Mercedes W114 250 Coupe - help!

[Charles Morgan]

I shall ask them when they have the box in their sweaty paws.

Popped up to CCPS today, by coincidence Billy, the soon to be ex-apprentice there (passed all his papers with distinctions) was installing a mappable 123 distributor on a Daimler SP250. It comes installed with two basic ignition maps which you can play around with, and being relatively conservative on the degree of advance up the rev range the car is performing significantly better. The team also put one on an Alfa Spyder yesterday.

Coupe is now in the body shop with all the areas for welding marked up, which will start next Monday. So progress of sorts.

 

[Charles Morgan]

John, who installed the Alfa 123 and who has a fair degree of experience with mapping, is firmly of the belief that with injection the best solution is a coil pack based system, as you have total integration of ignition and fuelling.

He also thinks that a hall effect system in the distributor is a neat way of achieving a CPS and a period look.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Dan asked me what finish was required on the engine bay paint - I think the paint is normally matt, no top coat, so I'll opt for that.

 

[Bellow]

He also thinks that a hall effect system in the distributor is a neat way of achieving a CPS and a period look.

Certainly the neatest - if achievable....

Item#4 here >> Universal Trigger wheels would fit within the dizzy body (probably with space for an internally mounted sensor - external an option) but I don't see how it can work at cam speed.
If it is designed for crank speed it will require two missing teeth for dizzy triggering . Dock it another tooth and 35 remain. Not (exactly) divisible by two, the symmetry will be lost.

When you are clearer as to the kit to be used, let me know if you want me to return the dizzy as it is or hold on to it and you forward me a disc and sensor to fit prior to me returning it. If the latter, it would be sensible to partially strip to check exact internal diameter available for disc. It is circa 75mm near the top but disc mounting may require lower positioning where the diameter is less - circa 55mm.
Presumably the sensor has to be peripherally mounted - limiting its possible bulk and possibly/probably requiring external mounting.

 

[Charles Morgan]

A run up to Bicester to check on progress. I mentioned to Simeon that I'd been offered a 58000 mile steering box for the Mercedes and one wag in the workshop suggested that was a very good deal...

Anyway, Mr Cattle suggested it was better to refurbish the existing one in case having put the other one on the car, it then was found to need seals or have a problem, so would need taking off. That is now in the back of the car ready for dispatch to Preston.

The car is now seriously in prep at the D&M body shop. Peter, the welder/fabricator and wise owl, and Ellis the brand new apprentice there (isn't it nice to see a business taking on young staff - even if he looked about 12!) were busy stripping the engine bay and were busy getting in to all the crusty bits ready for welding and spraying.

A very busy D&M - W114 coupe on a lift at the back (Peter in red), then a Ferrari 308, then a Jensen Interceptor, a TR4 then an Interceptor drop head (the two Jensens are from Jensen International who adapt them to take GM LS3 engines, the drop head with added supercharger).

 

[Charles Morgan]

Just cleaned up the steering box (why is it that the remaining hydraulic fluid erupts all over you as you carry it after spending 30 minutes moving it around with no sign at all) which weighs 14 kilos. I better find a solid box for this and the steering pump, total weight 20kgs. No wonder the inner wing mounting for the steering box is a weak point, more so with wider tyres!

 

[Charles Morgan]

Todays job - find strong box, check out flywheel for suitability for CPS drilling and check progress of bodywork.

 

[grober]

You haven't any old pallets lying around?

Old ammunition boxes are also useful

 

[Charles Morgan]

I do have one pallet, but that's earmarked for the W126 rear diff I need to stop tripping over.

My father was a munitions specialist in the Admiralty. We used to have hundreds of empty plastic ammunition boxes (mainly 7.62 Nato) but this is too big.

 

[Mike Walker]

Just what I need on the allotment ^^;-)

 

[Charles Morgan]

Didn't get to see the car today but found a heavy duty box to fit the bits.

This is the plan for the flywheel from a helpful thread elsewhere but with the holes on the edge not face - if I could get a photo of the SM flywheel I would, but it's hidden by a full engine bay under tray. The CPS would be mounted on the bell housing. The idle on my SM is absolutely rock solid.

My flywheel face - too many holes irregularly drilled (for balance I think).

There are three holes at exact intervals on the flywheel edge, so no problem with the 36:2 pattern - but I wonder if the fact they go all the way through the edge will cause an issue?

 

[Charles Morgan]

Just what I need on the allotment ^^;-)

They were brilliant, my mother used them as seed trays, flower tubs, stackable containers, poultry water tubs etc. They had rope handles and lasted for years.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Usefully, the last time I was up at Simeon they had a BMW 3.0 CSL in - with the famous M30 straight six. This was running D jetronic so I had a good look at the throttle body area, which is very similar to my M114 throttle body. Of course, I have the M30 engine in my M535i, which runs Motronic, so I can happily now work on the assumption that with the exception of the MAP, I can copy as much as possible the sensor and injection suite on the M535i.

 

[Charles Morgan]

I also bought a lovely Blaupunkt Frankfurt radio which was on the options list at the time.

 

[ianrandom]

Thats very pretty.

 

[Charles Morgan]

I agree. I had been watching ebay etc for months to find one like that at a good price. Blaupunkts seem to be less expensive than equivalent Beckers, so as it looked flat out lovely I pounced.

Of course it's mono, but then so are most of my early Wagner recordings, which have the benefit of making Mercedes in particular go faster when pointed east...

 

[grober]

If you consider that the "trigger" is generated by the steel between the holes rather than the holes themselves don't think it should be a problem. With regard to same I'm not sure what depth of hole needs to be drilled in the rim to give the remaining metal sufficient signal [ think of the the metal in between the holes as " timing Teeth" in this context] or whether you would have to drill all the way through to be sure??
That's how I rationalise it.

Although the guy describes his drilled flywheel as 36.2 it is in fact 36.1 the "missing tooth" being between the 2 holes joined together.

 

[Charles Morgan]

whether you would have to drill all the way through to be sure??

I don't think the depth is that great, I am going to get to the SM one somehow, but I recall it being about 5mm.

 

[grober]

Here is a thread about a similar conversion on a CX on an Aussie forum.
CX GTi Turbo 2 on KdFi engine management
Post 1 has a link to quite a few pictures including this one.

Looks as if 5mm might be about right. Scale might be derived from the size of the timing gear teeth ?

 

[Charles Morgan]

The SM is not revealing its secrets from above or the side even at maximum suspension height (dribbles of green LHM also unwelcome on the o/s/f wheel. It needs to go on a ramp to get a good look but not going to happen soon.

However the two outer side footwell plates from a LHD car arrived today in perfect nick from Germany, so these can act as a form of template with adjustments to make some up in modern materials with a red vinyl covering.