Modernising & perfecting a minty W124 300D Turbo!

[alabbasi]

Since the .6 is a canbus box presumably there is an external controller. I’m aware of the one made by Olefejer but wondered what your ‘kid’ uses. Thanks.

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Derek.
.

Yep, he uses a stand alone controller that was offered by someone in Europe (not sure who but I can ask if you're interested). He's pretty bright and the job seemed to be quite straight forward. I helped pick the transmission up and bolt it up under the car at around 10pm before going home, and he was giving it a shake down cruise by about 7am which in my mind is pretty a pretty decent effort given that it was his first attempt. The controller seems pretty slick, enabling really quick shifts. Much quicker than what i'm used to in my AMG cars that seem to have a 1 second delay when shifting manually.

He also tweaked the injection pump and added a turbo from a 350SDL. His car is quicker than the average diesel W124, I remember him flooring it on an on ramp with me behind in him in a 928 S4. It took a bit longer than I expected to catch up.

 

[BTB 500]

Nice idea. I think I'd prefer the strength of the 4 speed, as opposed to the 5, which is less reliable though.

As mentioned the 5-speed is pretty robust. I have it in both my 20 year old SL500 and 10 year old V6 Vito van.

 

[noogieman]

how fast is this sexy beast?
what's top speed and 0 to 100km/h?

how much is HP and TQ?

 

[Druk]

Yep, he uses a stand alone controller that was offered by someone in Europe (not sure who but I can ask if you're interested).

Thanks. That would be useful to know although I wouldn't be surprised if it was an Olefejer unit as he's from Belgium. The guy has done a lot of development work on it. It uses the original TPS and can also control boost from the same unit. Not cheap though.
My car has the Getrag 717.450 dog-leg and I'm getting a bit fed-up with it so would like to go back to an auto if I can persuade it to go into the 107 tunnel. I've got the 722.6 and all it's fittings that were originally behind the 606TD.

Might try selling the Getrag Stateside too. Worth quite a bit of money over there I believe, especially as it's totally complete.


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[alabbasi]

Thanks. That would be useful to know although I wouldn't be surprised if it was an Olefejer unit as he's from Belgium. The guy has done a lot of development work on it. It uses the original TPS and can also control boost from the same unit. Not cheap though.
My car has the Getrag 717.450 dog-leg and I'm getting a bit fed-up with it so would like to go back to an auto if I can persuade it to go into the 107 tunnel. I've got the 722.6 and all it's fittings that were originally behind the 606TD.

Might try selling the Getrag Stateside too. Worth quite a bit of money over there I believe, especially as it's totally complete.


.

I'm pretty sure it's the same system. I remember the kid mentioning that the guy owned an R129 with a 6 cylinder diesel (if that rings a bell). I suspect that the 722.6 will fit into a 107 tunnel as it's about the same size as a V8 722.3. They have a removable bell housing and you want one from a straight 6 car.

I have that same 5 speed dog leg in my 90 300SL. It's a nice gearbox and yes, some people over here are nuts about Mercedes Benz cars with 5 speed gearbox so you'll likely get a good price if you cna make the shipping work.

 

[Druk]

That’s the guy. Has a 606 in a 129. Lots of vids on his channel

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I’ve got the gearbox, it came with the engine complete.





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[Newera]

Of course this is up your choice. However the 722.6 is an incredibly strong and reliable transmission. When Mercedes Benz moved to the 7 speed, they kept the 722.6 for the most powerful AMG cars. It's behind my CL65 motor which produces more than 700ft/lbs torque.

@alabbasi. Thanks... now the penny dropped. I was thinking of the 5 speed 722.4 which isn't such a great box, not the 722.6 which does appear to have a reputation for being stronger.... and would work well with the 2.65 final drive on my car too...

So now I have checked & I can get a low mileage 722.6 here in Japan for around the equivalent of $500 USD. Then all I need is the kit from Home (Unless someone knows of a better alternative)?

Hmmm.... Does seem tempting. What does the paddle mechanism come from, anybody know? I think you guys may have been responsible for planting the seed in me for the next modification. Fortunately our recently completed fully equipped workshop at home has a pit and I've even invested in a transmission jack, so this may be a no-brainer weekend project for the near future...

 

[Druk]

Bear in mind other requirements, one of which is the prop shaft. The output flange of the 722.6 is 120mm PCD iirc so you would also need the front half of the matching shaft and graft that onto the one from the 124. Check with Olefejer but I think he also needs the floor changer from the donor 210. And then there’s the speedo???

