'79 300SD, what would you do? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

The Warden · #1 02-29-2008, 07:56 PM

Hello!

Sorry to disturb you all, but if it is not asking too much, I would love to hear some opinions on this matter.

I have a '79 300SD (W116, silver exterior, black interior) at the moment, but I'm at a point in my life where I can't afford the time to keep her running, and she's proved unreliable as a daily driver. So, sadly, I've determined that one way or another, she needs to go...my question now is, in your opinion, how should I go about it?

Here's a list of good and bad points about the car:

Good:

Straight body, for the most part. Very little rust; what is there is on the surface. The hood was replaced with one off a g@$$er and leaves some to be desired, but the body's in good shape otherwise.
Good interior, for the most part...there's a small rip in the sunroof headliner and some of the plastic chrome pieces in the door frames are gone, but it's almost immaculate otherwise. The front carpets may have some water damage (see below), though.
Engine runs well...there are a few lingering issues with the glow plugs, but once she starts, she runs happily. Good power (augmented by a tweaked ALDA by a previous owner), about average fuel economy, and no unusual smoke.

Bad:

Front suspension is done for. Best I can tell, it needs to be rebuilt completely ...it's bad enough that it eats front tires down to the metal band every 10K miles (even with an alignment). This is the biggest deal-breaker for me; I can work on engines all day long, but I don't trust myself with suspension work.
Tranny lost Reverse. I THINK it's just a matter of adjusting the band, but I'm not counting on that (although I will give it a try). If the tranny needs to be rebuilt, the car's getting parted out. The car will drive forward all day long, and the forward gears seem happy.
Paint's bad...as I said before, the body's straight, but someone did a cheap spray-over paintjob at some point in this car's life, and the paint's very dull, stains easily, and is flaking off in some places. On the other hand, if I hit the body with a power washer hard enough, maybe I could spray the cheap paint off
Climate control system's bad...servo's frozen and leaking slightly, a/c compressor's frozen, and there are enough vacuum leaks that the entire system would need to be completely rebuilt if it were to ever be used. The vents are stuck in Defrost, although the fan does change speeds.
Electrical system's a complete mess; the previous owner was very haphazard with things...one of those types who thought he knew a lot more than he did.
True miles unknown. The gauge cluster was replaced at one point (with a 160 mph speedo), so it reads 315K miles. Based on what the previous owner's son told me, I THINK it may be more like 200 to 210, but I have no idea.
Left rear and right front window regulators are completely trashed. Left front and right rear regulators are okay, but the motors move the windows very slowly (I think, 15 to 20 seconds from stop to stop).
Windshield seal needs to be replaced. It rattles around enough that, at the top, I can push the glass forward about 1/8", and it leaks water like a sieve.

I'm sure I missed some things (on both sides)...but, there you have it. I'm thinking that I have three options:
1) Fix the most glaring problems (the windshield and the tranny, if I can), and see if someone'll bite on it as-is. I don't want to be dishonest, so that may be more trouble than it's worth.
2) Part the car out. Not sure how much I would get for the parts, and space is limited.
3) Sell the car to the BAAQMD for $650 and let them crush it. If I can't fix the tranny, this isn't an option, but the car qualifies otherwise.

So...what do you guys think? If you were in my situation, what would you do?

I'm posting this on the Diesel board because I imagine that it's the most appropriate forum for a question like this...I'm just looking for opinions at this point. Please do not interpret this as an advertisement for the car; that is not my intent.

I appreciate any insight...thanks in advance!!