Medium Pimpin' - 1995 E300 diesel build

[willlarney]

nice attention to detail. can't wait to see more

[zebra]

Great build! Subscribed.

[Dano]

I picked this up last week for $640 has some rear end damage and starting issues. But with time ill get at it.
Thanks for the support bro im gona need it later down the road when i get deeper into this 300e build. But for now it sits at my dads place until i get the resources and time.
And i read some of your stuff on here about that black benz definitely liking it. Good stuff man keep it coming.
Why i ask cause i saw ur "PDX" was wondering if you ever come up to RDM meets on sundays?
Maybe when i get mine running we could go for a shoot or something would love to see that boat in person
Im from se portland so its pretty exciting to see another 300e local

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

I like the story. Definitely following this build. Because I have a 1992 w124 build coming up soon myself might need some feedback.

Are you from the portland oregon?

I am indeed! I'm up by PIR, kinda St. Johns-ish, up in the awesome industrial park. Where are you at?

Don't hesitate to let me know what help I can offer – I always look forward to seeing more Mercs get built!

You could in theory turbo it... Although the engine was not built for forced induction.

I've thought about it on-and-off, but I'm not convinced the 722.4 can handle the extra power long-term. If I'm going to go to the trouble of swapping a 722.3 or a 5-speed auto, I figure I might as well either swap a 606.964 or at least the beefed pistons/con rods off one into my block. That's another discussion for another day, though.

[mike-81-240d]

The song is Steamworks by The Presets.

I figure 13.7 is pretty decent for a naturally-aspirated OM606. I might tweak it a little bit to see if I can get it to just tap redline before shifting out of first and maybe I'll eek another half second out of it, but considering I was testing with 18-ish gallons of diesel in the tank, heavy 18s, the big 'ol stereo, and my lard-ass in the car, I'm pretty happy. With how rev-happy the 606 is, the big ratio jumps in the 722.4 trans and the tall rear end ratio (2.65:1!) just kill what little acceleration the engine can come up with. I'd bet with a 5-speed auto with proper overdrive and a lower final drive ratio, it would be a considerably quicker car.

Thanks!


You could in theory turbo it... Although the engine was not built for forced induction.

http://www.superturbodiesel.com/std/Thread-I-did-it-95-Turbo-606

[Dano]

Are you from the portland oregon?

[Dano]

I like the story. Definitely following this build. Because I have a 1992 w124 build coming up soon myself might need some feedback.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

The song is Steamworks by The Presets.

I figure 13.7 is pretty decent for a naturally-aspirated OM606. I might tweak it a little bit to see if I can get it to just tap redline before shifting out of first and maybe I'll eek another half second out of it, but considering I was testing with 18-ish gallons of diesel in the tank, heavy 18s, the big 'ol stereo, and my lard-ass in the car, I'm pretty happy. With how rev-happy the 606 is, the big ratio jumps in the 722.4 trans and the tall rear end ratio (2.65:1!) just kill what little acceleration the engine can come up with. I'd bet with a 5-speed auto with proper overdrive and a lower final drive ratio, it would be a considerably quicker car.

[mike-81-240d]

Whats the song?

BTW: Stock 0-60 seems to be listed at 12.8-13.8 seconds.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

IT'S A MINI UPDATE!

As always, thank you to everyone for you kind words on the build, and thanks for your patience with my slow ass. The school term is over as of Friday, which means I can actually get some work done on the car instead of failing classes! YAY!

1. BAG MOUNT FINAL DESIGN IS AT THE WELDING SHOP AS WE SPEAK! Should have them back at the end of the week, inshā'Allāh, as the Arabs say. I've been testing designs until I found one I'm happy with, and I think I'll be happy with this one. I must have contacted 10 welding shops to try and get a quote, and the only one who was willing to actually act like a business and take a look at my project was the one Skiierman recommended earlier in the thread, Cycle Metrics, which is actually a motorcycle shop. Fingers crossed!

2. OTHER CRAP

This car has always been slow. Like, way slow, and it always shifted like everloving balls when it was cold, not wanting to go up a gear or banging around when it shifted. I knew something was up, but the usual suspects were not the issue. I checked the fluid: bright red and fresh smelling. I changed out the fuel filters thinking they might be clogged and limiting acceleration, but no, the old ones looked clean and the new ones made little difference. No vacuum leaks, and the modulator was where it wanted to be. Hrm.

Finally it dawned on me that it seemed like it was shifting early. It never dawned on me before because my old Cummins redlined at 3200 RPM, and that was after raising it from the factory's 2600. But, everyone says that the OM606 likes to rev, so I started messing with the Bowden cable, which controls when the transmission shifts. I turned it a couple rotations until it started shifting at a little over 5000.

Lo and behold:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43YRxBTTo5k"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43YRxBTTo5k[/ame]

It actually feels like I'm driving a car rather than a piece of farm equipment. I mean, it's still slow as shit, but it's all kinds of better than it was. All the transmission banging around under load is gone, and it actually drives like a car that cost something like $75,000 in today's money. What a thought.

Also, I broke my plexiglass cover for the audio system . Some shit slid around in the trunk and cracked it, so I picked up some stronger Lexan to replace it. This will be cover #4, I think? I need to come up with something to cover it when there's crap in the trunk.

What else? It snowed here the other day. People who aren't from the west coast probably don't realize it, but it like NEVER snows here. We get one little flurry of snow maybe once a year and the whole city goes OMG JON SNOOOOOOOW and crashes into a tree. Uh, FYI: Nitto Neogens on a torquey heavy RWD diesel are like comically bad on ice. Not that I expected them to be anything but terrible, but I had some entertaining moments trying to get out of my neighborhood. Luckily I didn't hit a busload of nuns or anything like that.

Okay, that's all for now. Everybody keep your fingers crossed that my welding shop gets done on time with everything and I can get this car on air sooner rather than later. My goal is to have the system up and running and all the kinks worked out of it so I can cruise around like a bawwwws on New Years.

[MGW]

Dude. When I saw that photoshop of what it'll look like..... Oh my gosh. BEAUTIFUL.

[MikeyRa]

For what it's worth, my bag plates, like the ones you have, are welded directly to my control arms and spring cups and you can see how it sits aired out.

[Ey3dol]

I'll measure 'em in the AM for 'ya. The only variable with those designs for now is how long to cut the 4" pipe on each bracket. I've been experimenting with the length of the brackets, and I'm not yet 100% satisfied with what I've come up with. If you're going to jump ahead with that sort of a design, I'd cut that piece a couple inches longer - you can always trim it down to get lower, but adding material is another matter.

alright, cool. I appreciate it. Ive had my 300D for a few years now and this winter i'm finally getting around to bagging it (hopefully). I love how this car is turning out, keep up the good work!

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

I'll measure 'em in the AM for 'ya. The only variable with those designs for now is how long to cut the 4" pipe on each bracket. I've been experimenting with the length of the brackets, and I'm not yet 100% satisfied with what I've come up with. If you're going to jump ahead with that sort of a design, I'd cut that piece a couple inches longer - you can always trim it down to get lower, but adding material is another matter.

[Ey3dol]

WOW thank you for those pictures of the brackets. I will be making these soon. Any chance i can get you to give me the size of holes on the SS brackets?