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The old girl is in this months (July 2017) ‘Mercedes Enthusiast’ mag!
An interesting perspective from a seasoned road tester who is completely new to the whole superturbodiesel concept.
Before he took the wheel I took him for a drive - the first time I put my foot down he could not believe what was happening. Great write up and some cracking pictures.
I have also been busy, new hybrid diff has been built… and a couple of other details. Ill write more soon with some pictures…
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I have been pondering installing one of these engines in my 1997 Discovery. I was considering making it 2 wheel drive aswell. I fantasise about building a lowered, tauter, road biased, LR/Disco OM605 2WD conversion. Do the Sherpa axels work with coil springs? OP - Why did you go for the M21 over a OM605 in the end?
Love the conversion!
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Jun 11, 2017 22:52:04 GMT
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OHHHHHHhhhhhhhh my goodness
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May 22, 2017 11:01:24 GMT
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MOT time. New garage too – I wondered what they would think of it… my old friendly local village garage has been sold, the plot turned into houses, that’s North Norfolk for you... Such a shame, they were superb, friendly to the point that when my wife used to go there she would bake the old boys a cake.
Anyway the 124 passed so the following morning I went to Mat Smith sports cars in Downham Market who has a Hunter Laser Aligner to get the tracking sorted and the bump steer banished. W124’s do not bump steer if set up correctly.
As expected for a person who races, sets them up and is a TVR independent he did a super job and the cars now rides better that it ever has done. The B6/Sportline combo is now perfect; taught and comfy.
On the Sunday I went to Cadwell Park with some mates for a track day (the Merc was not on track). Got some rides out including a 1300 x-flow’d Sylva Leader which was superb on the track, Morgan on throttle-bodies (superb) and a Fiat Strada 130TC (tuned) which felt like a go cart.
I left Cadwell wondering what the Merc would be like on the track, I imagine around the corners it would be mediocre at best, but down the straights it would freight train most cars. Would that be annoying? – I suspect so.
Maybe an evening session at Snetterton is in order to find out?
Next – those f’n front brakes. Get them fitted and bled once I have some tyres mounted on the W210 alloys.
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May 17, 2017 15:56:53 GMT
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Some good advise about the Yellow stuff bedding in methodology. I'll be following that when I pop the EBC's into the old Merc. Thanks.
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May 17, 2017 15:53:37 GMT
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Three words spring to mind.. Mid Life Crisis... Steady on, I'm only 35... I'm 43 and would love a EP3 as a daily driver! - got a 1.4 civic at the mo as a workhorse and I'm genuinely impressed. The motors a peach. ...But that rear spoiler...
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May 15, 2017 18:04:57 GMT
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Attempt 1.1 In the end I reverted to trial fitting the larger SL500 4 pots again with some w210 alloys that fit (checked with plastercine, as pic above shows). I have decided that this is the set up I'm going for. The wheels are not a aesthetically pleasing design – nothing like the period AMG’s; however that means they will complement the sleeper look as they really are boring. I also have 5 of them (thus they are effectively £free), the callipers just clear, the offset is good and importantly I know they are all dead straight. To be honest I’m sick of going around in circles with the front brake situation so I’m going for it.
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Last Edit: May 15, 2017 18:05:37 GMT by maxypriest
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May 15, 2017 18:02:43 GMT
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The late 124’s were fitted with LCA’s with a slim line ball joint housing for disc clearance for exactly this reason. Mine has the earlier larger housing ones as these are readily available, the slim versions are Merc only and are an extortionate £. Dieselpump UK came to the rescue, they have a spacer kit for exactly this problem – unfortunately this means the front wheels are slightly spaced out by 3mm, however it’s worth it for the bigger brakes. However – this will make my particular alloys poke out a bit and they are already on the cusp of being unacceptable.
