Good to know about the zinc chromate primer on the aluminum. I bought some to use on the valve cover since it's magnesium and its last paintjob lasted about 1 month. I already had the can when I painted the intake, I should have known better.
On the other hand, back in the days I painted a VW ABA intake manifold with the exact same paint and it held for years!
NorseDave said:Keep on keeping on. I really need to update my 190 thread. Spoiler alert - Sunday it moved under its own power for the first time since it went under the knife for Microsquirt'ing.
Good to hear about your project! I was re-reading your thread the other day and I was wondering if you made any progress. Can't wait to hear your first impressions on the system.
Awesome build. Love the work and attention. Also love the car. Always a fave.
My question is about the intake. With the filter you chose, is it enough? I have had one of those and honestly they dont flow the CFM. I was going to recommend a velocity stack with filter. I have a BLOX unit on my Subaru, and they are large and low profile.
You would have to get a low profile filter but it would flow tons better than what you have. Not hating at all, only pointing out that especially with a paper filter thats not flowing what that engine is capable of. Hope I can help!
Chris
Rocambolesque said:Good to hear about your project! I was re-reading your thread the other day and I was wondering if you made any progress. Can't wait to hear your first impressions on the system.
I'll say this, now that I seem to have worked out the tach signal issues and have a tune that's maybe 90% of the way there for cold starts, it starts every time without issue down to about 35*F (coldest its got in the space it lives in atm), which is more than I can say for the car when I started this project. I'll update my thread tonight.
In reply to bonylad :
I know, the air filter I got probably isn't the best choice. I like the "filter directly on top of the TB" approach since I don't have to route a long intake pipe and there isn't much space for an air filter on those ABS-equipped 190E's. Do you have a link to that velocity stack? What sort of filter do you run? I tried looking for K&N units that would fit the current housing I have but couldn't find one.
What I wanted is a 4-barrel carb air filter, but on those the opening is something like 5.25" diameter. I need about 2.5" diameter!
Shameless self-promotion - updated my thread!
Time for a long due update.
First of all, I got a new hook for the engine crane and got the chance to test it. A buddy bought a new-to-him Jeep 4.0 for his Wrangler. We lifted it out of the pickup truck with the crane and it survived! The paint was damaged of course. No pics of the engine lift, but a pic of the hook.
I moved all my remaining tools to the shop. I wanted to get a rolling base for my toolbox but instead I used a 18$ moving dolly. Great purchase!
On March 15th, I brought the car to the shop. Shop is now 100% operational (and don't worry, there isn't anybody else there).
Since the last month, I managed to get the wiring 95% finished. Only thing left is to make the tach output circuit in the ECU and finish the protective loom with friction tape. Also, I need to make a few brackets to hold the harness at some places. Here are a few pics of the almost complete harness. I had to use two 8' wire bundles to complete it since one bundle is about 2' too short!
The harness first starts at the battery, where the factory conveniently placed some screw terminals directly from the battery. Power runs from there to inside the car and a 3rd wire goes to the fan relay on the radiator shroud.
The MS harness passes the firewall through a factory grommet which was not used for anything else than the ABS sensor wire. The Spartan 2 wideband controller is tied to the "faux-firewall" with screw mounted zipties.
Inside the car, part of the harness goes to the electrical center in the glovebox and the other part goes to the ECU under the passenger seat.
A few other wires run to the driver's side. Key-in power is provided via the factory X5/1 terminal in the driver's footwell. Fuel pump power is via the stock wire which I removed from the fusebox connector and I attached the new wire to it from the relay. I just had to use a barrel connector on my new wire.
I removed as much of the old car phone, remote start and alarm wiring I could. There was a LED for the alarm system that was previously installed in the headlight switch panel. I used that spot for the O2 sensor status LED.
Back to the engine bay. Part of the harness runs along the strut tower to reach the fan, the crank sensor and some ground next to the headlight. The main harness runs along the firewall to reach the injectors, the IAT sensor, the TPS, the CLT sensor, cylinder head ground and idle valve. The harness goes around the front of the engine to reach the ignition coils.
All of the original ignition stuff and wiring harnesses have been removed from the car. It frees up a lot of space in the engine bay.
Fan relay trigger power comes from the same wire that triggered the original auxiliary fan relay, it's located in the auxiliary relay box in the engine bay.
The next steps are to finish the harness wrapping and brackets. Then it's headers and exhaust time. Before I start it, I think I will redo the fuel lines, replace the aging dual pumps and accumulator for a simple Walbro 190 lph inline unit, replace one rusty brake line and replace the leaky ball joints. Also, the front control arm bushings seem to have dried up from sitting, so I'll replace them with polyurethane I think.
The other day, while playing with the throttle pedal, I concluded that the modified linkage I made was not very good. I don't expect it to live very long.
