Pardon me if this is the wrong forum to post this in.

I have a 1978 300D with just a hair under 300,000 miles on her and the car needs quite a bit of work.
My dilemma is that I live in Jersey City, NJ and park solely on the street where I can't do any serious work on the car. Even having my hood up for 1/2 hour doing a diesel purge raises the eyebrows of neighbors.

I don't have the money to pay a mechanic but I have pretty much all the skill to do most, if not all the work that needs to be done on the car myself. (Replace my old sticky injectors with some good working ones with new nozzles, repair tranny leak at the front seal of the TC, bypass my climate control valve.)
Is there any place in north Jersey with garage space to rent where I can work on my car without worry of getting a ticket or neighbor complaints?
If not that, are there any forum members in the area willing to rent out their garage or driveway space in order to help me keep my Benz on the road and healthy?

Thank you all,

Phil Forrest

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1972 220D "Trudy," named by a friend.

"The 220D sounds good... I suspect it is the only car that you need a calendar for, rather than a stopwatch, when doing acceleration tests."
Tom Abrahamsson

In the City I live in one of our Members was taking an Automotive Repair Class at the Local Community College. Not only did they have a huge Garage it had Engine Lifts and a Tool Room with all kinds of Pullers aond so on to fix Cars.

If you have local place like that that is an option.

Wher I went to Trade School they would not let you leave a Vehicle over night so each School will have their own rules.

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

No joke, find an empty parking lot that's not too far from a parts store. I've done axle changes in parking lots. It's not fun, but that's the cheapest/ easiest way to get some space.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Rent a space in an RV storage lot to work on your car. Around here they go for $35 per month.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

or a storage locker at one of those self storage places that's big enough to fit a car in.

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2004 F150 4.6L -My Daily
2007 Volvo XC70 -Wife's Daily
1998 Ford F150 -Rear ended
1989 J-spec 420SEL -passed onto its new keeper
1982 BMW 733i -fixed and traded for the 420SEL
2003 Volvo V70 5 Speed -scrapped
1997 E290 Turbo Diesel Wagon -traded for above
1992 BMW 525i -traded in
1990 Silver 300TE -hated the M103
1985 Grey 380SE Diesel Conversion, 2.47 rear end, ABS -Sold, really should have kept this one
1979 Silver 300D "The Silver Slug" -Sold

They might kick you out. I called one of those places to try and store some engines and a motorcycle and they said no way

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

In Holland - Amsterdam / Rotterdam / Den Haag / all big cities in the west of country have car clubs where you can take your classic and work on it. They're not as cheap as car parks but I understand that your tools and vehicle are insured whilst on site.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Some, on the other hand, encourage it. There are ones in town here that rent out "hobby" storage with electrical connections, better lighting and climate control. It's worth calling around to find out.

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1979 300D 040 Black on Black - 1985 300D Maaco job (sadly sprayed over 199 Black Pearl Metallic) on Palamino

http://i.imgur.com/LslW733.jpg

The Baja Arizona Oil Burners Send a message if you'd like to join the fun
Left to Right - UberWasser, Iridium, Stuttgart-->Seattle,, mannys9130

Visit the W123 page on iFixit for over 70 helpful DIY guides!

I used to use the parking lot of an Aamco after hours when I lived in one of those places where they don't like you working on your car. Later I found a place in the ghetto where nobody GAS.

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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.

Now that is pretty cool. You have a place to work on your car and BS with other gear heads as well.

Most military bases have a similar thing complete with relatively cheap tool rental. Similar things used to exist in the civilian world, but I think liability issues killed them off.

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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.

Don't know why I didn't remember before-go talk to the kids at your local auto tech school. When I was getting my book learning, a couple guys went in on a shop and rented it really cheaply, then would sell weekly space to other guys for their project cars. If I could do it all again I'd be all over that.

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment