W123 300 D Adventure Begins
 

I finally got a 300 D. I like the dark blue and tan interior color combo.
http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/...psf7278967.jpg
It is dirty and needs a lot of little fixes inside and out but it very rust free. I only found one rusty spot under a door; floors are great.

The interior is ok but the dash is near perfect. I expected to see a badly cracked dash give the selling price of the car. The black seat are not original.

The body is pretty good. I could not find any filler or rust. It even has the controversial wheel opening trim. I will be removing these. I like the look but not the rust risk.

The engine runs but needs to have the tank filter cleaned as it loses power off and on. It does have a lot of miles; 330,000 on the clock. The odometer and trip meter work.

I going to put a battery in it now and drive some. It has current stickers :-)

Here are some pics
1983 Mercedes 300 D Slideshow by TXCurbster | Photobucket

I'd give the tank a treatment of biocide and change the filters. Usually after that the bacteria will come on through the filter and you are good to go.

Looks really nice for 330k !

I really needs some biocide bad and all three filters addressed.

Well. I put a battery in it and got it started. After a while it would idle so I drove up and down my dirt road. It is going to need a lot of work. LOL But I expected this. I am pretty happy that it even started. Some white smoke at first then it was not bad at all.


Next is to check the compression and get in on the lift and make a list.

I wouldn't do a compression check yet, I would get everything cleaned out, new injectors, oil changes, valve adjustments and then after driving it for a while then do a compression check....with it in that condition, there is probably a lot of gunk needing to be burnt out..

Inspect the Transmission Cooler Hoses, Engine Oil Cooler Hoses, the Driveshaft Rubber Flex Discs (on an Auto Trans the Front Flex Disc is hard to see you might need to remove the Support Plate to see it clearly) and the CV Rear Axle Boots (the original factory ones are filled with Oil and if a Boot Cracks the Oil leaks out).

Less troublesom but look at the Read Differential Support Rubber and look under the Car for Rust; especially on the Rear Trailing Arams (the bulk of the Arm is usually made of thin Sheet Metal.)

Thanks All for the great advise.
And a big thanks for this wiki:
PeachPartsWiki: Breaking into 123 trunk w/o breaking anything
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Trunk wont open and the key does not work in the trunk. It feels like there is a key broken off in the key hole as the key will only go in half way. I need a new set of keys anyway. The one key it came with it is very worn.
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I noticed some cowl vents are black. Is chrome a factory option?

Is that '65 Ford in the garage anything special?

just a 2 door, sport roof, bench seat Galaxie 500 with a 390 4v. Wish I had a 427 XL version.

Lol was just going to ask about the Galaxie, looks like a cool car! As does your W123. At least its quicker than the 289 Galaxie models.

That looks exactly like mine!

I could not open the trunk with the wiki method. Just too much stuff in there to get access to the latch. Time for the drill and a new lock and key set.

I got the turnk unlocked by appying vacuum with a hand powered vacuum pump hooked up to the yellow line with a green stripe. The line is located on the front passenger side floor against the rocker under a plastic cover. :-) non destructive.

Cool Car
 

I was just admiring your initial picture.....the side view...and what really jumped out at me was the amazing amount of chrome on those cars. MB must have spent a small fortune putting chrome on those cars. Keep us updated. Nice project.

I had one- a Galaxie 7-Litre convertible with the 427. Wish I still had it.