Spac’s Adventures in Mercedes

Paid $200 for this including delivery.

It is an M271.980, same as what’s in my car. 200,000km old, blown head gasket.

I grabbed it because I figured it would pay for itself pretty quickly if I need a coil pack or sensor or anything.

Pulled the head off to see if the block or head were obviously junk.

It is suffering from the common worn cam sprocket problem. This is the inlet cam - the exhaust isn’t a bad.

Interestingly, the cam chain doesn’t appear to be worn.

Generally, it came apart really nicely, the only hassle being that every single exhaust stud came out...

Wonder how long this O-ring had been there? Wonder whether it happened at the factory or afterward?

This had me stumped for a while. The guide pin has to come out to access the E-torx bolt underneath, but I couldn’t work out how to remove the pin.

Eventually I went to google. Seems like lots of people do timing chain & sprocket replacement without replacing the chain guides - including those who upload how-to videos...

I finally found someone asking, who was given the correct answer. The pin has a M6 internal thread, so you screw a bolt in, and then wind the nut down and extract the pin.

Totally unremarkable once I got the head off. Minimal bore wear, no sign of a BHG, no corrosion in either the head or the block.

So unremarkable that I didn’t even think to take a photo.

I am now assuming that the coolant got into the water through the oil-water heat exchanger failing - will need to confirm this if I ever use the head/block/heat exchanger.

These motors (and cars) were from Mercedes’ Chrysler era - Merc people complain about them in much the same way Volvo people complain about Ford-era Volvos, but overall it seems to be well engineered.

The bottom end with no accessories certainly weighs more than I would expect.

Philia_Bear

Needs more boost

It does. Despite the ad explicitly saying “supercharger not included”, it came with the blower.

When I get around to it, I will work out how to fit a smaller pulley to it and then fit the smaller pulley to my car.

Only if you ignore valvetronic and valve stem seals and headgaskets.

Today I did a thing that has been at least 25 years in the making.

Part 1 is a cheap, (barely) registered auto 1992 180E.

LOTS of rough edges but drives pretty well and not ruined.

But Part 2 is the more interesting part.

It is a 1985 190E with a Lorinser “kit” on it - wheels, body kit and steering wheel. But the real news is that it is a MANUAL one! ?

It’s been off the road for 15 years, so needs recommissioning, but it starts, stops, runs and drives.

The 17” wheels I bought for the 203 look like they’ll fit with some smaller tyres.

I have already bought some camber tops for the front.

Philia_Bear

ready to sell the c200 yet?

Yeah, I am definitely close.

205/40 tyres work.

Unrelated aside: I have four pairs of 205/40R17 tyres of different cheap brands and every single one of them has bad cracking. I had hoped that I’d be able to make up two good pairs, but no.

———

Also got the front power windows working in the 180E - these were factory delivered with manual windows and then poorly converted to electric at the dealers. The factory wiring diagrams are useless because of this.

Plenty of head-scratching lead me to discover a blown fuse located in a stupid spot - an easy fix!

The rear windows have issues within the doors that will require further investigation.

The “add on” motors can be removed and the manual winders added back on, so hopefully I can just do that.

Also got the stereo working. Another blown fuse.

The stereo has been fitted used the time-honoured “twist and tape” wiring method. I upgraded this to the “solder and tape method” which has eliminated the crackling and will hopefully avoid another blown fuse.

———

Drove the 180E to work today. Overall quite reminiscent of a 240, TBH. Sits on the road a bit more nicely, steering isn’t as good. Both have the feeling of being noisy compared to modern cars, but still entirely capable and comfortable.

The stereo has gone into “Protect” mode. Will fault find at lunch.

Fitted some ex-BMW 15” tyres to the front of it yesterday, along with disconnecting the brake pad wear sensors (the pads are worn to the point that the sensor flickers and annoys me).

Will do the rear tyres in the next few days.

Last week, I went and collected a cheap W202 C220 from Deniliquin.

These are the first common/affordable Mercedes 16V I4 motor (called M111). Being a 2.2 litre one, it makes 110kW, which compares pretty well against the 89kW of the 190E’s 8V M102, and the 180E’s 80kW.

The M111 also has a reputation for indestructibility, and is the preferred option for +T conversions in 4-cylinder Mercs.

It seems to go pretty well as is. Far happier at high revs than the 180E. I suspect that it will be entertaining enough in a 250kg lighter 190E with a manual behind it.

Despite my earlier concerns, the 190E is not a “proper” Lorinser car - the body kit isn’t Lorinser at all - so it is not a special car that needs to be maintained in original condition. The C220’s motor is earmarked for it!

Not sure what to do with the rest of the W202 - I feel bad about scrapping it, but realistically it isn’t worth anything as a car - taking the engine out is only going to make it worth less!

Also washed the 180E and removed most of the black mould spots from the paint. Only stopped because it got dark. And cold.

The 16” wheels look a lot better than the ugly 15s that were on it, and also slightly raise the gearing.

I just realised that I didn’t post any photos of the 190E...

Major Ledfoot

https://ozvolvo.org/discussion/comment/191540#Comment_191540

lol ..... After what Hendo told me about his former Merc, I must respectfully disagree. ?

The 16V in the 190E 2.3-16 was the M102 engine, but those beasts were not common nor affordable.

@Spac now that you're busy with these Mercs, are you still progressing with the 960 rally car? If you are and you have surplus interior trim bits, please let me know.

960 has stalled badly. I am in the middle of a big purge - down to one x40, both Peugeots going back to their original owner, several others to be advertised...

The whole 9-series thing is the biggest area of indecision. Current thinking is to sell both 940s and keep the S90, but this plan is likely to change at any moment.

Let me know what you want and I'll see what I can do.