Spartan Mercedes 190 (w201)
Discussion
r129sl said:
83HP said:
r129sl said:
Edit: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1990-Mercedes-190-2-6-M...
Interesting project...
Were you the winner for this 2.6 Manual? Interesting project...
Edited by r129sl on Sunday 24th May 14:47
I don't think there is much to do right or wrong on a 3.0litre transplant: one out, one in. However, I would take the opportunity to mint up the engine bay, change the mounts, fit a sporty camshaft, all that sort of stuff. Kind of like what the SL Shop did with the motor on their 300 SL sportsline. They took it from 188bhp to 240bhp (i.e. from 300 SL to 500 SL power output) with a cam, porting and gas flowing the head (I have heard this is unnecessary as the Mere head is as good as it gets) and modern electronic ignition.
Back to the Spartan. Mrs r129 complained that her driver's side wing mirror was all rusty. I sourced a new one from Euro for £75. It is not as good as the old one. The casing does not fit quite right; the mirror glass is not seated in the same place; and the adjuster is not in the right place, either. I have kept the old mirror, will strip it, clean it up and repaint it. One day.
Back to the Spartan. Mrs r129 complained that her driver's side wing mirror was all rusty. I sourced a new one from Euro for £75. It is not as good as the old one. The casing does not fit quite right; the mirror glass is not seated in the same place; and the adjuster is not in the right place, either. I have kept the old mirror, will strip it, clean it up and repaint it. One day.
A little bit of Spartan action this weekend and the usual one step forwards two steps back. Boy one and I serviced it the other day, oil, oil filter, very easy. Then this weekend. we finished the job, air filter and spark plugs. Unfortunately I struggled to get the lead off plug 2 and stretched it at the plug end, just above the metal collar. Does this mean I have wrecked it? The car now misses occasionally, so I am guessing I did. Advice please! I have some spare leads in the garage, I will have to check it out.
Anyway, plugs looked OK:
My helper at work:
And the air filters, not too bad but probably worth the £15 to change it:
Anyway, plugs looked OK:
My helper at work:
And the air filters, not too bad but probably worth the £15 to change it:
r129sl said:
A little bit of Spartan action this weekend and the usual one step forwards two steps back. Boy one and I serviced it the other day, oil, oil filter, very easy. Then this weekend. we finished the job, air filter and spark plugs. Unfortunately I struggled to get the lead off plug 2 and stretched it at the plug end, just above the metal collar. Does this mean I have wrecked it? The car now misses occasionally, so I am guessing I did. Advice please! I have some spare leads in the garage, I will have to check it out.
Anyway, plugs looked OK:
My helper at work:
And the air filters, not too bad but probably worth the £15 to change it:
My car misses occasionally too and I cure it by unplugging and plugging back the leads. Damn annoying but I think the leads are expensive. Not the rotor arm or distributor cap as they're new! Anyway, plugs looked OK:
My helper at work:
And the air filters, not too bad but probably worth the £15 to change it:
Here is the Bosch lead that I broke when changing the plugs. This is very disappointing. The quality of the Bosch item is far inferior to the original Mercedes item, which was made by Beru:
I was concerned that when I changed the lead, I may have dislodged the distributor cap with resultant damage to cap and rotor. Careful inspection of the cap showed some damage, as if the rotor had struck the cap. So I ordered a new Beru cap and Bosch rotor from Euro. Unfortunately, they delivered some unknown brand which lacked the fixings necessary to hold it in place. Just s
t, really. Anyway, it was interesting comparing old and new caps. There does appear to be damage but not fatally so:
Here is the old rotor:
I used the old cap and new rotor, carefully seating each. I went over the leads to make sure they are all OK and they are. A brief test drive suggests it runs better if not perfectly. I may order Beru leads and cap.
Then I had a run out to visit a friend (shhh!) who is restoring a 190 E 2.5-16. His car has been painted and looks ace, even under the rain drops:
His engine bay needs detailing. His mechanic is an interesting chap, there was much exotic metal in his garage including a Mk1 Nissan Skyline being fitted with a much, much newer motor. But what caught my eye was this Ascot Grey 190 E. I think we saw this car for sale a while back. Anyway, the stance piqued my attention. It is sitting on 16 x 7 steelies wrapped in 205/55 rubber and it has had a drop.
But what really got me going was this. It is running a M111k engine and 6speed manual box from a CLK230 kompressor with a big pulley. About 230bhp. It is a really, really nice installation, almost factory looking (apart from the air filter: I have suggested a diesel box). The transmission feels fabulous. He is looking to shift it...
All in all an interesting day. The Ascot Grey colour is just beautiful. Solid colours are the way forward!
I was concerned that when I changed the lead, I may have dislodged the distributor cap with resultant damage to cap and rotor. Careful inspection of the cap showed some damage, as if the rotor had struck the cap. So I ordered a new Beru cap and Bosch rotor from Euro. Unfortunately, they delivered some unknown brand which lacked the fixings necessary to hold it in place. Just s
t, really. Anyway, it was interesting comparing old and new caps. There does appear to be damage but not fatally so:Here is the old rotor:
I used the old cap and new rotor, carefully seating each. I went over the leads to make sure they are all OK and they are. A brief test drive suggests it runs better if not perfectly. I may order Beru leads and cap.
Then I had a run out to visit a friend (shhh!) who is restoring a 190 E 2.5-16. His car has been painted and looks ace, even under the rain drops:
His engine bay needs detailing. His mechanic is an interesting chap, there was much exotic metal in his garage including a Mk1 Nissan Skyline being fitted with a much, much newer motor. But what caught my eye was this Ascot Grey 190 E. I think we saw this car for sale a while back. Anyway, the stance piqued my attention. It is sitting on 16 x 7 steelies wrapped in 205/55 rubber and it has had a drop.
But what really got me going was this. It is running a M111k engine and 6speed manual box from a CLK230 kompressor with a big pulley. About 230bhp. It is a really, really nice installation, almost factory looking (apart from the air filter: I have suggested a diesel box). The transmission feels fabulous. He is looking to shift it...
All in all an interesting day. The Ascot Grey colour is just beautiful. Solid colours are the way forward!
ferrisbueller said:
The grey one looks great. Did he mention a price?
Less than you'd think. He said it owed him £7k.The interior was mint. The exterior, so far as I could tell, looked perfect, too. 106k miles on the body and chassis, not sure about the engine and transmission. The conversion was very neatly done. Personally, I would fit a period gear knob, not the CLK item, but even so, a really nice job.
Edited by r129sl on Saturday 21st November 20:11
Shiny new parts arrived from Herr Autodoc this week. All new rear suspension links plus four sub-frame mounting bushes. This lot came in at less than £150 delivered. The Lemförder links and bushes are, of course, genuine Merc with the stars burred off at approximately 20% of the price of genuine Merc. The Febi Bilstein rear bushes were the best I could find, Lemförder being unavailable.
Why fit these? Well, the originals are 30 years and 184,000 miles old. But more to the point there is a pretty hard thunk every time you come hard on or off the throttle consistent with the from pair of rear sub-frame mounting bushes having collapsed. It is a cheap (-ish) job so might as well.
Re-fitting the ignition components seems to have alleviated but not eliminated the misfire. I wonder what I have done wrong.
Why fit these? Well, the originals are 30 years and 184,000 miles old. But more to the point there is a pretty hard thunk every time you come hard on or off the throttle consistent with the from pair of rear sub-frame mounting bushes having collapsed. It is a cheap (-ish) job so might as well.
Re-fitting the ignition components seems to have alleviated but not eliminated the misfire. I wonder what I have done wrong.
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