Amazon Wagon, T25, W123 and friends

[space goat]

time for an update.

The t25 is going to get some modernisation. plan is to fit the passat AFN tdi engine and gearbox. SO when a 1999 passat with 65,000 miles popped up on auto trader for peanuts i had to grab it.

for those who don't know its a known conversion, and someone is making kits. but will still be a good chunk of work

So i'v been driving around in the Van and passat all summer but i don't want to drive the volvo around. sooo.... time for another car
Something sensible, reliable, cheep

I went for a drive one morning to find a winter hack and came across this


my jaw dropped when i found it its a 300d with a manual.

seeing as the benz doesn't match any of the criteria i thought about for at leat a week before


so here's the first pics from this morning





the brakes had seized so first job, get the callipers off for a closer look.

I hate brakes, fortunatly the bleed screws came loose after some heat.

iv got rebuild kits on the way.

i need to get this barge on the road quick
will keep the updates coming

[space goat]

only after yesterdays melding, i noticed the front end was more worn-out then i was hoping for. errhhh
so that's a pair of springs and lower ball joints added to the list



i haven't manage to get the other ball joint yet

benz 1 - ball joint spitter 0

I'm not having much joy removing the old pistons from the old callipers.
my compressor isn't touching them!
has anyone tried plumbing them up to an old master cylinder in a vice in attempt to hydraulically pop them?

[Milord]

If you have a pneumatic brake bleeder you could perhaps pressurise the calliper using the bleed valve?
If you don't; I've used just air pressure to 'pop' the pistons out, worked a charm!

sometimes helps to push the pistons in a bit further first!

Mate of mine always wiggles them out with two flathead screwdrivers, don't think this is the best method though

good luck!

[space goat]

had a plan for popping pistons.
i was planning on removing the master cylinder anyway so i thought i was worth a go
pleased to report this worked very well! which i lucky, as these were really seized.


i'v never enjoyed working with brakes, this job has defiantly reinforced this.
the supplied dust seals for the front clipers didn't fit, so have just bought some from a Unimog parts suppler in Lithuania

[space goat]

friend returning from Ireland with his new find

[peter96]

Always wanted a W123. Well worth getting back on the road. Good to see you're doing the ball joints. I had one snap in a 190e which could have been very nasty if it had gone on the open road. Thankfully it went when the car was being parked. Ps IB is a Northern Ireland reg from Co Armagh and nice looking coupe as well.

[space goat]

Nov 10, 2018 19:12:27 GMT peter96 said:

Always wanted a W123. Well worth getting back on the road. Good to see you're doing the ball joints. I had one snap in a 190e which could have been very nasty if it had gone on the open road. Thankfully it went when the car was being parked. Ps IB is a Northern Ireland reg from Co Armagh and nice looking coupe as well.

no way! i knew it was NI plates but i never knew you could identify where about!  thats made my day!

[peter96]

Yep Belfast and then each of the six counties had their own plates. For that era XI was Belfast, IJ Co Down, IA Co Antrim, IL Co Fermanagh, IW Co Londonderry, IJ Co Tyrone and of course IB Co Armagh. As a kid in the 70s and 80s I could have told you the age and county no problem. Couldn't tell you about the more recent plates mind.

[space goat]

i removed the tank sender to have a look in the tank to find a bad case of Diesel bug
didn't get a pic of the sender but it was basically full of a thick stubborn slime. no surprise as the tank has been left half full for 10 year, so time to remove the tank filter and tank

46mm socket is the perfect tool for removing talk filter and sender. any t25 owner will appreciate this


a very clogged tank filter


gave that a clean


tank out, not really a saloon guy, nicety see access to shock absorbers was considerd


Jet washed and flushed the tank, didn't get pic of what came out, it was revolting.


the glow plug relay is bit of a knows weak spot on these cars, mine was no exception.
I didn't face paying £70 for something that will inevitably fail. so i scrounged a 100amp relay and plumed it in place

and complimented with a push button from the Range

i even manage to wire it up to the dash light, wet pleased   

(the twisty knob thing to the right is an idle adjust, i had to check the manual)

[space goat]

finally put the lower ball joint saga to bed tonight.
spent Saturday morning driving around trying to find someone with a ball joint remover, and to my shock nobody had one.
so decided to add to the pile of 'tools used once and never used as intended again' pile.

