Greetings!

I've reached the point of having a grasp on this car, completely in love with it, and am going to keep it a lot time.

Long term, I'm going to build a 617 turbo for it, with some performance goodies. A little bigger turbo, some good injectors, maybe something to the pump. I need to look at 617 builds and what the internals can handle. Aftermarket Pistons and rods maybe. As well, 5 speed options from a modern vehicle. And finally a 3.07 or higher rear end. Right now the goal is reliable and freeway speeds for next year. It's a big year with work, and can't put the resources into the perfect car.

I have a few other threads going, and will edit in some links to them. I figured it's time to consolidate.

I always wanted a mercedes diesel, and after owning over 20 vehicles at age of 30 I decided it was time to get something for the long term.

I purchased this car off craigslist for $1,100. The ad came up, I called mom and we went immediately to check it out. The guy bought it to "restore," but upon realizing it was leaking oil on his driveway, he wanted it gone immediately. He had it serviced and a little work put in, but the motor had massive blowby and leaked everywhere. I figured it was needing a different motor, but bought the car anyways as it had a manual 4 speed in it.

I got it home safely, did a little more work and drove it a week to figure out what was going on with it. Unfortunately, the motor ended up spinning a rod bearing and I had to bump up my learning curve. My crank was trashed along with a rod, and all parts in the previous motor were mismatched. One rod from a 621, a cam from a 616, etc. You will crack up at my first thread.

I purchased a junkyard motor from a trusted individual, installed all new gaskets, and put it in. It was doing some funny stuff and needed to run a bit to see what was going on with it.

Now up and running and dealing with a possible burnt valve. The lower end is putting out 400 lbs compression on 3 cylinders, and about 320 on the other. Yet to be determined, water injection, diesel fuel cleaner, and some Italian tuneups coming soon. I do have an extra head I can get rebuilt, but with a long term goal of a 617, I'm hoping for some good luck.

It has some rust. The interior is rough. It's beyond what most people would fix. But it's my car, and I hope to drive it until I die. I love the early 115's and will update other items to keep the body style and interior I like.

Here's some pics. Today I'm starting the bearings. Headed to the post office to pick up the last of the items, and oreilly's to rent some tools.











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Been waiting on rear wheel bearings for what feels like an eternity. Finally got them today, SKF from pelican. It was an mix of manufacturing, including France, USA and Brazil. I will consider this wheel an international race of metal qualities. In 10 years I'll know which one fails first.

Someone else in town had a hankering to do rear bearings, and all the rental tools were checked out. More ordered for tomorrow and I can get to work.

In the meantime, I got bored and attempted to revive my headlight switch. I tried this yesterday and had to put it down, but ran out of things to do tonight.

Terminal 30 got melted in a glow plug accident, and was in need of repair.

The switch is held together by the metal casing bent down into slots, a little prying with a screw driver will convince it to open. In this pic you also see that square peg. It allows the casing to be put on in only one position.


I cleaned up the contacts and examined 30. The top contact plate goes through the casing and two tabs drop into the bottom contact. These were wiggling a little and required to be flattened down with a small punch.


A little contact solder for safe measure. Notice those center contacts that connect two circuits, for later.



Some JB weld on the outside the top contact to hold it against the casing and avoid wiggling loose



And time to assemble. The contact plate drops into the assembly. This pic shows it upside down. Those three humps make the magic happen (connections).


The plastic plate that goes on top has 3 springs pushing the contact plate into the assembly. Dialectic grease helps with assembly and things moving around, as well keeps it greased for the future.



On top of the plastic mechanism that turns the plate, sits three ball bearings. These rest between the plastic piece and metal case. A fourth one and a spring is located in the bottom of the plunger, I spent quiet some time looking for this tonight. Magnets are great. Dialectic grease helps keep them in place once again.



I bent the tabs on the metal case up to put it back on, held it with vice grips, and tapped them back down with a punch.

The original screw for 30 melted in. I had to drill it out used a self tapping sheet metal screw, with the self tapping part cut off. It's what I had and town is 5 miles away. Still need to sand the top contacts clean, but it was dinner time.



