1975 mercedes w115. 240d. FIN.

[Dez]

never have i been so happy to have (re)bought such a curse word car.

its a 1975 mercedes w115. the logbook says 230 auto, a look under the bonnet says 220D(i think!) manual. its definately a 4 pot diesel of some size anyway. so its obviously been swapped at some point.
i actually owned this car about 7-8 years ago. it was pretty shoddy then, TBH it isnt really any worse than when i last had it. i bought it off a mate of a mate in ipswich, wearing porsche 928 rims, ran it around for a while then i sold it at the pod (bugjam i think) to a lad from northampton, just on stock wheels. it then passed around a bit in the northampton area, was sold to chunk of this parish who stored it for a few years, then ive just bought it off him. for 50 quid less than i sold it for 7 years ago!

the motor swap means its got a 'normal' petrol ignition switch that does pretty much nothing other than turn the lights on and off, and the engine has a weird glow/start/decompressor plunger to make it stop and start. probably of some kind of plant or something. plus i get a front mounted oil coller for MEGAOMGJDMBUMDERSEENKID points. or something. the conversion seems to have been done reasonably well though.

heres some pics of it pushed onto the ramp after turning up at mine last night. thats right, pushed. cos the clutch hydraulics have given up hydraulicing at the moment.









oooooo that interior. and yes it does smell just like youd imagine it does from the pic. good job the missus is halfway through an upholstery training course!

yep, fantastically shoddy. amazingly though, i think i can get a legitimate test on it with little more than a new clutch master, some engine mounts, and a few electrical fixes. it may need a sill patch, and the wing needs some creative gaffer tape usage (or just fit the new one that came with it). then, the fun can begin...

[Dez]

underbonnet shot. notice it was originally white, but how now been brush painted with ALL the satin black.


oil cooler setup. rad is also non original, its off a mazda b2000, i fitted that back when i had it first time as i had it lying round andit sort of fitted, when an original was unobtainum back then. i blew the other one on the m180 after the fanbelt died when going over to grimsby to go out on the razz with mike D and foxy. poo-tache.


driver front wing. dead.




no matter, this was on the back seat-


also notice a half door skin in that pic.
thats to replace this, which is nothing shirt of a work of art-


god knows what hiding under all that pog, but its good enough to be hung in a galley as in impressionist rendition of a stacklight merc door.
mind you, not that the drivers side ones are much better-


lets offset that with some good news, in that the sill/floor join is actually rather good. patched at each end, but for the most part unmolested-


varios patches in and around the rear aches, none massively pretty, but all solid enough to test. its had the rear arches done sometime in the past, you can see the join line on the insdie of the 1/4 panels in the boot.










other good news is thats its wearing recent new rear discs, pads, and one caliper. thats a few quids worth. coulda done the flexis at the same time though!

[Dez]

front valance is pretty dead, but the crossmember is excellent, with only mild surface rust-


i remember adding this armour plating to the sump-


very much needed at the mo, as the engine mounts have totally colapsed. the sump should sit level with the corssmember, its currently an inch below does to this hard to make out in the pic but the rubber section is totally dead-


this is the generally accepted convention for a lower shock mount on one of these-


not this-


the mounting eye, rubber and bolt for it are all totally missing!

weird shocks too, what GM product has airshocks?






floors. really surprisingly good for a stacklight. probably cos theyve been stripped back and repainted at some point. had a repair on the drivers side down the handbrake cable area, but havent they all.






massive boot, which was full of bits. theres actually every piece of the side trim, all unattached lights/chrome bits, all the hubcaps and even the stainless sill trims!! plus a home made towbar made out of a LOT of heavy angle, which ive now removed.


unfortunately, the bumpers are trash. all the support bars are rotted out, to the point where theyve actually both fallen off, and someone has resorted to messing them up more with horrendous bodges like this just to reattach them-




i think ill patch them up temporarily by welding in some box section to hold them on as i don't want to run without them, but replacements will be needed. ive also pulled off the front 1/4 bumpers as i hate them, and removed the badge bar to clean it up a bit.

so, id best get some bits ordered to get a ticket on it next!

[Stoke8v8]

love seeing /8s getting some love

[georgeb]

Wondered when this was going to make an appearance. Bookmarked!

[BenzBoy]

That all looks very familiar, Dez! Your car and mine could be twins. This is another RR W115 that will be finished before mine!

[dodgerover]

That push pull heater plugs/ start thing is standard fitment on older mercs, It certainly was on the fintailed ones and i'm sure we fitted a new one to our w115 when it was converted to diesel in the mid 80's

[omegod]

Vauxhall Omega elites had airshocks

[Dez]

yeah, wasnt yours originally white too dean?


dodgerover, did yours have a big knurled ally knob? looks very un-merc like.

omegod, cheers for that, i bet thats what they are.

well, ive fallen at the first hurdle. apparently, a w115 clutch master cyl should look something like this-
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MERCEDES-200-350-W114-115-116-CLUTCH-MASTER-CYLINDER-/301275897332?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item4625715df4

mine looks nothing like that. mine is more like this-






but it looks original/unmessed with. even though it cant be if this car was originally auto! more investigation needed it seems....

[baconlord]

Good old Detroit 2-stroke diesel in this would finish her off nicely.

[Rob M]

Nov 29, 2014 17:42:40 GMT baconlord said:

Good old Detroit 2-stroke diesel, turbocharged or supercharged, in this would finish her off nicely.

EFA...
I do love these old Mercs, the back seat should be reserved for a 1970s crime boss.
Its going to be good, isn't it!

[geoff115]

I'll be following this, I just bought a clutch master cylinder that looks like yours brand new from my local MB dealership for around 90 Euros. I take a pic of it before I install it. I tried putting seals from a new vw passat in my original master cylinder but after a few months it started leaking again, I guess the bore was a little warn.

[Deleted]

Carlton Estates had air shocks too.  Mine did and one was popped,  They are pretty much impossible to find too.

[PhilA]

Nov 29, 2014 18:32:10 GMT Rob M said:

Nov 29, 2014 17:42:40 GMT baconlord said:

Good old Detroit 2-stroke diesel, turbocharged or supercharged, in this would finish her off nicely. Especially with air start.

EFA...

Edited the edit.

On the surface it looks .. interesting, I think it's in the right workshop though

[markbognor]

My early 200D W123 had the push pull starter knob.

[Mark]

Great to see yet another W115 appearing on the boards! Mine will definitely be going back on the road next year

[Stoke8v8]

that clutch master arrangement looks nothing like my 76 240D did. very strange.

[Dez]

geoff115 if you could that would be great, I'm going to remove mine tomorrow to see if theres any part numbers on it to help me find a new one.


as for the other suggestions, there is the possibility of an engine swap, but it wont be any of the ones mentioned. i need to find the engine number to see what the capacity of this one is. i remember it being slow, i just cant remember how slow!! theres other priorities first anyway

it looks as though the starter knob might me right, i just find it weird merc couldnt manage to put it all on the key by this age.


Stoke8v8, i imagine it because this has been converted. the most similar looking thing i can find so far is off a mercedes 601d van, but i;ll know more itomorrow once i have a part number. the pedal assembly looks 'right' though, so i don't know what theyve done there. youd imagine if theyve added a third stick pedal, theyd have just used the m/c too.

[geoff115]

The issue on mine was the slave cylinder not the master duh...anyways here's a pic of it

[qwerty]

Om606 conversion?