JTY

This project begun already in 2012 but has been "offline"

My first mb was 123 so the model had very special meaning for me, I have had many 123 past years but not for long time and I had an urge to get this old jewel once again.
Idea was to update an w123 with better and newer engine.
So I bought an old w123 230E which was in pretty bad shape from outside and inside, but had good accessories little rust and low mileage.
Engine was already almost gone so this was very good car for the project.



Here's few pics from the current state and I will add more pics from the start.

Current exterior:






Current engine bay:




Original MB engine

JTY

Start up, still original:




Body was pretty okay in these pics, but it has several bumps and scratches, paint falling off (not original paint job). Interior was in very rpough state, full of rats and cockroaches
Smelled awful and the rats had made bad damage to the seats and almost everything.
Engine was burning oil and no power, this car had been in the tropic heat for over 20years with almost no maintenance.

Engine swap almost done, first drive:



Few parking place shots (31.12.2012)



Engine is race proven 1JZ 8)


Engine is a Toyota 2.5l 6cyl twinturbo (1JZ) that has been driven about 70tkm and
transmission is toyota A340 with mercedes-toyota propshaft.
Engine fits nicely in the engine bay, almost like it was made for w123

Drives good, power is really different comparing original, but there
is still lot to do.
At least these needs to be done:
- Upgrade brakes
- Better diff, to low ratio
- New interior
- Original ECU -> ms3
- Better chassis
- Twins -> single turbo (but let's see what happens)

JTY

Few pics from the engine:


Very tight fit








Pipes to cooler went straight thru to get best clearance and larger pipes.





MB electriciy fully converted with Toyota as old 123 electricy is very anemic and it was easier to deploy the engine swap. There was more work to get everything off and insert new, but now evertyhing works good.
I left the toyota hyudralic engine fan because it's effective and quite.
Also toytoa aircon. has been connected, it's works very good with some custom parts in the cabinet.
Engine came of a half-cut markII so I took so many parts I could to get a OEM look.
Still need to change all blue silicones to black to get seamless look.

fluffyfreak

Thats all kinds of cool man, id keep the blue hoses, adds a lil spice to the badassery

JTY

Had some progress with the transmission after the summer. As the car
uses Toyotas A340E automatic with electric solenoids and is partially controlled by original ECU. I wanted to have better control of the gear changes and transmission in general so I made an controller to take of gear changes. I also wanted to have paddle shifter in the steering wheel
The paddle shifter were made in Japan from billet alu. and carbonfiber to be durable and light.
Now it has manual and automatic mode, with manual I can change gears up and down, in automatic mode I have few additional maps.


Few pics


"BUS" controller modified inside the shifter unit:


Shifter unit test bolted behind the wheel, seems to fit:


Leather wheel was too deep so I needed to change to my reserve wheel that is little small for my taste, but really had no other choice. Going to change to something else later:


Fully adjusted and locked

JTY

Few older pics from the time I had the car just re-painted.
Old paint was in very bad shape and paint was starting to flake off.
New paint is from JDM Nissan Skyline colour map Tungsten Silver, looks
almost as original astral silber


Few pics after the paint:





Change to tomei FPR as turbosmart was stucking:



New gauge set, with PLX etc.



Also change whole suspension from MB to custom SPAX Performance set
At same time cange all bushings to new stiffer ones




Prop shaft was re-made by professional company, now it's much stronger than the previous selfmade shaft:

JTY

Here's few pics from the interior update. The original light beige brown interior was in very very bad shape and smelled of rat ****
Also the seats where badly damaged so I decided to go for fully custom interior with recaro seats as base. All the interior beige parts where re-made black semi-leather same as the seats. I chose semi-leather for it's durability in everyday use.

First feeling was that your not driving mercedes anymore LOL
Now it feels that your not sliding off the seat in first corner

JTY

Here's first test drive video with 1JZ engine:


Video from dyno session:

Engine sound with new all 3" exhaust:

JTY

Latest paddle shifter test videos. Torque converter has
pretty high stall therefor shifts are not so "visible" on videos


Here's first test drive with paddle shifter, running with debug
settings:


Almost final settings, works much better now. Still
minor adjustments needed for upshifts.

Rmac58

Nice work.

JonathonK

This is so good we had to take it to the front page!
https://mbworld.org/articles/swapped-classic-mercedes/

JTY

Thanks for the kind words, just trying to build my dream car

BF_JC230

Nice work! Makes me miss my old supercharged small block Ford w123. Looks so similar and brings back so many good memories of my Dad and I building that thing. I did not need/want A/C for Buffalo...so I was able to hide my intercooler in the grille...Propeller shaft, all new rewire, removing all the vacuum - fitting the shifter to the gate...I (we) had no room to leave the old steering box so we mated a rack and pinion (picture c.2001)...I still say that was my favorite part! Tight, crisp steering with a 2.5 lock to lock spin...oh that was nice!

Keep it up - see if you can find Kmac parts if you lower it!

JTY

Nice w123, do yo have more pictures somewhere lying ?

JTY

Have had slow progress with the project.

Removed old CT12 turbos to check their condition, both have same slack and are little loose.
So I bought two new CT12 that as gone thru steel turbine conversion so no more ceramic wheel problems.
This will allow me to increase the boost over 0.9bar.

But I also had some thought of making real upgrade for the turbos, so I got my hands on few new JDM CT20 that was converted to steel wheels also.

WIth two CT20 the max horsepower would be increased over 400hp.

Here's comparsion of CT12 vs. CT20A




Also here new front CT12A installed and new rear CT20A semi installed,
it almost fit's straight only minor modifications needed:



So let's see what happens, which ones gets installed. Maybe I go with CT12A for start and install the CT20A later. Currently waiting for new custom ECU to be installed on the car and I also started new aircon control project which I'm going to post photos later on.

JTY

Some progress with new mods.

Here's first start with new ECU and mods:

Second run:

mercedes w123

I would be lying to say i was not jealous. This is a nice piece of work you are doing here man!

Rmac58

The second run is purring, well done.

JTY

Thanks

JTY

Thanks, 1JZ is very well balanced inline six
The timing was little of on the first start but second run it's spot on.

JTY

No updates in loong time, have had some other projects in the way.
But had some time to make few modifications to my car.

Designed a gear display to show current gear in manual and also automatic mode.
Automatic mode also is now working.
Injectors was updated to newer design now idle is 100% perfect and works
also better over the whole powerband.



Some bonus video from last year from my r32 gtr project: