Does anyone have an idea of what exactly was done to modify a W126 when it entered the US to recieve it's DOT approval (besides the lights)?

Vehicle was purchased new in '85 in Germany (380SEL) and shipped over here where it had the alterations done in 1989 in Houston, TX.

I was told by the original owner that this was part of the equipment installed to make it DOT approved:




There was also some exhaust work done, but that's about all I know. We don't have emissions testing here, so I'd like to try to return my euro to factory stock.

Anyone have any ideas what that box is or does? Is it like a modern "tuner" box that intercepts sensor input and outputs it's own to the ECM?

__________________
A.S.E Tech A1,A6,A7,A8 & MVAC 609 + EPA 608

Unless stated otherwise, any question I ask is about my greymarket 1985 380SEL.

That might have been for EPA. DOT mods included US: bumpers, lights, hazard-switch, door-beams. Emissions/EPA was another issue, no idea what that did. Many of these cars went under the new owners' one-time EPA exemption of that era and didn't get any engine mods.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

That box was wired to a frequency valve that regulated control pressure From an added O2 sensor.



Most likely they added steel beams in the doors.

__________________
MERCEDES Benz Master Guild Technician (6 TIMES)
ASE Master Technician
Mercedes Benz Star Technician (2 times)
44 years foreign automotive repair
27 Years M.B. Shop foreman (dealer)
MB technical information Specialist (15 years)
190E 2.3 16V ITS SCCA race car (sold)
1986 190E 2.3 16V 2.5 (sold)
Retired Moderator

Considering Mercedes' safety focus on the W126 its interesting the euro cars didn't have the side impact bars.

-Jason

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

The side impact regulations and testing were so out of touch with real-world conditions that I'm not sure that they were necessary, ... kind of like the sealed-beam headlamp mandate.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Do you know what the test was? Just curious... sorry for hijacking your thread dhjenkins :-S

-J

It was a specific weight and size sphere on a tether which was released and swung down-into the door. The intrusion into the car's interior was measured.

The sphere's size and weight was not increased for larger-heavier cars (which should have been part of the calculation since moving that car via a car impacting the door would take more energy to move a heavier car) and really had little to do with a real side-impact, nor for the relative height of the center of the door, etc.

Simillar front-impact legislation was in place, using the entire front-end of the car where Mercedes was testing using the left-front offset collision as the model, which is the majority of frontal collisions (70% or greater IIRC).

I'll side with Mercedes-Benz's calculations and methods any time over the USDOT and NHTSA tests, spent most of my life around this stuff and the TUV/EEC standards. Not surprising that the Europeans pioneered much of the safety equipment on passenger cars (LSG, 3-point belts, crumple-zones, positively-displacing drivelines et al).

No disrespect to Ralph Nader and his followers, met him back in the '60s (long story) and he had good intentions and worked hard with the tools available, but it seems that many who have come since have had misguided safety directives and are more politically motivated than safety conscious.

Off my soapbox.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

I have a 78 euro and it has "steel beams" welded inside the door obviously not be a mercedes chassis builder considering the quaility of the welds and the beam being just inch square tubing.

luckly n 78 my euro underwent no other mods.

Ironically I believe that the correct part (a steel tube with end brackets) was available from M-B parts at the time.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

How does this (the box) affect performance? Would there be any benefit to removing it and restoring the system to OEM specs?



Also, this is the sticker that's under the hood concerning emissions:

__________________
A.S.E Tech A1,A6,A7,A8 & MVAC 609 + EPA 608

Unless stated otherwise, any question I ask is about my greymarket 1985 380SEL.

I don't think that having CIS Lambda affects the performance (perhaps fuel economy at idle some?), but the backpressure from the cat probably hurts it some. Not having the lower compression engine the US models got is a plus

-Jason

__________________
1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.

I believe that our engines also had retarded exhaust-valve timing, and possibly an air-pump.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

The DOT only cared if car would meet the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) for the Model Year on that car. As stated above, it included door beams (a steel beam in the door, which most MB's had), take out the great Euro headlights and put in the mandated POS US sealed beam headlights, verification that the seat belts were per FMVSS, verification that the correct type of windshield glass was in there, that the right side exterior mirror had the "Objects are closer..." etching on it, etc. etc. etc.

The cat and associated emission "stuff" was done to pass the EPA requirements. DOT didn't care about emissions, EPA didn't care about safety. Both cared a lot that all the appropriate forms and photographs were sent to them in the right format, in the right folder(s), and, true statement, that the photographs sent in the DOT folder only had tape on the top and that the forms on the right side of the manila folder were exactly in the mandated sequence and only used the mandated two (2) staples to hold them in place. Serious Recto-Cranial Inversion here, but them's the rules, Jack.

Mike
Very Ex-administrative guru for a Registered Importer.

__________________
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
FrankenBenz: '87 560SEC with an '02 cammed LS6 and custom 4L60E.
Bling: '87 560SEC, ported/polished, lowered
Lisa: '87 560SEL, lowered

Come this january car will be 25 years old. And it will qualify for Texas classic or antique registration. Classic still requires a safety inspection but you are not required to have anything that was not "factory installed" that being the law you can remove the black box, Catalyst, o2 sensor, egr, and put the car back into eurospecification legally and drive it every day. If you only plan on using it on weekends then you can do the above and register it as an antique and you never have to do a safety or emission inspection. I don't know what the spec is for a 380 engine is but 16 degrees btdc is really retarded I assume for emissions and gas. Remove the epa junk and advance the timing and bring car back to life. BTW run 93 Octane if you do.

I plan on it - I want a 'true' euro; in fact, I have a set of headlights on the way from germany as we speak. What is the 'proper' timing, btw? Alldata lists somewhere between 5-13, and I think mitchell does as well. Of course, mitchell also lists that the plug wires should have 25,000-30,000 ohms of resistance...

__________________
A.S.E Tech A1,A6,A7,A8 & MVAC 609 + EPA 608

Unless stated otherwise, any question I ask is about my greymarket 1985 380SEL.