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Merc M113 v8.

These are quite small and narrow for what they are, and will fit where an essex used to be. You will need to run it on an aftermarket ecu, power wise you should see 330hp from the 5.0, the 5.5 nearer to 375hp. Then there are the supercharged versions if you want more power.

The auto box these come with has an off the shelve controller available that uses paddle shifts, the boxes themselves laugh at big power.

The black grill is a big improvement, car looks great. Are you planning one big turbo, or twin setup like turbo technics did?

There is only pressure when the engine is running, either cap the pipes or change it quickly. NEVER clamp shut an oil line.

Rubber brake lines can be clamped shut, but I prefer to screw a brass cap on the end. Obviously you cant clamp a braided brake line.

As above, anyone breaking a w124 on the forum?

I will be looking for a few front end parts after an old dear in a Honda did this today.

The dowel pin is a tight fit into the cover. The best way is to fit the upper cover with the bolts loose, then fit the dowel through it, and tighten the bolts after that.

The dowel pin itself is threaded for an m5/m6 bolt, so you can make your own small slide hammer with a length of threaded rod and a heavy socket. A few whacks will see it out, but you need to remove the chain tesioner before you do this.

I use Wurth super rtv for most jobs like this, not cheap but it wont leak.



Before you do the job are you sure that it isnt the head gasket itself that is leaking? The head gasket was modified because of a weekness around the front oilway, if you have an original gasket it may well be the cause. Your engine will be a m104.994 but it affects all of them.

Just to add a few things to watch out for on w124's

220,280,320, and 36AMG models all have issues with the engine wiring harness degrading, this is easy to spot by being able to see bare copper wire at any of the plugs. If you see this walk away, or have £1000 taken off the asking price of the car. If disturbed these looms can stop the car dead, even kill the ecu, so beware. E300 diesels also suffer with this, but wont prevent you driving the car. W202's, r129's, and w140's also suffer with harness issues.

As ChasR has said they hide rust well, rotten subframe mounts and jacking points are common. Other areas are the inner wing under the washer bottle, the floor under the rear seats, and cracking wishbone mounts at the front. On estates the rear cargo area windows leak and rot the channel they sit in, not a 5 min fix.

OVP relays can fail and cause all sorts of weird electrical faults, if it looks original replace it...

Rear wheel bearings are another big job, do not attempt these without access to a large press.

The estate's run a hydraulic rear suspension setup, if it feels rock hard, or bouncy like a pogostick, the accumulator spheres need replacement. (think old Citroen style)

The pick of the bunch for a reliable daily driver is the 300E, this has the old 3.0 12v inline 6 making 188hp. 25-30mpg is all you'll get, but it will be trouble free. (other than it's appetite for dizzy caps)


190E's make an awesome car, the 16v models are getting very expensive so I'll ignore those. Try to seek out the 6cyl 2.6, those are a lot of fun.

My two w124's.

1996 E300 diesel wagon....




1988 300 superturbo diesel...

You know me so well, but you need to fit one of these if you want a boosted 190.

Another vote for the omega v6 from me.