When I went through my A/C about 5-6 years ago, I knew I should of did this to my then 25 year old car. Now I'm disgusted to know that I, as well as my family and friends, have been breathing in this crap all these years.

Outside air intake shot immediately after I pulled the whole HVAC unit.


Upper outside air plenum. Filthy interior shot with the cover removed.


Evaporator - Filled with so much crap that part of the evap is in poor material condition from corrosion.


Heater core also took in a lot of dirt.






I now need to figure out how to implement a cabin filter to keep this box clean.

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

Man, that is some nasty stuff there. It appears old car = lots of gunk in the air system. When I see things like this it makes me wonder how the air handling systems on commercial passenger aircraft look like......we can only imagine.....

Bummer no change or straws

I'll do this when my heater core fails or I find a mint condition w123 that I can afford....till then my climate control involves rolling the windows down...technically not much better...

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I did find a dime down in the Heat Exchanger slot.






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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

Nasty! What was the reason to take it to bits this time? I'm sure mine is as dirty. I'm considering doing this solely for air conditioning performance and smell improvements.

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Current fleet
2006 E320 CDI
1992 300D - 5speed manual swapped

former members
1984 300D "Blues Mobile"

1978 300CD "El Toro"

Air flow performance was an issue every year in this 105 plus degree heat we have here. Vent temperatures were great though. I figured I'd redo everything including a Sanden compressor upgrade, use of a bigger parallel flow condenser then previously used and finally sound proof the fire wall.

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

I could pay you a dime to do mine!!!

When I did my A/C rebuild last year, I was pretty sure that everything was fairly clean. However, I did not pull apart the HVAC system. Maybe I can run vacuum hose in there if I find a good dash and do the swap.

I have a piece of wood wedged in my blower compartment to keep the fresh air flap 100% closed. I did that to maximize A/C efficiency but I can see the other benefits. Keep us posted on what kind of filter setup you design.

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1991 F250 super-cab 7.3 IDI. (rebuilt by me) Banks Sidewinder turbo, hydroboost brakes, new IP and injectors.
2003 S430 - 107K
1983 300SD - Tanoshii - mostly restored ~400K+.
1983 300SD - Good interior. Engine finally tamed ~250K.
Monark Nozzle Install Video - http://tinyurl.com/ptd2tge

DeliveryValve ----

Your evaporator didn't look as bad as mine and you got paid more I only found a penny down in the defrost area. I like the idea of a cabin vent. Maybe something over the bottom of the blower???



Just for comparisons sake, here's what the 1984 Light Ivory evaporator looked like:

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
No longer selling Cluster Needles Paint
No longer selling New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

I once removed a 98 camry evaporator ( for a college student freind) - that car also does not use a filter, and it was similar to these pictures, Toyota sold a product in a can that was really powerful it was expanding foam and it pushed itself through the evaporator, heater core etc literally melting the dirt. btw I had to do 4 passes back and forth to make it brand new again.

But just saying, I think the product being sold on pelican with a long straw is similar.

oddball bit

toyota provided a slot for a filter in that car - yet they forgot to install it in the factory.

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)

maybe you could duct the climate control air inlet to the engine air filter, and use the same air filter for both applications?

throwing out ideas, however ridiculous

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

I think you'd want to throw that idea in the brown file. I wouldn't want hot or cold blowby coming through my vents!

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Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat

I recondition w123/w126/w124/w140/r107/r129/ steering boxes!


1984 300D "Elsa" odo reset 6/2011 147k
1983 300TD "Mitzi" ~268k OM603 powered
1995 E300 "Adelheid" 262k [Sold]

well, that would certainly be bad.

I was thinking more along the lines of an aftermarket cone airfilter with a T right after the cone, and ducting that runs to the engine from there.

however, for that amount of work, he might as well just adapt a cabin air filter from some other application that fits nicely.

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.

I've been thinking of doing this with my DD. I can only imagine the crap stuck in there.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Now there's some comforting pictures - thanks for posting them folks!

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I agree, is there a thread here where deliveryvalve has done a step by step on this process?

basically, every car needs a cabin air filter.

Another pic to make you feel happy stretch. Not MB, but same problem of no air filter-

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This post brought to you by Carl's Jr.