Evaluating my car - decision time...
 

Recognizing that a 240D is worth around $5,000 max, I am facing a tough decision on what to do with mine. I bought it to be a daily driver/beater, but its panache and the comments it draws from other folks has me wondering if it should get a resto.

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Honest evaluation time...

Interior:
The whole interior is original. Radio, AC, everything is there and works great. The only things that need fixing are the rear windows (not working) and window switches (cracked housing). Some of the wood trim on the dash is lifting, but it would take 2 minutes to glue it down. There are no cracks, splits tears, etc. anyplace. Basically it could have come off the lot a month ago and you wouldn't know the difference. Even the carpets are very clean.

Body:
The fender needs paint, as discussed in another thread. The hood has a few scratches and could use a repaint, but it isn't urgent. There is a spot of rust under one taillight. The door bottoms have rust like most of these cars, but it is not yet critical. Patches may be needed but not much more. Panels have been replaced. The car is currently 4 shades of off-white.

Underbody:
Ugly. In order to pass inspection I have 4 perforations that need fixing. The body guy who quoted me the panel repaint showed me how he would replace them, but its an expensive fix. It has also been suggested to do a tar and flashing fix to pass safety and ignore the problem. One floor seam is letting go. the passenger's floor has been patched with fiberglass. To repair the floors properly would mean tearing out the interior. Or at least the carpets and seats. There are 4 perforations in the trunk. While these are not part of the safety inspection, they should be repaired along with the other rust work. In for a dime, in for a dollar. I haven't checked the hood pockets yet, but since I have no sunroof, I hope nothing is draining into there. Wadda I know.

Suspension:
Passed inspection, but both rear shocks are leaking oil. Not sure if they can be done without a lift. I've never done shocks before and compressing the springs scares me. You can call me a wimp.

No known steering issues.

Mechanical:
Engine runs fine, but can be shaky at startup. A local diesel specialist has quoted $150 to set valves. Typical vacuum issues but I can do that for cheap, and will either way. The tranny (stickshift) seems fine. Cruise controil repair needed, but not critical.

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So the real question is do I have a fender painted and do a flashing job on the floors at a total cost of about $250 and 2 weeks time, or do I strip out the interior, weld patches and panels into the floors, and get the whole car repainted at a cost in the thousands and a time investment measured in months. If I do get the repaint, how involved is removing the trim and do I need to remove the engine and prep the engine bay as well?

For the record I have never even considered restoring a car before so I really have no idea what I am signing up for. My cars have always been far more modern than this one, or in better shape. I've gotten myself in deeper here than I realized when we wrote the cheque, but so far I don't regret it.

Time is not a big deal, but I can't say how long my current DD will last. its a 1995 Suburban with low miles, mechanically sound, but with peripheral issues. The 240D was supposed to replace it as a more economical (gas-wise) ride.

If I go the resto route, the car will still end up being a DD, just a much nicer one that had better last for years as opposed to year. As far as safety is concerned, I think the resto would give a chance to take a closer look at frame components and be sure that the car is sound - my 16 YO is about to get her license. In the car's current state, I would be nervous about her getting hurt in a crash, simply because I have seen other rusted frames that gave out in a crash - I work closely with our police force in crash investigations.

Awaiting your (biased) input.

FWIW - here is my previous to-do list... (EDIT: I see that the strike command isn't enabled/working for this message. Items 2 & 3 on this list are no longer of concern to me.)

1. Odometer sticks - $0 to fix
2. <strike>Engine has blowby - teakettle test had oil spray all over and rad cap really jumping. PO says a valve adjustment will help - I am not sure when the last one was done. Is it worth it to buy the kit, or just the wrenches? Engine may be worn. Not sure. Swap??? - $180 for valve adjustment kit with wrenches, gasket, feeler gauges, etc.</strike> upon further reading, I don't think this is an issue. The cap stays on the engine and some oil spray is normal.
3. <strike>Oil pressure gauge is pegged to the top while driving - I don't know what the normal position for the gauge is. Rings shot? Sensor bad? Gauge bad? (Could be pricey - dunno)</strike> Apparently this is normal
4. The dash is all original - including radio. But no lights work except the dim speedo bulb. I think I can get bulbs for the heater gauges, but how do you light up the radio? - $20 in bulbs
5. Power windows don't work for the back seat. Any common problem I should know about there? - No idea, likely an electric fault
6. Driver's door lock has vacuum issue (you can hear the vacuum fail when you unlock the door). Not an issue - can fix over a weekend. - $30 part, $30 vacuum tester
7. Power antenna only goes 1/2 way down. any ideas for a fix there? it looks straight, but is pretty gummed up. Last car I was able to just clean the antenna and then it worked. - worst case is replace power antenna - $40
8. The engine is pretty shaky, so it wouldn't surprise me if it needs new motor mounts. - $100 in parts

Many good cars have been turned into parts cars because someone started a "restoration". I have a friend that used to drive an MGA - until he took it apart. It has moved (in boxes) to each of his houses over the last 30 years.

Fix the floor then do the mechanicals as you can. If you get to the point where it only needs paint, paint it. The car will continue to drive for a long time if you only start the process of getting caught up on the service items.

Dittos. I went hog wild on both the 240 and 300 and tore them apart as soon as they got home and fixed everything that wasn't purely cosmetic. Between them I have 8K tied up, just since September. Yeh they're both on the road and both pretty nice cars now, but they are exceptions to the resto rule.

I have four suzi GT750 waterbuffaloes that were someone else's basket cases and have been my basket cases for 5 years, likely will be fleabayed off a bit at a time. Bit off too big of a project. At least 4k involved collecting these and parts that haven't been used. Only saving grace is that GT750 parts have gone nuts in price and I can get my $$s back.

fwiw, you don't need to compress the springs to replace the shocks, they are easy swaps, front and rear. No Macpherson strut procedures

you do need to remove the rear seat however, and the front tires, but 3 bolts on the seat, and 10 on the tires exposes all, easy peasy

So it sounds like a quick spray for paint, and weld floors up might be a good option? Pulling seats doesn't look complicated, and floor kits are available for reasonable prices.

I just noticed the Miracle Paint on another site for rust repair - basically a FG-epoxy setup with better bonding - looks like an easy way to fix underbody perforations (ie. Trunk) with welding repairs only for structural points.

A bit of a middle-of-the-road compromise.

I have no experience taking cars across the border, but the time spent to locate and transport an unrusted 240 from the south or out west would be much less than the time you will invest in rust repairs. Until you strip out the carpet and remove the undercoating you really won't know the full extent of the rust damage - It's probably much worse than you think.

I'd get an unrusted example and use my runner as a donor myself - Good luck!

While that sounds like a good idea Walkenvol, the cost of transport would pretty much kill the deal. Say I got a $500 car with a blown engine from Arizona/Texas/California.

Shipping it here would be at least $1500 - likely more.

Then I still have an engine swap and mechanicals to work through. Back to a months long and thousands of dollar budget. At least I could part out the rusty car to recoup some value though. If I want to deal with the headache of parting out a car.

Actually way more. Transporters don't want to take non-runners on long distance runs, as they want the flexibility to move cars from truck to truck. A non-runner costs them time and money.

Based on my last experience, three years ago, the figure would be around $1800, for a running car, IF you use a transporter who crosses into Canada and brings the car to you. You will pay a premium for that.

Much cheaper if you can work something where the car is transported as far north in the US as possible and you arrange for a tow service to drag it across the border to you.

I have brought six cars up from the US over the last decade. Transport costs have shot up in tandem with the cost of diesel.

You can buy DOM-16 at NAPA Canada. It is a similar product to POR-15 and Miracle paint, except about 1/2 the price. I used it extensively when I restored my 300D.

To get at the floors, if 240D is same as 300D, you will need to remove the sound insulation - it is a tar like material that is adhered to the floors. Had to use heat gun to soften it up so it could be scraped off.

It's easy enough to get the seats out. You will want to get the lower dash out too as well as various other pieces of trim and conduit covers that run on floor. That will let you see how bad floors, sidewalls and firewall are. Small holes can be fixed with DOM & glass. But if, as I had, there are major rusted sections, then some welding will be in order. You don't need to necessarily buy floor pans unless the whole floor needs replacing.

With side panels out, you should look up high on both sides at area around firewall and just aft of that. That is where holes from hinge pockets rust through. Also check where hand brake bracket attaches to firewall. Mine was OK.

If I were you, I would dig as much as possible to determine just how much needs repair. Only then make a decision on whether to proceed or not. I went ahead, but did a great deal of work myself, after the welder had done his part.

