Project 190E 400 quid ebay special to 3.2 beast W.I.P

[billywhiz]

Holy sweet mother ^^^^^

 

[carat 3.6]

Ok guys, to pick up where Brett left the story.

Brett left the 3.2 engine donor with me for a few days, so it could be striped down and inspected. After giving the engine and gearbox the all clear, I set about removing it, along with it's loom and ecu's.

This is what it looked like in the blue donor car...

The wiring was a bit of a mess...

Things were a little bit crowded near the fusebox...

And behind the engine..

But after a little bit of spanner waving the engine was lifted out...

Then once the loom had been removed, we were left with a very empty looking engine bay...

 

[carat 3.6]

So with the engine and gearbox now removed from the car, the next job was to remove all the dirt and oil that had built up over it.

Before...

And after I savaged it with the steam cleaner...

Much cleaner. :bannana:

 

[trapperjohn]

Who is the knackered looking fella sat in the tailgate of your 124!! Looks like he could do with a coffee or something stronger.

 

[carat 3.6]

Who is the knackered looking fella sat in the tailgate of your 124!! Looks like he could do with a coffee or something stronger.

That's Andy, he likes to pop in every now and then to see what madness is going on. Also turn's up when his transit van throws a strop, which is more often than not (hence the look on his face ).

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Looks a great project lads, I'm looking forward to more pictures and info.

 

[carat 3.6]

So after a few day's Bretts 190 was delivered up to me for "the surgery" to start. First job was to remove the 2.6 litre paperweight from the car.

I pulled this out..

Which left a big hole in here...

Then it was out with the steam cleaner again to clean up the engine bay, which came up very well in places...

I'll post some more tonight.

 

[poormansporsche]

Thanks mate, you are a hero

 

[janner]

This is the donor after a few days with carat 3.6.

Looks like a W210 with all the rust removed.

 

[Red C220]

These threads are what keeps me on this forum. It's a delight to see work like this unfolding.

Given the correct facilities it's certainly something I'd love to be able to do.

 

[A210AMG]

^ Looks like thats been parked in Liverpool overnight however the wheels are still on... so that cannot be right !

 

[Dieselman]

Looks like a W210 with all the rust removed.

LOL. I had the same thoughts, good job I read the posts.

 

[NW_Merc]

^ Looks like thats been parked in Liverpool overnight however the wheels are still on... so that cannot be right !

Fnar Fnar, I think you will find that the local gangster fraternity like to drive around in old mercs and so wheels don't get nicked from old MBs. Usually, faster, boy racer type cars such as Subarus, Evos, even Vauxhall vectras (due to the room inside and the torque rating) are fair game

 

[carat 3.6]

Now that I had a empty engine bay to work in, it was time to sort out the sloppy steering idler arm, this can be done with the engine in the car but would be a p.i.t.a. to get access to. The rest of the suspension was in good shape, Brett had allready changed the bottom ball joints and the others have no play in them.

Old and new idler arm bushes...

And where they now live, this arm is hidden under the inlet manifold when the engine is in the car so replacement can be a pain..,

While checking the front suspension, the strutt top mounts were found to be worn out, so these were replaced too...

 

[carat 3.6]

The wiring was the next job, I didnt take many pictures of this part for some reason? But it involved alot of trial and error to get the loom around the engine bay so that it looked somewhere like it was ment to be there. Anyway the panel that sits infront of the heater blower motor, and it's cover were both removed to gain better access. While they were out all the dirt and rubbish underneath the scuttle pannel was cleaned out, and the old loom for the m103 2.6, along with it's ecu's, was removed from the car.

This is the old 2.6 loom hanging on the door. (quite why this pic is on it's side I have no idea )...

The empty scuttle pannel before it was cleaned...

In this pic you can see the new loom being fed underneath the blower motor...

Mounting the new ecu's and relays to the rear of the battery tray, the battery tray was later swaped for a better one...

 

[carat 3.6]

A few random pics during the wiring alterations...

And this pic which a few people have asked to see...

 

[d w124]

See if you can find a 190 cab owner,they might be interested on a hardtop LOL

 

[carat 3.6]

With the wiring now routed around the engine bay, it was time to bring the engine back over, and drop it in.

Take one m104 and a forklift...

Up she goes...

Gently dose it...

It's a tight fit...

It's in...

 

[carat 3.6]

So with the engine now fitted and bolted down, (the w201 and the w124 mounts are the same for the 6cyl cars) all that was left was to connect up the pipework, and re-fit the radiator and bumper.

A few points worth mentioning are: The air box is a cut down w124 item, which has had a 2" wedge removed from it's lower half, in order to clear the bonnet. The coolant tank and it's pipework to the radiator are also from the w124, so as to make room for the airbox housing.
The radiator is the original 190e 2.6 item, which is more than big enough to cool the m104 engine.

A picture from above, with the front of the car now back together, but before final assembly of the scuttle pannel area, and fitting of the air-box...

And a final veiw of the completed job...

Some things that I forgot to take pictures of are:

The coil packs have been changed in order to sort out an annoying misfire, hence why the cover is off in the first picture. The throttle body was also cleaned out while the the trunking was apart.

The car had a custom center exhaust section which was causing a drop in power due to no back pressure, this was replaced with an e320 item, which has been modified to fit the 190e floor pan.

The vacuum pipes which run along the back of the engine bay, have had their layout changed a few times in order to tidy things up.

And finally the gearbox loom had to be swaped over from the donor car, this is also a w124 item.



Right, I think that is enough of my ramblings for now, so I'll hand this thread back to Brett.

 

[poormansporsche]

Cheers mate, I really could not fathom how that beast went in with the box still connected, there is literally zero room !