Concerting A Mercedes W123 To Diesel

[rayman]

Hello everyone

I have this idea of buying a petrol Mercedes W123 and converting the same into diesel. I checked out most W123's an found out most of them were already converted locally ages ago.. and most of the diesel W123's have a LOT of miles on them and I think buying one of those will turn up to be a nightmare cz already its a 30+ year old car. The few ones in good condition go for absurd prices (I saw one seller asking for 15 lakhs!). Even the converted ones go for around 9-12 lakhs.

Petrol ones on the other hand go for less and are used sparingly (I saw a mint condition W123 advertised for 575k in the classifieds). Can some one please advise me on this matter? And recommend me any good garages that specialize in Mercs an converting them?

I intend on transplanting a Toyota 2C diesel engine because I think its quite hard to find an original Mercedes diesel engine now. And can somebody give me a rough idea about the conversation process?

I need a diesel car cz I travel to Colombo from outstation on a daily basis. And also I have a extremely limited budget to go with it. I know its far more sensible buying a japanese diesel car but I love W123s! and its worth the pain:)

Thank you!

[Watchman]

We have a w123 at home which was converted a good 20 years ago and has been running well since.. engine (which was also a used one at the time) has not given any issue so far.. the only issue that popped up over the years was a servo pump issue. So i doubt age is an issue with that engine.

You'll be better off getting a car thats already converted than try convert it yourself. Engines probably are hard to come by but if you look at the regular places like avi### you might even find one.. And the conversion is pretty expensive too. say you spend 200k on the engine, transmission and the conversion process and then there's the conversion tax of 250k by the RMV, so you're gonna end up with a total cost thats more or less the same as a diesel. So save yourself the trouble and go for one thats already converted. Oh, and you'll get a 325-XXXX number, which is a pretty BIG turn off when it comes to selling the car at some point of the future.

And putting the toyota eingine is going to drive the value even further down... also consider that

1- the 2C engine might not be powerful enough cos the 123's a pretty heavy car you know

2- the 2C is meant for FWD vehicles, hence a transverse setup, so i dont know how you plan to take the power to the back wheels.