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]

[arethirdytwo]

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.

[Dreamstate]

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.

[Zman86]

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

[DGNeo]

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

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

Car still looks awesome as ever!

[insert clever name]

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

[Dreamstate]

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.

[Zman86]

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...

[Dreamstate]

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.

[Zman86]

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...

[Zman86]

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?

[Zman86]

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

[Zman86]

Never posted a picture of the stock ride height



And picked these up last weekend



Some pictures from this weekend in downtown Toronto

[Zman86]

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

[RomanML320]

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

[zero_x_soul]

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