The CHZ-WGN: 1983 Mercedes Benz 300TD-T

In reply to maschinenbau (I live here) :

It is, the sway bar that requires removal of the engine to replace 

On my old engine, before I put it in the 240D, I set out to redesign the turbo drain before I put it in the car. It was a HORRIBLE design, and was one of the only things leaking after the rebuild. For those who have never seen one, mercedes used a series of o ring connections, and these bell shaped tubes to make it easily removable. 

Even the drain for the oil separator had one, on the left of the above picture. 

This design is bad because oil runs down the tube wall, piles up around that chamfered pipe, and if its not a perfect condition oring, it leaks past. Why mercedes couldn't at least flip the bell upside down at least baffles me. If it was the same design, but all the pictured joints swapped sides, you'd at least have something like a funnel, attempting to catch oil even if the o ring was bad. 

I digress. 

I had a wreck racing friend weld on a 10an bung to the chopped up drain tube, ordered a t3 drain adapter, made a line, and voila. Installed on chz wgn. I also replaced the o rings for the oil separator drain. 

*exciting content alert*

Having a bit of headlight drama at the house, but my fresh DEPO euro's came in. Put all new bulbs in them and installed. 

Haven't had them on the road yet, but I think the light output is gonna be 1 million times better than the old sealed beams. The LED turn signals I put in are SUPER bright, maybe too much so. 

I opted for getting OEM 6 pin plugs and repinning them (super easy) instead of using the janky adapters they supply. 

Of course found more dead yellow jacket nests. This car was INFESTED. 

Boring stuff that has also happened: new Filter housing bracket, it was broke in half and mounts were torn, painted filter housing

Fresh OEM hydraulic reservoir for the self leveling suspension.

Next is to replace the accumulators (magic nitrogen bottles that dampen ride), rebuild CV axles, install 2.88 diff in place of the 3.06, replace center support bearing, and install fresh diff mount to see if it helps with any of the rear sag. 

Not sure how I missed this, but everything from the trip to the car itself is fantastic.

My first ride home from the hospital was in a 200TD, an even more anemic NA diesel motor, but it's what my aunt and uncle could afford working for MB.

I keep thinking I'll find a nice euro wagon, that's already stick, but those keep skyrocketing in price, so it looks like a NAM market car with a slushbox fitted with the euro bits and a manual are going to be the way forward.

In reply to Azryael :

Yeah, its expensive enough as is just to buy the euro bits, much less a full euro spec car. I find myself shopping German used car sites and gawking at the perfect LHD euro w123's for sale that are just normal cars over there. 5 speed, cloth seats, manual climate, manual sunroof and windows. Considering a 5 speed swap kit in the US is worth in excess of $3000 now, I wonder how much it would set you back to fly to Germany, pick a car you like, and get it imported. At least it would be worth a pretty penny in the US by the time you were done. 

Finally got it out of the garage with the euros on, so good!! Light output is still horrible, ill save my pennies for a morimoto hid kit with projectors and get it fitted one day. 

On a positive note, after replacing the rear SLS accumulators (nitrogen charged spheres that act as dampers for the rear hydraulic shocks) the ride is truly incredible. It had a pogo stick ride in the rear before, now you feel the front wheels hit a bump then can't feel anything when the rear hits the bump. Smooth, not bouncy, and ride height levels perfect when 4 passengers get in. So cool. 

How do we feel about this body kit??

mgfoster said:

How do we feel about this body kit??

We feel very good about that body kit.

In reply to ebelements :

Here's the ebay ad. Originals are unobtainium. it's $600 shipped for questionable quality reproductions. I still think I want to get a set before I paint the car. 

Yes on the body kit for sure. 

Regarding the Depo headlights: Did you rewire the internals too? I fought with a set of those for months until I replaced all the wiring inside the housing too. Order some ceramic H4 plug bases too. It certainly improved reliability, but not sure it did a ton for brightness. The reflectors just aren't that well chromed. I had some LED H1s for fog lights and just ran with them on all the time...it made a significant improvement in total light output. 

In reply to Mezzanine :

Did not have to touch the internal wiring. Though one of the main h4 plugs had 1 wire that was just BARELY long enough to plug in. More than likely I will wait till I get projectors, rewire the whole housings, and paint the fog reflectors yellow. These headlifjts just look so sweet:

I have my relatives back home constantly on the look out for a rust free example, but they are hard to come by there too for a reasonable price. Anything that's cheap is a guaranteed rust bucket. It snows far more often in Bavaria where I'm from as opposed to how it was when I lived in Hessen, which was mainly just a rainy winter.

I've got plenty of miles to fly there and back, and shipping a vehicle is around $1500 when I last looked into it. Not sure about customs fees and the like, a "conversion" to meet DOT specs will not be required.

