# The Colour of Money......Part 2



## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

So, I dont really know how to start this off, besides that I'm the guy who bought Dreamstates bagged Mercedes 300D. Since the car seemed to be fairly popular, I thought the people who were following the build before would like to know whats going on with the car as it enters the next stage of its life...

The original build thread can be found here http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?3884094-The-Colour-of-Money


So, on with the pictures. This is how it arrived at my house in the first week of June, 2011





































































































First thing I did was clean it. Pics after three step Mothers wax job and engine bay degrease


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Next on the list was to set the valve clearances up and replace the valve cover gasket as it was leaking. The p.o told me that the valves had never been set, and Mercedes recommends it be done once every year/12,000 miles. Pretty easy job, had to modify a pair of wrenches which was the hardest part of the whole job. Seven of the ten valves had no clearance, afterwards it ran much better and sounded much smoother, and there was even a small but noticeable increase in acceleration...



















Almost no wear on the cam lobes...










No gunk in the valvecover either...




























Then it got an oil change, oil/fuel filter, air filter. There was a mixup with the oil filters, apparantly there was a change mid model year in '75/'76, and the oil filter changed size. The one in the picture is for a '76, but it is far too long. I ended up going to Mercedes for an oil filter and air filter, and was suprised to find the prices were actually cheaper than the aftermarket stuff...










I've put 900 miles on the car in the first two weeks I've had it on the road, and the oil level has not moved on the dipstick. I'm impressed


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Rented a U-haul and picked up the parts car that was included with the sale. The parts car makes me appreciate just how good of shape the green one is in even with the rust it has. Parts car has allready donated a few things, and the drivetrain in it may be going into a 1940's Chevy pickup truck to use as a promotional vehicle for a landscaping company I used to work at...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Looking into the future a bit, I decided to pick up a set of BBS RS's I found on Kijiji. RS 008 up front and 009 out back. I told myself I wasn't going to go with RS's on this car, but they seemed to be the only 3-piece that really suited it, plus they were 5x112 and the offsets were almost perfect. The Benz performed flawlessly on the 4 hour trip to Barrie and back. These are the wheels how I bought them, on for a test fit. Plans for them are complete re-furb, polished lips/centre nuts, re-spray barrels and faces in whatever colour I end up painting the car in (top of the list at the moment is the cars original colour, Caledonia Green)



















Also picked up a set of steelies from a '76 300D with nearly new whitewall tires. I'd been looking for a new set of whitewalls since I got the car, and had absolutely no luck, even less luck trying to find the correct European sized tires. Picked these up off Kijiji for $100. the rims are going out for powdercoating in the next couple weeks...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Had my first real problem with the car last Friday. My neighbours wife came over to tell me she heard a pop and a bunch of air escaping something. I went and looked at the car and it was sitting as I had left it the night before, but a inspection found the airline from the tank to the splitter at the front had burst in the trunk. I was supposed to take the car to a wedding on Saturday, so as a quick fix I went to work and picked up a 3/8ths union to repair the line, only to find out the line is metric. Doh!. Have to source some metric airline this week, or get a couple new quick connects and convert it to 3/8ths line...










Almost forgot, I've entered the car into a radio contest, and need to get into the top 5 to make it to the next stage of the contest. If your bored, drop by here and give me a vote!

http://www.htzfm.com/nutsnbolts/View.aspx?ID=229794


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## Dreamstate (Jan 2, 2002)

Couldn't have gone to a better person. Take good care of her *sniff*


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

I just popped on here to tell you the thread was up Randy. And no need to worry, she will be more than well taken care of...

Mocked up in my head today what I'm going to do in the trunk for the air management, took some measurements, have to grab some cardboard from work tommorow to make a template for the floor. This setup is pretty much exactly what I pictured in my head layout wise, except I will be using copper tubing. Going to make the floor in the near future, then piece everything together for a fall/winter install...


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## fbm93 (Mar 25, 2008)

^ yah Pauls mgt setup was sick.


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## mikegilbert (Nov 29, 2006)

Can't wait to see the next evolution of this beast! :thumbup: :thumbup:


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

nice to see this still on the threads.
Im building a very similar car but a 2 door coupe.
Rear bags in , will have fronts in by the end of the week!


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## zacharys666 (Jan 28, 2008)

opcorn:


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## [email protected] (Apr 22, 2011)

Kick ass! I'm glad this car didn't just die in a field somewhere


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

250, your pic is the red X of death, try re-posting, I'd like to see your car...

Not much happening with the Merc lately. Picked up some metric airline Monday to fix my blown line, scrubbed some interior pieces with Spray-9 and water (the amount of dirt that came off was ridiculous, and the seats didnt look all that dirty before scrubbing). Since the car didnt come with a stereo, and I have to fix all the water leaks before I put the stereo I want in, I picked up a set of cheap 6.5"s and am going to wire in an old headunit I had laying around. Driving me crazy not having music while I'm driving...

Also decided to see if I can get the A/C working, spent some time at the shop tonight, got the compressor clutch working with test leads, but compressor is seized. Pretty generic Sanden unit, allready sourced one through work as some of our older trucks came equipped with the same compressor. Still undecided on whether to get the A/C functioning or gut it all and have a nice, much less cluttered engine bay....


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## whitepepper (Feb 10, 2009)

:thumbup: opcorn:


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

*hmmm...posting these picks aint working*

here yah go....see if this works.


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## e.shell (Jun 18, 2009)

my friend just got rid of one of theses that he was trying to bag! such great cars to work on.


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

*some updated pix*

ok.... we got moving on the car this weekend!
Started to sheet up the boot install and run the lines for the air suspension.
IF I ONLY HAD A 2 or 3 days straight on tis think, it would be so much easier!


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)




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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/5921235013/in/photostream/lightbox/


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)




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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

250celowrider said:


>


WHY AINT IT ATTACHING...any ideas?


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

250celowrider said:


> WHY AINT IT ATTACHING...any ideas?


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

250celowrider said:


>


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Finally found a Becker Europa today. Unfortunatly, it is not functional, but I only really wanted it because its the correct radio for the car, a aftermarket headunit will be installed hidden away from sight. I figured I'd take it apart and see what made it tick, thinking the problem would be a loose solder joint or something easy to fix. Wrong. I'm hoping that someone out there can point me in the right direction to just get it to power up, so I can have the display on it lit up at night as they look really cool. 

A couple neat things, the chrome trim ring on the face plate is actually metal, and the white script on the AM/FM buttons and "becker Europa" logo are no silkscreened, the letters are cut out of the black plastic, and a piece of white plastic is layed behind it with raised letters to make the outside flush and smooth... 







































Also picked up a set of hubcaps off the same guy. Mine have some large dings and dents, and these ones are almost dent free with some minor scratching around the edges. Between the two sets, I should be able to make a fairly decent set...


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## Andy P (Jan 6, 2007)

Sub'd :thumbup:


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## LOW36 (Jan 18, 2008)




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## #6jettaC (Oct 17, 2004)

looks good, i'm happy its at a good home. you should come check out stanceworks

250 how did you do your rear bags, you relocate the rear shocks?

my 280 (betty)


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## #6jettaC (Oct 17, 2004)

there is a place that rebuilds the beckers, never used them as mine is working but woth checking out http://www.mercedesradiorepair.com/


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

rear shock havent been installed as yet, but they are being relocated closer to the wheel.
I need to measure the throw befor i order them, because the top mount of the bag isnt bolted in. If the shock extends to far, the bracket will come out of its seat!


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## guesswho (May 9, 2009)

WOW... in for this one! :thumbup: opcorn:


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## furr (Jul 3, 2009)

This is going to look great


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## #6jettaC (Oct 17, 2004)

250celowrider said:


> rear shock havent been installed as yet, but they are being relocated closer to the wheel.
> I need to measure the throw befor i order them, because the top mount of the bag isnt bolted in. If the shock extends to far, the bracket will come out of its seat!



how is the bottom of the bag mounted? 
what did you use for an upper mount?
and your port is on top? right?