 

[Newera]

The gear.dk converter can drive the speedometer, I believe:SpeedoOut

Also, as far as I can tell (I may well be wrong!), the output flanges are removable from all types of 722.x gearboxes (Just a large nut holding it in place onto a splined output shaft), so judging by any lack of mention of need to modify a prop shaft in any of the online info from ofgear.dk - I'm guessing the output flanges may be interchangeable.

...Anybody actually done a conversion like this yet, who could shed light on this?

So I spent some time yesterday evening looking at the other necessary hardware that I'd need to do a conversion such as this to get an idea of costs:

(1). WEB-Shop (Cost 674 Euros + Postage to Japan. VAT not payable as outside the EU. Kit from Gear.dk. Boost control needed??).
(2). WEB-Shop (Cost 120 Euros + Postage to Japan. VAT not payable as outside the EU. Kit from Gear.dk for OM603 Throttle Position Sensor).
(2). A804 W203 C55T AMG 5AT ミッション ★59280Km ★... - ヤフオク! (Cost 83,160 Yen + Shipping. Used low mileage 722.636 transmission from 2005 C55 AMG. Has more friction plates than others, so this would be a better choice than cheaper but older low mileage 622.6 transmissions).
(3). Oil cooler lines & small cooler (Cost estimated at 25,000 Yen).
(4). メルセデスベンツ純正オートマオイル★ATF 722.6... - ヤフオク! (6L MB ATF Fluid - Cost 16,200 Yen incl. shipping. Transmission Oil).
(5). ★激安即決!!★☆ベンツ ATF 722.6 5速用 オイルフ... - ヤフオク! (Cost: 3,670 Yen incl. shipping. ATF Filter, Gasket & Postage for 622.6).
(6). 【M's】AMG W209 W203 R171 純正品 パドルシフト... - ヤフオク! (Cost: 26,211 Yen incl. shipping. AMG Paddle Shift Lever Set).
(7). Ｗ210ベンツＥ55AMGワゴン☆シフトゲート/ノブ☆B9... - ヤフオク! (Cost: 10,800 Yen excl. shipping. W210 shift Selector assembly).
(8). For switching the 622.3 OM603 compatible bellhousing onto the 622.6 gearbox: Bellhousing steel gasket MB Part number 1402774214 (Price unknown).
(9). Used Steering wheel with 4 rings on the contact wheel, in order to run the paddleshift buttons (Could do this job later; wouldn't have to be done same time as the transmission swap).

I think that about covers all the anticipated costs (Would cost me the equivalent of around £2,000 to do give or take a few bob), unless I've missed something else?

 

[91dm]

One of my favourite cars on the whole forum, the attention to detail makes it! A slightly tuned om606 and 722.6 would really make it..

 

[Newera]

One of my favourite cars on the whole forum, the attention to detail makes it! A slightly tuned om606 and 722.6 would really make it..

Thanks 91dm. Yes, I could so easily agree, as I'm prone to tuning every car I really like - but there's nothing much wrong with the OM603. It's not that much less powerful, really (150 for the 603, as opposed to 177 bhp for the 606)...
Tuned, these engines can each make a lot more, but then we're into black smoke at high boost and higher fuel consumption... higher EGT's (unless the fuel pump is reconfigured), turbo being over worked, or replacing with a larger turbo when combined with a reworked pump - and then it's another exhaust manifold, probably made from steel which will be prone to cracking, etc. if unlucky....

It's my wife who drives this car mostly, each day - so the need for more power isn't there, really. Just needs to remain a car requiring only normal maintenance is all... I have other machines to use if I really want to go faster.

Gearbox on the other hand - having driven 5 speed Auto W124's, I know they drive so much nicer... though 722.4's aren't as reliable for high mileages, hence why I wouldn't consider one. A 722.6 which woulf make the gearbox pretty bombproof for the rest of this car's life is much more tempting, though. It would probably last till 1,000,000km then.

Was looking at the mileage it had when I mentioned it a little over a year ago, here: 258,000km then. It's now got 300,000km, so it does around 35,000km a year - but it's still in its infancy of life it can got. Still got a Looooot of life left in the original engine, would be a shame to waste it.

 

[Newera]

BTW, going slightly off topic, I had the rear seat re-trimmed in E500 style with buckets (still keeping it to 3 seatbelts though, for convenience), complete with seat heater elements - to keep our kids warm on winter school runs. Back seats are now more comfortable than the E500 fronts. Perhaps I'll have them retrimmed someday too. No rush there.

A few more recent pictures below to update the original thread with...

 

[91dm]

Yes it's also nice to see the original engine which looks spotless! It would be relatively straight forward to tune that to a safe and smoke free 200bhp. 6mm elements with a new turbo and free flowing exhaust would keep EGT/heat all safe but like you've said, not really required. The rear seat looks great and very OEM!

 

[Newera]

Found earlier that there are spiral cables that were made for the W124 as well.... I'd forgotten they exist, since I have no airbags in this car, but later ones came with them as standard.

Hmm, maybe with a used one of these - there's a possibly even easier solution to be able to fit (metal) paddles to the existing steering wheel then. Just thinking aloud...
W124 スパイラルケーブル E500E400E320 並行 AMG - ヤフオク!

 

[Newera]

Yes it's also nice to see the original engine which looks spotless! It would be relatively straight forward to tune that to a safe and smoke free 200bhp. 6mm elements with a new turbo and free flowing exhaust would keep EGT/heat all safe but like you've said, not really required. The rear seat looks great and very OEM!

Uprated turbo...I'd probably want to fit an intercooler too, which would mean cutting bits to fit, etc. I looked at all this in detail before, even went as far as speaking with Dieselmeken, but decided against messing with the engine at all in the end. This car's supposed to last the rest of our lives (assuming Diesels don't get banned and we couldn't find enough used cooking oil to power it if the need were to arise - highly unlikely, since all of Japan's infrastructure is supplied by Diesel powered trucks - and Diesel is around 20% cheaper than petrol in Japan), so it'll stay as is under the bonnet.

I made the mistake of cutting all of the rubber, rather than just the metal lined part that would sit under the strut brace, but aside from that it's how I want to keep it going forward under the bonnet.

I've got some replica E500 rear arches I intend to have fitted & the rear quarters plus some custom vented panels (That came off a modified E500) to replace the ones under the headlights, but as the car's in daily use and there are other projects in motion - further cosmetic mods are going to have to wait for now.

 

[alabbasi]

Bear in mind other requirements, one of which is the prop shaft. The output flange of the 722.6 is 120mm PCD iirc so you would also need the front half of the matching shaft and graft that onto the one from the 124. Check with Olefejer but I think he also needs the floor changer from the donor 210. And then there’s the speedo???

The prop shaft will fit without problems. You will need to use the flex disc and doodad (technical term) from a 722.6 that lived behind a V8 car. You can use the cluster from a 400E/E420 which has electronic drive.

 

[Druk]

The prop shaft will fit without problems. You will need to use the flex disc and doodad (technical term) from a 722.6 that lived behind a V8 car.

Is what you’re saying is that it will need the front section of shaft from a 722.6 equipped car otherwise surely the original 124 shaft will have too small a PCD spider to fit the 722.6 flexy disc? What is a doodad, is it the same as a thingumyjig?

 

[alabbasi]

Is what you’re saying is that it will need the front section of shaft from a 722.6 equipped car otherwise surely the original 124 shaft will have too small a PCD spider to fit the 722.6 flexy disc? What is a doodad, is it the same as a thingumyjig?

Exactly! the output shaft yolk (doodad) on the 722.6 needs to come from a V8 powered car as it's the same size as the as that from a diesel 722.3, that is mounted to the back of an OM603. These were bigger then those used on the 6 cylinder gasoline cars, I assume to handle the extra torque.

 

[Newera]

I can appreciate the speedo on my car is driven by a cable (can't remember off the top of my head, but I believe on these lower powered W124's it is) then I'll need to find a 400E / E420 / E500 speedometer too... Bugger! Yet another cost and job to do (These aren't usually cheap...).
It's not that simple a conversion then, as such parts are rare - and I'd like to continue to display the original mileage of the car. I wonder if the speedometer output is adjustable with ofgear.dk's kit, so it can be calibrated in line with the final drive used by different models... my guess is that it is possible; in which case I'd be happier I guess. Re-setting the odometer may be a pain, though. I can begin to see this isn't just a weekend job. It's going to take longer than that and cost more than the equivalent of £2,000, even doing all the work myself.

On Ofgear.dk's site it shows A 722.6 with a 3-bolt hub connected to a 3-bolt prop shaft.
As mine is an OM603 Turbo Diesel with its original 722.3, I am assuming the hub from my gearbox would be possible to fit to a 722.6 output shaft.
Like this: EXT_Speed_RPM

 

[Newera]

Yep, Speedo output signal is adjustable on the controller....