M115 T.B.I. conversion

[Mike D]

A couple of pictures of the air intake setup.

A quick view from the top.



One from the side.



I used an air cleaner from a 1960's era W108. I trimmed the intake flap from the base and did a little bending on the back bracket and it fits fine. It's rounded housing allows for clearance of the A/C hoses in their original routing. Definitely a plus.

I don't care for the K&N open element style filter so I figured this was a good solution. I can use the standard MB filter for the W108 available at almost any auto parts store.

The opening is not as large as the photo makes it out to be. I'll be adding a diverter flap when I get the canister permanently mounted.



Even though it's a "hack" job it looks close to "stock" with the exception of the hokey flex hose.



I'm working on the cable set-up this weekend and I hope to be driving it around on Sunday. Hopefully, I'll finish it all up the following weekend.

[Mike D]

Well, this weekend was one of progress and setbacks.

The original accelerator linkage set-up wasn't going to work so I had to mod a cable to work the throttle body. I tried three different methods and ended up making a mounting bracket and running the cable over the valve cover and into the firewall for the foot feed. Unfortunately, the '72 W114's use a "push" style foot feed. I'm going to have to replace the pedal assembly with one from a '73 or newer W114. Bugger! I'll snap a few pictures when I get the mounting brackets refined a bit. At the moment it looks like an "erector set" apparatus. Rube Goldberg would be proud!

The good thing about this knowledge is I will not have to do this step on my 280's as they already have the "pull" type assemblies. You probably wouldn't have to do this on the Stromberg equipped M115's because the linkage is designed for a single carb as opposed to the dual Solex arrangement my M115 used.

I mounted the high pressure pump onto the bottom of the battery tray. This was the lowest point I could see mounting it without drilling into the frame "rail" and using self tapping bolts. The best option and the one I will be doing once I get the rest of the glitches resolved would be to mount the pump at the fuel tank.

This of course meant I needed to pull the battery, which of course, led to the discovery of some rust attempting to gain a foothold. So Sunday was spent cleaning, repairing, prepping, POR15'ing and painting the battery tray. I also discovered the early (pre-1973) battery trays are welded into place! PITA to work around but at the expense of a couple of scrapes to forearm skin I got it all done.

I also pulled the old fuel pump and will be covering the hole with a plate. I found and repaired two small oil leaks, a socket lost who knows when and re-routed some electrical wiring left over from the original engine transplant.

So, even though I'm basically at the same place where I started, I got quite a bit accomplished. Kind of a "one step forward, two back, three to the left, three to the right and one forward" situation.

After this conversion the M110 is going to be a breeze!

[wolf_walker]

Originally Posted by Mike D

After this conversion the M110 is going to be a breeze!

Yeah, do that before I do mine, save me some grief.

[gerardoparedes]

i believe we will be following your progress with a very high interest

[Mike D]

Success! The beast is on the road! Runs like a dream and sailed through emissions like the engine wasn't even running.

Had to do yet another acc. cable set-up but it's darn near finished.

Some clean-up, a few tweaks, a couple of brackets to re-make and I'll post some final pics.

Next step, wiring the MS-II to run the ignition and THEN I get to work on my M110! 'Bout freakin' time!

[gerardoparedes]

Mike D, please post more pictures and do some fuel economy test to keep us updated.

[Mike D]

Well, it's been on the road for almost two months and so far no problems.

A couple of things I have changed.

I mounted the pump at the tank so now it is "pushing" the fuel as it is designed. I moved the fuel filter to the bracket I had temporarily mounted the pump and it looks almost stock. I re-routed the fuel lines from the filter and return so they look cleaner.

I re-routed (again!) the wiring harness so it goes behind the engine for a much neater look.

I removed the vent diaphragms from their mounting box in front of the rear suspension, drilled a large hole in the box for the fuel supply line, drilled a couple of holes for the strap for the pump, cleaned, painted and re-mounted the box/pump assembly. The vent line now runs to the air filter housing so there was no need for the liquid barrier diaphragms.

I removed the portion of the steel supply line which fits inside the tank and used 3/8" fuel hose around the outside of the fuel tank fitting. I connected this to the inlet of the pump to ensure adequate supply. The pump actually sits just below the tank's level so excluding the loop over the rear suspension it is gravity fed which should eliminate any possibility of "dry starts" when the car sits for a time.

I had a bugger of a time with the fuel lines and the wiring. This was caused by a PO's half-arseing the fuel return line. They obviously had either crushed the external line where it runs beneath the lower panel or they simply were incompetent goons. Either way they had a mess. Steel lines cut off and pieces of fuel hose connecting here and there. I took out 6 couplers in one 5 foot section.

I had to drop all the brackets, remove the return line, re-bend a steel line, install the wiring under the brackets and put it all back together.

This was all done on my back with the car on jackstands and three dauschunds eagerly licking my face. One of them snuck up on me and actually licked my eyeball when I turned my head to see was tickling me. ARRRGGGGHHHH! THAT was a weird feeling!

Anyway, it's running smooth but I still don't have an MPG report because I haven't driven it enough and the one fuel reading I had is useless. I drained 4 gallons out of the tank to re-mount the fuel pump.

I changed back to "4 squirts" from "2" simply to smooth the low speed accelleration. It will probably run fine on the 2 squirts but I haven't had the time to run the tune-up tables and I'm essentially running in the default mode.

I've pics of the cleaned up engine housing and the fuel pump remount and I'll post them later.

[Mike D]

Here's some of the recent pictures.



The old diaphragms. Huh, I wonder why I didn't re-use them.



The pump mounted in the old diaphragm box. At this point I haven't finished routing the fuel and power lines.


The filter mounted in the bracket I had originally mounted for the pump. The lines have been routed cleaner since this picture. The metal line sticking up by the distributor cap is the fuel vent line which is now routed to the air filter housing.




A couple of shots with the re-routed electrical lines. The firewall wiring hold down bracket has not been re-installed yet. I'm waiting on my conversion to using the MS to handle the ignition. Ignore the "tinker toy" bracket for the acc. cable. I've got one made up, I just seem to keep running into other things to do.

[wbain5280]

Originally Posted by Mike D

This was all done on my back with the car on jackstands and three dauschunds eagerly licking my face. One of them snuck up on me and actually licked my eyeball when I turned my head to see was tickling me. ARRRGGGGHHHH! THAT was a weird feeling!

Off topic, but one of my cats sort or burped and his snot went right into my eye, so I know what you mean.

Good work on fixing up the fuel system.

[Mike D]

Originally Posted by wbain5280

Off topic, but one of my cats sort or burped and his snot went right into my eye, so I know what you mean.

Good work on fixing up the fuel system.

I could have gone the rest of my life without hearing that!

[todds]

Hey, aside from that bracket the setup looks fantastic, almost stock even. Nice work man! It fits right in there.

[strelnik]

Originally Posted by Mike D

Back at it!
p.s. Notice the Sanden A/C compressor with the adapter bracket. Best thing you can do for your older A/C system. uses very little power and works better than the old York "thumper".

Mike,

Great job! I will be asking you lots of questions as this continues, but for right now, I have one on the Sanden.

I noticed the Sanden compressor. I'm looking to put an AC unit on my 1949 170D, which never had AC, but later models used the York, so probably this one could too. What model do you have? How well does it work?

I know it will be an add-on that spoils the authenticity but I want to be cool in that car, it holds heat/cold well inside.

Thanks,
Darryl

[Mike D]

Thanks for the replies. I'm striving to make the system look like it belongs on the car. I think upgrades should look as though they were designed for the car.

I was unhappy with how the pump bracket turned out. I was shooting for the original cadmium coating look but the "Hammer finish gold" spray paint from Krylon was as close as I could get. I tried the "brass" but it was too red.
Oh well, I figure if you're looking at the fuel pump bracket from underneath my car while it's in motion then you've probably got other problems you should be concerned with.

I guess concourse is out but I can still have a cano'Coors!

I'll check on the model of the Sanden but any A/C shop will have the spec's for you matched to whatever system you are installing in the 170.

[todds]

I meant the throttle cable bracket, the pump bracket looks great. I'd take a cano'Coors over a concourse any day! Those spotless cars with every last bit of original material present are pretty ridiculous, the EFI trumps all that crap if you ask me. Your engine thanks you for it. The point of a car is to be driven right?

[todds]

I think the Sanden most people use is the SD508 with a V-belt pulley (they come as serp too). I believe this one fits that york adapter, right Mike? Both of these things are on ebay. You'd need the older mercedes compressor bracket too for the engine. I'm not sure which years/engine types will fit a 170 motor if any, many of the later ones are more or less interchangeable I believe. The one I have has an extra idler pulley on it as well, I think it was off a w113 SL but I believe it'll fit my fintail too for instance. Haven't really thought about A/C yet, it's still snow season in Boston.

You could always have a hot rod shop or somebody work you up a custom compressor bracket instead of bothering with all that. Won't that car be really slow with A/C? You sure the radiator/fan can handle it? I sure can understand the desire to have it tho.