Hey folks. I'm an all around noob when it comes to MB, diesels, and cars in general, but I'm eager to get my hands dirty.

In a slowly-going-sour 2 part car deal in which I'm getting the short end of the stick, I bought a 1981 300SD with 270k for $750 that was going to be my parts car, but it looks like it might turn into my daily driver. SO, I'm looking to meet some folks in Western Mass who want to get together and help each other learn, repair, overhaul, tune, or bio-convert their old Mercedes. Or, if someone has a free afternoon (or two) and a bit of patience I would love to pick their brain over some brews. This car, as a project, and it is definitely a project, I think is a bit beyond my beginner skills, but I'm willing to tackle it one project at a time, and it would be fun to get some other people involved.

Right now I'm looking at fixing 2 tierods, idler arm, soft brakes (low brake fluid in master cylinder), ineffective e-brake (haven't adjusted yet), damaged alternator adjusting bolt bracket (I think), and replacing the battery. Mainly I'm waiting for my vacation next week to do this work.

If and when it passes inspection, I'll be working on some of the leaks/gaskets, replacing all of the filters and fluids, diesel purge, lights, locks, valve cover gasket, fuel sending unit, valve adjustment, compression test (kinda afraid of the results), timing chain stretch (and most likely replacement), and AC belt among other things. We'll see what pops up in the meantime. From what I've read so far, I'm guessing radiator citric flush, start replacing fuel and brake lines (furture conversion car hopefully), check rear trailing arms, and thats about where my knowledge ends.

Anything else major I should have on the radar?

Drop me a line. I'm in the Holyoke and Northampton area all of the time.

~Brian

Wish I was a touch closer, I'm in Manchester NH myself. Kind of in the same pickle. Would love to find fellow enthusiasts closer to home.

I'm over in Lyndeborough NH, and know a fair amount about these cars. We should try and get a group together for a repair day or something in the spring. Also there is a great tavern in Temple NH, that is a good place to relax with a pint and discuss diesel junk.

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1998 Mercedes E300TD

1983 Mercedes 240D Turbo, 131bar injectors, Cosworth intercooler and 63' Ford Falcon radiator, Ardic Parking heater, Headlight wipers, Best 38.6mpg.

1973 Saab 96 Rally Car, 1.8l V4 with all the race bits

Brian, I just saw your thread on the Craigslist auto discussion. I would avoid posting anything on there as that place is loaded with trolls and the chances of you finding anyone on there within 100 miles of you who is a Mercedes diesel enthusiast are pretty slim. Merecedes Shop is the best possible place you can be. Any information on these cars you may be looking for can be found here. Use the search function, its a goldmine of info.

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'83 300D 198,000mi Howard
'03 Saturn Vue CVT 75,000mi(wifeys)

I've got the same situation going here. would love to have some other MB enthusiasts around in upstate new york for help and mutual car appreciation, but i haven't found any yet. But, welcome to you, good luck with everything, and maybe reconsider the "future conversion car." My first MB was a veggie oil car, and it's not worth it in the long run (and a PITA in the short run). Consider bio-diesel if you're into alt. energy. My 2 cents.

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1985 300D - 1984 Euro 280E AMG Clone (SOLD) - 1978 280CE (SOLD) - 1983 300D (SOLD) - 1981 300D (SOLD)

Hey Squabble, I too think that would be great to have a upstate GTG. I have a couple of guys on my friends list in the Capital District region who may be interested also. It would be great to plan something for the spring.

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'83 300D 198,000mi Howard
'03 Saturn Vue CVT 75,000mi(wifeys)

The best way to learn is on a $700 car. Don't be afraid of it, and even if you don't have anyone looking over your shoulder there are plenty of people who monitor this board who can help you out if you have specific questions about a particular job. There is nothing about any of the small projects you have listed that should scare off a shade tree DIY'er.

And, for the guy in Manchester - I am in Nashua and a regular contributor here - if you run into specific problems let me know. I've helped out one or two locals with projects on occasion.

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Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz

I saw a guy with a W123 sedon on the Amoskeag rotary a few weeks back. I honked and we both did the "white-man's-overbite" and head shake. Wondered if that was anyone on here.

I guess I have to edit my sig, but I have a 1983 300td wagon, FWIW

Marty, the BEST car is a free car, but a $700 car is pretty close. My 240D project was $400.
I'm in Winchendon, MA which is just south of Keene, NH, north central MA, its nice to see so many New England folks on here.
Last September some other Mercedes enthusiasts and I got together at Goddard state park in RI. We had 6 cars which we all thought was a pretty good showing for our first try. We'll probably make this an annual thing, I'll remember to post on here next year.

