W124 300D that packs a punch!

gramey

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I went to a rolling 1/2 mile event run by Terminal Velocity today, it's the first time I'd heard of them or this type of event, it's fair to say the weather clearly put a lot of people off. Upon arrival I noticed a clean grey 1990 W124 parked at the side of the runway. Nice and tidy but otherwise innocuous and after grabbing a coffee and a burger I popped into the marquee to see what times and speeds had been posted.

There on the list it said Mercedes 300D 150 mph which made me look twice as the car I had seen, although debadged, was the only model that would have that model designation. Given they were driving into a very strong head wind, and traction off the line was difficult with the wet surface, I thought that was an impressive turn of speed.

I got chatting to the owner and had a look under the bonnet and I was definitely impressed by what an excellent job he'd done modifying it, very clean and tidy and professional looking. The engine was from a later 1995 W124 300D but now putting out 541 bhp and 548 ft/lbs of torque!:D

I don't know if they're a member on here but if they are and read this to me that was the most impressive car there. Far more impressive than the Nissan GTR's, 911 Turbo etc there, what an absolute sleeper, loved it.
 
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gramey

gramey

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The OM606 is well known for its ability to be tweaked to high levels of HP.
Even though I don't have the tools or skills to do such a job I loved it, nor am I usually a diesel fan, the only give away was a bigger bore exit on the exhaust. I was surprised not only to see it had a manual gearbox but also how well the manual box shifted, although I wasn't in the car so it may be a pig but the changes seemed smooth enough.
 
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js190d

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Wow, what a car. 180+ mph and 30 something mpg on a run!
 

om613

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They're great, and always an on-going project...Tripling (or more) the torque through a 30 y.o. drive trian, is not easy.
Or cheap...when sorted, the costs pan out to buying an early C63.
 

Babyblue

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Loved my W124 300D estate which i had and would pull like a train even with 280K on the clock never had engine issues but sold it due to water ingress inside the passenger side compartment whenever we had heavy rain. Lovely motor though and a well built tank of a car if ever there was one.:)
 

kid-jensen

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I'll bet your leak was a rusted window edge (hidden under the window sealer).

That's what it was on mine, and in 5 years ownership, I never found out where the rain was getting in till I smashed the windscreen...

Completely dry for the 3 weeks I had between fixing the screen and selling it!
 

Blobcat

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Water can also get in from the heater box, on the 124 and 190. If the drainage is not kept clear.
And just about every other car...
 

Capra

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So, apart from the turbo, pumps, coolers, fuel lines, something about a return bit, the engine is standard, no strengthening required? In theory could I just fit a larger turbo and with a remap have loads more power?
How do they limit the revs, I though diesels were limited because of the nature of how the fuel burns rather than explodes?
 

V6Matty

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Older mechanical diesels are much easier to just bolt things to and make huge power increases, also allowing much larger rev ranges too if tuned correctly.
Not quite so easy with CDI’s but potentially yes you can do the same sort of upgrades and get more power. I’m planning when I have some time to let GAD or MSL have my 212 for a while, fit larger injectors, cooling, turbo and mapping to take me to around 400bhp with 850 torques as an estimate. Probably going to cost me £4K to do it all but the car is going to be a keeper so it’s going to be around for a few years with me
 

Capra

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Older mechanical diesels are much easier to just bolt things to and make huge power increases, also allowing much larger rev ranges too if tuned correctly.
Not quite so easy with CDI’s but potentially yes you can do the same sort of upgrades and get more power. I’m planning when I have some time to let GAD or MSL have my 212 for a while, fit larger injectors, cooling, turbo and mapping to take me to around 400bhp with 850 torques as an estimate. Probably going to cost me £4K to do it all but the car is going to be a keeper so it’s going to be around for a few years with me
Not bad power increase for the money, especially if you're keeping it for a while.
 
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