When judging whether a restoration is worthwhile or not, many of us look at what the car will be worth once done. I do that too. But in the end, I decided three time on major repairs on our 300D, more based on how long I would extend the life. A $7000 engine swap in 2001 (still going strong), $3000 repaint about 7 years ago (still good, but needed a couple of touchups) and more recently $3000 in rust repair. But car now will hopefully be good for another 5 years. But not unless they stop putting salt on roads (freezing rain coming tonight :( )

Thanks Graham - as you know I've been reading through your resto threads very carefully. The sound insulation you mention is the rubber undercoating stuff, right? Or is there another coating on the inside of the car?

Zacharias - about 6 years back I had a transporter bring a boat up from Detroit - 25 ft X 4500 lb boat cost $1300 to transport, and I had to broker it across the border myself. Folks importing similar to our marina have been quoted twe and three times that this past season, some for far shorter hauls. I got the suburban and a trailer for mine to avoid the haulage costs. I plan on selling the boat next season, so the truck is no longer needed in the stable. Enter the Mercedes...

Since there is a NAPA outlet across the street from my office, I am thinking I will hide from the ice storm this weekend and clean out space in the garage. Then we can pull the seats and lower dash to get a 'real' evaluation of what is going on. The parts will be easy to get if NAPA has necessary supplies.

Replacement floor pans are in the order of $65 each X4 parts (Mercedes 230 240D 280E Ce 300D Cd Td Chas 123 76 Body Panels), so it may be easier to just redo the whole floor than to muck about with making patches - provided that the cancer is strong in this one, and pervasive. Otherwise, yes POR and patch will be order of the day. We've started saving cereal boxes.

Once the floors and a few other non-critical spots are together, I'll be in touch with Graham's friend and see what he has to say about the remaining repairs. Then its back to our local paintshop for a spray-n-run.

I would not spend a lot of money on it. Having read what you wrote IN BOLD ABOVE, I don't it's worth it for a car as needy as that one to restore it to original condition. I would instead find a like model a lot closer to original with everything or nearly everything in good working order. I would definitely not spend any money on a car in the process of known rusting areas.

If you have a lot of spare time on your hands, then sure, you could do some patch-work on it, at the very least to keep it legal and roadworthy.

Ideally, I would start shopping for low priced parts cars to piece something together as inexpensively as possible if you want to keep the car. If you don't have a shop or property that can support parts cars on the grounds, then that's out unfortunately.

Do you have any pictures of the car and it's noted areas on it you mentioned?

Thanks Skid Row - Unfortunately around here finding anything without rust issues is a challenge once you get older than about the mid-90's.

I'll start photo-documenting once i have the car inside. Being on a city lot, I don't have space for a pile of cars. I'm a little jealous of the guys who do. We moved into town a year ago and I miss having space. Of course when I lived out of town all my time was taken up with commuting.

Back on topic - when I bought this car I spent more than I had originally budgeted believing it to be in better condition than it is. Once it was up on a hoist, I realized the work ahead for me WRT rust in the usual places. Even facing that though, I can't knock the car (yet). Its simplicity makes the repairs appear time consuming, but not expensive as long as I can do them myself. Its hiring out that gets pricey.

Since I have a welder and 220V to the garage, I can putz about with repairs. The critical bits I'll leave to pros though.

Similar to Graham I have experience with fibreglass and marine repairs and will likely take a path similar to his. The car is very presentable as-is, and mechanically without any real issues. Its just the damn rust. I believe that if I can tackle the rust, I have a very strong (albeit very slow) car.

I'm in a similar position. The interior is in good shape. The exterior has no rust, but has dents and scratches.

http://i.imgur.com/JMV4IsN.jpg

There are a number of extensive write-ups including pictures of rust on-forum here. The hideous nature of what rust can do to these fine cars was a learning experience here for me. I was tempted to keep a family heirloom in the late '90s, a '77 240D that my Father and Mother had bought new, with approx. 375K miles on it. ALL four rocker-panels / fender bottoms had been 'patched-up' by a body shop years before, and they were again bubbling the paint-up in the process of the rust continuing when I realized that it was a rust-pit, with A LOT of miles on it. I just didn't have the need or attraction to keep something like that around, even if it was available for free. It is heartbreaking to let a car go, but that's my experience with a 240D that was part of our family.