Now really, how do folks drive these cars without a mirror on the passenger's side!? It just throws the whole car off balance. In my opinion it adds 5 horse power, but only in reverse.....



Removal of the plate reveals all the holes necessary to install this vital piece of equipment



Here is the mirror installed



With my "new" mirror I didn't have the inner trim piece with the hole in it for the adjustment arm, so I measured, drilled a hole larger and larger until I got it the correct size, then I installed a rubber grommet in the hole to give it a more finished look. I actually like it better than the stock setup





Another plan that came together....

__________________
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

Well heck, for new years day I decided to install the seat I got from Pick-N-Pull over the weekend. A pretty good $9.99 spent.
Let me tell you, these pics don't do a very good job of showing just how nasty this seat started. MB-Tex is simply the best seating material ever made in my humble yet accurate opinion. Now, look at this filth....







All I used to clean the seat was Simple Green and an old sink scrub brush. I bet I didn't work on it much more than 10 minutes. MB-Tex is just dying to come back to life....







As you can see above, the height adjust handle was broken on the "new" seat, so I removed the rail on that side and swapped over the handle/arm assembly. The plastic handle is not removable from this style seat. Too bad, would have been much easier.....

__________________
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

First, let me state for the record: When I buy shocks for any member of "the fleet" I will only buy Bilstein. Period! However, I had two things working against that today. First, China has had the arse sag something awful since I started working out of her daily and crammed about 300-400lbs of tools/parts in the trunk. From the fender to the ground was 22 3/4 inches. (on 175/70/14) Second, when I bought the Squash, there were 2 new rear springs and 2 new rear shocks in boxes in the trunk. Nice.
So, that is why China was heading towards KYB Gas-A-Just



So, first I removed the back seat top and bottom



Then peeled back the insulation and found the cover for the top shock hardware





The nuts were 17mm and the top of the shock is 5mm (to keep the piston shaft from rotating when loosening the nuts) Don't use a dainty little 5mm wrench as it simply won't hold well enough. I used a small cresent wrench, making sure it stayed tight.



Now this is stupid, but the nut was too thick, so I ran out of room on the 5mm piston shaft before the nut was loose. So I used vice grips on the threaded shaft under the nut.



They needed a smaller nut on the bottom, and at least the new shocks had that right





After you get the top undone move under the car and remove the two bottom bolts.

I could tell the old shocks were original as they had undercoating sprayed all over them just like the bottom of the car. Secured the bottom, then the top.



And I even got the seats back in....



One note: the seat bottom was beautiful from the back, clean with great looking foam. Now, that upper seat back is a different story. Horse hair, and it was just as crumbling and brittle as you could fear. I vacuumed all the old debris, installed a couple of pool noodle pieces for some support, and will keep my eyes peeled for a seat back in the future.
Oh, and the wheel well to ground space ended up at 23 3/4. You wouldn't think that ONE inch would be all that noticeable {no obvious jokes please} but it made a huge difference. We'll see how it rides, but in just a short test drive it does ride different. Time will tell if that is bad or good.....

__________________
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

OH Yeah, one inch in the right place....

Looks nice!

Tom W

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

All this work and I bet Jimmy still hasn't waxed her.

The back end went up 1" from just shocks?

You can (or used to be able to) buy replacement seat adjustment handles that bolt on in place of the broken stock ones. I have a set on my car and they work great. It’s the only overpriced thing I would buy from **************.

__________________
1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Nope! Still has dalmatian spots.....

__________________
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

Yep, the spots are STILL visible...

__________________
RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K

What a great job you have done with this car!

She's been a good little platform to work with, and she was one family owned prior to my purchase. In the next month or so I'm going by to show it to the lady I bought her from. Her father was the original owner, and picked it up in Germany.
Today I replaced the heater valve on the firewall. Scar has provided yet another vital organ..... He has been a good donor over the last couple of years.
The hardest part of the heater valve replacement was removing the wires/cable tips that go from the knobs to the levers on the heater valve. Had to file the "nubs" off of the end of the tabs the cables attach to.
The Hydraulic line fitting to the top of the slave cylinder wasn't loose at all. I sprayed it off and poured alcohol over it to dry it. I'll know fairly quickly if it is leaking or if it was just drips from the heater valve which is close to being right over it.
Daily driving resumes tomorrow. We'll see how the new non-Bilstein shocks ride.......

