[bikertillidie]

The 118ne certainly did. I have one which looks similar..

[bikertillidie]

Got hold of the owner's and service manuals


W123 meets its ancestor

[bikertillidie]

Fitted the wheel arch trims and mudflaps today.

Not that I intend to drive around in rains..

[bikertillidie]

Posting again after a while.

The vacuum pump has been causing trouble lately. Traced it down to a faulty check valve. It's appears completely disintegrated.



I have found a donor pump sourced from a scrapyard which seems to have a working check valve. Will attempt replacing it once free.



Next on my to do list, fix the clutch master/slave cylinder. The clutch pedal has sunk to the bottom and I can't spot any brake oil leakage anywhere

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by bikertillidie

Next on my to do list, fix the clutch master/slave cylinder. The clutch pedal has sunk to the bottom and I can't spot any brake oil leakage anywhere

As it was working before, the likelyhood of air having entered the system is remote.

So, ith these symptons, most likely the master cylinder. Slave cylinder will leak oil when the seals/rings are worn down. You can have internal leakage in master cylinder. So the hydraulic fluid will find its way past the piston seals, but it still stays within the cylinder. Nothing shows on the outside.


Jeroen

[bikertillidie]

Updates as of 21st October

Finally found some time to examine the master cylinder for the clutch hydraulic circuit.

It was badly corroded, thereby causing the malfunction.




And the replacement..



While removing the old master cylinder, one of the bolts had sheared off. Hence, the entire pedal assembly had to be removed from the car. The broken bolt was extricated using a blow torch.

A replacement M8 bolt..




While at it, the entire pedal assembly was cleaned and lubricated. The nipple connecting the master cylinder to the brake fluid reservoir was reused.





Test drove the car to Jejuri and back this evening. Problem seems to be fixed for good.

[soonya]

Wow, what a read. Meticulous and very patient restoration. I love the way the community supported. Congratulations. I was bitten by the 123 bug, but was wondering if I'd have the patience like you do.

Congratulations again mate. Hope it's healthy and running fine.

[ManasN95]

What an absolutely beautiful thread, absolutely smitten by the details, patience and the knowledge that's on display along with the majestic outcome. Sir, I'd love to get in touch with you atleast for inspiration if nothing else. Where and how can I?

[bikertillidie]

Originally Posted by soonya

Congratulations again mate. Hope it's healthy and running fine.

Thanks, the car is doing fine.

Originally Posted by ManasN95

Sir, I'd love to get in touch with you atleast for inspiration if nothing else. Where and how can I?

Thanks ManasN95.
I am presently based in Calcutta. If you ever visit these parts, we can surely catch up!

[bikertillidie]

Posting after quite a while ..

The covid 19 phenomena has had quite an impact on the personal front, I have moved back to my hometown Kolkata and run my own multi-brand car workshop.

Recently realized that the W123 is due for CF renewal, which means I need to make a trip to Trivandrum and back during Feb'21 (a total round trip distance of around 5000 - 5500 km).

With the aim of making the car reliable for the long haul ahead, I took it out for a short test drive and realised that the lockdown period has played havoc with the car.

The expansion plugs in the engine block had rusted through, and coolant was leaking from the plug behind the flywheel.

Hence, I had my task cut cut out.

(a) the engine was removed from the car (I have access to my own workshop now) and the entire set of expansion plugs were replaced in short order..

[bikertillidie]

(b) Besides, I also found that the rubber fuel return lines and feed pump body had a hairline crack (possibly due to over tightening of the hand primer in the area circled in red). It was oozing a steady stream of diesel as long as the engine ran .

As I didn't have the luxury of time (ordering one from abroad would have taken up more than 8 weeks), the only option remaining was to resort to a workaround.
Purists, please overlook this travesty ..

Most Bosch feed pumps available locally are meant to be mounted on three studs, hence I fabricated an adapter using an aluminium blank I had handy.

Banjo bolts, washers, M6 * 25 mm studs were used for mounting the feed pump as needed. A dremel grinder was used to make room for screws/bolt heads.
I also had to opt for a longer steel follower to compensate for the thickness of the adapter and gaskets.

The fuel return lines were also replaced with new rubber tubing.

I attach a few pics to illustrate the process followed.

[bikertillidie]

Request to tbhp members based in Trivandrum - would you be able to point me to a reliable agent at the RTO, who can converse in English/Hindi ?

Thanks in advance !

[bikertillidie]

Thanks Tbhp-Ian's Justin.Das and cheetahrd for reaching out to me offline

Hopefully, all pending issues at the RTO will be resolved soon.

[Screwdriva]

Originally Posted by bikertillidie

(b) Besides, I also found that the rubber fuel return lines and feed pump body had a hairline crack (possibly due to over tightening of the hand primer in the area circled in red). It was oozing a steady stream of diesel as long as the engine ran.
.

That's the first time I've seen that kind of damage to what is often termed the lift pump. The hand primer pump connects to this.

I would highly recommend you source a replacement pump - yours is called an "M " style pump with 2 bolts. "MW" style have 3 bolts. If you buy used, make sure you send the pump to a known rebuilder (I used a chap nicknamed Greazzer twice - no one left on the planet does a better job. See before/ after images below). They will clean the metal, replace all the spring, seals and O-rings contained within, restoring fuel system pressure.

When you do this + replace the injector nozzles with Monark #261 and the OFV spring, you have boosted fuel pressure to better than new car levels.

I would also recommend you purchase a replacement hand primer pump. You have two options - a black Bosch unit which looks aftermarket or a metal finished Monark pump, which looks OE and is made in Germany.

I have done this twice on my W123 300D Auto and W115 240d 4 spd Manual and the results have been incredible. As a final bit of advice, I would suggest purchasing only OE parts or parts that are made in Germany (Monark/ Bilstein etc.). Avoid parts from brands like URO, Meyle, Febi Bilstein if possible as they are poorly engineered and ruin these cars.

Best of luck!