By it so I dont 87 300d $400
 

Craigslist Santa Cruz CA http://www.craigslist.org/sby/car/80515411.html

87 Mercedes 300 D Turbo - $400 (santa cruz)

6 cylinder, needs head, (off car). Call or leave phone number 831-334-0494.
Would someone please buy this so I dont!!!
DHS

You mean this one?
Its in my stall now.

Lucky you!

How many miles on it?

first report on new project
 

OK the car has 263K on it, the PO donated it to a non profit (I found out after I bought it and called the owner). The mechanic that wound up owning the car because it has a cracked head said it ran fine although it had the expected white smoke. Someone stole the corner signal lens and a headlight surround on one side while it was stored at the garage.
I have new wood for the console which was cracked pretty badly. The interior is really nice just a littel wear on the drivers seal bolster, the seat bottoms look great probably because its MB Tex, not leather. The only thing missing is the intake manifold crossover and the head, which I knew going into the deal. The head was sent somewhere and they said it couldn't be repaired and it got tossed.
If the car had been in need of body work I would have walked away from it, and a good thing is no rust! Just ONE small ding on one door (repairable from the inside by beating it out) but it needs paint as the clear coat has started coming off on the top and the hood, oddly the fenders are good, must have been poor undercoat.
I will report more later. Right now I am dead tired from the detail I did on it.
mattdave, that was a $300 detail for sure!

It sounds like you got a decent car to resurrect. What do you plan for a replacement head? Maybe someone on here can sell you a good used head. Someone here mentioned 6 months ago, maybe it was GSXR, or Larry Bible, that they knew about a few good #14 heads available for $800 or so.

Need 350SD 350SDL head
 

With some encouragement from gsxr I am looking for a complete head from a '91 or later 350SD/SDL. I want to get as far away from the #14 casting as possible, even if it means buying new injector lines or trying to bend the existing ones to fit the different angle that the '91 injectors sit at. If however a complete '87 300D head was available I would greatly consider it but finding a late one with all the works is like me winning a lottery ;)

I found a few things missing that I had not discovered in the pile of engine parts the mechanic had provided, the one thing I don't already have is an intake crossover.
I posted a want in the parts section. Maybe I should order a Euro from off shore? whatta ya think? dumpo the egr and air flow sensor box.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/mercedes-benz-used-parts-sale-wanted/128786-wtb-om603-intake-crossover-pipe.html#post933036

Update. 8/1/05 I found a crossover, my friend had one sitting in his junk pile.
Now its time to yank the vacuum pump, the car had the old style on it all these years.

There was recently a head
 

I am all most positive about 6 weeks ago there was a rebuilt head for something like a grand posted on eBay that did not sell. If you search eBay completed listing it probably won’t come up because it was to long ago but if you use Andale to search it will probably show up they keep a longer history than eBay. Please keep us updated on how it goes so I can kick myself even harder for passing it up.
Dave S

There are none
 

There are no good deals on craigs list right now so dont evan bother to look. If there were any good deals it would be MINE wish me luck and hope the wife doesnt kill me when the car dolly shows up with another car on it. More to come I hope.
DHS

I don't know how you feel about salvage yards, but there are heads available, you just have to explain to them you need a #17 or higher if that possible and a guarantee. You probably have this link, but if not, try this one: http://car-part.com/........UPDATE: I just looked and there are several 350 heads for $700+............Look under 126

Beware the Car Parts dot Com sellers!
 

Well, I am sorry to report that inventories can in some cases, be very misleading! As in complete FUBAR!
For example a couple of days back I wanted something I had seen at Costco (like Sams club sorta, but not quite a Walmart) so I asked the manager to tell me if he had any drive-under car awnings. He checked his computer and it said, yes there should be 13 available. I proceded to waste 10 - 15 minutes with a forklift operator who dropped what he was doing to help me look along the aisle the manager said they were supposed to be at. To make a long story short, there were none. the inventory was wrong.

So Now. About cylinder heads. Over the past few days I have been on the fone with several of the sources listed on the reference provided http://car-part.com/ (I already had that thanks to another member) All of the sellers were eager to take my order esp for the '91 350SD heads I wanted so badly. But I put each one on the spot and wanted the casting numbers and I asked for details of what was on the heads, if anything. In the case of the So. Carolina outfit (Auto Parts of Shelby) they were never able to locate the engines! How do you lose two or three engines? After 3 days of calling and hearing the same story I gave up!

Another seller had a #14 head but it had been repaired, they said it was guaranteed, well I wasn't born yesterday and I am not buying any head that has been rewelded, for a diesel especially! So I contacted Potomac German Auto, having bought small items from them in the past. The first thing I did was find their web site, it showed they are selling parts on eBay so I checked their feedback and it was nearly perfect (I use http://www.toolhaus.org/ to obtain all negative feedbacks to date)
Then when I spoke with their FL rep even though the heads are located in MD and he was just about to go home, he stayed late to tell me about their warranty and FAXed me the order confirmation. "My" new head is on the way to the machine shop! So a big plug for Potomac German! One of the members (Pat) is a frequent poster here on the 'Forum too.

BTW I did hear from Auto Parts of Shelby that there was a "new inventory system" being used and the blame was put on that for the errors. Well, too bad, lost sale!

Hey Dave,
I don't want the wife to get mad at you or worse but there is a 240D begging to be had over here. The owner installed an engine that proved to be on its way South, it's at my Indy friends shop, I imagine you could get it pretty cheap if you contacted the owner who will soon have a bill from the towing company in his mailbox if he doesn't deal with it!
Its got an automatic transmission (O/W I would have gotten it :D )
PM me if interested. I believe it runs a little, too.

automatic transmission
 

An automatic transmission in a 240 d kills it for me I do need to get on the freeway.. My real downfall is W116 300sd's I had 3 at one point plus 2 parts cars but I had to sell 2 of them and dump the parts car. Parking is at a premium because one side of the street is no parking it is a nature preserve and the city wife and neighbors did not take kindly to me parking on the strip between the sidewalk and curb. I just wrecked my 1979 300sd driving too fast in the mountains and getting up close and personal with a deer. I have a w115 240d stick with an unknown model engine in it needed an IP and finding one that looked right and I could afford took forever I had hoped to fire it up today but it is raining. I will say one thing the sd sure is a whole lot easier to work on then the w115 it is no fun at all there is no room to work and that air-conditioner what a pain that is. But the car has great history it has been on three continents and has about 650K miles on the body which looks good and has original paint in ok shape. I would not have saved it except it has 400lbs compression across all four cylinders 4 new tires a new clutch and lots of little things like fresh rebuilt injectors new hoses Ect. The PO did not tighten the compression gauge on one cylinder after installing the engine when it would not start got 0 lbs and gave up on it. I bought it for $200 and he towed it 20 miles to my house. I was amazed the thing would drive it took about 3 blocks to reach 25 miles an hour but then it was pretty peppy. If you here off any w116 with good body’s nice original paint and a pink slip not salvage slip going cheap I cant resist them and it just so happens I have a transmission rebuilt 2 years ago and an engine in the garage plus about 300 LBS of parts. I will find a place to park it besides my wife made me get rid of my golf cart so I am owed another car right?
Thanks
Dave S