So I got on ebay and bought this:
I've been wanting to do ITB's since I learned of their existence! Now is the moment, and this is the car. I plan to install a Dbilas 280 cam to complement that. The throttles are from a Honda CBR600RR. The diameter is 38 mm. It should be ok for the mild engine that the car has. I need to find a spare intake to modify. I don't plan on using pluming couplers...
Over the last few days I cleaned up the wiring harness some more. I made a bunch of brackets to keep the harness secured away from the engine heat. Since most stores are closed, I had to use what I had in the garage. I had zipties with a mounting hole, a bunch of 10-24 screws that were too long and an old rusty square tube as the base metal. I cut a bunch of screws down and used the tube's angles to make 90-degree bent brackets.
First, I made two brackets with a bend in them to hold the wiring harness and the vacuum lines that run next to the fuel rail:
Wires run on top, vacuum lines under.
I also had 2 vacuum lines and the wire for the water temp gauge that ran in the 1" space between the PS pump/reservoir and the intake manifold. I wanted to keep the hoses and wires away from the engine heat so I made this little bracket:
The wiring harness runs at the front of the engine, so it had to be secured there too. I made this bracket and installed it where the engine lift hook once was.
Then I realized that if engine throws the belt, it will take out the harness! I'll keep an eye on that belt...
I also cleaned the area near the windshield washer tank. I secured the harness near the headlight and ran the coolant overflow hose in a grommet through the sheetmetal. I don't remember what was installed in that grommet before... Doesn't really matter now.
I put the headlights back on, then I removed the wiper to access the blower motor. The last time I used the car it made a horrible noise and worked only on setting 3 or 4. It was almost seized. I oiled the bearings in hope to get another year out of it... It seems to work. Finally, I gave the wiper another coat of paint.
Next time I'll put the wiper back on and start on the header and exhaust.
The UPS man brought me polyurethane control arm bushings this week. The sportline bushings I put it 3 years ago are already dry despite having seen maybe 3000 km of use. I'll take a picture when I install them.
Maybe someone remembers that when I bought the 2.3-16 header, one of the two outlets was cracked:
This is why they were cheap enough for me to buy them...
Last summer when I modified it to fit the 8V, I cut the sharp broken end off and painted it temporarily so I could install it on the car to validate the fitment. I never really repaired it. I bought a piece of stainless tubing and cut the outlet flange off the broken piece but never tacked anything together.
A few days ago I decided to tackle the repair. Back then, I had the 8V flange laser cut in one piece so I could get the spacing right, but when I (almost) finished the header, I cut the pieces joining the 4 flanges together. This meant that when the header is off the car, there is no way to know how the tubes for cyl 1-4 and the tubes for cyl 2-3 are positioned in relation to each other. Also, I didn't know where the outlet flange had to go. So I decided to make some sort of jig.
First, I printed a template of the engine's exhaust flange. I also printed another template for the two outlets. It is two 55 mm circles 80 mm apart.
Then I went searching in my parts stash and found the old 16V exhaust flange that I cut off that header. Turns out that 4 of the 8V mounting holes line up with the 16V holes. Also, 4 of the 5 remaining holes don't line up at all, so drilling the new holes in the flange would be possible:
I taped the 8V template on the hole flange, transfered the missing holes and drilled them:
It's stainless steel but not very hard to drill.
I put masking tape on the flange, and cut the outline of the 8V flange out like this:
Then I hit it with paint:
This way I really know how the 2 pieces go and I don't only rely on the bolt holes. It's like those 5S toolboxes I see in factories sometimes.
Header bolted:
For the other end, I drilled 2 holes in aluminum stock 80 mm apart. When both outlets line up at 80 mm center to center, it's the right position:
Test fit in the car is perfect:
Now I just need to cut the missing piece and weld it in!
I'll do that in the next installment...
hi,
I'm a big fan of w201 models, it was my first car (84' W201 190E 2.0). Few months ago I dicided to do this exact same thing you doing, to my older-than-me car. I was doing some research to my project and found this that help me in some details. In fact I would like to ask if you could share the desing of the trigger wheel to make one for my project.
Thank you and good luck with the project!
Sure I can do that, just PM me.
In reply to Rocambolesque :
thank you, I just have to wait a few days because I'm a new member than I will PM you.
The header is done:
It just needs paint now.
The driveshaft is at the machine shop getting lengthened 4".
All the surface rust around the front suspension pivots and the driveshaft tunnel has been ground down, rust converted, por-15'd and undercoated. I found a rust hole in the trunk and one on the radiator crossmember but I'll handle that later.
All 3 exhaust heat shields have been cleaned and I made new brackets for one that was broken.
The control arms are out, the balljoints are getting pressed out and new ones in. I removed the stock bushings (dry-rotted after only 2 years!) and I have polyurethane ones ready.
Motor mounts have been changed with stiffer units from a W124 E320.
Walbro fuel pump has arrived along with the hose from the filter to the hardline. I'm just waiting for the tank to pump hose to start the fuel system.
