1984 Mercedes W123 200T - !!!SOLD!!!

[TurboDieselWeasel]

May 4, 2011 19:44:35 GMT s123 said:

Great work! This is really a nice car :-)

Thanks! Can't wait for the first propper drive...

--------------

Got delivery of moar powar today ;D A good mate had two W124 230 engines kicking about and needed space, so I kindly offered to relieve him of those engines




Allready have the heads from thos engines (page 1 or 2 I think), and going to collect the K-Jetronic injection stuff on saturday.

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to use these engines. I'd need to make 1 usable out of the two, they'r both a bit knackered. And the conversion is a bit - well, not easy with all the electric stuff of the KE Injection. Like wiring loom, ECU, relais, fuel pumps, fuel lines etc. etc. and then some things on the engine itself need changing to run a W124 engine in a W123, apparently... Like sump and oil pickup pipe.

But: if I can get Euro 1 emissions with that engine swap, I will do it! That depends on what my TÜV engineer thinks about it. In theory it should be possible without a bl**dy expensive emissions certificate, as both cars weight about the same. Have the same differential & gearbox ratios and tyre circumference. And it's basicaly the same engine, except for cubic capacity and fueling. I'll see...

As payment he got the satin black hubcaps of my old W124. I think they look the buiseness on a white car. He doesn't quite agree with me, though ;D



And just two random snaps...





I spend half the day on the interwebs today to try and find repair panels - only to find out in the end that the front wheel arch costs about 85€ from Mercedes-Benz directly... *D'oh!* That's a good price, me thinks.

So basically I'm ordering the repair panels tomorrow and then wait for them to arrive, before I chop the car any further. I don't want to chop off too much ;D

Cheers,
Jan

[mrj]

well, you can have actually Euro 2 with your 200, Paul Wurm offers a Euro2 kit, for a reasonable price of 1750 € though ;D

[TurboDieselWeasel]

May 5, 2011 18:45:19 GMT mrj said:

well, you can have actually Euro 2 with your 200, Paul Wurm offers a Euro2 kit, for a reasonable price of 1750 € though ;D

Yes... And 3 years 'till Historic plates (for the others: 192€ taxes with H plates) is only a mere 1500€ taxes... ;D Which is realy stupid, as 1500€ is a lot of money, but still cheaper...

But: if I go for LPG, I can't get (legal) historic plates. So I might at the same time go for a little more power (109HP/170nm vs. 132HP/198nm) with better MPG And the engines were free... So if I can get Euro 1, better MPG and more power for little money - why spend the 1750€...? ;D

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Only a minor update... New door lock and new rear lock turned up today. I hope this time I don't eff the rear lock up whilst trying to repair it...

And I got a new replacement front inner wheel arch from Mercedes. And guess how lucky I was? I got the second to last panel ever! So they have only one left in stock now, and when it's gone, it's gone. They wont make any new panels... Whew!



And I got some of the injection stuff, like manifold, loom and some smal parts. But it's in pretty bad shape and incomplete - I don't think it'll work ever again... Probably going to look for another W124 230E injection setup without mud in it...



Ordered some more smaler panels and untill they arrive, I'm going to figure out how I can remove the anti roll bar without removing the brakebooster & master cylinder

Cheers,
Jan (lacking a bit of mojo to crack on these days... )

[retrobastard]

Get cracking bud!! Its all good so far!!!

[TurboDieselWeasel]

May 10, 2011 11:29:27 GMT retrobastard said:

Get cracking bud!! Its all good so far!!!

As soon as we have better weather... Unfortunately it has been all rainy and cold the past days... And I had to earn some money for the Merc. I hope all the panels arrive next week. Also have to make a sandbag for panel beating as some are NLA.

So, not much done... But I though I'll repair the boot lock today. Many pictures of not much happening:

This is the lock I removed from the car... Totaly stuck, beaten up and dirty...



Next the 2nd hand lock I got for 20€ from a fellow W123 driver. Not a über-bargain, but considering a new one is 70€ - a good price and it's in good condition:



Mmmmhm. That's what it is supposed to look like

Came apart pretty easy:



Unlike the old lock... It took a big hammer and force to remove the old barrel... No wonder:



The barrel from the replacement lock didn't fit my key (erm - why should it actually!? ;D):



So I removed all the shims, cleaned them and noted the numbers. They'r all numbered:



Then I put the old shims into the new barrel...:



And we have a key that fits and can unlock it:



And a final shot of both locks, shows how much force I had to use to free the old barrel:



Only need to buy/find an O-ring for the new barrel, as both old O-rings cracked and fell apart into very smal pieces... Never worked on a lock before, so this was quite entertaining. And I actually learned how a lock works, this has been some sort of 'black magic' to me before ;D

I saved the door lock for tomorrow, so I don't run out of 'work' this weekend ;D

Cheers,
Jan

[BenzBoy]

That was lucky with the inner wing panel! Nice progress on the car, I like the engine plans.