Voila. Switch turns like new. The wiring is interesting with two parking light circuits. One for just those, another to run with the lights. The latter connects to headlight circuit through the switch and center plunger, which may be a design flaw. There is a little insulator between the center plunger and this connection, but if it were to wear through it could short on the dash. Maybe even give you a little buz if you were the ground. However, I'm sure they knew what they were doing.

Attacking the bearings today. There are a million write ups on here, so I'll keep it limited to a few tricks not shown.

First and foremost, a lot of people have trouble diagnosing a noise as cv or bearing, myself included. A trick I've always done for testing bearings is using a digital laser temp gauge, an electricians tool. I went around the car after a drive and checked bearings and cv's. All bearings and outer cv's were about 80 degrees F. Inner cv was 90, and diff was 101. No difference on either side. My outer right rear bearing was 100. That's the culprit.

After disassembly my outer bearing was almost dry. Inner was nice and greasy. I thought about my method of getting it onto hub and not being able to grease it first. This may have been what lead to failure. Next time I'll grease it first and goto a shop with a press.

First, the tool rental program at the auto parts store is your friend. I got a 5 lb slide hammer, rear hub puller (basically all thread with a washer) and a seal/ race driver for about $200. I have 48 hours to return it, and finished in 3.

Removing the cv was interesting. Everyone said there is enough clearance to pop it out without touching the diff. You have to unbolt the top of the shock to get the control arm to drop to its bump stop.

I tapped at it with a drift, and it wouldn't clear. I got confident that the FSM and forum gave accurate info, and got out the three jaw puller (they rent these if you don't have one). The thread wasn't long enough to reach the axle, so I dropped my 17mm deep socket in there. Wiggle the axle and socket up and down and back and forth to make sure you aren't hitting the splines in the hub.



The races were moderate. I was able to get at the inner smaller race with a seal driver. I pushed out the old seal at the same time. The outer race however required a brass drift. I pulled the seal first with some vice grips, bending and destroying, get nasty. My drift is a monster so I started with a small steel punch, not recommended. Once I got it out enough I could catch the edge with my drift.

Going back in was easy. I love that seal driver. I would buy one if I couldn't rent it for free.

Pulling the outer bearing off the hub was time consuming but easy. Started with small chisel and tapped it in. Careful not to hit the hub. I then tapped down on it pushing the bearing up. I smashed my fingers twice before I figured out to hold it towards the hub. I used larger and larger chisels until the gear puller could grab it. I had to put the arms from the smaller puller into the larger. I put the bushing from my cv bolt on top of the axle and got the puller tight. I then hit the puller with the impact wrench, prob a little dangerous.

No pics sorry. Hands were full.

Putting the new outer bearing on the hub was easy. It requires a press, or bake the bearing at 400 for one hour.



Put the hub in the freezer



Drops right on (not with fingers!)



I gave it a few taps with a pipe to make sure.

I pushed on my new outer seal, make sure to pack around the spring inside with grease so it doesn't pop out.

It got cold, and the oven was hot, so I'm gonna make cookies and finish tomorrow.


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Wheel bearings all done. Not too much to report. I followed this great write-up along with FSM. Both were necessary as I didn't have all the tools.

http://www.peachparts.com/Wikka/W123RearWheelBearings

In regard to pressing in my inner bearing, I used both the old and new thrust washer with a slide hammer. It was a three handed operation, placing the new thrust washer in correct position, the old against it in opposing orientation, and a wheel bearing puller attached to the slide hammer.

The other difference was placing the thrust washer. I slid it in after placing the inner seal. I tried the washer first, and the lip on the seal hung up. Maybe I read the write up wrong.

It was interesting to weigh out the grease. It was indeed about what I would have used. It helped with knowing how to put on the outer bearing as I didn't grease it before putting it on the hub, the leftover got slid into it and packed on the edges to work itself in.

Weight compensated for the glove.



All done and take her out for a spin. Still getting the same noise, it's the cv. However, that bearing was heating up and dry, so the job had to be done. I could see heat marks on it, and I'm glad I did it before it caused a problem with the hub. As well, I did brakes and caliper, so this wheel is good for a long time (following post).