Also I tried to bleed the clutch, but couldn't do it. Afterwards I read somewhere that it needs to be bled by connecting the bleed nipple of the slave cylinder to the bleed nipple of the right front caliper and pumping the brake pedal. I'll try that next time
After all this is finished, there will only be the exhaust left to do.
Hi Rocambolesque, many thanks for your great 190E thread. I wish I had the skills to do all the mods and fab works like you did on this 190E. I'm starting my 190E project using RHD 190E M102 1.8 4spd auto as base. I'm in Thailand, we're RHD. I have MB mechanics with me. I'm swapping in M104 3.2 engine. From the start I ran into problems, M104 is sitting too high in the engine bay, original stabiliser bar getting in the way of the M104 engine oilpan (I ordered a used W124 6cylinder stabiliser bar from eBay.), and steering box seems to be in the way of M104 exhaust manifolds too. I understand I need different engine mount holders/engine mounts to make the M104 engine sit lower. I'd really appreciate your suggestions or advice on this.
In reply to millennui :
You need the mount brackets from the 190E 2.6. Otherwise it won't work with the 4 cylinder mounts. You need a W124 oilpan. I think only the W124 pan works. Maybe the R129 does. W210 or W140 doesn't. The recommended "easy" way to do this swap is to start with a 190E 2.6 and swap in a W124 E320 engine.
From which chassis have you got your donor engine?
Last week, a friend came by the garage and helped me install the new poly control arm bushings
Header is now installed permanently:
Like I said in the previous update, I received the modified driveshaft:
I got a new bearing and installed it in the car:
If you're doing a manual swap and cannot find the front half from a manual car and you want to modify the automatic driveshaft, you need to lenghten it 4.000".
I also modified the heatshield as it was corroded around the front bolt holes. I had a 2024 aluminum flatbar so I screwed that onto the heatshied to attach it to the front driveshaft safety loop/exhaust hanger piece that I made a few pages back:
It's a little detail, but now that heatshield won't rattle again.
I had another bumper, this time without an exhaust cutout. I installed it as I want to run a hidden exhaust with a turndown tip.
I'll repaint it eventually, but for now I really want to get the car running and driving so that'll have to wait.
And finally, I bought wheels for it. No pictures, but I'll get some this weekend. They are Mercedes Algieba 16x7. I'll order some 205/45/16 soon.
Looking good. Where did you get the poly bushings from?
I got them from Strongflex in Europe. I couldn't find any in North America. It was about the same price as stock bushings, and they were much easier to install.
New wheels cleaned up:
Not sure what you started with but those look great
In reply to Rocambolesque :
Thank you for your reply. I just got the mount brackets from 190E 2.6 on Saturday. My mechanics put them in, engine still a little high. Let's see, I'm waiting for the sway bar. I looked at the M103 oil pan pattern from pics on eBay and compared to this M104 I think they are pretty much the same. Tomorrow Monday I'll go take a few pics. In Thailand we don't have 190E M103 2.6 (maybe grey imports) we only have 190E M102 1.8 (sold by MBThailand/Thonburi at that time) which I bought for this project early this year.
Spent a bit more time in the garage in the last few days.
I had bought copper nuts to hold the header on, but I found out that the washer flange on them is too big, it doesn't clear the welds. So I cut the flanges off one by one... After the first cut I found out they were only steel nuts with a copper plating. Oh well... I put them on anyways:
Back when I put the throttle linkage on, I noticed that the pedal became really difficult to push. That was because the link that actuated the throttle body was not oriented properly. I disassembled all that and pivoted the linkage a bit to put the link perfectly vertical. I also deleted the remote TPS thingmajig, as it became loose just from me pushing the pedal just a couple of times. I was also concerned that it might jam the throttle. I'll run the accel enrichment on MAP dot only.
The stock clutch pedal has this overtravel spring setup which pushed against your leg when the pedal is up, helps you pushing the pedal when it's down. It also makes the pedal very soft and slow to release. I deleted that thing and put in a regular spring. Funny thing is that with no spring at all, the pedal feels better than with the stock setup. I used one of the springs included in a universal Dorman pedal return springs assortment.
Then I started the exhaust. I shortened the 2 pipes just after the headers since the headers are longer than the stock downpipes.
I put that in the car and found out there needs to be a slight curve in it so I cut the tacks at the collectors and cheated the junction a bit
After that I started making other sections, found out the fitting of the pipes is almost never straight on and it's a very long process... I'll be done eventually!
In reply to Rocambolesque :
hi there, where do you going to put the wideband sensor?
Good question: the wire is not long enough to reach the 2-1 collector in the downpipe. I'll probably have to extend the wires and run it right after the collector, or run it in the pipe that collects cylinders 1 and 4.
I really like having a TPS, not only for enrichment but it also helps with being able to use a specific idle AFR and ignition table for example.
In a couple of installations I have worked with, it has been easier to put the TPS directly on the throttle pedal, inside the car. Might be worth a look?
Gustaf
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