Unfortunately there wasn't a die in the kit that would do the job. I thought i struck gold when i found one of the front brake pistons was a perfect fit


just needed some adapting






aannnndddd fail


so nothing beats breaking in a new took then breaking it


finally got the combination right


and after a lot of heavy cranking and banging,  got there in the end


FYI, I'm not the kind of guy to but pics of dry balls on the internet but Febi you have left me no choice. come on guy's, pull your finger out

[space goat]

my Lithuanian Unimog brake seals arrived!


I'm really surprised how difficult it is to locate parts for this car, having seen how ubiquitous they are in places like morocco i really thought parts would be readily available and cheep.

whist waiting for parts, i thought i would take a look at the engine mounts, glad i did....


whist the car has been sat on stands and engine on a trolly jack, the pool of oil has been growing at an alarming rate, I believe the rocker cover gasket are know to dry up and leek. so set about changing this.
removing the rocker box revield a jewel of a valve train assembly, reminds me of an old aviation or marine engine.



was nice and clean in there too


quick clean of the cover and drop it into place


I find cleaning of parts distracting, you start doing one part properly then you end up needing to clean the entire engine and replace little clips and bolts ect.. its a faf and feel free to disagree
i when ahead and changed the oil whist the car is in there air. Turned out the main source of the leak was a finger tight sump plug and an over used copper washer . O-well

Got the rear brakes inn ,but i forgot to order the pins and retaining clips for the front, 


annoyingly, mercedes couldn't just have a spigot that comes off the fuel tank. NO, had to be crimped to some obscure fitting. so when your fed pipe gets bit tired, its a "good luck replacing it" from Mercedes.
so took a 1/8" spigot and solders it to the original fitting, worked a treat!
behold my solder blob



Go the engine running on diesel purge. wish i filmed It as it ran a treat. but this was running from a tin in the engine by.
before calling it a day i wanted to test if my solder blob. so i set about filling the tank and priming the system,
aannnddddd the drip drip of despair, but from an old hard line that goes between the body and the sub frame. annoying but least my bodge is holding up.

[mrscruff]

Sensible, reliable and cheap huh? 😉 Cool car tho!

[space goat]

started on looking for leaks in the pipe, and well this happened

feed line replaced, section of the return and brake line. a faff but glad its done

front brakes finally in.


and master cylinder


new radiator and alternator


whist crawling around ripping rusty pipe i found more rust!! greeeeaattttt....


knocked up a patch



i think the sills could do with replacing to be honest, but this should get it through the MOT

[space goat]

most of you probably noticed the mis matched headlights.
before i bought the car a quick search on eBay returned loads of headlights going cheep. I then buy the car, all gone. great!
so after a few weeks of searching these popped up on facebook

i prefer the later ones but i quite like the querky round mean beam ones, i never knew w123 ever had these

i thought the black was bit of a strong look for the light blue


unfortunately after removing the lenses i could see the reflecters went very reflective anymore.
great square one again...
the i though i would give nickel plating a go

hears the prepared main beam next to the dull dip beam


chemicals


dry run


Dunk and soak, its a mix if nickle & colbolt sulphate with boric acid and blocks of nickel on the cathode. all hocked up to a car battery and a resistor. I used a halogen amp as a heater 


not bad after 45mins


the nickel doesn't look as bright as the factory job, but its an improvement, lets hope the MOT man agrees

[space goat]

made a curse word video to celebrate its ease of starting

[space goat]

between adjusting the handbrake and rodding sunroof drains, not much excitement around the w123.
My brother popped in to help us out around the house and garden,
considering our parents aren't car people were not sure where are appreciation comes from. I think Scrapheap challenge and wheeler deals has a lot to answer for.



I took the BX Diesel for a spin, Lovely...

he gave me a hand putting the finished headlights in





We still prefer the post facelift lights but I'm not at all disappointed with how these turned out.

[astranaut]

I spotted that BX on the 55 this morning

[space goat]

MOT Passed!!
hasn't been in service for very long but I'm already convinced this is the best vehicle i have ever owned

cheers for the mugshot SeanOB 


or at the very least. the best key fob i have ever owned

[eurogranada]

Congrats on the MOT! It's a nice car.

[jamesd1972]

Does start nicely !
Real cockroach car, will only improve with some use too .
James