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Sadly Benz-less

Get this - My wagon was free!

...well, kind of.

My parents (in Wisconsin) have one of those houses with about 15 cars in the woods. 5 of them were mine. So, when my wagon went for sale for $1000, they scrapped my old cars for $200 a piece.

My parents kept the money from that, I kept the car. Not a bad trade. Then it cost $800 to ship it here...too bad I didn't have more cars rotting in the woods.

Not bad, eh?

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1983 300TD-T Gray market euro - 283,000
80,000 on a *NEW* engine original tranny.

this is a great thread jacking....

would love to be involved / drive to wherever to take part.

would even drive somewhere in new england, just to get out there and share. RI would be great.

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1985 300D - 1984 Euro 280E AMG Clone (SOLD) - 1978 280CE (SOLD) - 1983 300D (SOLD) - 1981 300D (SOLD)

Read here, learn here, and sooner or later you too will be here giving advice as well. It's a nice transition that takes a while, but is worth it.

Mumbles:

welcome to the forum! I too am just starting to learn about these cars. I am pretty good working on my VW. But I also live 3 miles from a TDI "guru" as we call call them. So I end up paying him to do lots of work out of convience.

Western Mass is nice this time of year. I could be convinced to drive out there for a day of wrenching.

You need to do some work to get a sticker correct? The tie-rods are important, but you also mentioned doing a compression test. If you doubt the motor, maybe we should do a compression test first? no need to throw good money after bad.

Does the car already run and drive ok? if so I would not be surprised that all the car needs is some tlc. oil, air, fuel filters. new coolant, a new battery (as you mentioned) and then start driving it. I am sure various suspension bushings are tired, and the shocks, but you can fix those things as needed.

post here or send me PM. If my schedule works, we could have some fun.

On a side note, my "other" forum in tdiclub.com we have seperate sections for different parts of the country, so you can more eaisly organize GTG's as this forum works news of a GTG gets lumped in the general diesel board.

Brian

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87' 300DT (Grey w/ red leather)
87' 300TDT (silver w/ palamino tex) SOLD

2012 VW JSW TDI (on tdiclub.com all the time "btcost")

This is the best forum I've found, I keep coming back.

coonerboy: That CL thread got nasty reeeal quick, but I thought I'd give it a try.

Squabble: I've definitely looked into Biodiesel and I don't necessarily have my heart set on WVO/SVO. I need to stablize my living situation so I have a place to start making the stuff. There's a couple sources of different grades of Biodiesel available in the area which is nice.

ImBroke: I'm definitely putting in some reading time in the forums, doing my homework. Sometimes though too much information is a bad thing, I start trying to fix things that ain't broke, turn into a car hypochondriac. I need to balance that out with prioritizing projects and upgrades.

BrianCostello: Brian Costello is a combo of my first name and my best bud's last name. My vaca starts in a couple of days, I'll see how far I get, maybe I'll drop you a line in the future. When I bought the car it had been inspected and on the road since July, used as a loaner car for a dealer/shop. It started ok, drove smooth (except for the tierod issues), cruised fine, took a little while to warm up, more than I'm used to with gas engines, including the transmission. Shifted hard to start, and would have trouble getting it to 35 or 40 without flooring it and would lurch through 1st and 2nd, but smoothed way out when warm. Also could be cause I'm new to diesel and I'm not using the throttle properly. All this being said, I was happy with how she ran. The mechanic who did the inspection said despite the minor repairs, I've got a good car. I mention the compression test just to get a baseline reading, maybe help diagnose my no-start issue. I have no service record for this car except for the first decade or so.

nhdoc: I'm definitely psyched to tear it apart but I don't even have a driveway to work in, let alone a place to plug in the block heater, or a battery charger for that matter. When I get it started, I'll probably drive it to my folks place and do most of the work there in case it craps out again. Gotta get it running first.

curtludwig: Any relation to Kurt Ludwig?

Like I said, my vaca starts this week, so I'm gonna get a new battery, crack the hard lines, and get her started, then off to do the steering, brakes, tire, alignment, and re-inspection, and then I can start enjoying it. I only got to drive it for a week before it crapped out, and with a full tank of diesel too! Maybe filling the tank loosened some goop. I don't know. I'll report back when there's something to report.

Thanks for responding!

~Brian

Hey Brian,

I sent you a PM... I think. Let me know if it did not go through and I will try again.