Mercedes Diesel Hot Rod

[tractorface]

I have been snooping around the http://www.mercedesforum.com/ doing some research for a possible WVO project I have in mind. I keep reading how slow these cars are and one guy even modified his so it felt like a "gasser". I got to thinking about the simple tough straight 5 and six cylinder diesel thay run and wondered why it could not be easily bombed. Anyone know anything about the mid 80's 5 cylinder diesel.



Are they direct or indeirect injection? Does that matter when it comes to bombing? I am guessing they run big exhaust housings and large lazy turbo's. Seems a tighter turbo with a wastegate would help spool them quicker. Play with the rack and timing a little and you should have a mean machine alla the 12v CTD. Am I way out in left field.



Most of those guys seem like x greenpeace employees still running around with John Kerry bumper stickers and listening to Yoko Ono and living in a commune. :-laf

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Someone posted a link to a video of two Benzes that were seriously BOMBed and tearing it up. Huge turbos, lots of smoke, really cool! Not sure if where it is though.



Vaughn

 

[nickleinonen]

Someone posted a link to a video of two Benzes that were seriously BOMBed and tearing it up. Huge turbos, lots of smoke, really cool! Not sure if where it is though.

https://www.turbodieselregister.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1294572

 

[WDixon27]

the old iron 5 banger can be a decent motor, the car it's wrapped in can be a turd, id suggest the 123 body 81-85 turbo 300D, the 126 body 300SD is bigger and much more expensive to fix and older 300Ds are not turbo plus they have real expensive hvac system that takes a dump about every 4 years needing about $600 to get the vents going again. they all run a inline bosch pump and most run a small kkk or air research turbo, i've never played with one but know several people who have, with a good transmission one properly toyed with will chirp the tires off the line before the turbo spools up and lights em up good under boost. the 617 motor (iron 1976-85 5 cylinder) is a sleaved block and in warm states doesn't get low compression till around 350-400k miles, seen em crap at 250k with bad mantaince, the 81 and up turbos are fast glow pre chamber type motors and are rated around 120 hp. i always kind of wanted a 85-86 (only years imported) bmw 524td and combine it with a 5 speed from a gasser and intercool it, they run a bosch VE pump and are a lot lighter car that can be made to handle with ease plus they get real good mpg, probably 10 mpg better average then the benz

 

[SHanson]

I have a 85 bmw 524 td. Its a dog and would love to make it rip!



http://groups.msn.com/mylittlegroupofone/1985bmw524td.msnw?albumlist=2

 

[HoleshotHolset]

I've read that the 5-cylinder engines and the earlier (anything older than 1993 or so... ?) 6-cylinder engines like to window the block when you beat on 'em. The later 6-cylinders didn't go back to turbos until '98 (bummer)... and from what I've seen - anything '96+ is pretty bulletproof.



They're all indirect injection and have glow plugs... until they went with the CDI (common rail) a few years ago - I think even those have glow plugs.



Finding information on these things is tough. You'd have better luck finding Atlantis. Most of the folks here in the states that own 'em are AARP members that only take them to the dealer for regular maintenance.



I'd GREATLY appreciate it if someone could point me in the direction of some good performance information on these engines. I tried emailing the folks in Finland on the aforementioned thread, but they never got back to me. I don't want to steal top secrets, I just want to know how far you can crank 'em and what you have to do to make 'em hold together.



WDixon27: Do you have any experience with the '96+ E300's? If this Jeep thing doesn't turn out like I want it to, I'm going shopping for a diesel car.



Thanks,



Matt

 

[WDixon27]

all of the benzes i have messed with are the old turds, the 87 300sdl i sold a few years ago is the newest diesel thing i have worked on and then i didn't really get into it, i am not a big fan of mercedes cars (the diesel engines are usually good) as they are generally a expensive pain to work on, i like bimmers and volvos better but diesels are not available over here, in dash ac and vacuum system work can get into the thousands of dollars if you can't do the work yourself, i get tired of the absurdly expensive parts assembled in strange hard to disassemble ways when working on mbz

WDixon27: Do you have any experience with the '96+ E300's? If this Jeep thing doesn't turn out like I want it to, I'm going shopping for a diesel car.



Thanks,



Matt

 

[Low 00's]

There is a guy in KY that owns a yellow first gen that has an 83 300D (5cyl) that runs low 15's in the quarter and supposedly gets 25mpg overall average.

 

[Dieselnut59]

all of the benzes i have messed with are the old turds, the 87 300sdl i sold a few years ago is the newest diesel thing i have worked on and then i didn't really get into it, i am not a big fan of mercedes cars (the diesel engines are usually good) as they are generally a expensive pain to work on, i like bimmers and volvos better but diesels are not available over here, in dash ac and vacuum system work can get into the thousands of dollars if you can't do the work yourself, i get tired of the absurdly expensive parts assembled in strange hard to disassemble ways when working on mbz

My mother had a '87 300 SDL. NICE car! I LOVED it. I played with the pump a little, but I don't remember exactly what I did. A local diesel guy told me what to do. It was external and simple. It helped power and added a little smoke. That car had decent power (especially for its size!), got good fuel economy (30's mpg) and had the nice (in my opinion) diesel sound. It was I-6 cylinder turbo.

I had one of the 85 BMW 524TD cars. Bought it as a barely running POS. Had to replace the cam shaft and rocker arms (overhead cam engine). Apparantly it had been serviced with the wrong type oil, probably for a gas engine. The "rack" that sprayed oil onto the cam and rocker arms was clogged completely up at each oil spray hole! I wish I would have kept the cam as a keepsake. The lobes were worn almost completely off on some of the cylinders, but the thing still cranked and ran! After replacing the cam and rockers, setting the valves and a little mild pump tinkering, the thing would actually move out pretty well, especially for such a small displacement engine. It was a 2. 4 Liter I-6 turbo.

The new Mercedes E320 CDI is my favorite diesel car! POWERFUL, smooth and meets current (overly strict) emission standards, even with our "nasty" fuel. It is common rail and I would imagine there are lots of potential BOMBs available for it! If these things were just available with a MANUAL transmission!!!!!