Hellow everybody my name is Michael from the netherlands and i have bought a w124 300E from orinda california.I have used this car for 1 year and after that its retired to be used as a oldtimer only.

The car was from a lawyer that had bought the car in fresno and held the car for 28 years. I have the name tag as well as the service from the dealer(Mercedes of walnut creek)
The car is shipped in 2012 to the netherlands and bought by someone that kept the car for 2 years.After the 2 years he sold it to me because the car needed some care but had no rust at all just worn parts (potentiometer injectors)

Like i said i used the car for 1 year and made a big trip 3500 km vacation and i really fell in love with the handling , style and the comfort of the car.

I love the palomino mb-tex interior US style rather than the basic europe versions with almost nothing inside.

The engine has 129.345 miles on the odo and i bought it with 113.000 ,engine itself is in superb condition.

I have started with replacing engine parts that are worn out and by now i have overhauled the 722.320 and will share all my work on this website.


I will post every picture from the beginning until now and if you have some comments or questions please ask.

Greetings Michael from the netherlands

Some pictures


The car has white EU lights because the previous owner hit a car in a traffic jam apr with 10 km per hour just bumped so i see no damage but the original lights broke.

I have already bought orange us blinkers.

In this picture i started with my work
Replaced the coolant reservoir
cleaned the engine bay
The cover is powdercoated together with new bolts
New waterpum SKF
Tensioner SkF
New thermostat
New bosch injectors
New isolation mat for the bonnet


This is g12+ You can use it its not the G12 which you cannot use







Replaced those f.... allen bolts

After that the car startet to stall and go out at the traffic lights so i removed the distributor and the rotor arm and it was a beru part so the parts came out fried.I ordered a new bosch unit with arm and the car drove good but still had not steady rpms.

After that problem i tested the potentiometer after i replaced the waterpump(it was leaking) and the potentiometer was also bad it had dead spots so i ordered a new bosch unit (first i tried aftermarket but i could not set the aftermarket units to 0.6 -0.7 volt.The new bosch unit was set in just 2 minutes

In the picture below you see that the coolant is overfilled because of the waterpump replacement and i overfilled it a bit (later i fixed this)

This is when i start removing parts to get tot the transmission and replace every old gasket that i find and make some parts look better ike the exhaust manifold and intake manifold.All metal parts will be zinc coated (yellow) and i will do a big post about how i overhauled my 722.320 transmission.











After this i have cleaned many parts and made a list what has to be changed.

I did polish some parts to clean them and give them a nice shine.

I used a cheap 10 euro dremmel and a drill after that i used belgom alu and peek polish for the hard spots.






















You can also see my finished 722.320

So i had removed the exhaust system to get to the transmission so i started to prepare the exhaust manifold for painting because they looked like crap.

I gave them away to be sandblasted and after that i used VHT flameproof primer (3 thick coats) after that 3 thick coats of vht paint cast iron.Waited for 1 day after that i bought a old 20 euro oven for this use.120C 30 minutes 210C 30 minutes and 300c 1 Hour












watch out for the heatschilds
























I will paint the pipes cast iron.

This is the end result (the pipes of the converter to manifold will also be sandblasted and painted)

Old style b2 piston




b3 reverse


Flywheel governor



















Cleaned everything and waiting for the parts.

Now i ordered the follow parts.

Febi seal kit (This kit costs 56 euro in europe(germany) Its a universal kit without the bolts for replacing the rivets of the k1 and k2 drum so you have to order the o-rings seperate (I have found the right size on a porsche 928 forum)
The 2 O-rings cost 8 euro and i bought the bolts at the local for 3 euro.

Alto friction plates
b2 piston new version 100 euro
The new b2 bushing
New 30mm flange nut
2x new spacers
k1 and k2 spring kit



Also ordered a new crankshaft seal because mine was leaking and never changed.





Starting with the pump











Old vs new teflon
I used grease and compressed them.

Mobil to lubricate the seals

















Grease the groove and the seals a little bit
Remove and replace the o-ring












I count 2- O-rings in the planetary gear





Grease the groove and the seal

If you wanna do it right you have to replace the o-rings on the bottom of k1 and k2.The old drums are riveted so you have to drill out the bolts and tap a new hole. I used for the k1 m5x10 allen bolts and on the k2 m5x16 (The k2 has to be countersunk because you have no room between the piston and the bottom.Dont forget to add some blue loctite on the allen bolts on the k1 after installation and do a leak test.



This is how my o-ring looked so you can imagine that this will cause compression problems.



Everything is checked cleaned and the o-ring replaced





Dont forget to put new bushing on the selector and underneath your car when transmission is still removed.









2x spacers when everything is still removed.they cost 50 cent a piece and if they break you can remove the transmission again so replace them.








I have soaked the friction plates for about one night but 1 hour is enough and dont forget to soak the brake bands as well.Now 1 thing about the brake bands.Its normal that they show some cracks as long as they have enough friction material they are still good.



You have to put the k1 on the planetary gear and put them in together and check the teeth of the k1 are sitting all on the planetary gear.

When putting the friction plates on the k1 and k2 and the snap ring on the drum.You have to check with a feeler if you have 0.7 -1.3 mm clearance if not you can buy different size snap rings from 2.0mm 2.5mm and 3.0mm if you dont have the celarance after changing the snaprings you can change 1 or 2 5mm metal discs to 4.5mm

This is for the k1 and k2

Between the pump and the b3 you must have 1.5mm to 2.mm clearance








Dont forget to mesure the gasket (0.5mm)



My k1 and k2 after replacing the alto friction plates had bad clearance.

My k1 had 0.30mm and my k2 had 0.10mm

The snap rings on both the drums had 2.5mm

I changed the k1 snap ring from 2.5 to 2.0mm and i had 0.80 mm clearance so that was enough

I changed the snap ring from the k2 from 2.5 to 2.0mm and i had 0.60 clearance so i ordered a metal disc 4.5mm and changed one metal disc from 5.00mm to 4.5 and i had 1.10mm clearance

Now the b3 and pump clearance was still in spec 2.00mm

New b2 piston



After that i was ready

Together with the 722.319

After the transmission i started to sort all the metal parts for zinc plating yellow


Also removed the cables for new heat isolation tape

The ventilator bracket+servo pump line are powdercoated.

The pulleys are sandblasted and given away for zinc plating blue/silver



The reservoir is removed for little rust removal

radiator removed for cleaning and straighten out bend blades\





Radiator ready

Intake is mounted for picture purpose

My new mercedes grille oem arrived.Could find one for 55 euro from old stock(not used)


Pictures of the zinc plated parts

after the parts arrived i had to sort out the bolts.I can remember more or less the bolts so i start sorting everything out in little bags and mercedes part bags.

I also have completed the intake at home +the transmission