Well I finally have a standard tranny Mercedes 240D that doesn't have the back bumper sitting directly under the back glass!! (poor Scar)
Before I start, a huge THANKS to WhiskeyDan for being my wing-man on this trip. A giant help, and good company......
Started off being a brisk morning in the Dallas Ft. Worth metroplex. Temps in the high 30's. Dan got over to the house (in his VW diesel pickup!!) a little after 9:00. I showed him my jalopy fleet for a while, and we then left around 10:00a.m., headed for Austin.
I was going for a 1980 240D that the owner said had a bad motor. It had had an oil leak for awhile, and he said it must have gotten low and damaged rod bearings, or something "down there". Body paint and interior in decent shape. Well, I have Scar, which has a good little motor in her, so decided to abandon my 300D project in favor of putting a good 240D motor into a 240. OK......
Got to Austin just after 2:00p.m. (had to stop at WhataBurger). Car was in a small car shed/garage, so we pushed it out and onto the street.
We used a combination of Dan operating the come-a-long and the owner bumping the starter while in gear to climb onto the trailer. (I was supervising...
) You will see a pic of Dan down on the ground helping to secure the chains. I'm the chubby guy just standing there.....
Got the car back to the DFW area slightly after 8:00 p.m. or so (had to stop for Mexican food of course when we got back).
Backed the car off of trailer using the starter bump-in-gear method, when the thing accidently started. Man, did it sound awful! Quickly turned it off. Well, we decided why not just start if and drive off of trailer? Can't hurt it worse probably, and the trailer hitch on it was digging into the driveway pavement, so needed the umphhhhh.
Welp, started car, sounded like a spoon caught in the disposal
, so I gave it throttle to get off the trailer, and unstuck from the driveway. Well, with higher rpm's, horrible noise went away!!!???
So, drove it to parking spot and lifted hood. Dan listened and pointed his overly manly flashlight to see where noise coming from. Low rpm's, horrible noise. Horrible! High rpm's, no noise!
Welp, it is early in the process, and it was dark, but we noticed two things:
1) Air cleaner studs broken, and air cleaner was banging against hood padless hood
2) AC compressor has at least one bolt, and possible 2 missing, and was being banged around by the belt.
The idle cable knob is gone, and car idles very low without manual help from throttle. Engine mounts might be weak also, but it was dark, but at idle, with very low idle, it was a thrashing machine, and rattling items 1 & 2 listed above.
Final word of course is not in, but I am cautiously optimistic. Tires all match, and were way better than the kid said they were, interior was trashy but isn't trashed, and paint is pretty decent (repaint). Battery worked OK, even after a fair amount of driving car via starter. Had a little cd player too.
New trunk seal, new door seals on all 4 doors. Windshields, front and back have supposedly been re-sealed. Two new shocks in trunk, and new-in-box rear springs also. Split in drivers seat and door pockets missing (what will I hit my foot on getting out?)
Driver door won't open from inside, passenger window regulator issues also.
Overall, I am most happy, even if I have to go ahead and put other engine in it, but am hoping not. Oil filter housing has a good leak at block, and will need to be removed and new gasket installed.....
Thanks so much WhiskeyDan for the help.
And my Lord did we see a bunch of W123's today, and a few W126's and W116's. Our heads would snap about the same time......