1985 W123 300D

winmutt

07-07-2008, 08:00 AM #1

My current car is an dark anthracite gray 1985 Mercedes 300D. It is the second one I have driven as a DD, one of 4 I purchased the car for $550 from a gentleman and his wife on their wait to do missionary work in eastern Europe. The car had sat under a tree and leaked like swiss cheese. The mold issues is still some what problematic today. The car hardly ran and the transmission would not go out of 3rd after driving it for 15 min or so. I started with the transmission and replace it with one from a low mileage 200D and the om617 mated parts from my old euro 300D. Following that I started replacing my suspension. I ordered a set of the Vogtland lowering springs and installed those:

[Image: DSCN2819.JPG]

I also installed Euro lights, bumpers and tow OEM tow kit :

[Image: DSCN2823.JPG]

Not to long after that I rebuilt the front end with a kit I bought off Ebay. Non OEM and if I had a chance to do it again I would do it with OEM parts, but it was the only kit out there. No guessing on what was needed:

[Image: P1020381.JPG]

After this I installed the OEM 15mm sway bar upgrade in the rear and am waiting to find time to do the TD sway bar up front. I also upgrade the brakes to the second gen 126 larger and vented rotors from a 560SEL. I am seriously considering ABS upgrades in the future.

Back to the engine, I turned up the boost on the turbo and installed a boost gauge cluster:
[Image: P1020359.JPG]

Eventually I diagnosed most of the ailments but relinquished hope for the engine when I discovered 3 of the cylinders all had prechambers and missing pintles :

[Image: prechamber1.jpg] [Image: prechamber2.jpg] [Image: prechamber3.jpg]

Since then I had pretty much decided a new engine was in order. I replaced the prechambers but compression on 3-5 was still really low. I found a parts car in Macon (~90 miles) for $250 and towed her home:

[Image: DSC00373.JPG]

It was several months before I got to swap out the engine. During this time I did the rack limiter removal on the dying engine and found new life. My buddy Kevin decided for his birthday he was going to run the 24hrs of LeMons and I happily donated my car and old engine to the cause under the condition that we would swap out the old engine.

[Image: P1010433.JPG]
http://perfecthorsesass.com/24hours/lemo...rep/album/

I am now waiting to find time to install the GT2556V that I have had for years now:
[Image: p1020723.jpg]

1987 300D Sturmmachine
1991 300D Nearly Perfect
1985 300D Weekend/Camping/Dog car
1974 L508D Motoroam Monarch "NightMare"
OBK #42

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