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Upon removing my caliper for a bearing job, I noticed my brake pad wear was uneven. As well, the rotor had a lot more grooves on one side, and clean on the other.



I was already planning on rebuilding the caliper as preventative maintenance, once it seizes you are looking at a difference of $10 as opposed to over $100. Plus the heat stress on all those parts.

However, the uneven pads points to a problem.

I haven't seen any caliper rebuild write ups here yet, so I figured I should share.

There are three main components to each piston. The seal for the piston inside the bore, the boot that drops into a groove on the piston, and a clamp for the boot where it attaches to the caliper.



What ends up happening is the boot on the piston gets dry and loose, and let's moisture in. There is a seal slightly inside the bore for the piston, and the area between the edge of the bore and seal gets corroded. The piston hangs up and becomes sticky, and this causes uneven pad and rotor wear.

Eventually moisture gets to the seal, and past it, and your caliper freezes. All hell brakes (pun intended) loose. The piston freezes out and can't go back it, heats your rotor red hot, cooks you bearings, and you cry at replacement part costs that could have been prevented.

The easiest procedure for removing the Pistons out of the caliper is compressed air. Shoot your compressor into the bolt hole for the brake line, and one should pop out. Place it back in slightly with a c-clamp holding it, or cover the hole with an old brake pad and c-clamp, and the other should pop out.



Do this in a drain pan and wear safety goggles (not glasses). Brake fluid will get everywhere.



Mine were corroded between the edge of the bore and the seal, still salvageable but slightly frozen. Air did not do the trick. The most effective and messiest solution is to place a bolt in the brake line hole, and inject grease through the bleeder with a grease gun.

You can try penetrating oil and soaking for days, I'm impatient.

An easier method to try first is to use the car. Wire the caliper up and connect the brake line. I got mine without bleeding, fortunately.



A buddy pressed on the brakes until the piston started to move. Stop before it comes all the way out, but go as far as possible.



Place a c-clamp on the piston to hold it in position. Medium sized ok, mine's a little overkill.



Press the brakes until the other side comes out. You can let it come out all the way out. Fluid will come out too.



Now the tricky part. Some people do one side at a time to avoid this, but I like to sandblast the caliper in the cabinet and don't want the piston in there.

If you are lucky you can wiggle the first piston out. If not, cover the open bore with an old pad or the piston slightly in place and a c-clamp. If air doesn't work, you will have to use the car. Place the removed piston back in slightly past the seal and clamp in. You can clean up the bore to avoid it sticking after the other is removed, or chance em.

Many times, I've gone back and forth sticking left and right. Remain calm.

My second piston came out with the pad and clamp covering the opposing bore and a shot of air.

Now look for grooves or cracks in the piston or bore. If any are present, you're done. Go buy calipers. A little rust is ok, but extreme corrosion will reduce the size of the piston or bore. I have actually never seen this yet.

Now we focus on cleanliness. Cleaning and painting is not just to look pretty. Grease holds moisture and corrodes things.

I covered the bore of the caliper with the old pads and small c-clamps and sandblasted it. It had a thick enamel paint on it that was hard to remove. If you don't have a blasting cabinet, or access, you can use degreaser and a wire brush. A little old paint is ok.

After blasting I removed the pads and cleaned around the bore with a wire brush.

I also remove the backing plate and and cleaned/painted as well. Backing plates are underrated as far as what they do, keeping moisture and dirt out. Removing requires dissembling the parking brake, which emphasizes how important I feel it is. Take a look at that dirty water retaining device.



Sandblast or wire brush it with degreaser, just focus on the grease.

After both caliper and backing plate are cleaned up, time for paint. I like to use an engine enamel in a spray can, as these parts can get warm if you are out hot roding. Tape over the bores in the caliper, and try to cover the outside edge where the boots sit. My tape wasn't sticky enough, so I sanded that outside edge after to remove the paint.



Have a beer and let it dry. Place the backing plate back on. Someone did this before me, Mercedes or a good mechanic, but I always silicone the inside edge to the hub flange. They also siliconed the hole for the parking brake springs, so I learned something something new.