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May 15, 2017 17:57:34 GMT
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The front brake debacle continues… The top speed event last year demonstrated that my thoughts that ‘the brakes were on there limits’ was fundamentally flawed; they are not even vaguely close to being adequate. The EBC pads that were superb on the road appear to have been cooked after the first run – I bet the discs were glowing; the resultant material is has nothing like the friction required. They are absolutely bu&&ered. I replaced them with some more greens for the interim while I tried to come up with a permanent solution. Attempt 1 The disheartening SL500 R129 brake business, they are brilliant, very powerful and fit the car a treat, however the period 16” AMG wheels won’t fit over them and I can’t find any wheels that fit over the big callipers and the 124 body that look standard. Attempt 2 I eventually located a pair of smaller W124 4-pots from the evil ’bay. The callipers tested fine, however being genuine used Merc parts these look la bit rusty, I’m sure that Merc had taken over the patent on corrosion technology in the 1990’s after Fiat and Lancia had finished with it in the 70-80’s! Wire brush – Jenolite – repeat till they came up looking respectable. The ubiquitous John Deere gloss black paint and they are ready to fit. New Merc discs and fitting kit. Nicely they grip the same thickness as the stock discs at 22mm, but are designed to take 295mm rather than the sliding callipers 284mm diameter discs. A double bonus of 3 more pots per side and more disc area. …But of course they don’t fit. Oh Jesus.
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Superb work and persistence:-)
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Old and new comparison.
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No prisoners.
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Tie rods - rusty and seized. One put up a fight, hacksaw and thin cutting disc sorted that MOFO out. Having the right tools is wonderful.
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The B6/Sportline combo was such a success at the front that I just thought phuck it and broke the bank with a pair for the rear too.
The car is now more ‘planted’, no wallowing and still has that old Merc ride quality with a good dose of sportiness. Highly recommended.
While I was at it I replaced the transmission mount. Trawling through the Meyle online catalogue a number of Merc parts have cropped up in their HD range. Top munts for the struts are one that I have already fitted and another is a universal HD Merc transmission mount. I’m giving this a go as the G-Box fits very close to the top of the transmission tunnel and in some ‘hump’ situations it can knock – the HD design has more rubber and the vertical movement looks to be better controlled…
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Apr 24, 2017 10:30:39 GMT
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Apr 24, 2017 10:26:01 GMT
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W124 Front Bilstein B6’s and OE Sportline spring combo. What I will say is that the original shocks and top mounts were 27 years old and the car has been running 456ftlbs for 2 years. The front end would bottom out and was a bit wayward even with new 500E ARB’s, LCA’s, springs, pads and other rubber parts.
I decided to stick with the Sportline springs (new 2 years ago) as I like the rate and height. But the shocks felt a bit soft – you can’t blame them – they had done sterling service.
So I have replaced them with some new B6’s and HD Meyle top mounts.
Via my local Merc dealer I also managed to get some new AMG / Sportline 75mm bump stops - these have completed the package.
Guess what? Yup, No sh!t Sherlock - massive difference. The new set up suits the car and my local roads perfectly, damping is sporty but not jarring. The new shocks hold the car in position well, so over crests the front does not continue to rise, it just hugs the road, and on the other side under compression the damping effect is controlled, firm without jarring. No bottoming out either. Corrugations and other small road surface imperfections are not transmitted to the body/steering. Really chuffed, these shocks have a great reputation, obviously for a reason.
What more could you want?!
Ill do the rears when I can afford them….
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Mar 10, 2017 22:48:52 GMT
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What a great conversion!
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Stopped near work to fill up with diesel today And a polish fella came over and said what a beautiful car it was, apparently he had owned a few and loved them, asked if I'd sell...NO!! Not tempted in the slightest Polish people seem to be much on my wavelength They like my sort of cars, sold an omega last year to a polish fella,and bought my mgf of a great polish bloke They seem to know their stuff and enjoy talking about them There is a little garage near us that is run by Eastern Europeans, one of which has a E30 M3. ...anyway they were admiring the W124 as it was parked outside their garage, and when i started it up... "Diesel!" They exclaimed, "but you know we have turbodiesel 124's and you don't - And you can tune the hell out of them" I opened the bonnet and there started a 1/2 hr conversation... good chaps.
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That's the way to deal with a problem.
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