.

The driveshaft support and shifter bushings went in without the slightest hitch.
The M-pump project stalled due to an oil cooler hose fitting that stripped coming off. I should have put the tierod in the 240 instead.

   

Did a quick Italian Tuneup tonight. Top speed is 96mph@4500rpm, though it took a little while to get there with only 88hp. EGT topped out right at 1250*f with 9psi boost (but its raining so that lowered it a bit). The nailing is noticeably better which leads me to believe it may just be from carbon buildup.

That also shows that a manual (or lockup TC) would be good for about 11mph on the top end at the same RPM, my 240 could do 107mph at the same RPM with the 3.46.

(07-04-2009 02:57 AM)ForcedInduction Wrote:  ...The nailing is noticeably better which leads me to believe it may just be from carbon buildup.
......

You got your water injection in yet? That should clear it up.

Trying. I need to get my W115 intake in first and to do that I need a replacement turbine for the Holset to know what angle to weld the inlet on.

If anyone knows where to get a good HE341Ve turbine housing or a core turbo for a reasonable cost, let me know. I've been placing want ads on every turbo and diesel forum I know of.