OFFICIAL 3rd Annual Shop Forum GTG and Tech Session (TX, OK, LA, AR)

[tubular031]

Originally Posted by whunter

I will also be covering engine mount and mount bolts.
There is a large pile of examples plus a pair of mount brackets.

FYI:
If it has been cross threaded.
The large bolt is a ten millimeter one point five zero thread.

Awesome! I plan on replacing the oil cooler hoses and my motor mounts the weekend after this event.

[Whiskeydan]

I'm "dead in the water". The wagon has an ominous ticking in the area of the vacuum pump, W116 parts did not arrive in time and the W126 SD is out of date on it's stickers. It looks like I'll be wrenching here alone.

Jimmy has kindly offered to come pick me up but I really need the time to get somethings fixed. I just found a leak in the roof also... great.

[JimmyL]

Lots of crawfishing since this gtg was announced.
I still have to pack the car in the morning but have everything laid out in the garage. {it was raining tonight}
I will see those folks tomorrow who are there........

[Whiskeydan]

Ummm... crawfish.

Save us a spot to park the Jetta. Not in the mood to do anything around here while thinking about you guys just down the road.

I've talked to the wife and she says OK.

Funny... last time we attended this GTG she was pregant then also.

[Whiskeydan]

I sure hope you guys ate my share of the BBQ since I had to pay the $30 and only hung around for a couple of hours. No car on the lift, no food... Oh well...

It was great to see Jimmy and others though.

[TylerH860]

I think you should get a partial refund.

Hope they're all having fun. I'm sorry to be missing it, that's for sure.

[whunter]

Originally Posted by Whiskeydan

I sure hope you guys ate my share of the BBQ since I had to pay the $30 and only hung around for a couple of hours. No car on the lift, no food... Oh well...

It was great to see Jimmy and others though.

Sorry.
PM me your address.

As you saw, I was lost in cars.
No space for other thoughts.
It was great to see you, as a returning member it should have been $20.00 ..

[mb911]

I wish I could attend but I'll be passing through that area Monday after it's done. Maybe next year.

[tubular031]

This was an awesome event. I learned so much and hopefully next weekend I can knock out the oil cooler lines and oil housing gasket on squirt. Roy is such a trooper! answering all of our questions and not getting annoyed as we followed him under the cars asking more questions!

I wish he could have taken a look at squirt but I dont think squirt could pull the house on wheels

[whunter]

Originally Posted by tubular031

This was an awesome event. I learned so much and hopefully next weekend I can knock out the oil cooler lines and oil housing gasket on squirt. Roy is such a trooper! answering all of our questions and not getting annoyed as we followed him under the cars asking more questions!

I wish he could have taken a look at squirt but I don't think squirt could pull the house on wheels

PM me your address and cell number.
If I can detour on the route home I will stop to look her over.
Not sure yet if I will be leaving from the shop in Mt Vernon or Dallas.

As I mentioned to some of you folks, the KIA I was forced to drive down is not worth fixing for the trip back.
I have acquired a nice white W124 190D as a replacement, but it needs the rear suspension links re-worked, power steering leak fixed, and the voltage regulator or alternator replaced to get back to Michigan..

[dadette123]

Roy,

Great tech session, not only what you covered but the people, as well. I learned a lot. Many thanks to our host and hostess. I think everyone really had a good time. I am sure the fond memories will last as long as the grease stains on my hands. Fun, fun, fun.

I really hope you get home without all the previous "preparing for the trip down" travails. Oy vey!

Rocky

[TylerH860]

Not a single photo yet?

[JimmyL]

Originally Posted by TylerH860

Not a single photo yet?

I swear this thread was gone last night!!

First and foremost, 3 folks take front and center:
Sunny
John
Roy

They are the GTG Tech Session Rock Stars, and I will accept NO debate on the matter.
John is easily pretty much the nicest person you will ever meet! A more gracious host and MB enthusiast would be hard to find.
Sunny lives up to her name, even when feeling poorly. SO very sorry you were struggling this weekend, but you were still gracious and beautiful and so entertaining. Ha.
And then there is the Michigan Tornado!! He swirls through the garage leaving various debris fields in his wake. And explaining all the while how the debris came to be debris. Facinating always, witty constantly, and he'll smoke a cigarette or two on an amazingly consistant basis.
You folks that decided that it just wasn't a good time: Big Mistake!! The time with Roy really does justify the inconvienance if there is one.
Alright, enough verbal arse kissing, let's get to some pics eh?

Disclaimer: I get enthralled in everything that is going on and I don't snap pics consistantly. Sorry.

First of all, for me, this GTG and Tech session has always started with one thing:

China Girl


I even had a small video of driving down the highway with David Bowie singing China Girl {surprise when that came on the radio for sure} but the video tanked. Rats.



I remembered to exit in Sulphur Springs for a photo op at some obscure eatery:


I know the folks inside thought I was nuts. The early lunch crowd was stirring and I was blocking one whole side of the parking.

I didn't get the best pic of the location, but I did get a pic of the bay side becuase I was snapping car shots.



GREAT venue, and I hope we can come back for years to come. It is perfect for this!!
BTW, notice the twin SDL's in the pic? They also both had very nice dark brown interiors. Possibly my favorite interior color outside of black. And I believe the owners are cousins if I remember that correctly. Right JP?

This would be a good time to say that this was a W126 dominated event, with SD's and SDL's outnumbering everything else. And an amazing number of gold ones, too. 4 from what I remember. There was 1 wagon, 1 little 240D, 0 124's, 0 140's, 0 116's, 0 107's, 0 115's, 0 all other chassis. W123's and W126's only!! Hmmmm

Now just random shots:









Lunch Saturday at Local Mexican food place:



And our 3rd year in a row to eat at the same barbecue place.



Several of us also filled up the parking lot at the Super 8.

[JimmyL]

Sunday morning started with those of us that stayed at the Super 8 going to eat breakfast at a local establishment. No pics, but the chicken fried steak and eggs was a big player, as was the eggs and ham. Good grief, Rocky's piece of ham was the size of one of China's hubcaps, and I'm not exagerating a bit! He brought what was left {most of it} back to the shop and I remember seeing Roy gnawing on that thing until it was gone. Now why didn't I get a pic of that!

Well, it was the indoor version this year, but the China Coffee Shop made an appearance.



Sure looks dirty with the flash for some odd reason.

The shop portion Sunday started off with a dvd.
Oh dear, Paul looks asleep on his stool.
It was interesting when you could hear it, but we were there to get our hands dirty, so the more rude ones amongst us headed out into the bays.

One of our newer forum members, Rocky, came up from Houston is his 1982 300TD {one T only please}, European delivery car. He is the original owner and went to Germany himself to pick this beauty up. It is white with uber rare black interior which is awesome! It has the super desirable ROUNDish true Euro headlights, and at the motel we even got to see them move up and down! Awesome. This is a very nice wagon and Rocky is such a welcome addition to our forum. He had bins and bins of parts along with a spread sheet of what he had by part number, description, qty and I believe his cost. Now come on, who doesn't love that type of organization?? Simply a great dude too! And every time I looked up he had his hands and clothes filthy helping or showing things to folks. He even did the brakes on his daughter's X-5 during the day Saturday. Well, at least it's German...
On Sunday he replaced his glow plugs.





Roy also replaced 2 shifter bushings on one of the SD's. Steve had the correct tool for replacing those, and good gawd what a great tool that thing is!!!! It literally took about 2 minutes to replace both of the shifter bushings under the car. Amazing...

We got to see what truly seized calipers were like. Even heating them had no effect on the rusted in place piston.



And this is a pic of Roy that should be utilized often in the future. It completely captures his essence:



Also, up on the lift behind Roy is China. I won the contest for "we are not letting you drive home with those flex discs" award, so John and Sunny were nice enough to sell me a set they had for one of their fleet. Eric and his dad were nice enough to assist me with the install. Didn't get pics darnit. Was too tunnel-visioned I guess during the repair.

This was a great meet. We had a ton of cars that Roy inspected and left many of us with quite a list of things we need to address. But some of these are pure safety items, so the value of this info is substantial.
We had a BUNCH of leakers too, some serious! These folks got pointed in one of several directions to proceed also. Heck, Paul had just had his engine resealed, so I know he will be heading back to the folks who did the work so they can try again.

So, in summation, it was great to see the folks who I've seen before over the years! So glad Dan and Tab and little miss Sarah made it by Saturday. Congrats on the good news of another child on the way!! Nice to see Eric and his dad again. I really enjoy his dad. Good to put a face to JP's name, and I enjoyed meeting his cousin although I've brain locked on his name. Good grounded kid with values I respect!
I met great new folks this time as well. Rocky I've mentioned, Paul has a voice for radio, Bob knows his cars of all types and is a true gentleman, Andy has one big arse truck and RV and has good dude written all over him, Steve lives up in my neck of the woods and will be a big player in future events as well as our local stuff I bet. Sounds like he surely has been bitten by the Mercedes bug quite nicely.
I don't remember everybody's name that was there with Jimmie, but yall had my attention all weekend. "Jimmy". What?? Oh, not me, the other Jimmie. "Jimmy"! What? Oh, not me again. Yall have no idea how many times I was thrown off by that. Great to meet yall, and delightful kids you have. Those younguns did so well!
If I left you out I'm sorry. I have brain pan issues so I do my best.
This weekend was awesome and thanks to everyone who made it that way....

[tubular031]

We were too busy workin on cars to take pictures!