pretty sure this was the fella sellin a 380 SEL diesel conversion

might have some info fwiw

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-auto-parts-tires-auto-body-parts-Mercedes-Benz-Parts-Parting-Out-1985-300-SD-1981-300D-More-W0QQAdIdZ276734489

Excellent. Thank you.


Thanks for the other responses as well. To be honest: I'm not looking to spend anymore money on this, and there's ZERO junkyards to pull pats from.
This means I will be making due with parts on hand (as often as I can).

I also need to go for ease of use and durability. The car may see some dd miles, but it will see mostly highway miles.

I have a 440 in the mopar, and a small block chevy in the toyota; jackrabbit starts off the line are not my concern. I want a highway runner.

I'm back at it again.

I drank three beers yesterday, and never touched a wrench.

The first thing I plan on dealing with is the throttle. It seems the sdl has the hole mounted lower, so I will need to relocated the hole lower on the sel.

I'm hoping that pulling all the sound barriers will reveal a factory stamp hole in the right location, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'll get some decent pictures today so everybody can poke this 800# gorilla with a stick.

The massive set of vac on the diesel vs the gasser has me worried. I'm forced to look at thing from different perspectives to maintain my cool.
The simple: all I need is power, coolant, fuel.
The complex: vac, gp relay, a/c, cruise control, speedometer, throttle, fuel shutoff, and the wires that go with the greasecar kit.



I just need to remember that it will be worth it in the end.


Right?

Greasecar?...ewwwww

For most of us it would be like saying how much you like dogs and then telling us you are going to play Michael Vick...

__________________
80 300SD (129k mi) 82 240D stick (193k mi)77 240D auto - stick to be (153k mi) 85 380SL (145k mi) 89 BMW 535i 82 Diesel Rabbit Pickup (374k mi) 91 Jetta IDI Diesel (155k mi) 81 VW Rabbit Convertible Diesel 70 Triumph Spitfire Mk III (63kmi)66 Triumph TR4a IRS (90k mi)67 Ford F-100 (??)

LOL

It happens to be on the donor car already.
I will save the system, and may entertain it down the road, but it's NOT going on it right now.

Well that vacuum might not be as massive as you think. Get rid of that EGR valve, the car will run better and it gets rid of a bunch of vacuum. Your diesel does not need controlled vacuum to run right like a car with a carb. Your vacuum is created up front and you need vacuum for heat and AC, vacuum for PBrakes is number one of course. That is why the big vac line goes directly to the PB booster. If you close the one or two ports coming off that main line your car will run fine and you will have brakes. Then after it is running, work through your vacuum. Engine shut down, transmission modulation, exterior locking system and HVAC. If you look at it in pieces, it is pretty simple. Are you going to keep the AC. I don't keep AC up on my old Mercedes. I want to drive them, but no AC. I keep a late model car for the wife with AC, and if I want to go highway on a hotday, that is the car to use. You can spend about as much as these old cars are worth on AC. You have to have heat, no doubt, but heat is so much easier and less costly then AC.

Don't tear up too much stuff looking for a hole that is not there. In putting my 617 into my 240D, I needed to reinstall the coolant overflow or coolant recovery container. They made a seperate inner fender for that 240D leaving all the holes out for that container bracket. I don't think you will find another unused hole for your accelerator.

Speedo is no problem. Use the one that matches the rear axle you are using.

Glo plug realy and wiring will have to be installed. It is easily seperated from any diesel from the glow plug box to the plugs with a short simple wire harness. If you don't have one, you need to get one - plenty of them around. Then new wire would have to be run from the switch or some junction point where power is always available when switch is on. (Remember, only when SWITCH is ON)

One additional item on vacuum is the automatic (vacuum controlled) over ride shutdown switch on turbo boost control. I eliminated all that, (I know, it's wonderful and you have to protect the dummies), but I installed a pressure gauge in the car that reads turbo pressure all the time, it is a simple line tee'd off the air line, (not vacuum) from the back of the manifold to the "alda". It saved a lot of effort in plumbing all that good junk into or onto the 240D.

Now, one more question. Do you really need a cruise control. Mostly on these old Mercedes they don't work, or seldom work, or work only when it's wet, and more. Get rid of it! No go have another beer and get to work. If you don't have much money, don't drink beer, drink iced tea - it's very cost effective.

__________________
Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

Solid advice, and thank you.

Good to know vac is not so daunting. The cruise control would be nice, I may muddle through it.

I have been saving the A/C components, and haven't decided. I certainly don't need it here, but this will be the road car. If I go that route I will entertain the propane option (that I've been reading about here). Once again though; not critical. It ranks below the radio.

I'm seeing some fab work for sure. They even placed the battery in different places, so I will need to make a tray (or rob the one out of the diesel).


I guess my first order will be to square away the bits that I can't get at later (tranny wires- speedo, etc.). Then I will stab the motor/tranny and see where I'm at.

I'm 14 hours into it right now. I am a few hoses and wires away from pulling the donor. Everything else is free. I have about 100 pictures of the process (and where the wires go). I doubt I'll need them though. It's either straight forward, or requires out of the box thinking.



What car would be a donor for a mechanical speedo with the gasser diff ratio?
Is there one? I plan on keeping the taller (numerically smaller) rear end.

Solid advice, and thank you.

Good to know vac is not so daunting. The cruise control would be nice, I may muddle through it.

I have been saving the A/C components, and haven't decided. I certainly don't need it here, but this will be the road car. If I go that route I will entertain the propane option (that I've been reading about here). Once again though; not critical. It ranks below the radio.

I'm seeing some fab work for sure. They even placed the battery in different places, so I will need to make a tray (or rob the one out of the diesel).


I guess my first order will be to square away the bits that I can't get at later (tranny wires- speedo, etc.). Then I will stab the motor/tranny and see where I'm at.

I'm 14 hours into it right now. I am a few hoses and wires away from pulling the donor. Everything else is free. I have about 100 pictures of the process (and where the wires go). I doubt I'll need them though. It's either straight forward, or requires out of the box thinking.



What car would be a donor for a mechanical speedo with the gasser diff ratio?
Is there one? I plan on keeping the taller (numerically smaller) rear end.

It is hard to keep a good focus. If you are really on a short budget, maybe more so. Keep to the big picture. Round up and set aside all the big pieces, like radiator, oil cooler, drive line, rear axle. Mark them with spray paint, green if you are going to use it, red it goes to the junk or sale. Yellow on stuff you don't know at this time, but get it organized. It is a big job for anyone doing it at home, it really is. I have been on mine for most of a year. I wanted to get it done last summer, but then I needed surgery on both eyes and it was hot and my eyes were tired/sore and I had to wait for a while to get new glasses. Then winter came with a bang and even in the garage, it was just too cold to work. But now I am at it, old and slow, but it was well organized, I know where all my stuff is, and I try to get 3 hours in a day. But get the heavy stuff down - get that engine in and out as quick as you can. It is the painful not so much fun part of the job. Look at putting all the stuff together at the end as kind of a fun puzzle. Don't forget the "Russian" EPC. It is easy to use and shows you about any assembly you want. Here is the listing for the two car you are working on.

For the W123 http://www.everythingbenz.com/type/w123-123-mercedes-schematics-drawings

For the W126 http://www.everythingbenz.com/z/type/w126-126-mercedes-schematics-drawings

and you can quickly tell from these pages with picture and part numbers what parts are the same - just like your battery box problem, should show up real easy here.

__________________
Junqueyardjim
Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important. C.S. Lewis



1983 Mercedes W123 240D 4 Speed 285,000 on the road with a 617 turbo, beautiful butter yellow, license plate # 83 240D INDIANA

2003 Jaguar Type X, AWD. beautiful, good mileage,
Mom's car, but I won't let her drive it!

OP already stated that it might get used as a daily driver a little bit but would mostly be a highway car. I spend probably a minimum of 4 hours a week and sometimes 8 on the road, and NONE of my 3 have working cruise. I miss it every single trip.

Just a thought. In this case, it might be worth trying to get it installed for him. Some people depend on it more than others. My mom never uses hers even one day a year and my dad uses his absolutely daily and complains about driving anything without it. I'm in between. I'm "okay" without, but if I ever had the money I'd LOVE to get my Benzes working, at least a couple of them.

__________________


~Michael S.~
Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL

After waisting plenty of time screwing around with my cruise control, I bought a rebuilt amp and a new actuator from GDL about 5 years ago. It now works perfectly.

Back at it.

Pulled the donor motor today, and I have a few more questions:

The donor tranny has four pins going into it. What are they for, and should I wire them into the sel?

What/ how does the cruise control work, and should I save it for the transfer?

There is one vac line that I have no clue on. It runs up next to the fuse block, and then to the big can behind the injection pump.


I will be saving all of the a/c, but I probably won't sort it out myself. There is a GURU in Tejas, and I will drive it down to him with all the parts, and let hime sort it out. It is worth the 1k to me to have it done. I may never use it in WY, but this will be the road car, and I will use it down the road here.


I will get some pictures tomorrow. Progress is happening. I am 20 hours in, and have both motors out. Not too bad.

I'm a little worried that my donor motor needs a new head gasket, but I will wait to see if this actually works before I worry about that. One thing at a time.

I may be on here in real time tomorrow. I am beyond what I know at this point. The easy part is done. The hard part will now commence.

The vacuum line might be for engine shutoff. Pull a vacuum on it and see if the stop lever moves. I haven't worked with a 617 in years but I think they're linked both ways.

Sixto
87 300D

Thanks. I believe you are correct. It goes back through the dash, and shares a line direct to a vac can. There are also two cables mounted to the valve cover that (I believe) are the key to the shutoff.

As they never worked in the donor, I will be going from scratch for that.