My 1982 300SD Project Thread

[Mölyapina]

So, where to start? I guess I should first start by reprinting the introduction I gave to the car when I bought it in May (feel free to skip down to where I talk about what I'm doing now; most of that is background on the car itself.):

As a few of you already know, I bought my second car on Saturday – a white 1982 300SD . I bought it from a fellow forum member, tbomachines (Tom). The shell is a Texas shell. It’s original story is unknown, though I may try to track down the hands that it passed through when I have some spare time. Tom bought it a few years ago from another forum member who had taken the drivetrain out and was storing the shell in a hangar in New Jersey; Tom took the drivetrain out of his old, rusty ’82 (“Boxy Brown”) and transplanted it into this one. He then drove it regularly, replacing the tires, brake pads, calipers, and discs, glow plugs, motor mounts, filters (including power steering thingie), Battery, flex disc & hardware, water pump housing, thermostat, etc. along the way. Then, last fall, he tried to pull away from the filling station only to find out that the transmission would not engage in Drive. He then attempted replacing the B2 piston, but to no avail, leaving him to conclude that the B2 band itself was bad. He priced out some trannies, but didn’t have the time to fetch one or install it, so the car ended up sitting in Connecticut, doing nothing but killing grass & running occasionally (thankfully, Tom started it periodically & pushed it back & forth to keep the tires from flatting) until I went down this last Saturday and bought it. It was then towed to my home in Chelmsford where it sits today. The paint is very nice, and the body is TOTALLY rust-free with the exception of EXTREMELY minimal rust on the undersides of the fronts of both rockers and a hole under the battery. The car starts faster than our 2004 Corolla with 145,000 [EDIT -- at 149,500 as of today; keep marching, old soldier!]. I plan to put the transmission from my 1984 into this thing -- I will swap tailshafts, of course. Here are some pictures – I also have some questions which are listed below. The blue car is the ’84.

So, I just pulled engine and the tranny out of my parts-car 300D and am now working on getting the tranny into the 'SD. My first step has been attempting to modify the speedo from the 300D so that it will fit the 300SD. Everything is working well so far -- I will try posting pictures tonight. I will also be converting the car to manual seats and Delibes has said that he will be able to get me manual seat trim for the W126 next time he is over in Europe -- yay -- so it will look morealess factory. I got two free seats with very nice bottom cushions for free from JB3, so I will be swapping skins and have a matching interior with simplified, comfortable seats.