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

The blue 280 looks great, I'm currently looking at a maple yellow 280 to pick up and strip for parts, its too far gone to restore, but lots of useable/sellable stuff. Also found a 300D for parts (same one I got the Becker from). This car has been sitting in the same spot since I was a kid, guy finally phoned the scrapyard and they said they would give him $300 for it, said I could have it for the same, probably going to pick it up. Its got some sweet shag carpeting in it

In Mercedes news, I took the BBS's to my old work and had a friend strip the tires off for me so I could dissasemble and start restoring them. Lips are worse off than I thought, and I found a crack in one of the barrels on one of the rears. Shouldnt be an issue, theres alot of local places that do very nice aluminum welding. Brought some tools home from work, hopfully I get them apart tommorow. Pics to come...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Knocked apart the BBS's today, what a workout...



















Only crack I can find...










Hours worth of work...


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

all the cups / mounts are custom made. The bottom cup is bolted to the lower rear shock mount.
Nothing is welded to the arms or body, so if i need to return it back to spring, its as easy as unbolt and replace.
Port is at the top - line comes up through a hole at the top of the shock mount.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

The "lower it" sticker lives on stuck to my tool box at work










Taking a set of steelies to the powdercoaters tommorow, and going to look at a '79 300SD on Saturday as a possible drivetrain donor for a turbo diesel swap....


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## Dreamstate (Jan 2, 2002)

I see you're using the spare tire well the same as I always did. Engine fluids and tire shine :laugh:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Dreamstate said:


> I see you're using the spare tire well the same as I always did. Engine fluids and tire shine :laugh:


Haha, I'm going to actually put a spare in it, the spare from the parts car. Steelies are currently at Brightside coatings be re-finished. Until then, the spare tire well is quite the perfect storage space. Wish I could keep it lol. And I passed 2000 miles since I took delivery on my home tonight Randy, only problem so far was the airline blowout a few weeks ago, besides that, its been perfect. 

I decided to mess around with the Becker a bit today. To me, as cool as it is, its just not worth the $$$ to get it operational again (I've been told they dont sound too great either). So, without modifying anything that could not easily be reversed, I wired it so it will illuminate when given a 12v power source. The only thing inside that is lit up at night is the gauge cluster, feels pretty empty without somethign on the center console lit up, so this should do the job nicely. Had to go pick up a new bulb for it at the local electronics supply store, had the rest at home...







































In other news, I'm currently talking with a guy about purchasing a '79 300SD drivetrain from him. Still undecided on whether I want to swap for a turbodiesel yet, but in exchange for doing some maintenence work for him on his DD '79 300SD, he will give me a great deal on the drivetrain. Probably going to get it just to have the option in the future. Looking at another one that appears to have a mint interior. Though I can't swap the door panels, the seats should bolt in with no modifications and look the exact same as the '76 seats...


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## arethirdytwo (Apr 4, 2007)

I would really recommend the turbo diesel. A friend has the non turbo and from what I have read this car suffers from the same problem. It's brutally slow. I can clip along at 80 plus in mine no problem.


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## Dreamstate (Jan 2, 2002)

I thought about that air line blow out. Thinking back at when the car would sit in the hot sun with a full tank, it could get to about 180psi just by sun warming the trunk. That, and warming the air line up probably caused the rupture. 
Perhaps getting a 170psi pop valve would be worth it. You could stick it out the bottom of the trunk and it could double as an automatic water drain. :laugh:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Sounds like a good idea, I'll probably set something up like that when I re-do the air management system.


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## DGNeo (Apr 9, 2007)

If you're still looking into getting the stereo working, try giving it a good DeOxit

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=207005

Car still looks awesome as ever!


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## insert clever name (Jul 26, 2009)

wow im impressed with the new owner..90% of the time a car goes downhill when going to a new owner :beer:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

insert clever name said:


> wow im impressed with the new owner..90% of the time a car goes downhill when going to a new owner :beer:


Thanks man! I'm trying...

In other news, I bought a '79 300D just for the seats that are in it. Passenger/rears are mint, drivers seat has a couple small tears/could use a new seat pad, but they are in pretty damn good shape for the age. Lots of other useable bits too. Bought the whole car for $500, allready have the tires sold for $200, then whatever I can get out of the car for parts/scrap (body not worth saving). Should come out ahead, which is always good. I've been fighting with it in the guys driveway for a couple days though, it does not want to start. The glowplug relay quit working sometime after he stored it last year. I got the glowplug system working again, but no matter how much juice I put on the battery, I cant get it to crank fast enough to start. Going again Sunday to put it up on stands and clean all the starter terminals, and hopefully I can get it running so I dont have to tow it, as a tow would eat into any profit I make on it...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Picked up my new set of steelies from Brightside coatings on Saturday. Pretty happy with the result and will be returning when I need more stuff coated, however, I effed up and didnt look at the wheels close enough when I bought them. See if you can spot the difference. Good news is they will still work on the car, I'll just have slightly different wheels front/back :thumbdown:




















Also cleaned up the whitewalls on the new tires to get them ready for install sometime this week. I scrubbed them with Spray-9 and a stiff brush, what I have always used to clean whitewalls with great results, but I got nowhere with that. Decided to try wet sanding, and it worked great!


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## Twilliams83 (Jan 25, 2011)

is it that two of them have a slightly raised area around the hole where the lugs go in? sorry i dont know the technical term for that haha


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

You got it

I'd been thinking about installing a hardwood floor in the trunk since I got the car. My neighbours wife's father caught wind of the idea, and dontated me a couple boxes of hardwood flooring! My neighbour and I were bored today, so we decided to start the install. Made a template out of some old vinyl flooring, took a trip to Home Depot, transferred in onto plywood, cut, install, trim. A few hours work so far, and its coming together nicely. Would have preferred the boards be a little narrower, but when its free, I cant complain. Next on the list, air management....






































Laid some wood in just to see how it looked...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Got the bulk of the hardwood floor done today. Just have to do the back piece now and figure out what to do for trim. Wooden quarter-round looks great, but cant do any curves with it....














































Also got the new tires mounted on the powdercoated steels this weekend...


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

not sold on the hard wood boot. You should direct stick cream (non backed) auto carpet to the wheel arches and tail gate. stretch it out over all the curves.. and then contact it down

QUOTE=Zman86;72938445]Got the bulk of the hardwood floor done today. Just have to do the back piece now and figure out what to do for trim. Wooden quarter-round looks great, but cant do any curves with it....
























































Also got the new tires mounted on the powdercoated steels this weekend...

















[/QUOTE]


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

On my way to a stag-n-doe last night, I took a road I do not use often and hit a bump. A couple hours after arriving at the stag, i went out to the car to get a piece of gum and found a large trail of oil coming from underneath. Bye bye oil pan. It didnt rip a hole, but it was steadily dripping, so I filled it back up and drove it home. I had planned to take the car to Vagkraft in the morning, so I swapped pans off the parts car. Got it done at 4am and all was well, until the next moring, not even 15km from home, I caught a ridge in the road left by trucks compressing the pavement. Bye bye pan #2. This one was not as bad though, and I still made it to the show and home again....

Have one pan left...


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## insert clever name (Jul 26, 2009)

haha nice...are you just driving super low or does the setup not go high?


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## UghRice (Sep 8, 2010)

tasty :thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

insert clever name said:


> haha nice...are you just driving super low or does the setup not go high?


Was driving around higher than I normally do, just caught a bad spot in the road both times (both times was a ridge left by heavy truck traffic). Put another pan on it and have been driving around extra high since the pan now sits below the subframe, will have to modify pan/install the skidplate I have when I have time...


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## EuroWolfsburg (Oct 12, 2009)

Subscribed, by the way you should make some kind of protector under the pan and motor... Prevent it from happening again and going through the trouble.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Car came with one, I just never installed it. Should be going on sometime this week, I'm tired of driving around at old man height...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Colour matched a set of hubcaps. Complete pain in the ass to mask and cut, but I think the end result was worth it... 

Stripping the old ones... 



















Mind the overspray, this was just a tester, will end up on the spare wheel in the trunk... 




















The finished product...


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## DoctorDoctor (Oct 18, 2006)

The color-matching looks awesome :thumbup::thumbup:


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## Monkeykungfu (May 15, 2009)

Baller :thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

So, its been a while since I posted an update. I was in a "motorcycle" accident a month ago, and I didnt get to work on the cars much while I was recovering from a skull fracture and plenty of road rash. This last week I've been feeling better, so I've started working on the car again. Winter is just around the corner, so I've taken the Benz off the road and started on the list of repairs I had going.

First thing was to replace the rear axles. The old ones were in terrible shape, I'm actually suprised they lasted as long as they did. Everything I read said this job was terrible, but it ended up not being that bad at all. Required dropping the rear suspension and exhaust, and removing the diff cover. Inside of the diff was clean and free of metal. Replaced the axle seals and axle retainer clips while I was in there. Currently waiting on Mercedes Source for my new diff mount, hanger bearing and flex discs, but I've not had much luck dealing with them so far (they will only take credit card numbers over the phone, but I've been trying for four days to get ahold of them through both email and phone calls with no response). Also having a hell of a time finding new shocks, as both were blown and leaking. Seems no one around here has the ability/desire to look up shocks by the manufacturers part number. Have a couple more parts stores to try tommorow, after that I'll be ordering them off the net...






































No leaks, just old undercoat...










Tool I made at work to pull the new axles in...










New axles in...










Next step was to try and fix the rather large fuel leak coming from the top of the injector pump. Delivery valves 4 and 5 were leaking, so I replaced the copper sealing rings. Good news is that the delivery valves are no longer leaking, bad news is there is still alot of fuel leaking from around the base of #4-5, where the two bolts go into the body of the pump. I'm having a hard time finding info on fixing this problem...



















During the summer, I thought about getting the A/C functioning again. Someone had fitted a newer style compressor in, hooked up the lines and stopped there. Inspection found the compressor seized, and that the system had never been switched from R12, so I decided to get rid of it, since I very rarely use air conditioning. Removed the compressor and very large bracket assembly holding it, the main lines and the condensor. Also pulled the radiator. I had a persistent coolant leak that would only occur when the car was cold, and it turned out being a corroded tube, so the radiator is going out this week to be re-built. I was also getting tiny flecks of metal in my coolant, so I pulled the water pump to inspect it. I dont see anything that could be causing metal to end up in the cooling system, but there is a small amount of play in the shaft, so I'm probably going to replace it...











More updates as they happen. Good to be working on it again. I had wanted to tear the car down completely this winter and re-build it from the ground up, but I dont think thats going to happen until I have my own place and somewhere to keep the car permanently (the neighbours allow me to use their garage because they are awesome, and I fix their stuff for them). Looking forward to doing some lengthy road-trips next season after the improvements over the winter...


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

Zman - I've been wondering what hole you fell into.....as you dropped off the posting. Good to hear all is well. Trust me, stick to 4 wheels, I've had the 2 wheel drama in the past as well.

Running all my lines this week, and all my brackets are finished now. It's just a matter of bolting it all in. Let's see you can roll lower.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

I had just been driving the car before the accident, so no real work was getting done, so nothing to update. Didn't get on any long roadtrips this summer, so no photos to post either. Now I can work on it, I should be posting updates more often. 

As for things on two wheels, I still love em, I just have much more respect for what they can do to you. Caught a speed wobble at 80km/h on a lawnmower engined bike I built during the summer, hence the "motorcycle". Embarrassing and stupid....


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## euro.lo (Oct 19, 2010)

wow! I didn't realize all this quality work was being put into this car. Great work! Looking forward to seeing where you take this car :thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

^ Thanks man. Its going to take a while to get it to the point I want it, but one day it should get there.


Currently awaiting parts from both Mercedes and Mercedessource.com. Starting to get impatient as I ordered the stuff online two weeks ago. Stuff from the Benz dealer should be here tommorow, had to get some hoses from Germany. Installed new front shocks yesterday and scrubbed/washed the engine bay while I have it apart. Removing 35 years of dirt was not pleasant, cant wait to do the entire underside Pictures later....


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Received a bunch of stuff I was waiting for from Mercedes yesterday, so the car is now back together and driving. Unfortunatly, I have still not received my driveline parts from Mercedes Source...

The run-down of whats been done so far

New shocks all around
clean/re-seal waterpump and thermostat housing
new thermostat
re-cored radiator, upgrade frow two row to three row
new axles
new axle seals all new hose clamps in engine bay
new power steering lines 
new waterpump housing to thermostat housing hose
new crankcase vent hose 
cooling system flush
power stering system flush
A/C delete, still have to remove condensor and wiring, then plug holes in firewall
replaced injector pump delivery valve seals
scrubbed the engine bay with a stiff bristle brush and degreaser, then power washed
new diff oil
removed front sway-bar since it was not hooked up/cant be used
Awaitng arrival of new differential mount/hanger bearing kit/driveshaft flex-discs


I can not believe the difference in how the car drives now with new shocks and axles. No more vibration while driving lowered/aired out, and much less bounciness over dips and bumps. Also like how the engine bay looks without all the A/C crap in the way, and I;m considering re-locating the battery to the trunk since the bay looks much better without it there...

Rad Before









Rad after- Thanks to the guys at Hamilton Radiator for doing a great job









New front shocks, no pictures of the rears. The rears were hard to find because none of the parts stores would look up shocks by the shock part number, only by vehicle application. After going to three different stores, Napa was able to look them up









Goodies from Mercedes









Re-assembly









Test-drive to the car wash









Engine bay before...

















Engine bay after...









Next things on the list are replace the driveline components when they arrive, replace the engine mounts/engine shocks (Left side engine mount has disintigrated due to leaking fuel), fix leaky injector pump, have new oil pan modified to allow installation of skidplate. Also, the transmission has started shifting very poorly, I may have to take it out and have it re-built:banghead:


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## Dreamstate (Jan 2, 2002)

I had the transmission inspected and flushed when I bought it and everything was in good order. After they sealed it up I noticed it started leaking a little transmission fluid. Make sure it's topped up, it really takes it's time shifting when it's cold and a little low.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Dreamstate said:


> I had the transmission inspected and flushed when I bought it and everything was in good order. After they sealed it up I noticed it started leaking a little transmission fluid. Make sure it's topped up, it really takes it's time shifting when it's cold and a little low.


The tranny looks like it needs a couple gaskets and a tail-shaft seal, I'm probably going to leave replacing those until next season. It does feel like low fluid, but its full. Have to put it on the ramps tonight and take a look to see if any of the linkages have come loose, my old Fords would shift the same when the throttle valve linkage fell off.

And I have a couple questions for you Randy, what size tires were you running on your RS's, and how much of a bastard was the drivers side engine mount to replace? It looks unpleasant to say the least...


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## Dreamstate (Jan 2, 2002)

The tires were 205/45/16 all around. As for the motor mount, I let a shop take care of that one.. it's only a half hour job when you have a lift.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Thanks Randy. 

The stuff from Mercedessource.com arrived today. Despite taking three weeks to get here, I'm still happy. The packaging was fantastic, and they even sent me tools, instructions, a pair of nitrile gloves and candy because I ordered close to Halloween.

New parts- 2 new driveshaft flexdiscs with hardware, driveshaft slipjoint boot, transmission shifter linkage bushings, hanger bearing housing and new bearing, new differential mount. 

Dont know when I'm going to get to work on it again. Trying to store it in my Dads garage, but the 12 motorcycles in there are taking up most of the space, not to mention all the other stuff. I may have to pay to store it elsewhere, which means no working on it over the winter unfortunatly...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Found this W108 in my internet travels tonight. The idea of blacking out all the chrome had come to mind a few times since I got the car and I at one point talked to a powdercoater about it, but after seeing this, I personally think it looks pretty damn amazing...

Opinions?


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## euro.lo (Oct 19, 2010)

*FV-QR*

Looks bomb. I wouldn't black out the grille and everything though.


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## Mr.Tan (Jun 9, 2004)

^ that all blacked out looks ill on that example...however with your car being 2-tone, i dont know..maybe if it was all 1 color it would work but i dont think with the green and white


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## Dreamstate (Jan 2, 2002)

Wrap it in vinyl. If you don't like it in a few months you can take it all off again. No harm, no foul.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Mr.Tan said:


> ^ that all blacked out looks ill on that example...however with your car being 2-tone, i dont know..maybe if it was all 1 color it would work but i dont think with the green and white


I wouldnt do it on the two-tone, I'm just considering options for after I do the body/re-paint it. A long ways off in the future...


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

*ummmmmm... anyone?*

did anyone notice the suicide door conversion????????????? the black on silver looks great, but dreamstate is right. wrap it and if you dont like it, rip it off.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

It looked so sad sitting in the driveway unused, and its been really mild around here, so I took it to Toronto and back Christmas day for a family get together, clicked over 5000 miles on my way home since I put it in my name in June...










Also dropped the RS's off at the powdercoaters last weekend. Car finally gets stored indoors tomorrow, so I'll have a place to work on it till spring, mostly maintenance stuff will be getting done this winter as school had a bigger impact on my car fund than anticipated. Looking forward to many more miles in 2012!


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

All snowy and sad...


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## joebags (Jun 15, 2007)

I just found this thread and had to say I love what you have done to the car. Really looks good.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Picked up a package from the powdercoaters yesterday, came out a little more yellow than the color tag looked, but I'm still very happy...


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## insert clever name (Jul 26, 2009)

thats gonna look awesome....get to work on them lips:thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

insert clever name said:


> thats gonna look awesome....get to work on them lips:thumbup:


Lips are being replaced, orginals are too far gone to justify saving


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## Ben from RI (Jun 5, 2009)

Zman86 said:


> Lips are being replaced, orginals are too far gone to justify saving


Unless they are bent out of shape you should be able to bring them back.. Everything else in this thread is impressive.. I do like the look of the blacked out chrome, bit with the green and new lips I think keeping the chrome will look great.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

My problem is I'm a bad perfectionist with little things like that. No matter how much work I put into restoring the lips, I'd probably never get them the way I want them. Still debating whether to go aluminum or stainless with the new ones...

On another note, look for some big updates coming next week...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Started tearing down the engine bay today so I can get everything to the powdercoaters. I wanted to wait until I had the engine out and I could do the complete bay all at once, but when you have the opportunity to do something, sometimes you have to take it! Even the girlfriend helped me, though we didnt get much done due to the fact it was -13*c out and I forgot both my light (so we could see with the garge closed) and my portable heater. Look for more pics of the teardown throughout the week...










Reference pictures, I can never remember how these damn linkages go back together...



















Smiling, though she was not that impressed with me forgetting the heater...










Done for the day, no feeling in fingers or toes. Not much progress, but still filled a whole box with stuff. Heading back sometime during the week when its a bit warmer...


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## insert clever name (Jul 26, 2009)

:thumbup:


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## gtipwnz (Jun 6, 2010)

Sub'd. I want to do one of these some day opcorn:


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## phil123 (Aug 13, 2009)

Looks like alot of fun. keep it up!


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

After an insane, Monster energy drink fueled four hours, I got almost everything I wanted out of the bay last Thursday before I left for Florida. Received all the stuff I ordered from Mercedes and currently awaiting my order to arrive from Mercedes Source... 



















And some pictures I found from the previous owner comparing stock ride hight. You can also see the difference Euro bumpers and the shaved marker lights make...


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## VR6VR6 (Oct 11, 2008)

i am SO jelly. i ****ing love this car. :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


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## [email protected] (Feb 19, 2010)

Zman86 said:


>


I approve of this


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## DubbinMkII (Jul 8, 2002)

Absolutely gorgeous. :beer:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Thanks!

Just found this while digging through my photo albums, the only sticker on the car, my favorite character from one of my favorite shows...


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## ericshell (Dec 22, 2011)

must be terrible to do all that in the cold weather. Your cars got a lot of character, can't wait to see what it looks like this season:thumbup:


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## vwhead757 (Aug 17, 2009)

Zman86 said:


> Thanks!
> 
> Just found this while digging through my photo albums, the only sticker on the car, my favorite character from one of my favorite shows...


Bubbles!


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## Dreamstate (Jan 2, 2002)

*FV-QR*

I approve of the Trailer Park Boys :thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Mmmm new parts...

Lets see if I can remember what I've bought so far

From Mercedes

Intake/exhaust manifold gasket
everything to re-seal the top end of the injection pump
fuel filter housing grommets
transmission tailshaft seal
exhaust manifold to downpipe gasket
throttle linkage bushings
oil filter
fuel filter
throttle cable guide
some nut that I dont remember what its for

From Mercedes Source

Trunk seal
Vacuum pump overhaul kit
engine shock mount kits
glowplugs
oil pan/drainplug/gasket 
Power steering filter
brake fluid resevoir seals
Master cylinder to booster O-ring
Differential mount
driveshaft flew discs
driveshaft hanger-bearing and mount
driveshaft dust boot

From The Benz Bin

New alternator 
engine mounts
waterpump
radiator cap
transmission mount
parking brake shoes

From local autopart store

inline fuel filter
rear brake pads/discs
transmission filter kit
thermostat o-ring
various gaskets

So much work to do before spring. This weeks to-do list: remove old oil pan, check height of oil pickup to see if I can shorten the pan, take new pan/pickup to welders to have them modify it (my welding sucks), replace glowplugs, set valve lash, purchase all new vacuum/fuel line....

Still can not find any decent interior parts, seems like all the good original interior stuff is attached to $5000+ cars, I've looked at 6 different parts cars and the interiors have been trashed in every one. I've found two parts cars that belong to one of the customers at work, both total wrecks, but chocked full of useable stuff, including all the parts from a car that was wrecked in the early 80's, then taken apart completely and put into storage. The thing that makes me happiest is I got a near rust free OE passenger front fender! Pics when I go back to pillage more parts...


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## vr6dubnut12 (Nov 4, 2008)

:thumbup::thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Update!


Not much has been going on lately with the car. I had stripped the bay to get everything powdercoated (removed everything I had already removed back in November), and then it fell through and I just got my stuff back a couple weeks ago. I'm in the middle of a move also, so things have been crazy. Towed the car from my girlfriends to the new shop last weekend, hoping to finally get some work done once I'm moved in. Also had a issue with the injector pump (I removed something I shouldnt have) and now I may have to pull the pump out for re-calibration :mad and I've been having issues with improper parts from both aftermarket suppliers and Mercedes....

Hoping to have it mobile by the end of April...










Its new home! We have from the two shop doors forward










View from the bedroom...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Found this on Air-Society this morning, looks like they did a showcase under the old owners name


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## VWBugman00 (Mar 17, 2009)

Hey, great job on the car restoring it. It still looks great. Since you've got the becker radio, have you thought of perhaps using the face as a cover for a more modern stereo? What I was thinking is have a little electric actuator, and a hinge on the top or bottom to make it fold down, and have a modern stereo behind the face. It'd require some fabrication, but I think it'd look great.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Car is coming back together, slowly but surely... 

In the meantime, I found this...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

It's alive again


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## Dpaul04 (Jun 10, 2010)

Zman86 said:


> Its new home! We have from the two shop doors forward


Looks familiar, what are the next big steps? Good meeting you and your girlfriend.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Nice meeting you too!

Well, the plans were to just drive it and fix stuff/install all the new parts I have stockpiled along the way. However, we too it out and put around 30km on it before the transmission started slipping terribly, so looks like it may be out of commission for a few more weeks. I may just do all the work I was planning on doing gradually throughout the year while it's down.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Well, It's back on the road, put about 200 miles on it this weekend. I ended up draining the semi-synthetic fluid I put in the transmission and re filled it with the cheapest ATF I could find and replaced a blown out bushing on the shift linkage at the transmission, and it's now shifting better than it ever has. 

Anyways, some pictures! First wash of the year after getting it back together









Draining the transmission









Out on the highway









Some random pictures




























Mine and the girlfriends cars


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Never posted a picture of the stock ride height










And picked these up last weekend










Some pictures from this weekend in downtown Toronto


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Been working on the car alot lately, cleaned up the trunk and have been just doing misc maintenance things. My girlfriends got me going to shows now, and a few weeks ago I took first in my class! *

Anyways, some recent pictures, more to come!

























Got sick of all the burnt out bulbs and loose glass in the instrument cluster, so I took it apart, replaced all the bulbs, cleaned and secured the glass, replaced the non functioning clock with a good one and bypassed the dimmer rheostat since it was failing. Also carpeted the trunk, cleaned up all the wiring for the air ride, re-mounted the tank and compressor and picked up a tire for the spare, and replaced the broken window switch trim panel. 





































And the newest addition to the fleet


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Just got back from my first major trip with the car, 1000+km to go camping up on Manitoulin Island, car performed flawlessly except for a broken speedometer cable.


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## AndrewDaniels (Jul 2, 2011)

Awesome car, awesome color! :thumbup: :beer:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

found some pics floating around the Internet today


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Been workin on the car lately, fixed a really annoying intermittent loss of rr signal


























Changed the diff mount

























Changed the non-existent left motor mount

















Some random pictures


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## RomanML320 (Jan 13, 2005)

I ant to do this so bad. What bags and mounts are you on? Watertown NY?


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## zero_x_soul (Feb 22, 2009)

did you ever get around to installing that skid plate? do you think you need one anymore?


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## darcness (Aug 8, 2008)

Absolutely beautiful car man, and you're work is spot on. 

Love it all the way! :thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

SS RE-5 up front and RE-6 out back. The skidplate has yet to make it on, my brand new oilpan is pretty dinged up. I should stop being lazy. Thanks for the compliments!

A couple pics of the future wheels



















The cat approves










From this past weekend at Berlin Klassik, met someone with a 240D on bags, was great seeing another one!


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## 250celowrider (Mar 28, 2010)

what shocks are you using?
model numbers?
or what car are they ment for.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

250celowrider said:


> what shocks are you using?
> model numbers?
> or what car are they ment for.


I'll have to dig through my paperwork to find a number, but I do know they are one of the shortest shocks Monroe makes.


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## RomanML320 (Jan 13, 2005)

Such a sweet project, just can't get enough


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## fasttt600 (Apr 12, 2007)

A picture of your car was on thechive.com. I think it was from the previous owner, but cool none the less


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)




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## reynolds9000 (Oct 16, 2003)

For some reason i really like the way it looks with the hubcaps off.

Apparently you like classic automobiles, and you seem to be living by the advice my dad once bestowed upon me. His words were, "Son, if you're going to drive an old car, you need two old cars." 

He's got a '72 Volvo 1800 and a '74 2002. :laugh:


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## martin13 (Apr 20, 2010)

reynolds9000 said:


> For some reason i really like the way it looks with the hubcaps off.
> 
> Apparently you like classic automobiles, and you seem to be living by the advice my dad once bestowed upon me. His words were, "Son, if you're going to drive an old car, you need two old cars."
> 
> He's got a '72 Volvo 1800 and a '74 2002. :laugh:


volvo 1800's and amazons are so beautiful


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

I also own a Volvo, a 2 owner '93 240 wagon with 685,000km on it. Original owners had it from 93-2011, second owner bought it as a winter beater and put 15k on it, and now i have it. Been working on it the last few weeks getting it ready for the road, as of next Monday my girlfriend will be using it as her daily. The plan is to try and take it to a million...


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## reynolds9000 (Oct 16, 2003)

They're indestructable cars, especially the real Volvos...prior to Ford buying them.

My college commuter car was a 1996 Volvo 850..5 cylinder non-turbo with a manual trans. It had something like 250k easily on it when i sold it. Super reliable and every power option still worked on it. I love those cars. 

A turbo 240 would be a pretty fun little car, i've always thought. :thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

250celowrider said:


> what shocks are you using?
> model numbers?
> or what car are they ment for.


Rear shocks are Monroe sensatrac 5752


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Took a 900km round trip up north yesterday to pull everything out of a '76 240D for a four speed manual conversion. Don't know when it will be taking place since funds are tight at the moment, but hopefully next spring/summer





































Girlfriend and the cars owner counterbalancing the tractor while trying to lift the car up. Ended up pushing it in the shop with our Volvo and took the tranny out on a lift. 









Everything back home


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## jon.kamstra (Oct 5, 2010)

You live in waterdown?? :what: i'm from flamborough

I knew this car was out in Kitchener previously and had seen it out there a few years ago but I have never seen you around waterdown area before...?

What a beauty benz, and awesome that you're doing the 4 speed manual swap, the 900km commitment is great! 

Keep up the great work, hope to see this beauty around town sometime!


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## vw-supreme (Jul 10, 2003)

a really awesome car... love these color combi.. and i know about the black Euro Car Owner..he is called Sladdy Deluxe in the tuning Scene here in Germany. its a awesome builder here..(i dont know if someone knows about the red right handdrive MK1 Gti Golf?? he is the same owner 

and these cars here in Germany not sold under 5000 Euro.. used in all conditions.. really rare ons...

i cant belive that you get one for 500 Bucks...unbeliveable man.

hope to see more of your green mamba 

reg Kev


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

^ Thanks for the compliments. And yes, I'm living in the waterdown area now. Had the car out many times around town in the summer, and a few times to the Canadian tire cruise night. If you see me come say hello!

And my Fleamarket find of the day, I plan to strip it and paint it up like mine


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

First time out of the garage in 2013...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

First show this year. Just finishing up my girlfriends car this week, then the Benz can get over into the working bay for some much needed love before the summer time. In usual Canadian fashion, the day after this it rained, hailed and snowed...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

So, my Jetta had been off the road for last month due to an ignition switch failure that I had no real desire to fix. I've been using the mercedes as my daily driver. Since I got the Jetta back on the road yesterday, figured it was time for some maintenance on the green bastard. 










Changed the rear brakes, old ones had pretty much nothing left










Changed the transmission mount and topped up the diff










On the to-do list...

Change broken speedo cable
Fix trip odo
Tidy engine bay
Install Becker head unit
Fix broken wire to transmission kickdown switch
Replace shifter bushings

However, something potentially game changing happened last week. While out doing my daily tasks, the car started running rough at stop lights and smoking badly. A cylinder cut out test found cylinder #3 not firing properly. I checked the valve adjustment and adjusted the valves back to spec as they were tight. Did not help. 










Buddy of mine borrowed the injector pop tester from his work and we checked the injector. Was cracking at the correct pressure and the spray pattern was great. While blow by had never been an issue with engine, we did the usual unscrew the oil fill cap and set it on the valve cover. Blew the cap off immediately. Pulled the #3 glow plug and it was covered in fuel. 










I Confirmed tonight after getting my hands on a compression tester that cylinder 3 is toast with only 85psi compression.










So, this puts me at a point where I don't really know what to do. Rebuild the stock engine? Do the 617 turbo/4 speed manual swap I've been dreaming about? Or start on the full restoration I've been wanting to do? As it sits, the car runs normally at highway speeds, it only misses around town and smokes terribly (even for a 70's mercedes diesel)

So, thoughts? Opinions?


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## VWBugman00 (Mar 17, 2009)

Zman86 said:


> So, my Jetta had been off the road for last month due to an ignition switch failure that I had no real desire to fix. I've been using the mercedes as my daily driver. Since I got the Jetta back on the road yesterday, figured it was time for some maintenance on the green bastard.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Man, that's tough. On one hand, the car looks great as is, and you've replaced quite a bit on it. Just throw a turbo diesel motor and go is a great option. On the other, it is an old car, and it probably has some things that can and should be addressed to make it 100%. That's a tough choice. I would weigh costs, and timeframe that you want to get it done, and choose that way. Either way, i'm sure it'll be great when it's done.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

My main hang up at the moment is do I fix the engine and continue to drive it as is, or do I pull it off the road and start on the restoration I've been planning. The body is getting pretty bad.


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## Built2Drive (Jan 15, 2010)

Where do you see this car in the up coming years? Something you'll keep for many years to come? If yes, then start the restore with engine swap. If no, fix what you have and put your time money into something new. At the same time, figure whats cheaper, fix what you have or your swap. 
If you're keeping the car, and pulling the engine for repair, then just get the restore going. Its a great, unique car. I'd start the restore, even if you just do the front end and get the engine in, then tackle the rest at a more suitable time.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

The plan from the beginning was to keep this car the rest of my life. I had planned to get our Bel air on the road before I started tearing the Benz down this winter. However, with the Benz engine on the way out now, and thanks to things beyond my control (landlords selling the farm we live on) we may be losing our house and our shop in the next couple months, so starting a tear down is probably not a good idea at the moment. I'm also going to have to find storage for 4 cars if we do end up losing our place. 

Anyways, Found these while browsing tonight. I've seen both before. I'd really like to know more about the turbo setup on the yellow one, it appears he has turbo'd the stock engine...










http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=863F7yeDdHo&desktop_uri=/watch?v=863F7yeDdHo


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## YoungMedic (Mar 22, 2006)

Hey man, sorry about your recent troubles, I just came across your thread, its great to see some W114/115 love. The car is awesome! Ive got a 71 250 myself. Good luck with it, you seem to be making good calls so far, whatever you choose will be the best thing for sure :beer::thumbup:

BTW Im jealous of your Becker! its on my short list


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## Iku (Mar 11, 2009)

From the randoms of the internet, please keep the mercedes motor.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Found this W123 turbo diesel while I was out driving today. Rotted to nothing, but has the engine I'm after. No one answered the door, so I'm heading back to leave a note this afternoon...










Edit: talked to the owner on the phone, went and looked at the car, wouldn't start. Pulled $400 out of my wallet and told him it was most I'd go. He turned it down, said he had a guy offer him $500 a couple weeks ago and he'd rather wait and see if he would show back up than take $400 right now and have the car off his property in a day. He's not hurting for money either...


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## martin13 (Apr 20, 2010)

Zman86 said:


> Found this W123 turbo diesel while I was out driving today. Rotted to nothing, but has the engine I'm after. No one answered the door, *so I'm heading back to leave a note this afternoon...*



Does that mean you are going to steal it and then leave a note?


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Well, I coughed up the $500, look for updates in the coming weeks and months...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

A friend and I went out to get the parts car today. I was going to flat tow it home, but he told me you can't with a Benz. After four years of sitting, all it took was a battery, some fresh oil and diesel, removal of various mouse nests in the intake system and bypassing the glow plug timer/relay. 










http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BATJdcaBrN4

Then it was time to drive it home, as I was only 6 or 7 km up the road. Well, the throttle pedal detached from the floor and jammed under the throttle, on a large hill no doubt, and let to a very slow hill climb. Then the front calipers started to stick, causing the brakes to smoke. During this whole drive, I had my head out the window to escape the smell of mouse piss. 










Stopped at the beer store on the way back, friend followed me in my TDI. I love the yellow lights, my favorite thing about the 123. 










Back at the farm after some offroading and a fast drive to verify the engine was working properly, friend has videos of both I will try to get. 










Will probably degrease tomorrow and start the removal Monday.


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## syracusegli (Jan 22, 2005)

i lol'd when you said you had your head out the window due to mouse piss... pretty sure we have all been there but still :laugh::thumbup::thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

syracusegli said:


> i lol'd when you said you had your head out the window due to mouse piss... pretty sure we have all been there but still :laugh::thumbup::thumbup:


 Only us people that drag cars out of fields. This one was by far the worst yet...


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## darcness (Aug 8, 2008)

So happy you found a motor to go in. This car is simply beautiful and it's great to know it will soon be driving again. You've put so much work into this thing. Nothing but props and support from me. Good work as always! :thumbup:


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## jon.kamstra (Oct 5, 2010)

Hey Zman,

I'm not sure if you need it, or maybe you already know, but there is a Benz 123 located on Hwy 6 just on the north side of 5th Concession that has been sitting there for years beside some guy's house.

Just an FYI. Good luck with the swap and I hope you don't lose the barn space, I like seeing this car cruise by/around my house sometimes!


Jon


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

^ I looked for the car you were speaking of, but did not see it. We have unfortunately lost our space on the farm and are moving into a 2nd floor apartment downtown. The good news is we found a 1.5 car garage for rent literally steps away from our new place. Nothing like our current setup, but its enough room to work in/store parts for all the cars. Will post pics when we move in. 

I've really been struggling to find motivation to work on this car lately. The body is in really rough shape, and honestly the best option would be to scrap it and save all the suspension bits for a cleaner car. I had at one point put it up for sale after finding out we were losing our shop, but couldn't follow through with it. The car will be going into storage at a friends house until the time is right to start working on it again. 

I was supposed to pull the drivetrain from the donor car months ago, but just never did. The tranny let go in my friends '82 300SD last Thursday, so this weekend we yanked it out finally then swapped the transmission from the 123 into his 126. Engine is going to work next week to be degreased then will be stored in the new shop where I can prep it for installation into the 115 and converting it to a 4spd manual.


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## Vee-DubbVR6 (Jul 31, 2007)

Looks like you were able to stay at the farm/shop for the time being - that's good news! Glad to see you're still at it. :thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

We are actually moving this week, have the place till the 15th. Got the Benz out to storage at a friends place yesterday and moved this old girl today


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## jon.kamstra (Oct 5, 2010)

I'm going to miss seeing you & your benz driving around flamborough sometimes!


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

We still drive the Waterdown are regularly, there was lots of great back roads by where lived. Car is currently in storage at a friends barn, and in the next few weeks I should have it moved down to our small garage around the corner from our house for the engine/tranny swap this winter. 










Picked up an awesome vintage shift knob at the flea market today to finish off the upcoming four-speed swap.










Some pics of the four speed stuff,full story is earlier in thread


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## amotion578 (Oct 3, 2010)

Subscribing!

I can't wait to pick up my W115, it should be happening in the next 23 days (the state is supposed to send my retirement check by November 28th).

This car is such an inspiration :beer::beer:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Thank you, Good to hear! Things are busy around here, hope to have it down in the shop in the next couple weeks so we can get started. Getting a pretty extensive makeover this winter so I can make up for not driving it much this year. There will hopefully be many road trips next summer.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Finally got it home. Work should start on it next week...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Have to clean the bay, sort out the wiring, and get everything ready to go for mocking up the new engine.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Separated the engine and transmission so I could get the engine on a stand. Swapping the upper oil pans since the turbo pan does not clear the 115 subframe is required. I attempted to remove it with the engine standing up, but a lot of the small Allen's easily stripped despite cleaning and blowing them all out. Turning the engine upside-down made it much easier to deal with the stripped ones. Next step is getting the turbo engine on the stand so the oil pans can be swapped.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

A lot of stuff has been happening, plus it's been stupidly cold up here, so not a lot has been done on the car lately. However, all my new suspension bushings arrived, all I have left to find is rear subframe bushings. For some reason the 300D bushings are unobtanium, and differ from other W115 bushings somehow, I've not yet been able to find out the difference. 











Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## darcness (Aug 8, 2008)

Love every part of this car and have been following the build since early in your first thread. I just wanted to say that I LOVE the car so much and you're dedication to it is amazing and inspiring. When you were debating about finding a motor and keeping the build going I was pulling for you to keep it going so much. I'm so glad when I check the thread and see that you're making progress. Keep up the good work man and bravo! :thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:


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## cdwalls (Jun 14, 2012)

wow why am i just finding this thread now? Awesome work!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Thanks for the compliments! 

A Benz enthusiast friend and I went to check out a parts car yesterday. The owner had told me it had a blue interior, so I wrote it off as being much use. However, when we got there, the interior turned out to be a near mint all black one. I've been looking for an interior for nearly three years, and I've finally found it. Unfortunately I did not get pictures yet, but this is the car it's coming out of









Got a bit of time in on the green bastard today after finding this in the junkyard. It was untouched, so I got a carb for our Bel-air and a bunch of other really cool stuff for a future rod project. 









Then it was off to the garage.


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## darcness (Aug 8, 2008)

Awesome find man! It seems you've gotten your mojo going again with this car. Keep it going as long as you can so I can live vicariously through your project! :thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

I'm trying, it's still hard to find motivation sometimes when you fix cars for a living all day. 

New signal covers, city light covers and brake flex hoses arrived earlier this week. 










Went out today to get my new interior. Beautiful day, -8*c with no windchill. Had everything I wanted out in about 4 hours. I thought I could maybe convert the '76 doors to the earlier ones with the smokers vent windows, but after taking everything out of the doors, I realized I probably won't be able too, so I have to return to get them since there was no room left in the girlfriends Volvo 240. Converting to manual crank windows, just because I like the look of them better plus you get a much cleaner centre console without the window switches. 


































Found lots of stuff under the seats, but this was the best. 


































Wagon loaded up. 









Home at last

















Love the chrome brackets on the older seats. 









Hopefully getting the turbo diesel over to the shop tomorrow so I can start on fitting the engine...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Been stupidly cold up here for the last couple weeks, and I only have a small propane heater for the shop, so not a lot of time has been spent with the car. Things are warming up though, so I should get to it this weekend. Today's mini project was adding some protection to the lower oil pan. Along with raising the engine mounts up a bit, busted oil pans should no longer be an issue. 



















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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Another snowy day in Ontario, had 5-10cm of heavy, wet snow in the last few hours.









Perfect afternoon to start on the drivers floor pan. 

Here's the old patch piece that was completely rotten, held in with self tappers. The grey in the lower part of the pic was a seat mount, pretty much only attached to undercoat









Patch removed, not looking good

















Dead metal cut out. Good news is all of the braces are intact and in good shape. Bad news is the rocker is pretty much fudged in the front. 


















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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Tonight's plan was to pull the front fenders off for better access to the rot in the foot wells. After stripping everything, the fenders would not budge, then I remembered why. I read somewhere long ago that the fenders on these things are glued on. They most defiantly are. I tried to break the seam with prying, but did not get very far, so the next option is using heat. 










Earlier in the week, I made up an adapter to allow me to run the vintage shift knob I bought last year. Turned out pretty good. Also disassembled the shifter, cleaned out all the garbage 40 year old grease, re-lubed and re-assembled. 










































I've been getting a lot of welding and fab jobs at work lately, since most of the shop does not want anything to do with it, and I jump at the chance to. I'm getting better, but still have a long way to go. Hopefully I'm going to get good enough to do all the welding/fab on the Mercedes and my girlfriend and I's other projects.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Got one fender off using a heat gun tonight, still took a ridiculous amount of force. Ended up creasing the top of the fender, but the passenger side is the one I have a rust free replacement for. Phillips screws on the bottom of the left fender are seized beyond removal, need to get my drill from work to remove them. Found the old speaker boxes rotten and full of moisture, so those are getting tossed, probably going to fab up some metal boxes and weld them in. 

There's a ton of room behind the front wheels once you pull off a small, sealed access panel. It is completely sealed from weather, so it might be a good spot to hide some components when I tuck the wiring. 

I do have one dilemma, I'm pretty much at the point in my mind where I'm ready to keep the car off the road this season, completely strip it to a shell, have it blasted and just start from scratch. I despise doing things twice, and I don't see a point in slapping it back together, driving it for 4-5 months, then having to rip it all apart again. Opinions are appreciated!


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## ColinW. (Apr 20, 2012)

in. :beer::thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Was -20*c here last night, too cold for the garage. Bit warmer tonight, got the LF fender off. It was packed with the most god awful substance I've ever had to remove, some type of rubber/tar with a foil backing. Took heating it to near liquid with a heat gun, bracing myself, then pushing with my feet and pulling with my hands to rip it out in order to access the fender bolts. 














































I've been discussing with friends, and considering opinions I've received on the net , and I've decided to just make this a full-blown restoration. After a major garage cleanup/organization, the car will be stripped to a shell and sent out for media blasting/primer. Hoping to have the project completed by the end of the year. 

I've also been putting a lot of thought into paint colour. A fellow stanceworks member turned me on to Porsche Auratium green, a colour available on late 50's Porsches. I'm not absolutely 100% on it yet, but I'm pretty damn close. The girlfriend and I are still trying to pick a complimenting colour for the roof that would also work with the black interior.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

A fellow vortexer was nice enough to do a photoshop for me in Auratium green with the roof as it is now, in silver, and in black. I'm in love with the green, but am having a hard time deciding on the roof. 

How it sits now









And in Auratium



























Keep in mind the beige interior will be replaced with all black.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Not a whole lot happened this weekend, spent four or five hours cleaning and organizing the shop, as it was a complete disaster. Made the hour long drive to pick up my series one doors. Found that the series two doors would not accept the vent windows, so the entire door will have to be swapped. 










Here is a series one car with the vent windows










And a later car without


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## Dreamstate (Jan 2, 2002)

The w114 doors will be perfect for the car. :thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

The 114 that I pillaged everything from was in Kitchener too, Italian guy that had about 8 vintage Benzs either restored or under restoration, including a trailer of NOS parts, some 108 parts as well if your looking for stuff for yours Randy. The doors need a bit of work, but I plan on leaving all the visible bodywork to a professional. Your going to have to take this thing for a drive when it's complete...

In other news, it's been a slow couple weeks. Stripped the front brakes, calipers, and backing plates off a week ago, never took any pics. Stripped the front suspension out today, and grabbed some pics of the front bag setup for those that have asked in the past. I plan on using something similar but am probably going to have the upper mount machined out of billet and change the way the upper and lower mounts to the control arms. Also some evidence of the bags rubbing on the control arms, so that's getting fixed as well. Looking for input on boxing the control arms as well, the lower looks easy, the upper a bit more difficult. The end plan is to have everything pretty much bulletproof. 

Next on the list is extract and clean the front subframe and start modifying it, gut the rear suspension and get the rear subframe out, which I'm tasking my girlfriend with. Start labelling wiring and pulling the harness out of the car, pull the doors, pull front and rear glass, pull all airlines, pull all trim, build a dolley to roll the shell around on then send the shell for soda blasting and primer. Then the real fun can begin...


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## syracusegli (Jan 22, 2005)

i was going to say, before i red you chose to media blast... to do it. If you can afford it, it makes sense to do it right. :thumbup::thumbup:


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

The original plan was just to get the floor patched up and get the
Engine/tranny swap done for this spring, but the extent of the rust made me just say **** it, why put off restoring it anymore. Going to get the majority of it done this summer then just pick away at whatever pace I want re- assembling it. I'm a truck and coach/auto mechanic for a living, it gets tiring coming home and working on your own stuff, which is why I work slow. 

Have a turbo install/tranny swap to do on my girlfriends showcar, plus a full drivetrain rebuild/ suspension/ brake system rebuild on our '57 Bel Air, and all the regular maintenance on our 15-20 year old dailies, including a 740,000km Volvo 240, which has it's own thread here. 

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5866152-My-quest-for-a-1-000-000km-Volvo-240-content

Main holdback at the moment is a lack of workspace...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Long time no updates. Weather has been miserable here and motivation for doing anything outdoors has been minimal. Car has not been touched for at least a month, but things should be back on track soon. We have found a nine car shop for rent out in the country at a very reasonable price, so it looks like all our projects will be under one roof again and we will actually have room to work!

The local pick n pull got a 123 in yesterday. Since I forgot to remove some stuff from my engine donor car, I went and picked up a complete throttle linkage, high idle cable, power steering lines and a bunch of ball and cup links to have as spares. Car was far too nice to be in the junkyard...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Big step forward yesterday. Only took 6 months to do, but I finally dug the engine out and moved it to the new shop. Will be doing a shop organize and starting back in the car this weekend. 



















This has been taking up most of my car related spare time lately...


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Got the boot from my workspace through no fault of my own, so had to drag the rust bucket up to my parents driveway , where it will sit until I have some place to work on it...




























In the mean time, I was hired to bring this out of 4 years of improper storage for a customer in Alberta. It's a long story, but the short is I first saw the car in 2011 when I went to see it with a friend who was interested in buying it. They couldn't strike a deal, and it continued sitting in the chicken barn till this year. I found it for sale again, made an offer, he decided to keep it and hire me to get it back running again since I know the cars. Full thread following my work on it can be seen here. 

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?7021271-Bringing-a-73-Mercedes-back-to-life





































The color was one of the two main reasons I wanted it, the interior was the other


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Finally dragged the old bag to our new shop. Dunno when the stripping will begin, have a lot of projects on the go at the moment...






































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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

So, this happened today










'75 280, crappy white re spray at some point in its life, been in the same family for thirty years, has sat for half of that indoors. Very nice shape black interior minus the carpet. 2.8L M110 engine, secondaries on the carb are seized, same as the last Solex carb I had rebuilt, needs multiple maintenance items. 

The body is surprisingly good. Drivers floor has a small soft spot as well as the drivers rocker, but it's mostly little bits of surface rust everywhere. Very solid for a Canadian car that's been neglected, I've seen quite a few now. 

Picked it up for $1k Canadian. Will be taking delivery in a couple weeks. Plan is to swap the suspension from the green car in and use the green car for parts to get this one back in roadworthy condition by spring.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Some pictures from the sale ad


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

I've started prepping what I can, and have set the donor car up on stands to start pulling what I need. Started with refurbishing the control arms from the green car so they can just be swapped into the white one. New bushings, a scrub in the parts washer and a quick coat of paint.


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Picked up the car today and got it transported to work. However, a wrench may have been thrown in the spokes of this project, as it's looking like the engine from our '72 VW bus is going to require a rebuild, and that's going to eat our project car funds for the time being. 

However, I can still do lots of work to it with my parts stash now in storage at the same location as the car. First item on the to-do list is finding and repairing the blown brake line. 






















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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Felt motivated after work, so decided to start on the car. Dropped in a battery and got it running. There is an issue with the starter grinding against the ring gear, so that will have to be addressed. 










It thanked me by popping the rubber fuel hose from the tank to the steel line. In typical German engineering fashion, the outlet on the tank and the fuel line are different sizes. Drained out a bunch of at least ten year old gas. 










Then on to the ten year old oil. 










While waiting for the fluids to drain, I removed the front bumper and test fit the euro one. It's looking like the bumper is bent, as the spaces below the headlights are uneven side to side. 





























Picked away at a couple soft spots I had found while first looking at the car. Surprised to find that there's actually very little rot! It will be getting wire brushed and Por 15'd




























Last but not least, opened up everything while under the heater overnight to let it air out a bit. 













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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Did some more work today. Got the rear bumper off. 










Found a small spot of rot. 










Finished draining the fuel that was in the tank. Having to remove the fuel cap with channel locks confirmed my suspicion that the inside of the tank is heavily rusted. Tank will be coming out for a cleaning and lining application. In the mean time I put 15 litres of premium in it for moving around the yard. 



















Then it was onto the interior. I always like to remove the seats and do a thourough cleaning on my old cars, and since it does not have carpets in a typical sense, but rather larger padded form-fitting mats, it's easy to check for rust. I swung my head under the rear seat, and was quite surprised to find $180 in $20's. 










Off to a good start!

Pulling everything out took about 25 minutes. I have an earlier style black interior without headrests that will be going in. This one, aside from the driver seat needing a going over, is in quite good shape, I just prefer the older one. 





























The rustiest part of the car so far. Seems nearly everywhere in these cars leaks water into the interior, this one being no exception. I'm surprised it's not more rotten given the amount of moisture I've found. 










Found a couple holes while scraping away, but this has been it. No big deal, very minimal compared to how bad I've seen these things. I'll post up some of the rust I found in the green one later. 




















All in all it's looking pretty good so far. Fired it up with the new oil and fuel and let it run up to temp. It is a much, much happier car with new fuel in it. The lifters are a little noisy, but the valves have probably not been adjusted in a very long time. A couple were sticking when we first fired it up a couple weeks ago. Only concern so far is that there's a bit of blue smoke from the tail pipe. Hoping it's just from sitting around all these years. 

https://vimeo.com/200429110

Debating whether to go in tomorrow to scrub the exterior...





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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Came into work today to give the car a good scrubbing. A decade of sitting had allowed a lot of dirt to build up, as well as some plant life. 





































It has some sort of sunroof, but I can't find any controls for it, nor figure out how it works. 










Started with the roof. Rest of the car looked the same. 










And all done!



















The single stage paint is dull and crazing, but a good cut and polish should make it presentable again. We have a friend that runs a detailing business, it will be going to him once it's road legal. Currently debating what to tackle next, I really need to start stripping stuff off the green car for this one. 


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Pulled the rear bumper and smooth all red early 114 tail lights out of the green car last night and installed them on the 280 on lunch break. 



















The machinest also dropped off my new lower bag mounts for the front. I didn't like how the old ones didn't centre the mount in the control arm. These ones have a centring piece cut in the middle to keep the mount from moving on the control arm. 











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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Got one of the euro headlights installed and wired today. These were also off the green car. Originally fitted with H4 bulbs, the previous owner had retrofitted them with Osram projectors/HID's. I opted not to wire up the fog lights that are built into the euro headlights as I really like how the factory NA spec ones look. 

The lights are much better than the stockers, and the beams have a great cutoff (despite looking like your typical el cheapo HID dropped in a halogen bulb housing in the picture). 




















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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Today finds the LF headlight installed along with the front bumper, nearly complete if the installation of all the W114 cosmetic/euro exterior parts I have. I still have a early style side view mirror, but it is currently stuck in the green car (have to power up the window and roll it up), as well as drilling mounting holes in the door. 

Next on the list is getting the brakes functioning, diagnosing the various electrical issues, and a full tuneup. Have to order my two-way air ride manual valve from Little Larry's and pick up all the line/PTC fittings, as well as swap the tank/compressor from the green car in and wiring it all up. Goal is to have it on the road by June. 































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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Today I decided to tackle the brakes, or lack thereof. This thing had absolutely no brakes at all, so I couldn't even move it around the yard safely. The master had sat empty for years, and all the calipers are garbage. It will all be getting replaced at a later date, but for now I needed at least some sort of brakes so I could move it around the yard and not kill myself. 

Dumping some fluid in the master found the RF and LR lines blown, the RR damp and the LF not far behind, so I decided to just replace them all. 



















Three hours of fighting with the garbage OTC ISO flare took I bought specifically for this job later, all the lines were done. Filling up the master and pumping the brakes found no fluid getting to the RF or LR, but I have enough pedal now to move it in and out of the shop when needed. 

The paint was garbage in the hubcaps, so off it came on my lunch break. These are probably the best condition set I've come across yet. 



















Next on the list is servicing the fuse box/electrical connectors/electrical problems. 


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Tested the brakes driving around the shop today, work well enough for yard driving. 

Had to work through lunch, so the only thing I got done was swapping out the poor condition painted grill badge for an earlier enamel 114 badge I pulled from a parts car four years ago. 



















Picking up new fuses after work, hoping to have them all replaced/fuse boxes serviced in the next couple days, then see what works and what doesn't. 


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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Started in on the electrics. Needless to say they were pretty crusty. 



















Used some battery terminal cleaner, scrubbed everything and blew it out with compressed air, then sanded all the contacts and applied dielectric grease. 



















Cleaned with new fuses, still need to take the ring terminals off of everything and give them a cleaning as well. 










After that it was time to see what was working. Everything except for the fog lights and blower motor function as they should. Decided to dig into the fog lights, I will check the blower motor when I pull the centre console. Even the sunroof works. Kinda...










Both foglight power wires were disconnected and left dangling uncovered for some reason. Fishing around to get them back through the fenders, I found a spare key wired to the rad support. Lord only knows how long it's been there. 










Both fog lights are getting power. I checked the ground with a test light and found it powered as well. Manually supplied ground from the battery with jumper wires and both fog lights work. The bulb is grounded through the light, and both lights are loose and the bases look kinda corroded, so I'm betting that's the issue. Will pull them and clean the mounting points. 













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## Zman86 (Apr 6, 2010)

Installed a W114 steering wheel today. Looks much better than the newer style in my opinion. 




























Also got the brakes working and took it on a short drive to make sure the trans was shifting properly, everything seems ok, engine seems to be smoking less. There's a nasty driveline vibration however, and I'm still having nightmares about the vibration issue I tried to address in the '73 I had from out west. The axles appear original, and when I replaced them in my green car, a lot of vibrations it had while driving went away. Hoping new axles and flex discs take care of the issue. 


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