__________________
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

Well heck, already on my 3rd heater valve this week! The donor from Scar leaked just like China's original, so I went to PNP today {1/2 price Wed. } and got a very clean looking valve assy from a 230E. Got it put on and this one is holding so far......
I was going to PNP anyway today with a radiator core I had as there was a little 240D out there with what appeared to be a brand new radiator. Still had stickers on it, and the inside looks scary nice!
Also scored 3 good vac pods, a wiper relay, and an SLS hydraulic pump from a Euro W126 500SE I think it was....
That little W123 230E has great cloth interior, but the drivers spring assy looks brand new. It has greenish/brown coated metal on the springs. Glossy even! That entire interior would really look good in a W123 with similar colored interior, where the carpet and trim wouldn't need swapping, just seating. Rear headrests too....

__________________
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

Knocked out another "unknown condition" fluid today, the manual tranny fluid. Now all I have left is the ultra-stinky diff fluid.



{ I don't know if you can tell, but it appears that my slave cylinder is leaking..... See what you can find when you lay under these cars? Doh!}


Of course, as with the diff I made sure the fill plug would loosen first. There isn't room to attach the ratchet to the socket, so a 14mm wrench turns the 14mm allen to loosen the plug.



Then I loosened and removed the drain plug.



I had what appeared to be coffee drain out.



I used Royal Purple in the Squash, so I thought I would use Redline MTL in China so I could compare the two.



The shop manual said I would need 1.7 qts, so I went back to the Speed Shop to get the 2nd bottle. {yes, only got one earlier } Btw, couldn't find the Redlind MTL at any of the chain parts stores. Had to go to a high performance car place to get it. Ironic, I'm at the Speed Shop getting manual tranny fluid for my 67hp diesel. Seemed weird walking past a top fuel dragster to get my fluid.

There is no way to pour the fluid into the tranny so you have to have a pump or I guess a turkey baster could work. I used my handy dandy Harbor Freight siphon pump to make the transfer.





Even though the shop manual said 1.7 quarts it took most of the two 1qt bottles. I let it ooze out for a bit while I put up the chickens, then put the plug back and that was it. Easy job.
In cold weather on the first shift of the day into 3rd get I get a little grind, then at the first stop sign when I downshift into 3rd it does it again. That is the only time of the day that it happens, and doesn't do it at all if I'm real slow and deliberate with the shift. I'm interested to see if this will change that.

__________________
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

I really need to change my tranny oil. I still have the cheap-o ATF in there two years later....

If its the Ft. Worth PNP that car also has the rear seat headrests. I thought about getting them but ran out of time and my kids don't want them in there cars anyway.

Also at the Dallas PNP there are 2-4 speed trannys in the lot. Both 240Ds

Dave

__________________
1970 220D, owned 1980-1990
1980 240D, owned 1990-1992
1982 300TD, owned 1992-1993
1986 300SDL, owned 1993-2004
1999 E300, owned 1999-2003
1982 300TD, 213,880mi, owned since Nov 18, 1991- Aug 4, 2010 SOLD
1988 560SL, 100,000mi, owned since 1995
1965 Mustang Fastback Mileage Unknown(My sons)
1983 240D, 176,000mi (My daughers) owned since 2004
2007 Honda Accord EX-L I4 auto, the new daily driver
1985 300D 264,000mi Son's new daily driver.(sold)
2008 Hyundai Tiberon. Daughters new car

The lubro-molly hypoid gear oil (its GL5, dont use it in your tranny!) has a intigrated pour spout that makes it PERFECT for putting into differentials. Its what i used when i did my rear end fluid 2 weeks ago.