Hello all, im a 24 year old Mechanical Engineer. Bought this 1985 canada spec (everything is in metric units) 300SD with 220K mi in 2010 for $800. It was non-running due to a bunch of electrical problems.

Day 1 after getting it to our garage: replaced alternator and starter


Once up and running. The modifications began...I bought some vinyl wrap and wrapped the front grille and the side mirrors. Also painted the grille insert and headlight shrouds.


Next, audio was taken care of. Head unit was replaced with a Pioneer unit. Replaced front speakers with 4 1/2" pioneers. Picked up some 5 1/2" speaker adapters and grills at CrazyRays to replace the original 4" speakers. Added 5 1/2" pioneer door speakers to round out the sound. System still lacks bass...





Then, my nasty relationship with PlastiDip began. Dipped all the chrome trim, emblems, bumpers, wheels, and side cladding.





Got my hands on some roof racks.


Transmission went. Found a refurbished one and many hours of removing and replacing with much help from fellow diesel heads.



I was getting tired of the failed clear coat and dove in head first into some body work. I had no experience, just hours of watching youtube videos. This was my chance to debadge as well. I started with the trunk lid.




Happy wit the results, I decided to just go ahead and start prepping the whole car...wet sanding with 400 grit and then REMOVING all the plastidip. HUGE PAIN IN THE ASS. WILL NOT RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT. IF YOU WANT MATTE BLACK, STOP BEING A PUSSY AND DO IT THE RIGHT WAY. hard lesson learned.



While prepping the car, stubbled upon a botched patched job on the lower side of the rear quarter panel. Removed all the rust with a 4 1/2" grinder. Used fiberglass, bondo glass, and bondo to get it to an adequate condition.




I decided going with a satin finished provided by John Deere called Blitz Black. Its a single stage tractor paint shot at a ratio of 8 parts paint - 1 part thinner using a Harbor Freight HVLP spray gun. It did not come out perfect. Painting is SO much harder than expected. The roof and hood were the hardest to paint as the car is so freakin wide. FUTURE NOTE: MORE VENTILATION, PROPER MASK, AND TONS OF LIGHTING!!!




The satin looks great! In my opinion, its the best way to show off all the chrome bits on these cars. I know all the old school guys are shaking their heads but TO EACH HIS OWN!



Thanks for tuning in! Love to hear your thoughts.

-Kyle

Todays mod: Tinting tail lights all red

Used 600 grit sandpaper and three coats of VHT nightshades Red




Car as it sits today:

Looks good! I love that you are doing the work yourself.
Next you will want to look at the engine and do things like a valve adjustment, ALDA removal, etc.
Welcome to the insanity that is older Benzes

__________________
"I have no convictions ... I blow with the wind, and the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy"

Current
Monika '74 450 SL
BrownHilda '79 280SL
FoxyCleopatra '99 Chevy Suburban
Scarlett 2014 Jeep Cherokee
Krystal 2004 Volvo S60
Gone
'74 Jeep CJ5
'97 Jeep ZJ Laredo
Rudolf ‘86 300SDL
Bruno '81 300SD
Fritzi '84 BMW
'92 Subaru
'96 Impala SS
'71 Buick GS conv
'67 GTO conv
'63 Corvair conv
'57 Nomad

Engine has been well looked over and taken care of! Lots of the rubber has been replaced, exhaust, driveshaft and flex discs, monovalve...etc

but youre right! valve adjustment and ALDA are both things i have never looked into.

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you know what you're doing too... I've seen very knowledgeable people here from whom I have received really good advice in the past.
You're right; to each their own. I tend to like my cars stock and will go for gloss finish on mine once they teach me how to paint (I'm going to aviation maintenance school) and will choose the original graphite it came with. About the tail lights, don't you need clear reverse lenses? I'd get a ticket here if I did that to mine...
Nice job with the stereo! I'd been thinking how to fit door speakers and I think you did a good job, I'd probably do something like that on mine too.
Keep us posted!

