Mom's New Car! gray market 1980 280E converted to an OM617 turbo diesel - Page 6 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

SirNik84 · #76 03-25-2014, 11:24 PM

I'm not sure what ratio is in the car. I've been wondering. Figured I'd find out when I drive it

But it could be anything, The privious owner was the girlfriend of a mercedes mechanic tho built the car. I wouldnt be suprised if he changed the diff ratio along the way.

Here are pictuers from todays time in the garage. It rained today, so no work on the car as its parked outside. Rain is slowing me down, but CA needs the rain.

Parts came in the mail yesterday

Manifold tapped and bung installed

RLGDiesel · #77 03-29-2014, 10:37 AM

You really cleaned that rear bumper up nice. Car looks great!!

t walgamuth · #78 03-29-2014, 11:06 AM

Your mom's car is looking excellent! Great work!

SirNik84 · #79 03-31-2014, 03:19 AM

Took the weekend off from working on my moms car and visited my friend who lives in my home town. Hes is restoring a 72 Scout. Spent the weekend working on his project. While visiting I stopped to see my dad. Mom and dad a split up, dad lives here, mom lives in Louisiana. Brought along the intake to moms car to see if my friend or my dad had any ideas for the best mounting of the water injector nozzle. My dad took up the challenge. This is what he came up with. The nozzle is 1/8npt. He drilled and tapped the manifold for 1/4npt, then drilled and tapped the 1/4npt nipple for 1/8npt. This way the nozzle could be mounted in what we determined was the best position we could find on the stock manifold. Here are the results.

If we're still counting moms cool points I'd say the fact that her ex put at least an hour into this build has to be worth something.

ROLLGUY · #80 03-31-2014, 10:38 AM

I did some experimenting with WI on my coupe, and had some great results. Here is the thread (yes I might have hijacked it, but I think everyone was ok with it):
Water injection again

t walgamuth · #81 03-31-2014, 11:11 AM

On those bumper scratches, just take a small brush and cover the scraped areas taking care not to overbrush and being low as they are they will be very hard to spot (for anybody but you)

SirNik84 · #82 03-31-2014, 02:39 PM

I did a water injection system on my SD almost a year ago. Its been a great upgrade. I decided that since I had moms car apart, why not install it. Getting the nozzle in a spot that will work reasonably well has been more challenging on her car. I have the w115 manifold, so its easy to put the nozzle far enough up stream so that the water vapor makes it to all cylinders. With the log shaped manifold its a little more tricky. But I think the nozzle position we choose will work alright. I read though the post before talking location with my dad

I love that this forum has good pictures of all kinds of work. Makes it easy to talk/think out plans.

Now that I got the nozzle installed in the manifold I'm ready to install the turbo-manifold assembly back onto the car. If the weather cooperates, its been sunny, then storming changing by the hour for the last week. It makes it had to do work on the car as its in my driveway. Hopefully later this week the weather will clear up.

If the weather clears up for the weekend I have my friend coming down. He's paying his way through law school detailing high end cars. He is coming to detail my neighbors Kia as a birthday present. (kind of a break from him detailing Porsches and Corvettes lol) While hes down we're going to apply touch up paint to the bumper scratches. I figured I'd let him do the painting as I'm not very good with detailed painting. Its good to have friends with different skills!

t walgamuth · #83 03-31-2014, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirNik84

I did a water injection system on my SD almost a year ago. Its been a great upgrade. I decided that since I had moms car apart, why not install it. Getting the nozzle in a spot that will work reasonably well has been more challenging on her car. I have the w115 manifold, so its easy to put the nozzle far enough up stream so that the water vapor makes it to all cylinders. With the log shaped manifold its a little more tricky. But I think the nozzle position we choose will work alright. I read though the post before talking location with my dad

I love that this forum has good pictures of all kinds of work. Makes it easy to talk/think out plans.

Now that I got the nozzle installed in the manifold I'm ready to install the turbo-manifold assembly back onto the car. If the weather cooperates, its been sunny, then storming changing by the hour for the last week. It makes it had to do work on the car as its in my driveway. Hopefully later this week the weather will clear up.

If the weather clears up for the weekend I have my friend coming down. He's paying his way through law school detailing high end cars. He is coming to detail my neighbors Kia as a birthday present. (kind of a break from him detailing Porsches and Corvettes lol) While hes down we're going to apply touch up paint to the bumper scratches. I figured I'd let him do the painting as I'm not very good with detailed painting. Its good to have friends with different skills!

What prompts water injection, please?

SirNik84 · #84 03-31-2014, 04:34 PM

My car has been through several incarnations. A few years back I was driving to LA over the grapevine and the engine overheated. That prompted me to pull the engine and do the manual swap. Since then I've gone to LA several times and always take the SD. Last year my friend who has water injection on his dodge convinced me we could build a system for the SD. I was fairly happy with the install, and it worked. I enjoy trying different projects on my car. I love the challenge of making it work. Last year for my birthday I returned to LA again, this time with the water injection on my car, and my car full of 4 people and luggage for a Disneyland trip. We went up the grapevine with the water on, 70 mph, in 4th gear at about 3/4 throttle. The previous trip to LA I was in 3rd gear with my foot to the floor, and only 2 of us in the car. After the Disneyland trip I was sold on the water injection.

I have my car setup with an adjustable pressure switch set so the water starts spraying at 9psi of boost. I'm using a nozzle rated for 6gph at 40psi. My pump is rated for 70psi. The system has an on and off switch as I don't use it all the time. I have my boost set at 13psi under normal operation. I boost to about 16psi when the water is going. And the EGTs are flat when climbing mountains.

I plan on setting up moms car just like mine. I'm hoping for similar results.

t walgamuth · #85 04-01-2014, 02:58 PM

Cool, thanks!

Stretch · #86 04-01-2014, 03:10 PM

This is turning into a pimp my mom's ride thread

SirNik84 · #87 04-01-2014, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stretch

This is turning into a pimp my mom's ride thread

yep! we had budget left in what she got from the insurance, after the death of the previous car. I called her and we chatted before "pimping" took place. But with a car that's already far from factory, with it being a diesel and all, why not have some fun with it. I'll post some pictures once I get the engine bay back together, the pimping will be tasteful, I promise!

iwrock · #88 04-01-2014, 06:59 PM

Damn Nik, she's looking pretty sweet.

Andres did a killer job with the paint on that thing!

When she's all buttoned up, we should snap some pictures of it next to my new beast.

Stretch · #89 04-02-2014, 01:26 AM

Looking forward to the next instalment

SirNik84 · #90 04-11-2014, 02:37 PM

Here are some update pictures.

My friend came and we fixed the scratches I put in the paint.

While the bumper was off we polished it up with some SOS pads and then buffed it with wax.

Yes we used a Cummins as a work bench.

We then reinstalled the bumper. This time we use our heads and protected the car with a rag and some tape.

The next day, while my friend was still over and able to help we installed the hood pad.

After work this week I was able to get the turbo and manifold installed. I also fixed the broken air cleaner bracket.

Next up is the "under the car work" I have it up on jack stands to get the manifold support bolted back together, so next I'll do motor mounts, and trans mount. I'm hoping to get the car driving around this weekend. I looked at the car while under there and its got KYB shock on it, and the brake calipers were shockingly rusty. So I've ordered Bilstein shocks and I'm looking into the 126 brake upgrade.