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Started to strip the car further today. There's a lot of highly inflamable sound proofing under the dashboard, and the dashboard makes it very inconvenient to work on the firewall. So off it came forwelding and grinding...




Took me almost 2/3 of the day.... The rest of the day went into the rear lock. Finished it and trial fitted it to adjust, but now it cloeses, locks and opens nicely and smooth again. When I got the car it was rotten solid...



I started a little experiment with Teflon spray-coating as a dry lubricant. I guess what killed the old lock was that the grease dryed and formed a solid mass with the dirt and that came in with the broken seal. I'll see if the Teflon works over time, so far it feels very nice.

Also, the second batch of panels arrived:



Not happy with the wheel arch, it's a bit wrinckeld and will need lot's of straightening.

Drove a W124 again yesterday. Missed it.

Cheers,
Jan

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Not much to report, I'V mainly been practicing welding the last couple of days. Though I'd need to improofe my welding skills a bit before I attack the Merc






Still not 100% happy, I think I'm still rushing it too much as I have a little trouble with heat distortion... What you lot recon?

Cheers,
Jan

PS: can I sell this as modernart? ;D

[TurboDieselWeasel]

major update: project is on temporary halt...

Today wasn't realy my day........ I've wasted most of it trying to get the car level on all 4 wheels - if I should ever meet the person who paved the car-port... Luckily I have no access to firearms. Not a single stone that's not at an angle...

And to make the day complete, I discovered another bodge from the PO, covered with half a kilo silicone... ²




And there was me worrying about my own welding skills... Iwas actually hoping I could get awaywith replacing only half the wheel arch - looks like I'm going to replace it completely. It's not worth to patch it up...

So gents - this project is on halt untill I get the carport level. Yes, I'm that feed up with that kinked pavement... It's been bugging me for years, but now the die is cast. I'm going to rip the pavement apart and make it LEVEL to actuallybe able to WORK on a car. And not wast hour after hour trying to make it sitlevel with wood and jacks and stuff...

Unfortunately this will take a bit of time, as I need the help of a good mate who's soon moving house etc. - or I wait untill the other car-port is free when my parents take out the caravan. Bis this will not be before 3-4 weeks

I'll see what comes first... But I know one thing for sure: it's hight time to waste that fu****g pavement!!!

Untill then, major bodywork has to wait a bit In the meanwhile I'm preping the boot and probably going to replace the rear wheels arches.

Even the dog didn't give a damn today.... ;D



And to make the day a complete mess, the sprayfiller on the boot decided to go for the orange peel look

ARGH!

Cheers,
Jan

[camerashy]

Jan,

I'm pretty sure I gave you the link to www.mig-welding.co.uk on your W124 thread, if not, there it is again! Post the photos up on that forum and you'll get some pretty good, helpful feedback - worth telling them what settings/gauge steel you're using. Penetration on the plug welds looks great to be honest, I think I can see the distortion you're talking about, have you been doing alternate spotwelds on the butt joint? And have you got a copper/brass 'pad' to cool the back of the piece?

What you may find is that having a joggled lap joint - www.esabna.com/euweb/sa_handbook/585sa2_32.htm see there, and buying yourself an air 'joggler' may give you nicer results. You can still drill through and plug weld, and then just slackened off the power to fillet the edge of the lap. Have a search for the technique on the mig-welding site. You're going to find doing a butt joint as you are that it will distort - i.e. on the top piece on your photo as the sheet is too thin to bevel properly to give you a nice fillet.

Keep practising, I'm in the same boat this summer, steep learning curve isn't it!

Cheers
James

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Hi James!

May 24, 2011 20:58:57 GMT camerashy said:

Jan,

I'm pretty sure I gave you the link to www.mig-welding.co.uk on your W124 thread, if not, there it is again! Post the photos up on that forum and you'll get some pretty good, helpful feedback - worth telling them what settings/gauge steel you're using. Penetration on the plug welds looks great to be honest, I think I can see the distortion you're talking about, have you been doing alternate spotwelds on the butt joint? And have you got a copper/brass 'pad' to cool the back of the piece?

What you may find is that having a joggled lap joint - www.esabna.com/euweb/sa_handbook/585sa2_32.htm see there, and buying yourself an air 'joggler' may give you nicer results. You can still drill through and plug weld, and then just slackened off the power to fillet the edge of the lap. Have a search for the technique on the mig-welding site. You're going to find doing a butt joint as you are that it will distort - I.e. on the top piece on your photo as the sheet is too thin to bevel properly to give you a nice fillet.

Keep practising, I'm in the same boat this summer, steep learning curve isn't it!

Cheers
James

Yes, you did. And it was very helpfull! I've just registered there, I sort of forgott about the forum bit Yes, I used the 'step back' technique. However, I might still have rushed it a bit...

