• From: Life's great in 21158
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 3,361

Re: Mercedes W123 (300D) Roll Cage Help Needed

Evil Genius wrote:

Here is the forum with our w114 cage:   

http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=2870

  We built two of them, one for his red Mercedes-powered car and one for his bad-ass ford powered car.



  -John

Funny, i did a seach for Mercedes Cage yesterday and found this forum.  Cool stuff.

Ford powered you say...funny, that's along the lines of what we were thinking for our W123.  Something with a few more...INCHES...

Tunachuckers: 15 Years of Effluency
'08 - '10: 1966 Volvo 122, "Charlie"
'10 - '18: 1975 Ford LTD Landau --> 2018 - current: Converted into 1950 "Plymford"
'22 - current: 1967 Volvo 122, "Charlie ]["

mechimike's Website

  • Registered: 2009-12-29
  • Posts: 33

Re: Mercedes W123 (300D) Roll Cage Help Needed

Mechimike, will try to track down some pictures if it would help.  A team member was looking at a 1981 300TD wagon near Portland that had a 351 swap.  Seems an aeronautical engineer made the swap and went to and put in an impressive amount of work.  Custom brackets were built to accommodate the original power steering pump, the steering box header issue was nicely executed, but the best was the rear subframe was swapped out with that of a w126 so it had the larger differential from a V8.  Lots of time went into that car, it was impressive.

  • From: Life's great in 21158
  • Registered: 2009-05-01
  • Posts: 3,361

Re: Mercedes W123 (300D) Roll Cage Help Needed

A 351 you say?  Too common!  Too plebian!  And, too small!  ;-)

I've been learning that a lot of w126 stuff bolts right on the w123s.  With market prices for these cars being what they are, its probably cheaper for us to buy a worn-out w126 for parts for our 300D (w123).  Front brakes, possibly rear suspension, who knows what else...

Once the cage is in, the rest is fun stuff.  The 300D used a 3.42 rear diff ratio.  But there's taller and shorter gears from everything from 240Ds to the turbo 123s to the whole w126 range.  Tire size, suspension setup, etc.  Ive owned a handful of w123s, and I love the way they handle.  With a lighter engine (yes, even a big honkin' American V8 is lighter than the big ole diesel lump) a cage, and lowered, I'm positively excited about the possibilities.

Tunachuckers: 15 Years of Effluency
'08 - '10: 1966 Volvo 122, "Charlie"
'10 - '18: 1975 Ford LTD Landau --> 2018 - current: Converted into 1950 "Plymford"
'22 - current: 1967 Volvo 122, "Charlie ]["

mechimike's Website

  • From: Frederick, MD
  • Registered: 2011-01-03
  • Posts: 119

Re: Mercedes W123 (300D) Roll Cage Help Needed

anything 126 up to 85 is going to be bolt in as far as the rear suspension goes with possibly needing to change the yoke on the diff.  86+ will require changine the whole rear subframe and with whats available for pre 85 cars (including 107/114/115/116 etc cars) there are a lot more options.  I found a 3.07 rear for my 500SEC from a 73 450SE, bolted right in.

Now happily part of Speedycop.

formerly:
Ziegel Scheißhaus Racing & ReVolvolution Racing
  • Registered: 2010-09-14
  • Posts: 219

Re: Mercedes W123 (300D) Roll Cage Help Needed

BMW M20 swap.

"You can’t make a pig into a race car, but you can make a very fast pig."