aquatwerp

I'm a new MB owner. I just bought a 1979 240d from a neighbor who had it sitting in his garage for 10 years and started it up every other year just to hear it purr. Before starting it I drained and replaced all of the fluids and filters, and replaced the battery and it started right up. Now that it runs the next step is to see what modifications/upgrades I can make to improve the vehicle's performance. I fully understand that the 240d was never made to be a screamer off the line, but I'd like to spice it up as much as possible.

blowfish

it has less than 80 hp, I had 3 of them, no amount of lipstick will make this piggy pretty,
u can always stick a 300 turbo diesel in her. my fnd did that. or plain less work if u just by a TD.
other than that u mind as well enjoy the way its gong to be moving at a glacial pace.
once rolling they're not slow, mines did went up to 83 MPH.

240D 3.0T

If its an automatic, upgrade to manual.
If its manual, you're SOL for more power. You're stuck at 69hp.

blowfish

In the early days of Turbo folks had put Turbo in 240d, but is a small engine plus was not designed to have more power output.

TD has oil spray from under the piston as to cool off a bit, plus other designs right from the start.

Or fix her up nicely trade her for a TD.

I have seen folks shoehorn a 302/ 5.0 litre ford engine into a w123 body too.
U can just find a 123 with dead engine then do the work.

lkchris

Thing you might do that might make you feel good is update the glowplugs to later, faster versions.

blowfish

u might want to drive her for a few mths and see if the Escargot pace is something for u.
I drove my 240d for 6 weeks recently kind of left me mixed feeling.
With lack of power u're kind of the 4th class citizens on the road, kind of the also ran.
Changing lanes is as critical as a F 14 taking off from a flat top. As they have a pretty narrow window of stall speed, the higher the head wind the better.

U need to put turn signals on sooner the better, so forewarn the blokes behind your friendly diplomatic intention. Usually when they see a Diesel sign on your trunk lid they let u in.

Worse moment is moving the car from a stop, once moving is not all bad.
Driving on the hwy /freeway u need to know your limit just like they warn u before u enter a Casino.
60 Mph is not hard to attain, anything beyond u need to be patient.
A fnd had rebuild one of these engine, he said the cyl sleeve was badly scored, kind of a sign of driving her at prolonged high speed on the autobahn.

The best bet perhaps wait till u totally happy with the car before sink $$ into it.
They hold their value because of simplicity, easy to work on.
Driving in heavy traffic is not bad as u just move along at crawling speed, even if u had 500 HP u still need to wait for the same line up. Not long ago I saw one of these Lambo with the DSg gear box, he was just not happy at all, the rev just went up & down like a Yo yo. The car was designed to go pedal to the metal. So your car maybe slow u can have the last laugh though when u wave at them.

240hag

my clutch jus burn out how much will this cost me?

240hag

sorry about that its a 240d. how much will the parts run me??

blowfish

A new clutch probably cost 6-700 or more, go get several quotes.

harkgar

David Letterman had a Volvo 700 series car equipped with a Ford 302 cubic inch iron lump as a daily driver. There is a company in the US that does kits specifically for Volvos.

blowfish

Late Paul Newman also has one of these, real sleeper too.

Volvo never put any V8 in any of her cars, perhaps that may make some money for them.

240D 3.0T

Just a performance V6.