oldbeaver

Hello Newera, Saijin Naib and the Forum. I introduce myself: my member name is Oldbeaver from Chile. I have a 1993 Merc 300D turbo, japanese market version, very rare to get in my country. I followed this one for years until it was sold.

Color is similar to Newera's. Mine has 260.000 km, and my present projects are:

- Retrofit Led headlights.
- Install a MPGuino trip computer, using existing signals of the car.

I already changed the turning lights to ones similar to Newera's.

My proposal is to keep in touch and share our discoveries. Instrument cluster lights is a nice imptovement too.

I think the engine cover of Newera is not the original also, it belongs to a W210 maybe? Looks nice.

My best fuel tank so far was 13.2 km/l and I hope I may improve if I can instal the MPGuino onboard. My normal tank yield is around 11 km/l.

Looking forward to hearing from you and other members,

Oldbeaver

Newera

Thanks for your post oldbeaver. Great choice of car!

Mine now has 239,000km but is still going strong. We are also using another 300D Turbo (pre-facelift) with only 123,000km & in mint original condition, whilst our other vehicle is away being restored. Then I'll probably sell it as I can't see myself needing 3 of these (The other is tucked away under a car cover).

Aside from fitting powerful rear speakers with their own amp (speakers located in original positions, I JB welded them onto the original plastic rings - worked a treat). Sound quality is excellent and makes it a pleasure to drive this car whilst listening to clearly accurate sound quality with no distortion or interior vibrations from resonance.

I recently updated the brakes further to a set from an E500, together with a matching master cylinder upgrade (V12 R129 m/c is the same), whilst keeping the original booster. Together with the existing suspension upgrades. There is a noticable improvement over the 500E brakes I had fitted before and this has made for a greater car. I can drive it very quickly and know it'll corner & stop without drama, without ever giving the brakes undue stress. Was also nice to have E500 heated seats this winter, which warm up instantly.

Next jobs planned will be to have the roof re-trimmed in grey alcantara and have the centre console overlaid in carbon with a very shiny clearcoat, since the current wrap bubbles & scratches over time. I have a good contact for this who does great leather work on sports cars for the business I run.

Then once our camping RV comes back from it's body restoration it'll be time for the Benz to go in and we'll keep the blue one for my wife's daily duties meantime:

I have a used E500 front end (incl. headlights which work differently to lesser models), and some used original AMG rear arch extensions. I bought a Diesel Turbo fender so I could cut out the air intake louvers and have then fitted to the E500 left fender. I also have another set of Evo II wheels I'm having restored so the wheels on the car will be 100% perfect too, when the bodywork is done. Should be quite a unique car when this is done and of course I'll post pics.

These final modifications should complete all I want to do on this W124. It'll basically be like an E500 in looks, handling & braking but with the economy and great high mileage capability of a 300D Turbo.

I don't really ever drive for economy or check what the figures are as we have nice empty roads here, but it's proving itself to be a 100% reliable car for any use incl. the children's school run. I think the best we've had from a tank is about 12.5 km/l on a long overnight drive of about 850km without needing to refill, mostly cruising at 120 km/h. It gives good fuel economy anyways. Great cars, these!

I fitted LED headlights to my motorcycle for about 10 mins once. I took them off as they weren't nearly bright enough! That was 5 years ago, so technology may be a lot better by now, I don't know. I find original bulbs work well for now, but the used E500 light set I have came with HID, so I'll probably use it.

oldbeaver

Dear Newera,

Ok to all said. You mention something about yr radio. I have trouble getting a strong signal with mine. The antenna try to get out, the engine sounds, but just shows 15 cm of it out. Have you dealt with this stuff?

I have two choices: repair or change.

From the http://www.k6jrf.com/MB_S500.html site, I learned that repair the antenna is very complicated.

For the second option, I also have two choices: to install an original antenna or to install a generic antenna. I think no one will note the difference.

What do you think? What is yr experience? Do you have the circuits?

Anothe question. From many years to now, I am trying to learn what are the electric and electronic devices cables, plugs located in the passengers side below the matress, on the very floor. Do you have an idea of that? It seems to be related to the radio? Am I wrong?