I don't have an air joggler, but a manuall one with integrated hole punch... Works OK. My compressor is a bit too smal for 99% of the air tools ;D



Your right, this helps a great deal to minimise distortion. However, I have a lot of panels where I need to butt weld - so I'm practising the worst case (butt welds on a wide open panel without any folds) Also in myn places I can't put copper behind (rear arches p.e.).

Another trick is to cool the weld with compressed air immediately after welding (wait half a second for the burn to settle though). That seems to help it just as good.

Cheers and thanks for the advice,
Jan

[BenzBoy]

It's a shame that the project is on hold, but it'll be nice to have a level surface to work on! It makes such a difference.

[TurboDieselWeasel]

camerashy:

Guys on mig-welding.co.uk confirmed my welding as worthy of a car Well chuffed! Thanks again!

May 26, 2011 21:29:33 GMT BenzBoy said:

It's a shame that the project is on hold, but it'll be nice to have a level surface to work on! It makes such a difference.

I couldn't hold on completely, though... ;D

Found a picture where you can about spot how botched the pavement is...



Done some smal jobs to keep me occupied, tryed painting a patch on the boot with a rattle can - went surpsrisingly well. Polish this afternoon, I hope it turns out good.

And I've done a bit more on the crusty wing. Tried my home-made folder for the first time:



To get the contour right, I quickly welded a Mini head stud to the folder:



That's done the job quite good. With a bit of cutting, bending, bashing and swearing I got the bend to make a slight kurve:



Cut off too much...



But got the gap closed with ease, using a piece of folded copper sheet on the back:



Lead loaded:



Spray filler for the finer stuff:



Finishing: now... ;D

I left the rusty spots out on purpose, I drenched them with rust converter and left it dry over night, so I can fully prep it for paint today.

a good used wing can be found for 50€ or less - my repairs are far from perfect, but it's a good practice for bodywork. And a wing is easy to change at a later date. If I should fell the urge for perfect wing

Cheers,
Jan

[mrj]

that wing repair looks pretty good, tbh, once the bumper is fitted, you won't be seeing it anyway... i have similar things do to on my Passat, i have brand new wings, but no money to have them painted in the next months, so for TÜV i have to weld them up....

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Thanks! Looks better in the pictures, though Hmm, well, funds is another reason... But for the second repair panel I've ever made I'm quite happy how it turned out

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Found a spray gun... Realy cheap spray gun, but works quite good. Should've practiced a bit as the paint is uneven - but that'll come in handy!! Much better than applying the base coat with a brush




And the first bit of paint I was talking about earlyer. Some scratches are still visible (from preping), next time I will take more care & time to sand the base coat. Also a bit of dust trapped and the paint reacted a bit with the spray filler where I rubbed it down too much. Looks good in the picture, and from a meter away it's not realy notable anymore. So all good. Try and error - that's the onl way to learn it...



Cheers,
Jan

[Deleted]

you're being a proper trooper with the fabrication and finish, this is the best way to learn when funds are tight: just keep trying and trying until it's how you want it to be. I would not be ashamed of the standard of work you've achieved here at all.

[TurboDieselWeasel]

May 28, 2011 15:00:21 GMT @volksangyl said:

you're being a proper trooper with the fabrication and finish, this is the best way to learn when funds are tight: just keep trying and trying until it's how you want it to be. I would not be ashamed of the standard of work you've achieved here at all.

You'r right! But I'm an impatient perfectionist - and that's two atributes that don't mix very well ;D

Wing painted, again with a rattle can.



Weid paint reaction; looks like a runner of some sort, although I was sure I've sufficiently cleaned everything. Well, I'll sand it doen and try again.



And that's what you get for painting in the open on a windy day ;D Poor fella didn't have a chance...



First polish tomorrow afternoon (drying time to 1st polish is 24h). But it looks l ike the paint has settled OK. Two things for the next time though: more sanding with 800 AND 1200 grid and not just with 800. And a seconf layer of spray fillerover the top coat. There are still a lot of scratches visible under the paint.

But well, having never painted anything with full preparation etc. - I'm quite happy, especiallysince it's a rattle can job



Not the best result in the world (uneven and 'bumpy'), but oh well. Next one will be better

I hope I can attack the carport by next week

Cheers and have a nice weekend everyone,
Jan

[TurboDieselWeasel]

Wanted to polish the wing this evening. When the boot caught my eye, as the setting sun threw a bit of sunlight on it... To say it in the words of Freddy Mercury:



Reason:





Needless to say it's the same with the wing... I gave the wing a second coat with the paint - it's still too purple / bright... %@&%§%R"*"! NOT happy!

At first I suspected the light base coat. But on the boot I painted over the old, dark, paint...

Sod it. I'm going to the painter's and get a can of the right colour, and then I'm painting everything that needs in one go with the spray gun. I can't always park in the shaddows. In the shaddow the paint looks right. Not so much in the sunlight...

Cheers,
Jan