My W123 240D build - Page 9 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

vwnate1 · #**121** 06-30-2019, 12:27 AM

Question :

? Why not use the AC electric fan and wire it so it comes on as necessary and runs constant when the AC is on ? .

This one you've set up will work a bit better if you create a shroud .

Maximan1 · #**122** 06-30-2019, 08:03 AM

I didn't just want to rely on the small pusher fan in front for all my cooling, this bad boy pulls 3000 CFM and should keep the engine within the normal temperature range when there is little airflow.

I may make a shroud, but I'm not sure. I want to see how this engine will behave with just the fan.

On my way now to the car, going to get as much done as possible today.

SonnyMorrow · #**123** 06-30-2019, 12:39 PM

Dude this is a sweet thread, just read through it all. You've put a ton of work into this car and it looks like you are almost done. I know someone already asked you but you should try to make it to Legends of the Autobahn in August, it'd be sick to see you and this car there. Very good work so far man, I'm very stoked for you.

vwnate1 · #**124** 06-30-2019, 11:11 PM

O.K. then ,

Why not use this killer 3,000CFM (terrific but noisy I imagine) as a single pusher, it'd be more effective in booth engine and AC cooling .

Agreed, this car is fantastic, I was up at sun rise this morning washing my '82 240D, I love it but it's just one more battered old W123 with chips in every panel and I have no place I'd trust to re spray it .

Still and all, after fitting two new correct sized front tires and re sealing the power steering pump and shampooing the carpets I headed out and was reminded once agaion how much I really like driving this mid sized, low power car .

If you're not overloading it with heavy wheels and too large (but "!COOL!" looking) tires it's not terrible in acceleration even with the AC going full tilt boogie .

These cars were the most popular taxi chassis in the world for a reason.....

The light alloy disc wheels really helped in the off line acceleration .

I hope you can make it to the meeting to represent .

Maximan1 · #**125** 07-01-2019, 01:50 PM

Thanks SonnyMorrow. I've read through your Euro 300D thread and gotta say I am quite jealous - that car looks to be immaculate! Out of curiosity, how much did you pay to have the oil cooler hoses redone? I want to bring mine to a local hose shop and have them do the new rubber, but am not sure what to expect in terms of pricing.

Nate - this fan is surprisingly quiet. It may not be spinning and full power, as I've got my girlfriends dads old battery in the engine bay for testing (I gave him the >1 year old H6 that was in the 240D when his battery died, and took his old dead H6 from him). I went with a puller because everything I've read says that pullers are more efficient than pushers. Plus, the puller I put on is a 16", which just barely fits the radiator (I'm about 1/8" from the caps on both ends) and to use it as a pusher would require a lot more modification.

Honestly, I really appreciate the comments - but my 240D is just another crusty W123 - there are tons of chips, a but of rust on the trunk lid, missing clear coat on the roof and under the window seals, and some body damage on the passenger side rear door. I'm working on it one step at a time - I actually was about to take it to a local paint shop to take care of the cosmetic issues when the original OM616 engine died.

I've got plenty done on Sunday as well - I had access to a lift, so I tried to get as much done underneath the car as possible. The shortened drive shaft is in, wih the flex disc, trans mount tightened down, oil pan is on, flex plate to torque converter bolts are in, found a (nearly) failed rear brake hose, so I'm waiting for my next paycheck to come in so I can replace all 4 with SS braided hoses.

The rubber on the 40 year old original hose on the passenger rear has cracked completely off, so the only thing holding the brake hose together is the inner lining of the brake hose. So much for bleeding the brakes over the weekend! Lol.

I drilled and tapped the thermostat housing for the 3/8 - 18 NPT temperature sensor that will trigger my fan on and off. Probably not the ideal placement for it, but it worked out quite well, considering that my other options were limited.

I also took the opportunity to shorten my shift rod. Getting better and better with this $115 gasless MIG from Harbor Freight - the shifter is now hooked up, and feels great with all the new bushings. My dad turned the bushings for me from vinyl - the spring bushings were almost completely gone, and the shifter shaft bushings were practically disintegrated as well. Feels like the shifter in my dads 1993 300E (when he owned it in the early '00s). Very nice detent.

I did get more done yesterday as well, just kind of in a mad rush to get this car back on the road and didn't document everything.

I will be adapting the glow plug relay wiring to the pencil style relay today - I want to keep it under the dash, instead of in the engine bay. The only confusing thing for me is that there are no wires in the pigtail that go to the coolant temp sensors in the head. Old relay has one wire for it, new relay has none wires for it...I do have an OG glow plug relay harness for the pencil style glow plugs, which does have the temp sensor plugs in it, but they seem to be on a separate circuit, which goes to a 2 wire connector separate from the glow plug relay.

Thanks for reading
Max

vwnate1 · #**126** 07-02-2019, 11:48 AM

Good morning Max ;

As always, a good read .

Your car is prolly like mine in that it's an amazing 15 footer....

Just one more crusty old high mileage 240D with little value except to me ~ it's the very first Mercedes (plus Diesel) I ever owned and SWMBO was the one who pushed me to find it so there's one more reason to keep it going...

You're not far away, if ever there's a meet & greet again (I miss Rich's great outings) I'll drive it and you can laugh,or ponder it, whatever .

The puller Vs. pusher is all just marketing claptrap, in the end as long as it works well you're good to go .

I've done fan delete and electric fans many many times, it's always a good thing, no mistake .

The sensor position is good too, it might cause the fan to come on after the engine's been shut off a few minutes and then remain running a whie but this isn't anything negative in any way .

As you're aware Diesel engines are compression ignition so they love heat and lots of it ~ many do not understand this and panic when the coolant heat gets up to or above boiling temperature .

If the fan runs too long after engine shutdown just use a higher temperature switch .

You are wiring it up to run live, even with the key off, right ? .

I thought the W123 chassis uses the H8 battery, not the H6 ? .

Maximan1 · #**127** 07-03-2019, 01:31 PM

Thanks Nate! It is a nice 15 footer.

I have wired it up for always hot, so it will probably come on with heat soak and stay on for a while. No big deal.

What happened to Rich's meet and greets? I haven't been on this forum long enough to remember. I'd definitely be up to a meet or cruise with other SoCal members.

And yes, the 123 chassis uses an H8 - the guy I bought my car from was a flipper/dealer, had a variety of 123, 126, and 116 chassis cars in the parking lot of a shop in industrial Fullerton. He put an H6 in it because it's likely that is just what he had on hand.

Max

vwnate1 · #**128** 07-03-2019, 10:06 PM

Okey - Dokey then .

It's odd how such an under powered car is so much fun to drive....

I love old VW Beetles too and have toured America and part of Centro America in bone stock VW's,never had any problem with that low horsepower, my '59 # 113 DeLuxe Beetle only had 36 HP yet is fun and lively to drive .

The 240D of course is slower yet still enjoyable to drive near or far .

Maximan1 · #**129** 07-04-2019, 09:10 AM

I regret getting away from VWs when I did. My first car was a '78 bus that I restored in my high school auto shop. This is from one of the lasts posts I made on my VW build thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maximan1

From the "before and after" thread.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Slow cars have a certain charm to them. I am glad that I will have a bit more power with the new engine, however.

What happened to Rich's meet and greets?

vwnate1 · #**130** 07-04-2019, 03:50 PM

Doing that in High School is impressive .

I've owned many many VW Typ II's and have driven them across America, I only had one 'Bay Window' model, a first year (1968) # 211 one ton parcel delivery van, I didn't restore it but I did rebuild it mechanically from bumper to bumper, what a great truck but I prefer pickups trucks, I had a few VW AC pickups too including one of the first 1,000 crew cabs that had a 'suicide' third door .....

VW AC pickups have high beds, great for package delivery, not so good for hauling Motocycles and heavy auto parts like I need to do .

