A nice 86 300E 5 speed parts car - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

junqueyardjim · #1 02-02-2014, 03:13 PM

My 86 300E 5 speed is for sale. It is a PARTS CAR and license and Insurance are good till April and then if it is not sold I'll drive it to the P&P. The really good. It was a Hollywood, CA car from new tell 1999. Then it spent a year in Safford, AZ, then to Grand Haven, MI in 2001. The guy in Michigan, drove it one trip to Indy and on the return trip a whole valve rocker pulled out. Engine continued to run on 5, he nursed it home and put it in storage until 2007. Rocker arm failure was pretty common on the early M103. I pulled and junked that engine and bought a very good 1989 M103 from member John Heff, Mercedes Mechanic in the DC area. With the great help of "Bajaman", who is still is Switzerland I think, in the summer of 2008 we installed that 89 engine which also came with a like new exhaust. I was really pleased with the car, though I found it more difficult to work on then my 300D, and it had a lot of little things wrong. The sunroof works, but I was advised to open it only a very little because it is so difficult to get it back correctly. The AC does not work, but does hold a good vacuum and is still on R12 freon. I replaced the wiper motor and heater blower 3 years ago, now the heater blower is out again. I only use the car during the school year to run 50 miles a day to and from my school bus park. So I put on about 10,000 miles a year. But this winter it runs good cold, but when it sits for an hour or so and I restart for the trip home, then she gives me fits. It will idle and run hard, but gentle response to the throttle is not there until it warms up. I replaced the primary water temperature sender at Christmas break with a used one I had, it ran good for about 8 or 10 days and now it is doing the same thing. Well that isn't a real big problem for some one if you really want to keep the car. BUT HERE IS THE BIG PROBLEM. This 86 is one of a few that was manufactured with a part or "piece' of the main floor build which is of some defective type of steel. I have searched back in the Forum on this problem, and a few other members cars had this problem. One post I read said the Mercedes Benz took care of this massive problem as late as 1996. This piece is welded into the floor section directly below the fuel tank, is straight and rectangular across the car floor, until it comes to the place where the rear sub frame mounts attach. At that point the shape changes to round and that is exactly where the subframe mounts. On this car the passenger side is OK, but the drivers side is badly broken up. About a year ago I had it on a lift at a friends place and we made a number of small angled clips with a 90 degree turn in them and welded up the cracks we could get at and then welded these angled clips over that. Late this fall I checked it out and it all seems to be holding and I painted that part with POR. The wheels tires are good and since the repair it does not "fish tail" under hard acceleration, though I do not generally abuse the car through fast starts. I suspect now that I bought the car with those cracks already in there, but it did worsen while I had it. A GOOD REPAIR CAN NOT BE MADE. I have had a couple of body shops look at it, and they all say the same, there is no way, unless you are willing to spend $20,000.00 or more. The car is all black, paint is very good, bumpers are tacky and a small dent in the rear in the panel below the trunk lock. No rust that I have seen. Interior is a tacky, rather dried leather in black, and the drivers seat is very worn. I think the interior is ugly. No cracks in the dash, all glass is perfect, cruise control is not working. It is great car to drive, even if I have to drive it to the P&P in early April. The drive line is perfect. Odometer is not working, estimate close to 200,000. All in all, a great car to have if you have a nice W124 or W126 and you would like a five speed. Do it and you will still have a ton of nice body parts to sell. Highest offer owns it but it has to be at least as much as the P&P will give.

bsmuwk · #2 02-03-2014, 01:28 PM

pm sent

hanno · #3 02-04-2014, 08:23 PM

Somebody grab this if even if its only a donor for your future five speed conversion. Car can come later

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GLWS!

bsmuwk · #4 02-19-2014, 11:25 PM

Sold, nice meeting you Jim.