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#31
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Okay, so it looks like I was indeed mistaken. I measured a 240D rear spring, not front. Front spring are indeed 4 9/16" in diameter. Apologies, DV.
All is not lost, however. With a turned down front frame plate to fit the stock upper spring cup, and a shorter spring, along with a custom made lower spring perch, I think the weight jack setup will still work. I just have to keep the adjustable upper spring perch adjusted lower than the body sheet metal. Either that or cut W116 springs which would be ~500lb/in at 13.5" tall (cut down 5"!). The rears should still work with 5" or 5.5" springs and adjusters.
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1984 300TD Turbodiesel - 272k - Daily Duty 1985 300D Turbodiesel - 315k - "Recommended for competition events only" |
#32
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What are you thinking for sway bars?
I have an idea for the rear by using a 90's Ford Thunderbird rear bar. I was at my local wrecking yard and shoved a Thunderbird rear bar under a w123 sedan. I think this may work with a little fabing. It is about an inch or so narrower than then the w123 bar, but it clears the wheel well. It is also short on the arms, but you can easily make and bolt on extensions to make up the length and perhaps the width by angling the extensions outward. Here are some pics of the bar next to the stock bar. It's about 18-19mm thick compared to the stock 13mm. .
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1983 123.133 California - GreaseCar Veg System |
#33
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DV, I was actually thinking of not even attempting a sway bar upgrade. Anything OEM would be a very minor upgrade and anything non-OEM would be a bit too pioneering for me.
Does anyone know if lower control arms are the same for W123 and W126? If the arms are the same without spring perches, then the perches should interchange. If that is the case, I can use 5" standard springs, so long as the weight jack located the top of the spring below the upper spring cup.
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1984 300TD Turbodiesel - 272k - Daily Duty 1985 300D Turbodiesel - 315k - "Recommended for competition events only" |
#34
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The lower control arms (front) on the first generation W126 are the same as the W123.
The trailing arms are shared too (and with other models)
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver 1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone 1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy! 1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits! |
#35
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Don't go too stiff on the rear bar without a limited slip diff, you will be lifting the inside rear wheel allowing it to lift off the pavement. ( Remember, anti roll / sway bars just transfer weight from the outside to inside wheel.
With your front suspension, clamping a 2nd bar the original might be a better option. ( or adding a bar in a more facing forward conventional location. ) You can get straight bars with splines on each end and clamp on arms. Speedway Engineering's Sway Bars Sway Bars |
#36
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In order to give people a general idea of the direction I'm taking this project, I wanted to outline the budget that I have laid out thus far:
Code:
$ 400 Original vehicle price 270 Wheels (15x7 ET25 / 16x8 ET34) 660 Tires (Nitto NT-01 225/45R15 / 245/50R16) 625 Shocks (W126 Bilstein B8 Sprint) 240 Springs (5" 600F / 700R) 140 Spring adjusters -------------------------- $2335 I knew from the get-go that I'd probably lose my ass. But damn!
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1984 300TD Turbodiesel - 272k - Daily Duty 1985 300D Turbodiesel - 315k - "Recommended for competition events only" |
#37
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Quote:
Since I bring up the w126 chassis, the offered swaybar setup is 24 mm up front and 13 mm out back with an optional 17 mm rear on some models. Now the w116 has a similar front suspension setup and rear suspension as the w123 and w126, but I'll tell you, I'll take the factory w116 handling over the w126 any day. My experience, those factory w116 will out corner any factory w126. In taking what Mercedes offered, I think an 18-19mm rear swaybar will help immensely on a w123. I don't even think oversteer would be an issue with this thicker bar. .
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1983 123.133 California - GreaseCar Veg System |
#38
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Quote:
.
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1983 123.133 California - GreaseCar Veg System |
#39
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I know of people who have spent way way more than $3000 just getting a W123 road worthy.
Like the saying goes - there's no such thing as a cheap Benz. I think you are doing really well - considering your initial budget you've got some treats in there for yourself.
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver 1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone 1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy! 1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits! |
#40
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Quote:
I haven't actually got all what I listed above. I have wheels and tires ready to go and that's about it. So if I need to abort I still can. Besides that, I have most of what the car needs to be road worthy - shifter bushings, air cleaner bracket/rubbers (which now I don't think I will use! ). It needs front brakes (plan: first gen W126 vented rotors and calipers). But all this stuff is relatively minor. I think I'm doing alright.
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1984 300TD Turbodiesel - 272k - Daily Duty 1985 300D Turbodiesel - 315k - "Recommended for competition events only" |
#41
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Ok, so this is the method I used to determine what spring I need I the front. I need a hand with double checking my math.
This is the information on the stock front springs that I got from Brian Carlton on this site. Code:
Metric Imperial Spring rate: 25 mm/kg 230 lb/in Free length: 480 mm 18.1 lb Code:
Front motion ratio: 0.65 : 1 Rear motion ratio: 0.59 : 1 Code:
Suspension compression: 18.1 in - 12 in = 6.1 in Corner weight: [ (230 lb/in) * (6.1 in) ] * 0.65 = 912 lb Whoo! Anyone feel free to poke holes in that bilge. Ideally I want to run the tallest springs possible with the shortest weight jack. I can probably fit an 11 in spring, with a jack height of 1.83 in, but I have to more accurately measure how tall the upper spring cup is first.
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1984 300TD Turbodiesel - 272k - Daily Duty 1985 300D Turbodiesel - 315k - "Recommended for competition events only" |
#42
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Quote:
An active coil is a coil that is not touching another. Look back at the link I gave to that vacuum pump thread to see the equations you need - also please note different springs were fitted with different stiffnesses / rates for different chassis and engine weight combinations. You should ideally pick out a couple of springs that you think you might be able to find and then start from scratch with the measurements and length adjustments.
__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver 1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone 1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy! 1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits! |
#43
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Quote:
Behold! An 11" 600 lb/in spring.
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1984 300TD Turbodiesel - 272k - Daily Duty 1985 300D Turbodiesel - 315k - "Recommended for competition events only" Last edited by Secondaries; 09-13-2013 at 11:53 AM. |
#44
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Quote:
Looking forward to seeing the progress... BTW - looking at the picture of the spring I see it is flatten on the ends. This will work on the top, but if you plan to use it with the stock shape MB bottom perch/plate, you may have to cut a coil off to have it seated properly. .
__________________
1983 123.133 California - GreaseCar Veg System |
#45
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Quote:
When you have a spring that has say 10 free coils that are not touching each other you've got a stiffness that is equal to say X N/mm Compress the spring to fit it in the car and you might find that you've only got 8 free coils that don't touch each other. The stiffness will be INCREASED to say XX N/mm If you then want to change the height again for a race situation then you may only have 6 free coils that don't touch each other so you've then got a stiffness of XXX N/mm The over all length of the spring and the number of turns and the gauge of the wire and the mean diameter are all important considerations (assuming you know what stiffness you want from a stability calculation) [Also if you want a height change on the front springs you'll end up with some pretty messed steering geometry / camber / castor on a standard W123 front suspension design]
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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver 1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone 1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy! 1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits! |
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