I added a 1/8" hole to the very bottom lip where the bend is, to allow a drain. Whenever I'm under the car I hit it with compressed air. With any car, think about where moisture may retain and add holes. Mercedes has a great design here.

Toyota trucks for example, usually have them, but they clog up. I make them larger and keep them clean.

Check out how clean it looks now (pre-hole, sorry about that).



Time to put your caliper back together. This can be a challenge, but with multiple piston brakes it tends to be easier. The boot can be a real fight with a big large single piston, smaller is better.

First clean up the piston and bores. I wire brush the Pistons first, then use sand paper on them and the bore. They say 1000 grit, these were bad and I touched the outside portion with 220 first, never beyond the sealing edge with under 1000. You don't want any scratches or grooves.

Get down in the lip for the boot (in the piston). And the lip for the boot on the caliper as well. You need a clean surface for the boot to seal.

Get the edge where the piston contacts the pad. I noticed mine had 1/4 of this edge indented, probably to allow moisture to escape, and I made sure to orient it to the ground.

Everything must be clean. Work on a clean surface and put on clean gloves. Spray the bore and Pistons with brake cleaner and blow out with your compressor. Make sure to clean through the brake line hole as well. Cover each bore so you get the channels through each side.

Put the seal into the groove in the bore. Coat the inside of the bore and and piston with brake fluid for assembly lube (I use my pinky).

The boot/piston order is always different, but this is for rear Mercedes calipers. The brake pad box said about 1960 to 123 chassis.

For this one, it was easy. I pushed the piston all the way in first. I slid the boot over the top, and dropped the small part into the groove on the piston. The larger side of the boot stretched over the lip on the caliper. My kit came from the local store, and included a key ring style clamp for the boot on the caliper side. A little weak but easy to install. Next kit I'll order from peach parts, I'm sure better quality.

The trick was spreading the ring and placing the two ends against each other. It slid over easy with a little spreading at the end. It pinched the boot slightly and I had to play with it to get it all seated down.



You can attempt to put some fluid in the caliper to avoid a longer bleeding procedure, but with new pads it wasn't bad.

Now I should be good for a LONG time. I had my rotors cut to insure a proper seating of the pads, and will need new ones next time. I'll clean the backing plate every job, but due the hub needing to be removed I won't paint it again until next bearing job, maybe 25 years. Otherwise, I remove and paint the backing plate on a judgement call. On this car it's rare, on a 4x4 truck that crosses rivers, more often.

You can buy calipers, but I enjoy this job and trust myself more than a factory.

I got a little OCD and painted my rotors as well. I did this before having them cut in case I had an accident and got paint on the contact surface.


Step back and admire your work.

Well all done until next week. Got other stuff to do and don't want to burn out. Differential swap, cv's and a custom head next.

I tried to not work on it. So hard. I went to the post office to pick up a new master and slave cylinder for the clutch. I've been lifting the pedal with my foot at times. Put the boxes in the trunk, and get in to find no pressure. I pump and pump and get enough to get in gear. Cruz through town (slowly) in second, jump on the freeway, pumping away but end up having to find the sweet spot to shift with no clutch. Fly up to the house in third, and pull straight in the garage.

It's a sign. It's meant to be but I have more work to do.

Master slave cylinder combo, it's in your FSM. I love the trick of using the brakes caliper and a tube connected to the slave to bleed. I never have someone to pump. Need to invest in a pressure bleeder.

Although, I still have some air in there. I noticed if I hold the pedal almost all the way down, it will stick. If I lift it up slowly, it has pressure and won't go back down. I press a little and let up, and the master releases air. I wasn't sure if this was some kind of bleeding system, so I didn't do it again.

One thing we all do, is go for the cheaper part off eBay. It gets here, and no gasket. Thus was the case with my slave.

I keep a stock of fuel pump gasket material, $10 for a few feet. It's thicker, it can handle almost any chemical, and it's cheap.

So I made a gasket. Going out of town this weekend and need the car working.

