MB W108 DIESEL

This was an interesting project developed for a customer in Dominican Republic.

The customer bought a 280SE 1970 that was modified by previous owner to run on a Mercedes OM617 Diesel engine.

That harness set needed a total rebuilt which included things as:

  1. Increasing charging capacity.  The entire charging system was built new, enlarging the cross section of all the T30 lines
  2. Relocation of AC system components.  A diesel OM617 engine has a turbo-compressor which generates a lot of heat; therefore, all AC components were relocated from the original Mercedes W108 280SE right location to the left.  A new array of logic controls was installed, using Mercedes OEM cubed relays.  One of them to cut energy during cranking periods to AC system (called changeover relay), and another to drive the condenser fan.
  3. Glow Plug circuitry.  This car had a non-working glow plug "in series" arrangement coming from a W115 diesel.  That system was replaced by a new circuitry based on W123 diesel.  
  4. Instrumentation.  The original W108-280SE instrument cluster was substituted with a later style W115 set which included a light for the Glow-plug relay operation, as well as an electrical driven water temperature gauge.
  5. Shutoff Diesel supply valve.  As a regular ignition lock assembly from a Mercedes W115 Diesel did not fit on this W108, nor either the one from a W123 Diesel, we took a different approach in order to suspend the diesel supply once ignition switch was off.  The solution adopted consisted in installing an inline normally close fuel valve.

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