Ah. I'm on the look out for a crapper to turn into a track maintenance vehicle for this railroad

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hum.....
1987 300TD 311,000M Stolen. Presumed destroyed

Isn't the airbag module in that area?

Sixto
87 300D

The airbag electronics are divided among three locations. The (explosive) "squib" and the airbag itself are, of course, in the steering wheel center. The sensor (accelerometer) is on the transmission tunnel ahead of the ashtray. The "energy accumulator" (just a big capacitor) and one other component are indeed behind the right front passenger kick panel. I had forgotten that so thanks for catching my error. At least there's nothing that needs to be moved for an engine swap.

Jeremy

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"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

ok, and the alarm module is under the "foot" area of the pass side? Seems like there is something else living next to the alarm..

I have yet to study the wiring diagrams.

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08 R320 CDI current

Past
95 E420
87 300D Turbo 5spd
90 300TE
83 300SD
85 300TD
92 400E
85 190D

Maybe the SRS module.

Sixto
87 300D

nobody has flat out tried to talk me out of it

And most of the 603/w124 aficionados have posted

I think that means others have given it some thought lol. So Jeff and I can't be the only crazy ones.


Question:

Would you sell off the 5 spd 300d and find a good running 300d as a donor?

OR

Just terminate the 5 spd project altogether and use it as the donor?

Keeping in mind that I need a good 2.65 diff to use the automatic, also need a front driveshaft since mine was cut.

My 300d runs/drives but needs a diff swap(lower ratio) to be 100% complete. Interior OK, body semi OK. Randoms small dents from storm damage, jack point rust. VA car.

__________________
08 R320 CDI current

Past
95 E420
87 300D Turbo 5spd
90 300TE
83 300SD
85 300TD
92 400E
85 190D

It has a red plug with built-in short-circuit terminations to (in theory) keep the air bag from accidentally detonating when someone unplugs the connector.

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

The 5-speed swap on that engine/car combination doesn't appeal to all.

Although I enjoy driving a stick, in a fairly heavy car with a very laggy turbodiesel, I prefer the automatic to smooth out gear shifts and avoid the turbo lag from lifting the pedal, just my opinion on the subject (and Mercedes' opinion, the reason that the 300D turbo and 190D turbo weren't offered with a stick).

There is a significant advantage however to the 5-speed conversion: overdrive. The fuel mileage should get you well into OM602 territory with 603 power.

Remember that I was crazy enough to buy the cars and get very involved in planning my swap, but I got over it. I still very much like the idea of a nice black-sapphire '95 special edition 124 with a turbodiesel in it, but it's so much work that It'd probably need to be a healthy 606 turbo at this point, and it'd make more sense to find a nice '95 E300 Diesel and just do the engine and transmission swap with a 606 turbo. Still have to deal with some electricals, don't know if it had the CANBUS or equivalent, and it'd be worth something when I was finished (and still saleable / registerable in an inspection state).

- Jeff

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Hopefully it happens together. I was talked out of such a conversion because a 603 turbo below 1500rpm such as cruising at 55 with a 0.80 overdrive is not going to be happy passing and climbing hills without downshifting. For cruising at 80 there'd be nothing like it.

Sixto
87 300D

I too have wondered about this type of swap for a while now. I want a 5-speed diesel wagon.

What about this type of conversion where the 300TE is a 4-matic? Assuming you used the diesel car's engine & transmission (discarding the 300TE's engine and transmission) and the converted car could be RWD, is there a simple way to disconnect the 4-matic system from the front wheels? I know the front wheels of the 4-matic have weird springs, different brake caliper mounting, different tie rod ends, etc. - could those be left as-is? Are there any other complications that starting with a 4-matic 300TE would introduce?

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1989 250TD Wagon 5-speed, 160,000mi ::: Dark gray metallic / black cloth
1984 190D-2.2 5-speed, 287,000mi ::: Silver-blue metallic / black MB-tex ::: SOLD

Good question. To keep 4Matic, plop the 603 in place of the 103. There's a good chance it'll work since they use the same or very similar oil pan gasket. And IIRC 300D/TD 4Matics were available outside the US. To go RWD, hopefully the front suspension mounting points are the same between 4Matic and RWD so you can swap in a non-4Matic front suspension.

Sixto
87 300D

I call Bravo Sierra... cause on the highway in 5th, I was churning low rpm's BUT I could give it some "gas" and the turbo pulled it just fine. Were not talking M119 passing power, but good enough that you didn't have to downshift to 4th. This is all at 700 some odd feet MSL. Dunno about higher alt.

I can state that: at highway speeds, there was no reason for 5th. 4th worked fine. In the city I never shift past 3rd.. now you get an idea on how tall that 2.65 diff is

My odo does not work, but when I was using the 300d as a daily.. I would easily go 3 weeks between fill ups. The delivery seals leak something fierce too. If it's hot out you can see it drip.

The spare diff I have for the swap is from a 4-matic TE. I think it's a 3.29 ASD.. so we would go from too tall to potentially too short. As Jeff said, a stump puller.

FWIW: I did gain some good mpg's in my TE with a cap/rotor, plugs, wire change. I have the history since day one, no history of those being replaced , except for some resistor plugs.

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08 R320 CDI current

Past
95 E420
87 300D Turbo 5spd
90 300TE
83 300SD
85 300TD
92 400E
85 190D

My daily driver is 300TD 5 speed conversion I'm very happy that way it turn up i get around 33 m.p.g. mix driving. I swap the differential from 2.65 to 3.07. one more thing you have to use a least a 9 inch clutch i running a 9.5

Hmm... So are you saying that to do this swap (manual transmission + diesel into a 300TE 4-matic), it would be necessary to swap out the front suspension as well? I'm curious - what is the reason for this? Is it not possible to just disconnect the 4-matic front axle shafts and leave the suspension alone (even thought it's a little weird)? The manuals I have for the W124 are missing the 4-matic section so I haven't been able to look it up in detail.

There is a beautiful '91 300TE 4-matic for sale nearby, anthracite gray with immaculate black leather interior. Tempting. But I refuse to drive an automatic, and I couldn't handle the fuel economy of the gas engine.

I test drove a gray-market '89 250TD (non-turbo 602) with 5-speed about 8 years ago; that combination was sufficiently fast for my needs, so I've always wanted to find the same engine / transmission (e.g. from a 190D) and put it in a 300TE. My thought was that since the early 602 engines are fairly low-tech and non-electronic, it might be possible.

But, after reading this thread, I'm getting the impression that swapping in a diesel + 5-speed is basically too impractical, unless I win the lottery.

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1989 250TD Wagon 5-speed, 160,000mi ::: Dark gray metallic / black cloth
1984 190D-2.2 5-speed, 287,000mi ::: Silver-blue metallic / black MB-tex ::: SOLD

I know that my '91 4matic had the ABS tied into the 4matic system, and I don't think that you can easily divorce the two and end up with ABS in a swapped vehicle.

Many other added items in the 4matic, steering-angle sensor, accelerometers IIRC for the 4matic system, could be a lot of worms in that can.

I don't know what you'd need to do if you just pulled axles from the hubs, you might need to create some kind of a seal to keep water & grit out. It also would be losing some weight so the front would be tall, swapping springs would likely be necessary.

Not worth it IMO when there are nice 2WD wagons out there, if you're patient.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff