I have this project that it looks increasingly like I will never finish.

I've owned this car since 1994, and I bought it from my good friend who bought it in 1988 from the original owner in southern California. The engine let go about 10 years ago, and at that time I decided to do an engine swap rather than rebuild the original. It now has a Ford 302 & C4 automatic installed, but I never really finished the job.

The engine runs very well. The tranny will not hold fluid anymore; I expect the seals are shot from sitting and the tranny will need a rebuild or swap. The exhaust system needs to be fabricated. I think the brakes should be gone through and probably replace/rebuild the master cylinder.

The body is very solid but does have a little rust in bottoms of quarter panels and in splash panels behind the front wheels. The glass is generally good but it does have a small stone chip in front of the driver. Weatherstripping is fairly shot. Tires are toast. The seats were recovered in Tijuana Mexico in 1989 (I was there, yikes!), but are faded out now.

I would like someone to take the car and finish what I started. It's important to my wife that "Bessie" does not get crushed, so that is more important to us than any money I could get. I'm asking $250 for the car, if you don't want the 302 & C4 I only want more than the crusher will pay, so there is no incentive to make money on it at the recycler. At this point it might actually be easier to transplant a 240D driveline back into the car, but it would also be a hoot with the 302 finished as a hell of a Mercedes rat rod.

The car is white with red interior. I don't have a place to host pictures but contact me at johnathebar@comcast.net and I can send some. Oh yea, the car is in Atlanta GA

Well, today I got a notice from the county. Bessie has to go, or at least be moved. At this point I think I would like to remove the 302 and keep that for my '67 Cougar. But as for the rest, is there any interest here, or any suggestions? I'm motivated. Not sure if I have 10 days or 30 days, but I will have to do something : (

I'm getting ready to move to ATL soon to start a job. Do you have any pictures to post? That would help tremendously in selling the car.

Best Regards,

David

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2000 Honda Accord V6 137k miles

1972 300SEL 4.5 98k miles

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The car is a W110 isn't it? I don't have any more space but don't have the technical know how to rebuild the trans, or an exhaust system either.

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1974 240D 3.0L 4(M) - 250K -OM617.910 + 300D FW + Rajay turbo power!
1977 6.9 3(A) - 84k

You are right about the photos! I could not attatch pics here, I think because they are too big... I set up an account with Photobucket, It's new to me but it looks like this link will work:

http://s975.photobucket.com/albums/ae239/johnathebar/Bessie/

Also as far as rebuilding the tranny it's probably not worth it; I think it would be easier & cheaper to buy a good used C4. Any decent muffler shop could fabricate the exhaust. The exhaust manifolds are there so it's just a matter of going from the engine back.

At this point I would even be willing to do parts but it's just too good of a car to have crushed.

And by the way, thank you guys, I really do appreciate any and all input!

Oh man I wish I could save this...Too far and no room in the yard

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

John,

Here's the deal. I have a '66 230S with Zenith carbs that are beyond nightmare status. I've been thinking about doing the Ford conversion, but the thought of custom welding brackets, etc. has scared me. IF you do separate the engine from the car, any chance you'd want to sell me the engine mounts, drive shaft, etc. to make the Ford 302 work in my w111? I wouldn't mind buying the engine off you, too, but it seems like you may want to keep it? I obviously can always find another 302 to put in there.

Thanks,

David

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2000 Honda Accord V6 137k miles

1972 300SEL 4.5 98k miles

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Would you want to sell your 230S engine? with trans? since both are being replaced?

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

I don't see why not. It has the 4 spd. auto, btw. The front carb leaks fuel at the return valve and the second one leaks in the middle somewhere. I have rebuild kits but I don't know much about carbs and I know these Zeniths aren't the thing to tear into to learn. The car is currently located in NE Indiana.

Best Regards,

David

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2000 Honda Accord V6 137k miles

1972 300SEL 4.5 98k miles

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David,

If that is how things play out here I'd be more than happy to help you out any way I can.

I do understand why you don't want to mess with the carbs you have... that is more or less where I was at and why I decided to do the Ford conversion: the carb was shot, the head was cracked, the clutch was gone, and otherwise the car had 180k on it. I could have spent $3000 to rebuild/replace everything and then had an underpowered car that was worth $1000. It just didn't make sense.

The Ford conversion was really not that difficult. It did take some welding but not as much as you might think. The hardest thing was finding exhaust manifolds that fit within the constraints (fortunately Ford made LOTS of different variations, and the guy at the salvage yard let me bring several home to try and just charged me for the ones I kept), and the radiator/hoses.

I'm not sure how this is going to proceed at this point. I did talk to the county inspector today and he sounds more than reasonable. He did tell me that an anonymous neighbor made a complaint, but also that in his opinion the neighbor is a chickens**t for not just talking to me about this. I've lived in this house for 19 years and thought I was on good terms with all my neighbors. We had a really good talk and he set the bar very low for me to appease him. All I have to do is move the car over 5 feet so all four tires are on the concrete and make the tag current. No problem there for me, but I'm still going to have an unhappy (anonymous) neighbor. Not sure if I should care about that.....

I still don't think this is a project I will ever complete though. I have 4 other cars and even if I did finish this one I doubt I would ever drive it. My wife loves this car though so we do care what happens. The 302 would fit nicely in my Cougar and it runs incredibly sweet. But the Cougar does have its original 289 in it and I should probably keep it in that car.

I'm not adverse to selling parts but before I go down that path I'd want to know that there is a market for most of the parts.

I'll keep you informed here and like I said, I'm happy to help you out any way I can!

John

Is everything done for the conversion minus the exhaust? Did you stick with the stock rear-end? How about the drive shaft?

Best Regards,

David

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2000 Honda Accord V6 137k miles

1972 300SEL 4.5 98k miles

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Yes, everything is done except the exhaust but at this point, for safety's sake, I would also go through the brake system ( not sure if I remember correctly, but I think there was a slow leak at the master cylinder, I may be remembering my old '75 230 on this though).

I did stick with the stock MB rear end. The driveshaft was shortened & balanced, guages work, starts with the original key, and the original 4-on-the-tree shifter now shifts the C4.

I have driven the car since the conversion was done, but not very far due to its loudness with the lack of the exhaust system. It is pretty loud right out of the exhaust manifolds; I live near the top of a small mountain so it got really loud to get to my house and I actually really do try to be an in-offensive neighbor