Awesome. Did you spend much time looking at it when you were done?

I find that sometimes I end up standing there looking at/admiring the finished job for what seems as long as it took to do the job. My wife even humors me and comes out to the garage to see all the crap I run in and ask her to check out.

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Chad
2006 Nissan Pathfinder LE
1998 Acura 3.0 CL
OBK#44
"Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work." - Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)

SOLD
1985 300TD - Red Dragon
1986 300SDL - Coda
1991 - 300TE
1995 - E320
1985 300CD - Gladys

Even after I sell a 123 I keep working on it. When I sold my 240D to a friend of mine who had been driving old Volkswagens for years, I figured that he was good with a wrench and could sense small mechanical issues before they became catastrophic. I was wrong with my assumption and have already replaced a flex disc and clutch master cylinder within 7 months of the sale. It feels good to keep the old girl running. I put 70K on her during my ownership.

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'81 300SD

I think after having my wagon for a year and having just about every "area" of the car needing replacement that I can basically do anything with it at this point.

I've had to:

Replace the starter
Mend the exhaust
Rebuild AC
Install tie rods
New motor mounts
Fiddling with the vacuum system now
Adjust the sls
Transmission flush
Replace the servo a few times

And I'm sure much more to come. But I've enjoyed every moment of it, I have learned a lot.

Most of the time, when I work on my car, majority of the time it takes me to do the work is the cleaning. To me, it has to be clean before I put it back where it came from. Or if it's being replaced, the area where the old part used to be, has to be clean.

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

I've done a valve adjustment, taken out the transmission and a few other things, and it seems weird, but even when I get frustrated when a bolt is in a bad place, as long as I have the right tools, everything I've done on my 240d has surprised me at how straightforward and enjoyable it was. Not what I expected really. I gotta try polishing my valve cover with that fine steel wool, I've been using the stuff on copper and it's very good to have a magnet to catch all the steel fibers coming off of it.

That is why you have one of the more presentable cars on the forum!

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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

If not the most!!

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My Mercedes-Benz Homepage and W123 Owners Photo Gallery and W111/W112 Coupes & Convs Gallery
2005 Northeast GTG and 2005 Mid-Atlantic GTG and Summer '09 Central FL GTG on YouTube

Yeah I must really love these W123, thinking back on all the projects I have done. some out of necessity, and some as upgrades, and some of the upgrades out of necessity.

I must really love this 123 to drag it home 500 miles on the back of a U-haul when the timing chain seperated. then how was I going to pull the engine? finally get over that hurdle, and load up the boat anchor and drive 400 miles to LA and purchase the new engine.
I remember that feeling when the eng was home sitting on the ground by the shop, still in the shrink wrap. I would go out there later in the evening with my flash light to look at it. then the project finally came together, and the day I finally got her started the first time.

The 4-spd swap was another project I jumped into. I wanted a 4 spd, the auto I thought was starting to give me some problems, and it was enough to convince the wife it needed to be replaced. so I pulled the engine again and swaped them out on the ground. (no way I man handling an automatic trans from under the car. 4-spd weighs nothing when comparing the two.)
I remember the feeling when I finally got that damed clutch bled and backed it out of the shop and took it on a run. probably had a smile on my face larger than when I got my first tricycle.

the alternator up grade to the AL-129-X 115amp was another hurdle, like, now how this big thing fit in there? read about running some larger wires, and not wanting it to look hacked up. I made a whole new harness with soldered ends and covered it with heat shrink tubing.
everything worked, and nothing smoked, so I felt good about that.

this last major project, replacing the rear sub frame and trailing arm bushings pushed me to my limits, or so I thought.
replaced the bushings, along with a lower milage Diff., trailing arms out of another 85 from PNP. replaced one axle that was starting to crack on the boot.
steam cleaned the parts, scrubbed them down to make sure no oil residue was on them. sanded the parts and painted with POR.
got her all back in, and finally took her down the hill late at night with no exhaust, just the down pipe, and w/o the parking brakes reconnected.
this was another one of those big grin moments . the rear end is nice and tight. totally different car.

I have a couple up coming projects. swap in the 240D heat and CC system and get rid of that push button type III that is in the 85. soon as I get it taken apart and washed up and find a crack free 123 dash, it is going in.
And the W126 front brake upgrade.

Just about every time Iam under the car, Iam wiping things down trying to keep her clean. I hate a dirty car, so Iam under the hood waxing the paint, wiping down the hoses and wires. trying to keep the Aluminium some what shinny.

Some times these are a love hate relationship. but in the end, I really do love this old W123

Now that I have the 240, a new Love, I hope she doesn`t get jelous and take it out on me

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I can attest, I've personally seen this compulsive disorder in action!



Yeah Charlie, You are a rarity in terms of spending the money for a new motor for a w123 in this day and age. My hat's off to you on that one!







I love the w123s. Just a joy, must of worked on a dozen of these cars to get them back on the road. Fun stuff! Glad it's a hobby. If it was a job, then I would probably hate these things!



.

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

I think that part of our attraction to doing this work is that we (well, I) like to come against the real world and deal with it... so much of our lives are virtual, or done by specialists, or sloughed off as "it doesn't matter." Well, when you bend the alternator mounting bracket tightening the nut, as I did yesterday because I didn't hear the spacer fall out when I took the bolt out, well, you have to deal with it. It's just you, and the problem. I confess that I spent a few minutes thinking that gosh, I could have just spent half this amount of time at work and earned enough to pay someone to do this yucky job (yucky because of my screw-up!). But then I reflected that I would have been sorry to have missed the feeling I got when I got it all back together and running right, squeak-free. There is immense satisfaction in completing the project, even if all it is is replacing v-belts.

Kurt

Ha! It's more obvious than I thought

I suppose this disorder is to be thankful for

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

mbeige, you got it bad for sure! nice ride. my '82 is exactly the same color, no rust just like yours. i love the yellow!

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john
***********
'98 E300 TD "Lukas" 156K
'11 C300 "Mia" 10K, Gorgeous!, Wifey's Car

My 240's go for stretches with little or no tinkering, just the pleasure of driving them. I love that they generally require only routine maintenence
Then, something needs attention and once more I become immersed in the joy of fixing the darn things because they are so ultimately fixable and the satisfaction of getting that repair done right is priceless.

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1981 240D 143k 4 spd manual -SOLD

2004 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed 300k -still driven daily

Many years ago I removed & repaired the starter from my old 300D on a Saturday morning in a shopping center car park. It just clicked, needed the contacts in the solenoid cleaning & the connection between the alloy backing plate & the starter body was poor. There were many onlookers with plenty of advice, shocked a few when it worked.
When I purchased my second 300D, it was in a dealers yard & they had not been able to start it for several months, parked there on a hot day & then winter arrived. After finalizing the transaction, I borrowed a few wrenches from the dealer & set the valves by guess work(no feeler gauges). I then went next door to the Bosch agent & got 3 new GPs. After fitting them, It fired up first try. You should have seen the looks on the faces of the sales man and mech, as I handed them the wrenches & drove the car out of the yard. Probably the most enjoyable work I have ever done on a car!!
Dont get uptight if it takes a couple of days to get parts. Its not unusual for it to take many weeks to get parts here in Australia, sometimes its quicker to get things from Germany or the USA than to get parts out of a supplier only 500 miles away.

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Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club group

I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving