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

[Zman86]

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/showthrea...olour-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

[Zman86]

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

[Zman86]

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...

[Zman86]

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...

[Zman86]

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

[Dreamstate]

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

[Zman86]

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...

[fbm93]

^ yah Pauls mgt setup was sick.

[mikegilbert]

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

[250celowrider]

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!

[zacharys666]

[Kevin@HundredProof]

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

[Zman86]

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....

[whitepepper]

[250celowrider]

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

[e.shell]

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

[250celowrider]

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!

[250celowrider]

[250celowrider]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/6478874...ream/lightbox/

[250celowrider]

[250celowrider]

WHY AINT IT ATTACHING...any ideas?

[250celowrider]

[IMG][/IMG]

WHY AINT IT ATTACHING...any ideas?

[250celowrider]

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[Zman86]

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...

[Andy P]

Sub'd

[LOW36]

[#6jettaC]

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)

[#6jettaC]

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

[250celowrider]

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!

[guesswho]

WOW... in for this one!

[furr]

This is going to look great

[#6jettaC]

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?

[Zman86]

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...

[Zman86]

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





Only crack I can find...



Hours worth of work...

[250celowrider]

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.