The piston got in the way of my gasket making process, so I used my old slave and ripped the piston out. I laid the slave cylinder face down on the gasket material, and drew a line around it.



Cut it out with scissors slightly larger, it will get trimmed to fit.

I placed the slave back on the cut gasket and got out my sharpie. Drop it through the bolt holes and try to mark center. Not the most important for accuracy here.

Remove the slave and center the bolt on the dot. Cut around with an razor knife. No need to go all the way through, just mark it and remove the bolt and then cut free hand. The break away blade type razor is the most sharp, and always start with a fresh edge.



Put the gasket on the slave and push the bolts through. Trim up any material that gets pushed up.



Now clean up your outside edge with the knife. Use the slave as an edge. Don't cut too close like I did, leave a lip if sections will end up thin.


Now do the large hole for the piston. The pic shows my old slave with the gasket and bolts, and the new to highlight what your trimming for. Take your small ball-pine hammer and use the round side. Tap around that round edge with the hammer and crease the gasket.



Eventually it will start to perforate and tear. You should be able to lift it out.





It should be noted that this is the most effective method for cutting any holes. However sometimes cutting is better. Like making the outside edge larger and not having such a slim piece of gasket material.

And it's done.




That outside edge is way too thin, but this isn't actually sealing anything. No oil or water to escape. As well, it's my own car so I'm gonna run it.

You can make pretty detailed gaskets with this hammer method, but if it's difficult to reach or important I buy one. I made an oil filter housing gasket as they sent me the wrong one, but I will replace it next oil change.

A good trick to know when you are in a pinch. Some old timers make all their own gaskets. Leftover from the days before we had machines to do it for us.

If your master and slave cylinders in the clutch system are going, I'd probably recommend replacing the hose in the hydraulic line that connects them as well. I've had two of those hoses blow up on me in the past couple years. Often times these cars can still have the original 40 year old clutch hoses on them.

Man where were you earlier, jk. Yep the new pressure is crushing the supply hose. I'm on the road and have an extra. Tomorrow I'll stop at a buddies garage.

Someone is saying this gasket is supposed to be thicker. I'll update once I talk to the stealership

Edit: dealership and the local guy said it would be ok. As stated by someone else as well, once you machine the flywheel all bets are off on worrying about the inspection window on the slave. Personally, I'd rather have it sealed.

For that hose I found 8mm ID tranny cooler hose. Time will tell if brake fluid eats it.

Zz

Cheating on the Benz today. 100,000 mile tuneup. This things a nightmare.



Removing the intake manifold to get to the spark plugs...


Engineers should be required to do service work.

Alright my door has been sticky to open and and wouldn't lock. I'm not worried about anyone stealing it due to the faded paint, dents and holes. Although taking my wallet and phone everywhere gets old.

Yesterday the window wouldn't come up. So it was time to address the door.

I straightened out the twisted clip in the window track, cleaned the gears and door lock mechanism, and greased them with spray lithium grease.

All worked well except I couldn't lock it with the key.

This mechanism is the problem.

The center shaft wears as its a softer metal. When you turn the key it's supposed to slide the assembly down with the handle side fork turning and pressing the latch side fork down.

This will lock the door.



What ends up happening is the while the key turns there is a gap between that arm and the center peg due to wear. The arm pushes in slightly and the lock won't go down.




What should be happening is the arm slides down onto the peg and locks the door. This happens no matter which side you lock from, but from the key side the pressure is pushing the lever in and it's hitting the peg, preventing it to go down.

Here's a video of the action. With it installed you can peak through the door while turning the key and see it happen.



While its a great idea, the design doesn't allow you to lock the door from the inside and shut it, and with the key side worn you can't lock your door.

I'll add a hide a key and delete this feature. But first, test to make sure it will shut with it locked.

There's a small arm behind the outside opening lever that prevents this. Mine was bent which gave me the idea.



So we test.

Push the lever out of the way and lock the "door." Now roll the latch (two clicks) too shut the "door." Unlock the door both with the "key" and the inside button to make sure it will come up. Then open the door.



Seems to work fine.

So I pushed that arm all the way back and then bent it out of the assembly for access with my air cut off tool.