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[/SIGPIC]~cirrusman

1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD - Wife calls him "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
[SIGPIC]




1983 Toyota Tercel (Tommy, The little Toyota that could)
1965 Ford F100 (Grandma Ford)
2005 Toyota Sienna (Elsa, Wife's ride)


Gone:
1988 Toyota Pickup
2004 Subaru Outback

1987 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
1986 Volvo 740 GL Station Wagon - Piece of junk.
1981 Volvo 242 DL 2 Door - Hated to see it go. R.I.P.
1987 Pontiac Fiero GT

Welcome aboard! I'm a bit of a purist and bothered by tasteless tinkering. Your car is not to my taste, but for you, and because of your personal efforts with it, it is not tasteless.

Ain't Crazy Ray's the bomb! The number of 126s isn't what it used to be though.

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http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/l...aman/Fleet.jpg

Peach Parts W124.128 User Group.

80 280SL
85 300SD
87 300TD
92 300D 2.5 Turbo
92 300TE 4Matic

I spent many hours day dreaming about how to retrofit the door panels with speakers. Crazy Rays had door cards from late model w126's that had door speakers but never in my interior color. The only issue is the speaker magnet clearance, its pretty much right against the back of the pocket. I stuffed some foam to isolate the sound in hope of some bass response with little luck. NEEDS MORE BASS!

I appreciate your comments! As this is my first merc ive owned, i cant say i have much of a 'taste' developed. I fully respect people who have restored their benzs to factory specs...i hope to one day restore a 70's W114. The skills im acquiring now will be priceless down the road seeing i plan on having a long relationship with mercedes.

Crazy Rays has treated me well, no doubt, but recently the selection of w126 has been slim. hard to come across one with a Palomino interior (been needing seats. manually adjusting them to a single position is okay for now but would be nice to get seats with working motors)

Nice sd!. I got burnt out on the flat black look because every body was doing it and it got played out.. I painted my truck satin green and now i totaly get it. You never have to wax!! After waxing the mercs i love satin finishes.

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1980 300CD - 130,000 Daily Driver
1984 300CD - 325,000 Dad's summer cruiser

1977 K10 - The Grinch - lifted, locked, winch, 37's. Beadlocks.. 379 t Detroit Diesel
1956 Willys Wagon - buick 225 oddfire v6
1982 SJ 410

Nice Work , Looks great , Congratulations !

Very nice, what are you going to do next week?

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83 SD

84 CD

I dig it, especially the first murdered out version. Good find on the non-running benz. The more I buy the more i realize that the body is what I would rather have in great shape, not the engine, I can work on that. .....

See pic below (hopefully)

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1983 240d 5Sp SOLD
1986 300D(LUCO) SOLD
1983 300TD(dreamboat)SOLD
1984 240d (Executive)SOLD
1984 240d (Euripides) SOLD
1982 300sd SOLD
1982 300sd (Ambas)SOLD

Find myself a spring compressor, hack a few coils, and start a queue for the haters.

lol, cool.

I'm a big fan of painting the headlight doors, here's mine.

I found a decently priced spring compressor, but haven't pulled the trigger.

Attached Thumbnails

 

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83 SD

84 CD

looks good, wish i was worth anything for body work and paint. ive done it before but well uhhh i dont any more... lol havent in a while. i might try again she wants to paint hers pink. and wants me to do it. keep up the good work and get rid of that alda you will be glad you did!

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82 300cd my baby and daily.
82 300sd parts car, looking for a fox body to take her heart...
85 300sd womans daily (soon to be baby pink she hopes!)
92 f350 7.3 idi N/A (for now) cc lb dually retired to tow pig/ back up been a good long road, now take some boost!!!

http://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5aba00d7.jpg

That white looks SHARP! You can look at the peachparts tool rental program to rent a spring compressor. much more practical than going out and buying one seeing that they are $180+