What is the stock w123 ride height?
 

I'm looking for the specs on the ride height for the 300d.

A quick search and I found Brian Carlton says 13" measured between the wheel center-line and fender.

I used to have a pic of a sketch showing all the different dimensions, but it must be stored in my other computer.

Front and rear?

Thanks I did search w123 riding height, but came up with nothing.

I think they were discussing rear. And it's supposed to be "unloaded" ride height. I'm not sure what the definition of unloaded is.

If someone could find the image of the sketch showing all the dimensions, that would be useful. I just looked at one 2 weeks ago, and I thought I had saved it, but can't find it now. It gives front and rear ride heights, as well as different places to measure them. Such as top of the tail lights, top of the headlights, etc.

high!:P

Took all that time to read the title of the first post, huh. :P

The answer is Too High!

760mm from the ground to the bottom edge of the trunk lid at the trunk handle/trim, or from the ground to the front edge of the hood above the headlights.

Thanks that's a great blue print . . . but would a gasser sit the same as a diesel, I'd imagine that the diesel has a heavier engine . . .would they use different springs?

yes, the springs were different from model to model, based on the overall weight of the car, which was based on what accessories were installed on it. mercedes not only had part numbers for springs, but also a colour coding system painted onto springs (and other parts like drive shafts, etc.) which tells you what the spring rate is

as to whether the overall ride height was the same for models with different accessories factory-installed, i believe they are the same. the only time mercedes changed the ride height was for 'sport' models (sportline, 2.3-16v, etc.). course the w123 chassis didn't have sport models

That's the blueprint I was thinking of. It's posted over at superturbodiesel.com

Very useful. Now I have it saved. :)

I found the blueprint over at SMCars.net (Scratch Made Cars), a site that focuses on computer generated vehicles based on original blueprints, images, data and information in general. I've downloaded a couple of old MB blueprints. Sadly not all are there and not all have dimensions as specific as this one (I got lucky).

The blueprints are also what I use to make my Lego models.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

So why is my car too high?
 

I thought my car looked too high after my front end work and according to the diagrams it's about an inch-and-a-half high, both front and rear. But what's the most likely cause? Car is an '83 300CD w/ 283,000.

Hood and trunk heights are more/less level at 806 mm (31.75 in), front wheel center to fender rim is 16.5 in. It is a big gap between the wheel and the fender.

I changed all the rubber components in the front and put new shocks on, but I let it settle onto the wheels before torquing down the upper and lower control arm bolts and before tightening the torsion bar bushings. Shocks are Bilstein B36-0703 on the front. Before tightening the front suspension down I bounced each corner to ensure it settled with weight on wheels.

I could understand if I dorked something up in the front but the car sits and looks level front and rear, and the only thing I did in the rear that could possibly affect height is new shocks, and my understanding is shocks don't affect height, but springs do. Bilstein B46-1184 on the rear, which I think is not specific, but 'compatible.'

The front rubber pads have the FSM recommended height - 23 mm or 4 nub pads. The springs are fully seated in the shock towers and 'look' appropriately compressed with less than 3/8 inch between each coil.

Any suggestions, short of removing the springs, to lower the car back to stock height?