One of my most memorable trips was in a 1963 European spec. # 242 DeLuxe 23 window van with a single port 1500CC engine, that was a great trip, I bought a 1957 Canadian standard Beetle (#111) in a remote private VW junkyard, and stripped some vintage VW's, stuffed the van and Beetle with the parts & drove back home to So. Cal......

Going over the Continental Divide via the old road (U.S. Rt50 I *think*) whilst standing up out of the open sun roof was a trip I'll never forget .

I don't know if those neat tunnels had been built then .

Lots of memories but never forget : old VW's are DEATH TRAPS make no mistake ~ I resurrected a rusty '57 #211 3/4 ton panel van and the guy whom I told not to drive it, lost his right leg below the knee in a relatively minor traffic collision .

In case you're wondering what a 'Canadian Standard' Beetle is, it was the same as the European Standard Beetle but had hydraulic brakes instead of the cable operated 'push & pray' ones every other country got .

VW's cable brakes were not too bad if they were maintained, few ever did though .

Standard beetles were never sold in America .

Maximan1 · #**131** 07-05-2019, 12:19 PM

It was somewhat of a "pig with lipstick" by my standards now. Meaning, I would not have built it the same way if I had it today.

I miss it, but they were not safe by any measure. Mine was slightly better, as it has the retrofitted "crumple zone" in front, but nowhere near as safe as even the W123.

vwnate1 · #**132** 07-07-2019, 10:31 AM

Yes, you're correct .

I was wondering how / why the very important front bumper was left off .

When I was young they had Driver's Ed in most High Schools and showed grisly films designed to make new drivers *think* before they killed or crippled themselves , it did work although the butthurt brigade made a point of getting those films banned.......

When you grown up in the Country or on a Ranch/Farm as I did, death is never far away and you're supposed to get acquainted with it so you'll not be too careless ~ they earlier in life you learn a thing the better you'll remember / be able to use it .

Here we're talking about safety and I'm a Motocyclist who's survived two 'fatal' Moto crashes and have to use a cane, sleep in a chair and so on plus I still ride and am looking forward to driving my 1959 VW Beetle again ere long....

Life it's fair nor is to - morrow promised ~ this doesn't mean run with scissors but it doesn't mean cower in fear either .

Maximan1 · #**133** 07-09-2019, 02:53 PM

Front bumper was off because it had just come out of the paint booth a few days prior. Young dumb 18 year old me didn't want to wait for no stinkin bumpers to go for a drive!

Well said Nate. I've seen those videos before as well - not at school, of course. I found them on YouTube a while back.

Got tons of stuff done over the weekend. Valves adjusted, oil cooler flushed, installed, wiring buttoned up, pencil style glow plug relay wired in (under the dash), oil filter housing on, water pump, WP housing, thermostat, thermostat housing, trans lines, oil cooler lines...lots more stuff, I just can't remember everything now. I spent over 24 hours working on the car over Saturday+Sunday, and I've discovered that my usefulness tapers off at around 11 hours per day.

Have new rear brake hoses coming in this week. New brake booster line should be delivered today.

I've also found that the OM616 water pump pulley interferes with the harmonic balancer on the OM617 - so now I'm looking for a water pump pulley as well.

Found out why one of the oil cooler hoses had glue and duct tape cocooned around it. Looks like someone's son/cousin/nephew/uncle crushed this bad boy, causing a leak. The things you find on old cars

I am now working on cobbling together a "custom" throttle linkage, as the early 240D had a completely different linkage from the other W123s that I have seen.
I will post updates on that as soon as I have something done.

Max

vwnate1 · #**134** 07-10-2019, 01:31 AM

I love seeing progress .

? Weren't you the one who wanted an OM617 air filter ? .

I have one or maybe two, you kinda flaked our or lost interest on me ~ I'm sure you'll easily find one in one of the two Long Beach LKQ yards......

Maximan1 · #**135** 07-10-2019, 09:44 AM

Nate, I am in need of an OM617 air filter housing. You asked me to give you a few days, since you had to spend some time at the hospital with your foster boy.

I do still need one.