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

[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..

[whunter]

Originally Posted by whunter

For those unable to attend.

IMO, this was the best tech session yet.
Everyone got their car on the hoist for inspection.
Several safety issues where repaired, front calipers and flex discs.

I am sure that everyone got to turn a wrench.
Each day was 10:00 AM - 9:00 PM.
Saturday morning:
Began with a show and tell of the damaged parts table + engine involving plenty of Question and Answer.
Saturday night:
The pop tester got a workout.
Went through the fuel level sender cleaning procedure with a salvaged/corroded unit.
Sunday started with a DVD "Water in diesel", later in the day we watched a DVD of "JimmyL" changing axle boots with the Astoria flex gun.

Wrapping up everything, and plan on getting home to Michigan for thanksgiving.

More later, out of time tonight..

Sunday morning:
We inspected the last participant cars.
Sunday afternoon:
Removed/installed a W126 blower (bushings where loaded with dust) lubricated it with sewing machine oil, and got it working again.
I attempted to rebuild locked front calipers (from a members car front tires would not spin), failed due to pistons rusted into calipers, replaced them with good used from a car I am resurrecting in the shop.
Sunday night:
We did a valve adjustment with and without the Hazet wrench set.
Removed the injection pump bypass valve measured it at 20mm stretched it to 32mm/compressed it re-measured 27mm installed.
Replaced the rear brake pads on a 300SD.

It will take me days to note down all of the topics/questions covered, and that will have to wait until I get home.

Thanks everyone for the help keeping the shop clean.

[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?

[tubular031]

We were too busy workin on cars to take pictures!

[gear-head]

I made only the Sunday half, had a good time! Roy was great and there were a couple of others that jumped in on the ol' SD with wrenchs swinging too! Just sorry I can't remember their names, my apologies, but yeah, I was blown away with all that, straightening out a couple of minor issues I had, that was super!
Funny thing, I didn't get any bbq either, but I think it was worth the ante just for the inspection, tech tips on what to do about the things that need attention and the amazing "Assitance" of the guys that jumped in there to replace the airfilter housing bracket etc, etc. Probably really more my fault than anything for missing out on the bbq as I couldn't/didn't make it out Saturday.
Enjoyed meeting the folks that are on here, and I'll try to remember who all ya'll are now!
I will defiinitely be at the next one too! Next time I'll try to remember the cameras! I found them sitting right by the door where I left them in my process of loading my car for departure!

[YellowBird]

Jimmie T. doing his first valve job on my 300D under the fatherly guidance of Roy! Thank you so much Roy! We learned more this weekend than we could have learned in an entire life time otherwise! Can't wait until you come back.

[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]

That picture of Roy is awesome! I wish I would have taken pictures. I was too busy running around talking to everyone trying to learn all I could

One of the coolest things there was the blown engine. It gave us all a good view of all the different parts and how they go together. I did not realize that the crank in the 617 is about the size of the crank in my truck! and the heads are freakin heavy too!

I hope someone took a picture of that rod that was bent like a snake.

JimmyL gave a great speech about how to use the flexboot gun. I am still giggling about it. "and this is how child birth works" hahaha

It was good to meet you all (Oh wait I am in Texas so its Yall). Ill be back next year with the camper in tow! Next year Ill have jessica drive squirt

[whunter]

Someone left their glasses laying on the ground outside the garage.
They are OK and safe with me.
PM me your address to get them back.

[Codifex Maximus]

Pics from Mt Vernon TX GTG 20091121 are in an album available from my info page.

There are a few good snaps in there from during the under car sessions.

[JimmyL]

Originally Posted by Codifex Maximus

Pics from Mt Vernon TX GTG 20091121 are in an album available from my info page.

There are a few good snaps in there from during the under car sessions.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/members/codifex-maximus-albums-mt-vernon-gtg-20091121.html

Glad you added those. Nice job!

[first300D]

Only a few photos as I had to decide to hold my camera or my flashlight during our inspections and lessons. Enjoy the few.

Hopefully this method of posting will work. With Progress comes an improved camera which creates photos naturally out of spect for the this forum. So I added them to my msn account, hopefully this will work.

http://cid-6faf3e301d162a46.skydrive.live.com/albums.aspx