Hi guys,well its official,i had to take the old 240 in for a provincial inspection.
Bought the car from B.C. over a year ago and was able to milk the system until now without a inspection, but they caught up to me.
I did not really get an official inspection done because i was pretty sure it would not pass,the only issue is the rust on the rear fenders. what i did was get a guy that does the inspection just to take a quick peak at it, and he said that it "probably would not pass". This for me is a very sad day. I, like alot of you have spent countless hours tuning,tweaking, fixing, and falling for our beloved 123's. Overall this car looks and runs great,there is rust around the jack points and the rear fenders but the structural portion to me from underneath seems to be good.
I may take it in 'officially" for a second opinion,but that may cost more dollars still, and i think i know what the verdict will be. The sad thing is,i really love this car, i have spent so many hours tinkering and tuning the engine,and have finally got it to a fine running condition. I would not hesitate to drive this car across the country.
But the good news is, I am not giving up the addiction to the MB diesels.
I would very much like to try a 190D for the next adventure.Maybe a 1984 non turbo with a 5 speed. But i will look at any 190D, or maybe even a 240 donor car......keep the 240D and the 300D as parts machines.

Any takers on the above 240D 0r 300D? or leads to a 190D would be greatly appreciated.

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1980 mercedes euro 300D 232000 miles(died,now parts car)
2004 2500 ram cummins diesel
1980 harley shovelhead
1988 anniversery corvette zr1(engine)
1978 240D 4spd 240000 miles (new benz toy)
1946 Cessna 140, Continental 0-200

I do not understand.

The vehicle is structurally sound (as far as you know), and runs decently well or better. I assume the lights and brakes work, and it isn't smoking like a chimney. The Man is going to make you take your car off the road because of some rust on the fenders?! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, over!

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

What's the deal with the 'rust nazis'? Brakes, steering, lighting and all the safety items I can see, but what is the point on rusty fenders??? Also are all of the provinces up there this heavy handed? Thankfully the most severe I've ever seen was Cincinnati many years ago. They had a safety lane you had to pass thru twice a year, but was only mechanical stuff. Even my ratty looking '29 Ford business cpe passed, but it was well maintained.

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1961 190Db retired
1968 220D/8 325,000
1983 300D 164,150

the funny thing is ,i have had many people come up to me and say "hey,what a great looking car". There are a ton of old rusted piece of crap cars on the road up here in Alberta,but if they were originally registered in this province,they never need to be looked at again. The stupid thing is,there is no yearly or clean air inspection that needs to be done up here. So if you lets say buy a car here,and keep it in the province, you could drive the car into the ground,no brakes, bad tires, rusted all to hell,shot front end and steering components,etc,etc.But as long as you don't register it in another province, and then try to register it again in Alberta,you can keep driving it.
My car has,new brakes, tires, brake booster, vacuum pump, all lights, horns, all interior lights, switches, no cracks, no tears, new injectors,the steering is rock solid,and the list goes on. But i guess its "not safe".

like i said this was just the unofficial/official word........
would still like to get into a 190D

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1980 mercedes euro 300D 232000 miles(died,now parts car)
2004 2500 ram cummins diesel
1980 harley shovelhead
1988 anniversery corvette zr1(engine)
1978 240D 4spd 240000 miles (new benz toy)
1946 Cessna 140, Continental 0-200

Why not just do a rust repair?

Get some POR 15, follow the simple directions and do a paint job
to cover the offending area. Does not have to be a perfect paint job,

Many specialty autopaint places will make it up for you in your car's
color based on the paintcode on the car.


Tom.

Lining up with Tom above, can't you repair the rust sufficiently to pass the inspection?

This guy claims to have found the best rust repair product and method after seeking one since 1962 (his words) http://www.**************.com/
I can't personally vouch for the method but it's worth a read given that the fellow has apparently made a life of restoring old MD cars. I've got reason to try it soon.

Frankly, to depart from Tom again , I don't have much good to say about POR-15. Though I didn't use it in an attempt to REPAIR rust, I did try it as a preventative measure. I found it difficult to use according to the instructions and very dependent upon subsidiary products for adherence and it's own protection. A product from Eastwood was similar but much better in use, IMO.

WOuld love t4o have that car, though still pretty expensive, usually running between $4000 and $10000 us, or from wha tive seen, then agian i am a college student, so everything is always expensive

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1983 Euro 240D 277K
2016 Mazda 6
Coming Soon, 2013 Mercedes E350 Bluetec
Formers:
2012- Mazda 3
2007 Outlander- complete pile
1995 E300 Diesel 208K
2007 VW Passat 2.0T 63K SOLD
2003 Jaguar X-type 3.0 Sport Sold 04/11 w/88K
2009 Lexus RX350 9061 miles. Sold 04/09
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS:Totaled Sept.,09 @ 24,000
2003 Infiniti I35 58K Sold
1984 300 turbo diesel 222K

When I was a kid, my dad took my mom's car through the safety lane in Cinti periodically, because, as I recall, in order to park on a city street in the City of Cincinnati, a car with local plates had to have the safety lane sticker on it...so my dad's beater VW never went through the safety lane. We would go downtown several times a year, and made a point of taking the car that had passed so my dad could park on the street. Keep in mind that was 30 yearrs ago and my recollection could be faulty.

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2002 Ford ZX2
2 x 2013 Honda Civics

so whats the deal on por-15? i guess i could do a search and read all day about it,but in a nut shell .what is its claim to fame? do you still not need to patch a large rust hole with something? or does this stuff generate its own matter somehow?
I realize if i love the car enough,i could repair the rust,but right now l just dont have the time to do it.Unless of course you tell me that this stuff can tranform my car in a night or two of work?

__________________
1980 mercedes euro 300D 232000 miles(died,now parts car)
2004 2500 ram cummins diesel
1980 harley shovelhead
1988 anniversery corvette zr1(engine)
1978 240D 4spd 240000 miles (new benz toy)
1946 Cessna 140, Continental 0-200

Why exactly would it fail?

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1981 300D 147k
1998 VW Jetta Tdi 320k
2001 Dodge Ram 2500 141k
1979 300D 234k (sold)
1984 300D "Astor" 262k(sold)
Mercedes How-To and Repair Pictorials
I love the smell of diesel smoke in my hair

from what this guy told me,the rust that is around the jacking ports is too extensive,thus effecting the structural integrity of this or any similar uni-body car. The rust that is effecting the rear jack points is also starting to creep into the vicinity of the rear suspension,where the suspension arm meets the body of the car right by the rear jack holes.
Once again,I personally don't think its that bad,I have seen worse (with the car still on the road) But I am not the one that signs the "approved" form.

__________________
1980 mercedes euro 300D 232000 miles(died,now parts car)
2004 2500 ram cummins diesel
1980 harley shovelhead
1988 anniversery corvette zr1(engine)
1978 240D 4spd 240000 miles (new benz toy)
1946 Cessna 140, Continental 0-200

Wade, If you ask around you might find a person in your area that passes marginal cars in your provinces opinion. To say inspections vary is an understatment in most provinces unless it is required to be done by a direct provincial employee.

yea,good point i am going to put some feelers out and see what i can come up with........ is there anyone out there in Alberta that wants to do a car inspection?

__________________
1980 mercedes euro 300D 232000 miles(died,now parts car)
2004 2500 ram cummins diesel
1980 harley shovelhead
1988 anniversery corvette zr1(engine)
1978 240D 4spd 240000 miles (new benz toy)
1946 Cessna 140, Continental 0-200