Sliced it off partway down and bent it back in with some light taps of a chisel.

Tested again, install, and I can now lock my door and shut it.

Next is to immediately put a hide a key on.

I'm going to do the same to the passenger next time I'm in there. I hate when your buddy gets out and and you have to wait for them to shut it to lock the door.

Been busy with work, but finally some rain in California. Got this perfect shot today.

Been too busy for the car but found some pics from the motor swap. I don't have a cherry picker or hoist, so I dropped the tranny and yanked the motor out when a tractor. I tore it down but it was Frankenstein, it had one rod in it from a 621.

It was satisfying when I took the nuts off the rod on cylinder 3, and the motor finally turned over. It was also nice to see every part with no concern of putting it back together.

I bought a junkyard motor complete with it's accessories for $500. I took my old motor and listed all the bits on eBay. I used the global shipping option where I send boxes to an eBay shipping center, and they do the rest. So far I've sold most the external accessories and the flywheel for close to a grand. I hit up the guy that bought the flywheel about a 79 240D I'm getting a differential from, and sold him the pedals and shifter. I taxed him (sorry not sorry, I kept my discount) enough to cover my differential cost.

Still have all the internal parts and a watcher on eBay for the Pistons, another $400. All together the bits add up to $1700. Pretty impressed.

Here's some shots of the swap. I got overwelmed and took some breaks, as well got busy.



I rented a cherry picker and put the motor and tranny in together.



Garage got full at one point with the work truck breaking.



She runs!




This motor sat in the shelf awhile and the rings were froze up. I soaked it in MMO for two weeks, turning it over and adding oil daily. Still didn't pop. I cranked and got the pressure up, tried to glow (no success) and it wouldn't fire. I drug it around in the field for a good while with the tractor, dropping the clutch in second. It finally started to fire, but wouldn't idle. A little more dragging while gassing it and it got going. Fortunately once compression built we were going uphill, so I didn't run into the tractor.

I let it run a good half hour and parked it on a hill. Shut it off and waited an hour. Started right up. Back in the garage overnight, no start. Had to go through my glow plugs.

I've been checking compression and have one cylinder slowly rising. I get 20 more lbs with a little oil in the cylinder so I know it's the head. That valve could be gunked up, but it needs springs and seals, and a head gasket. If the heads coming off I'm doing it right, and have my other head at the machine shop for a complete job.

My Frankenstein head had steel intake guides and bronze exhaust. We did some research and bronze guides are for sodium valves in a turbo model. The sodium valves dissipate heat and don't expand as much. With steel valves it expands too much and wears the bronze guide. The alloy steel guides are designed perfectly, and will give a long lasting head.

If you wanted to go all out you could put sodium valves in and bronze guides, which if mine need replacing I may do.

I hope this helps for the someone considering buying a car this old. I pretty much bought a transmission and body. Haha.

I keep pushing it, but I lost a quart of oil in 60 miles yesterday. Leaking out the side of the head gasket. I also believe I have a bearing in this differential going bad, or the strangest sounding CV failure I've ever heard. Clutch pedal not lifting (getting good at lifting it with my right toe while heeling the gas). And some brakes that will become a problem.

So for real this time. She's getting parked and tinkered with. Gotta drive a gas hog for the time being. And look like a dork in not an MBZ

I picked up a differential and ordered axle seals for it. I wanted to do the pinion seal but our local guy said "don't pull the dragons tail, he might wake up." It's not leaking.

So last of the calipers. Front bearings. New 240D differential, axles, and a rebuilt head going on.

Maybe water injection. Been researching. I guess it can effect timing (of combustion), and for an N/A the magic blend is 13% ethanol to keep it balanced. Not 100% sure on that.

I got a washer pump and reservoir from a Dodge Durango, fits near the firewall on passenger side if I move my voltage regulator. Plus it has a low level sensor.

I thought about a complicated system, but I'm just gonna hook up a push button and remember to do it while on a grade. Not enough capacity for all the time.

So hopefully I'll have some pics next time. I have a master mechanic around currently so should put a rush on.