I'll take a rust free basket case at this point that has a straight body and runs.

Body kits on these old wagons are perfect; Zender made a more sporty looking kit: http://1000sel.com/index.php/zender/mercedes-w123-280te

In reply to Azryael :

$1500 for shipping isn't bad at all. The customs fees are what I would be curious about. 

This picture from that website cracks me up. Doesn't exactly look like the target customers for body kits. 

mgfoster said:

In reply to Mezzanine :

Did not have to touch the internal wiring. Though one of the main h4 plugs had 1 wire that was just BARELY long enough to plug in. More than likely I will wait till I get projectors, rewire the whole housings, and paint the fog reflectors yellow. These headlifjts just look so sweet:

Quoted because I could stand to see more of that car. Just get yellow LED bulbs for the fogs. I had them on my 190e and they were fantastic. I'll dig up a pic. 

I suggested rewiring the internals of the headlights because they are absolute hot garbage as-is. Mine worked fine at first too, but the bulb plugs all melted due to cheap spade terminals making poor connection. On one light the ground wire was crimped through the insulation, and it started causing all sorts of trouble after a bit too. YMMV though. 

The "overheating" seems to be solved. After replacing temp sensor with a URO branded one, it got a new radiator, water pump, and huge auxiliary ac fan, but still has running around 95C driving and 105C after sitting in traffic. 

Plopped in a Febi temp sensor from my old engine and this is where it runs. 

Also, the ride is sooooo nice. It picked up its first groceries yesterday. 

Oh boy, I'm sure you've already heard this, but stay away from anything URO!

Love that blue interior.

Im not diggin' the body kits on the wagons, but that chin spoiler on the wagon with the yellow lights looks great. Great wagon, and trip write up.

Well I maybe spoke too soon about the hydraulic suspension working perfectly. On the second day of driving, I got out of the car after getting home from work and it did this. 

Hindsights 2020, I probably should have tried to crack the bleeder and see if it was just an air pocket, but i assumed the worst and fired the parts cannon. During the installation of the accumulators and sway bar end links i accidentally maxed out the rear struts upon startup. Pump made a funny noise, and i assume that I just blew out the old o rings in the system when this happened. 

Also, the hydraulic oil is supposed to be clear and mine gets a blackish hue pretty quickly. Usually this is an indication of the pump seal leaking engine oil into the pump. So new o rings and seals were ordered for the pump and the leveling valve. 

After battling the last two internal bore o rings for an hour, I got the valve rebuilt and installed (please don't leak). Rebuilding the pump tomorrow. 

I like the chin spoiler on the darker gray wagon.  It's there but it's subtle.  The others just seem a bit much.

Cool project.  Car is looking better with every update.

In reply to pres589 (djronnebaum) :

Thanks! 

Got the pump rebuilt tonight. Going to purchase some replacement 3/8 house for the low pressure supply line tomorrow morning. 

There were 3 large o rings that needed to be replaced here and a shaft seal at the back of the pump that separates engine oil and hydraulic fluid. 

Dealership parts feel fancier than they really are. Pump to engine gasket and the shaft seal.  

The cam lobe on the shaft looked in perfect condition. 

Will report back after I slap that supply line on.  

I've got the chance to pick up a mediocre condition 85 300D to DD to work. Wish I could find a wagon in my price range! I have a 78 300 SD already on my place, belongs to the same guy, but no title with it, and its very rusty. I've considered it, but the 300D is road worthy already.

Keep up the nice write up... I'll need all the help I can get!

In reply to 03Panther :

Good luck! Definitely buy the nicest one you can afford, as I've realized its almost impossible to source all the parts you would want to replace in the interior (if thats something you care about). Check under the battery tray before buying!

My rear SLS seems to have a leak in the 190E, fluid is going somewhere, albeit very slowly. It really isn't an issue for me, as the SLS only does anything if the rear of the vehicle is loaded down, and it's usually just me driving.

It does still work, though. Throw in a few bags of mulch/soil, start it up, and watch the car lift itself back up. Pretty neat.

Well i got it all back together, bled the lines, and bam it worked! I seem to have misaligned the lever arm on the valve, so it does ride a bit high. 

After adjusting down a bit.

Doesn't even think about sagging overnight anymore. I say successful operation. 

Well, it's been a while since I've been able to work on cars. I just got finished building my house, another once in a lifetime experience I was able to share with my dad. It took a little over a year, while working full time, but I was able to get exactly what I want, in close proximity to Atlanta Motorsports Park too! 

And most importantly, the 40x28 garage.

But now that I'm moved in, I've been chomping at the bit to get back to working on the chz wagon. I'll just leave these here.