You wanna know how crazy I am... I'm gonna buy diesel #2 (1984 300SD) if the owner can be convinced to sell it to me. Thread forthcoming...

Btw I just looked at pic 3793. I saw an SDL with rust their the door was rotted out! Most likely one of the pegs that holds the plastic on is rotting around the hole. Push it with your finger a crunch sound is very bad.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

All in all, I think that 3K is about right for that car. Sure there are a few things to fix, but they are all doable. The worst may be the rust on the frame rail. Mine is worse than that, and I hope to get to it this winter. Remember, a spot like that has thicker metal and can be made to look just fine because you are going to cover it with undercoat anyway when you are done. My car has a serious new lease on life with that engine I rebuilt. Now I know I'm gonna get that rust, cause I'm keeping her for a long time. I really liked the guy I bought mine from and it made a difference actually. Good luck

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

Wow, that's a clean engine!

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

Hey Pete,

Out of curiosity, how are you going to go about fixing your rust on the frame rail? I assume you just grind the hell out of it and then weld a plate on? My experience is pretty much turning bolts, I don't do body (frame) work.

I think the rust is scaring me away from this car. I know it's just like cancer and just keeps spreading. I've never been sucessful in stopping it, but then again I've never tried to hard. I had 9 cars/trucks so I've never had one long enough to worry about, except one. A 1985 Nissan Sentra I owned for 6 years or so. And I have to say that car kicked *($%. No matter how hard or easy I drove it it got 40 MPG and just kept going. In snow it was amazing, in the mountains I got 50MPG sometimes. I even used it to deliver pizzas while in college, and that's killer on cars. Sure it was weak, but it wouldn't die.

I sold it for $400.

That would be cooking...
I would guess the speedo was bad on that car.
Just a guess, but it is more reasonable than 125 mph.

I had a VW bug that was doing 28 mph, with my girl friend walking beside it. ROFL

bbeard, basically yes, cut it back to sound metal with a grinder or maybe even a sawzall (no sawzall on any painted bodywork). Strip back the undercoating even further. Cut individual flat pieces to fit and then weld in. OR plan B: Douse the rusty area with used motor oil which will slow or stop the advance of the rust for the time being. Eventually find someone on this forum or elsewhere parting out a car who would cutout sections to be welded in. Once you have the good part, strip back undercoating and cut out so new part will just fit in. pay someone to weld it. The hard work here is NOT the actual welding, it's the hunt and prep work. The prep work is messy perhaps, but it isn't that bad. Paying someone to weld it should be cheap.
oh, any repaired section and anything near it gets coated with the best rust stopping paint/epoxy type coating I can find. I'm not big on bodywork either, but I have a MIG, and SD I will save!

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

I don't know if anyone is really going to pay attention to this thread anymore, but I talked to the guy today to have him check on the rust spots like the frame rail and see if there is trunk rust, and to ask the guy who painted it about fixing the body rust. AND we started talking engines. Here is what he said:

When it's been sitting for awhile (couple of months) or really cold, he likes to turn the engine over right away for several seconds BEFORE the glow pugs were hot. His intention is to build up oil pressure before the fuel stated to ignite. This way he believes he is reducing the engine wear of a cold start.

Any thoughs on this? Should I make a new thread with this Q? I've known people who have electronic oil pumps rig up a switch to pump oil a couple of seconds before turning the engine. But I've never heard of it done this way. He says on his gas (I believe) RV, he even disconnects some fuse (to stop it from firing), turns the key for a several seconds. Puts the fuse back in and then starts it. He says it has 100,000+ and doesn't burn a drop.

Bad idea with good intentions?

If it has sat for a few awhile thats not a bad idea but for everyday driving it is major overkill!

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I should have added that. He said what he does is uncessary for everyday driving. Just if it's been sitting for a while (poosible when cold too.) But I doubt he starts it much when it's cold outside, he never drives it. maybe 500 miles in the last 2 years. He says he starts it ever couple of months and lets it idle for awhile or takes it for a little spin.

Actually, that's not unreasonable. An engine sitting for long enough can lose its prime. It needs to be a good long time,ot overnight, but several months, yes. When I rebuilt my engine it took a good number of several second cranks to get pressure, which is typical. Sounds like the fella has cared about it, that's certainly a good sign.

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'82 300SD - 361K mi - "Blue"

"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement."

listen, look, .........and duck.

...as to starting up a little-used car and running it around the block once or twice a month, old car enthusiasts generally say a 50 mile run should be preferable because a cruise of that duration will get all the fluids up to operating temperature, slosh lubricant everywhere it should go, charge up the battery, etc. A "cold start" where an engine goes from dead, to running, to being shut down cold again, is often cited as shortening the service life on fire and other emergency equipment that never gets a chance to really "warm up" or cool down after use.

What are your thoughts? What's the minimum you can do for a car that stays largely "parked"?

This needs to be a thread not a post under this topic.
Then you will get good answers.

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ASE Master Mechanic
https://whunter.carrd.co/

Prototype R&D/testing:
Thermal & Aerodynamic System Engineering (TASE) Senior vehicle instrumentation technician.
Noise Vibration and Harshness (NVH).
Dynamometer.
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1985 300SD
1983 300D
2003 Volvo V70

https://www.boldegoist.com/

You'd certainly come up against the IP's top end governor at 5400 rpm which is something like 105-110 mph.

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Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

He put it on the rack at his shop today and took a look at the frame rail. He said he stuck a small screwdriver through it. Whoops. One of his mechanics also works metal and he said he could cut it out and weld in new plate metal in about two hours for $80, owners cost. Not bad I think. Put some POR-15 on it and it's close to "new." He also checked around the trunk while it was on the lift and said he couldn't find any rust. That sounds promising. He changed the oil while he had it at the shop too.

I'm still going to have him check on that body rust with the guy who painted it ($1100 paint job three years ago, doesn't look like it's faired to well sitting beside the house in the mountain sun, little cracks and such, and the rust of course.) Maybe I can get that guy to fix that rust. Then I think the car is good to go. I really do think I'm nuts. I know my family and the rest of the world will think so (except everyone here of course) but whatever, I'll have one powerful 300sd. This thing MOVES!

You're a punk Pete. telling me to buy this thing... Hatterasguy, where are you when I need you?