Best,

Oldbeaver

PS: a picture of my car.



This is my car. I will send you pics about my trip computer project later.

Newera

Sorry for the belated reply. My head unit is from the U.S. - A Parrot Asteroid Classic, which works great with an iphone, but doesn't tune into Japanese radio stations. I don't want to hear them anyways, too much talking. Instead, I prefer to choose the band I want to listen to, press a button and say the artist's name and it comes on.

The wires under the floor of your car are likely for electric seats, assuming it has that option fitted.

Newera

The wide body conversion has gone to plan.
Lots of parts needed changing to make this work (bumper, fenders, lower fender trims, inner fenders, headlights, side skirts, rear (AMG original) arches, Evo II original wheels, etc), but it's pretty much done at last.



This is how it looks now. Might put a discreet lip spoiler on the back & I have a spare pair of panels to go under the headlights which I'll cut carefully and have painted before fitting black mesh, to add ventilation. Also have a front number plate trim to fill the ugly gap at the centre of the bumper, which needs fitting and painting, but aide from these 3 intentions that's about all I am thinking of doing for the exterior.

Next will be some high quality carbon fibre laminating on the centre console and retrimming the headlining with one piece of alcantara, plus the B pilar trims and a few other bits by Robson Leather, in Tokyo.









Wheels sit nicely spaced within the arches. No rubbing at all, after having trimmed about 1cm off the inside of the rear arch, to accomodate 10mm hub centric spacers at the rear.



Front didn't need any work on the original 500 fenders.



The front looks much better now than with the narrow original W124 bumper, E500 headlights, Avant Garde Grille and the Turbo's air intake. I wonder how many people will realise the work that's gone into making this, when they see it on the road, or if they'll think it's a standard body for a 300D Turbo?

oldbeaver

I wish I have such a pretty body and retrofits as you do.

I need to fit a new radio and antenna.
New headlights (HID or Led)
New back lights (Led I hope)
New tires, maybe a little higher.
I liked the small lights you installed on the front shock bumber.

What I have already done:

New water pump.
New radiator.
New thermostat.
Added a transmission fluid cooler (to make AT it last forever).
New turning lights.
New set of auto valve lifters (hydraulic) for noise reduction.
New rear wheels bearings.
Electronic remote control of doors.
New pressure feeder of IP.

Looking for a way to open the instrument panel. It is firmly fixed to the car from the middle. I had tried to take it out with an american mecanic, as I could not, but it was impossible to him also.
Want to take the VSS signal from there. I think will hopefully take it from the Cruise control computer instead.

Best,

Oldbeaver

AZN Optics

Wow, she looks great!

Good work

Newera

Thanks for the compliment.

Small lights are standard as part of the E500 / 500E bumper, but this bumper won't fit without the E500 fenders, etc. AMG has some bumpers that also carry small driving lights which fits the standard narrow body.

I'd like to see details of your A/T cooler. Do you have any links or pictures, please?

To take out the instruments, easiest way I found was to first remove the vent on either side (Can use toothpicks or similar to carefully prize the metal clips on each corner). Once these are removed the instruments come out by pulling at either side alternately with your fingers. Unplug each connector and you'll have your instrument panel out.

oldbeaver

Very nice job. I really congratulate you! Well, I am doing something to my MB 300D Turbo of 1993, Japanese version that came to my country years ago. I am the owner since 3 years.
Doing some retrofit, but not precisely the same. Will update pictures when I learn how. Here is the only way I command now.

isaltdusa

Hello my fellow W124 diesel fans. I've not done the many updates as these two have accomplished, but love my "basic" car as it is.

I'm looking for a trip computer with fuel consumption, preferably in Miles per Gallon (MPG) for US, but would alternatively consider a Kilometers per Liter (KPL) version. I can find plenty for post 1995 OBD-II equipped cars, but none for our W124 OBD-I models. And normal gasoline retrofit fuel mileage units won't work as the mechanical fuel injection on the W124 diesels have a fuel return line from the FI pump... So you would need two fuel senders, the return quantity subtracting from the feed quantity.

Suggestions?

Mike