Project Indecision - Mercedes 190E, Toyota V12, T56, GT4088R Turbo

[bahaimus]

Sure is, I'm really impressed with the work the guy is doing. His ability to "see" solutions to the space problems this conversion has encoutered is just awesome!

[Poopy]

Visual comparison seems to indicate the V12 shares a similar rod to the later V8. But no-one seems to have one running boosted yet (in fact I only know of one V12 conversion that actually starts so far, but it is not tuned yet and the drivetrain is incomplete - fortunately, that is done by the same mechanic doing mine!)

There's a pretty good chance that mine will be the first one running properly and with boost as well. I'm going to keep it to 7psi which should be more than plenty for the amount of rear tyre I'll have anyway!

This guy beat ya too it:

[bahaimus]

That Cobra is pretty cool. Swedes sure are nuts. He is using a later model Merc V12 which would have been a good brand match for me car. I was only referring to the Toyota V12 that I'm using in my conversion that no-one really has running yet.

[Poopy]

You know...i totally thought you had the merc V12....lol whoops!

[ent72olds]

CHRIST!!!! Like stuffing 10lbs of sausage in a 5lb skin....or should I say 10 lbs of sushi in a bratwurst skin!

[bahaimus]

Back on the ground for a bit.



The cooler is a bit of a giveaway, but I'll look into front bar/spoiler options once I get it back.

[ent72olds]

I guess to keep it as a "sleeper"...shocked all that front end fit back on! May need stiffer springs....keep it goin'!

[bahaimus]

Yeah, I'd like to try and keep it sleeperish. Even if just to avoid too much attention from officers of the law. There's plenty of 190e's around rocking a set of non standard wheels, so if I can hide the cooler better, I'll be quite happy.

In that photo, the car is sitting at full spring height. BTW, I haven't mentioned it yet, but I already have a Ground Control kit and other goodies in there ;). When I bought the kit, it was specc'd with springs to suit a turbocharged iron block I6. The all alloy block V12 with turbo probably weighs close enough to the same, so springs might just be close enough. We'll see how that pans out...........

Front




Rear




Also to be done is a diff upgrade:

It's an R230 from a Nissan Z32 300ZX Twin Turbo. So it's pretty much 9" sized (a touch larger actually) with very thick half shafts.

I had a brake upgrade underway as well, but I just could not get the calipers to stop weeping from the transfer seals, so that needs to be sorted as well when I get the car back. I probably need more brake than the original upgrade anyway given I plan to track this car, so that might be a blessing.

[bahaimus]

More sexy billet stuff that will never be seen

[19,69camaro]

Friggin awesome. keep up the good work.

[rfalker1]

niceeeeeeee... u are going crazy fast

[ATOMonkey]

Is that an electric water pump mounted on the bottom of the radiator?

[KnightMare]

I would of never thought you could fit that in a 190E. My parents had one but that one would surprise anyone not looking at that intercooler. Great job

[mikes70]

Simply bad a$$!

[Tig]

This guy beat ya too it:

Oh My G-D, THAT Cobra is bad ass.

[bahaimus]

I took my 2yo son up with me yesterday to drop the clutch off and check on progress. He now understands that "V12" and "Turbo" are an important part of his ever expanding vocabulary. Here he is asking Al what's going on in the engine bay:


Al told him that if he wasn't careful and a good boy for his daddy, the turbo would suck him in. I'm not sure if this is disbelief or fear on his face:


Anyway, Al and his mate Matt were working on the car

I contracted my mate Matt to do the diff mounting on the merc. He is a boilermaker/sheety/goodbloke/etc and I dangled some of Clayto's cash reserves in front of him.

We pulled the rear cradle and chopped a section out of the rear to allow the diff to move rearward and align the respective drive flanges. Matt pressed something up while checking his emails and making a coffee and gave it a tweak here and there before welding it in.

We made the diff mount to position the output flanges at the same centreline as the original merc diff and just centred the pinion in the crossmember while getting it as high as possible(top mounted swaybar).

The driveshaft shop suggested to me that it is better to have the gearbox and pinion slightly misaligned because it makes the uni work a bit which prevents a single wear pattern forming that eventually leads to vibration(in a single piece shaft, irs application).













Important Edit - The front mount has not yet been made, please remain calm and do not touch the reply button.

[bahaimus]

I'll keep posting the updates as they come in!

There was a small SNAFU yesterday with the combined dimensions of the 1GZ bellhousing, the adapter plate, the T56 input shaft and the custom flywheel and clutch. I'd obviously ****ed something up in my measurements and the input shaft was about 20mm short of the back of the crank and wouldn't engage the second clutch plate.

So off with the front housing of the gearbox



And away to the machine shop for a spot of milling.



8.5mm off the adapter plate. 7mm of the gearbox housing. 5.5mm off the bellhousing.

See how that all goes back together.

[amcya]

I have a 190 with a ford 5.0. Where did you get all the urethane suspension bushings?

[bahaimus]

I have a 190 with a ford 5.0. Where did you get all the urethane suspension bushings?

They're made by a guy in Thailand. Are you in the US? He has an agent for the products in CA. Let me know and I can pass on the contact details.

[amcya]

They're made by a guy in Thailand. Are you in the US? He has an agent for the products in CA. Let me know and I can pass on the contact details.

Please send me the info; urethane bushings are hard to find for this car. Thanks.