How much do you rely on Shop Forum for "support"?

[engatwork]

I rely on MBShop alot and enjoy reading through the various repairs and/or car work. My wife is kinda like James' - she wishes this site would disappear and the only diesel MB at our house she would drive would be the SD.

Anyway, we live in a really nice neighborhood (subdivision) and thankfully my immediate neighbor does not have any problems seeing an engine hanging off of a lift in my drive. I have alot of friends in the area that I sometimes call on to help with various jobs that I need a hand with. I have attached a pic of one of my friends (Keith) shop that lives nearby that restores/builds Chevolet products as a hobby. I have attached a pic of inside his shop where he painted the rear of the Camaro poking fun of me and my MB's. It is a 1968 RSSS that he is doing a complete frame off restoration. It was brought to him already torn apart and he is putting it back together. Been working on it since around the first of the year. In the background is a drag Chevelle that he and his son built. 572 cu in with NOS which runs up to around 160 in the 1/4.

[artpb]

I always use this forum to research and/or verify my endeavors to maintain both of my Mercedes vehicles. This forum is also a good place to keep up with supplier offerings and the viability of their products.

Art

[ak300td]

I feel lucky I stumbled on this site.

I enjoy working on vehicles in general, but find most manuals tough to understand though I'm not afraid of just tearing into something. Living 120 miles from a dealer or good parts place makes it a PITA when you overlook the one last piece to complete the repair. Getting advice in trouble shooting, being able to learn about a repair, and getting tips from others has made my MB wrench turning much more fun than it would have been.

I appreciate all of your advice, whether given directly to me or archived in the forum. Like many others have said, the information is great, the support is super and the enthusiasm is contagious!

Thanks!

Originally posted by Jim B+
at least in the case of diesels, these vehicles have often survived for more than 20 years in daily use, and a tremendous amount of information as to their infirmities and cures have been so well documented. Solutions, tricks, short-cuts, and much other information is organized in ShopForum...I think that only aircooled VWs and Model A Fords have as much "folk wisdom" collected about them.

Right on

i love to learn new things and this site is great for that ... i have yet to find a vw forum with people as inteligent as the people here.
i might have been abull to fix the problems i've had without you guys but
i would most likely have made a lot of mistakes
i check Diesel Discussion nightly just to see if i can learn something new
thanks

[Carrameow]

Sometimes they ship them before you send them money; OLD DIES once sent me an emblem for free; another guy bent over backwards to make sure Paypal fixed a billing screw up...I know the Internet can be a bland place, but this site has Personality!!

[TonyFromWestOz]

As a result of reading this forum, I have gained the confidence to remove and replace engines and do valve clearances on my W123 300Ds.
I will be looking at the injectors soon and will need to buy the Deep socket for that job (I will search again on hte size at that time). I have replaced the primer pumps and so, the driveway has no more spilt fuel spilt on it.
I have replaced the oil filters, changed the AT fluid & filter on one of these cars, for the exercise
My hands do get black, but they clean up relatively easily if I only work on the cars one or two days at a time. More than that and they seem to have a" black around the edges" look.

[Honus]

This site is one reason I bought a 1985 300D instead of something newer. The 617 motor isn't necessarily better than the more refined motors that came later, but it has more personality. Ever since I got my first MG in 1973, I've always thought that a car should be a hobby as well as a means of transportation. Cars are too important to just drive, you need to be able to work on them and get to know them.

Probably for similar reasons, I refuse to give up on my late 60s vintage New Holland manure spreader. That thing is barely hanging together for all the rust, and yet I have spent more than one late night on my back patching it together so it can spread horse poop for a while longer. My goal is to get it to its 40th anniversary.

[bill murrow]

I've got a 50's vintage New Idea I painted up [original colors of course] and have my business sign mounted in it. Less rust on it than my "82 300td!!

Cheers,

Bill

[Palangi]

You shouldn't talk about those guys on the Open Discussion Forum like that!!

[MS Fowler]

old300D
I was reading a book on restoring the old Z cars. One page started off something like thiw, " On the next page is a phantom view of the Z 240Z with the areas subject to rust problems highlighted in a contrasting color". The next page was a SOLID "contrasting " color print. It seems the ONLY parts not subject to rusting are those made of rubber, plastic, or glass.
Good luck with yours. The original 240Z is one of my favorites, a real thoroughbred, if you can find a rust-free example.

[Mr. FancyPants]

It's fun to read the many different responses to a single question and then watch the post begin to grow off into a totally different subject matter and then suddenly in the next post, someone brings everything back to the main question! Interesting!

My MB most deffinately would not run as well, or maybe at all without this forum!

Thanks to everyone for helping eachother, there is a good bond here..............

I use this forum alot, after 3 or 4 years collecting Volvos and the massive amount of help I got from the Brickboard I was thrilled to find a compareable forum for the Mercedes, after buying my 81 240d. I hardly do anything to it with out doing a search here first.

I consider myself extreamly lucky to have "dumb lucked" into this car...buying it with out doing any research what so ever (and knowing NOTHING about MB ) after a couple of months of searching and researching this is exactally the model I would have picked. Fast lane is exactly that FAST...they, and this fourm will most likely make driving my diesel possible for a long long while.

Thanks to everyone that posts and to sponsers that make it possible....I'll always look there first!!!

[Honus]

Originally posted by bill murrow
I've got a 50's vintage New Idea I painted up [original colors of course] and have my business sign mounted in it. Less rust on it than my "82 300td!!

Cheers,

Bill

Those ground-drive New Ideas are sweet. Too bad my wife's barn is so big, she fills the PTO-drive spreader to the top every day.

[diesel don]

When purchasing our first MB in 2001, the seller happened to mention this site. Thought I'd look it up.

Little did I realize that my 'experiment' (get rid of depreciation and domestic junk) would make it NECESSARY for me to join and be a part of the forum.

It was a financial decision at first to go with older MB's and now its a hobby and the forum is a community!

I agree with the age theory.....that MB's have been around for a decent length of time and therefore tons of information is available on 'cures' which is only dreamed about on the TDI forum or something newer.

In addition, the members here are encouraging and extremely helpful. Roy Hunter gave me some tips on AC and now with less than $100 invested, I have 3 of my 5 cars cooling nicely. I mean, where else do you get that type of help?

Like one poster said, I try to give back whenever possible so that its not all taking.....

Don

[whunter]

This is where I come to relax; after a hard day wrenching on cars.
Answering what are to me easy issues.
Helping people who like their cars, and don't treat them like disposable trash.
Wish more of you where local, for random weekend technical GTG.
That would be fun.
Have a great day.