upholstery question...

[davestlouis]

I have racked my brain, and I think the last time I went to Sanibel was in 1985, we always stayed in the Sanibel Moorings Condo's toward the causeway end of the island. I went away to college after that, and as I recall I mooched a free vaca or two off my parents in the late 80's in Naples, spent most of my time in a Budweiser-induced stupor.

I watched a TV show recently about a gator who killed a woman on Sanibel, some sort of groundskeeper lady who got dragged into a pond, and died from the microbes in the water, not the gator bite itself.

[davestlouis]

I ran an ad in the local Craigslist this week, WTB 60's and 70's M-B cars. The only response I got was for a 1979 450SE, obviously a Euro car, apple green with tan VELOUR and Euro-style A/C controls. Haven't talked turkey on price yet, we're just sending emails back and forth so far.

[nachi11744]

Hello,
MB Tex is great but here everybody wants *leder* nowadays until it burns them once or twice, then they want *klot*.....sorry,cloth.
I like the velour seats for the simple reason it holds you in place, even if you're sweating like a ***.
My W115 is a 200 M115(87x83,95bhp), the 220(87x92,105bhp)was a long stroke engine that was rough and slow revving, very much like the 220D that it was based on.
The *big bore* M115 2.3(110bhp) liked to eat headgaskets just like it's successor the M102 2.3E,136bhp(this unit supplied to USA in the 190E,113bhp me thinks). The combination of bigger cylinder bores within the same cylinder block size and higher specific output may have something to do with it.
You're right in that the M102 is a bit like a 4cyl. M103, but it has a gear type oil pump driven by flats on the crankshaft.
The single row timing chain failures I have only seen on the 4 cylinders, the M114, M123 and M103 sixes do not exhibit this trait, at least not the engines that I have driven behind.
Of course, you guys know ALL about the M117 3.8s single row chains unreliability.
Have a good week.

[Tristar1959]

Nachi - thanks for the tutorial. That Euro W123 230CE I checked out in Baltimore must have had the 102 engine. Glad of the reassurance re the M114's chains, although I can't complain since the first single made it through 248kmi when it ate the ring, but still glad I put in the M130 doubles, just in case...seems logical to widen the stress fingerprint...
Stan

[nachi11744]

Hello,
My personal opinion is that the MB six cylinder gasoline engines, beginning with the M180(2.2 4 bearing crank sohc) followed by M127,129,130,123,110 and finally M103 are very tough units that will run millions of miles like a walk in the park .
The early 4 cylinder units the M121/115s are legendary for durability, if not finesse, not for nothing factory engineers called them *rappelkoenig*(rattle king)
The one exception was the W108 250 M108 engine that did have some problems that were resolved by a quick redesign into the M129(FI) and then M130 2.8.
I'd rather not comment on recent gasoline engines.
Have a good week.

[Tristar1959]

We probably sound like our granddads when Ford brought out them newfangled 1932 V-8's and replaced the Model A's...

Yes, never had a problem with my M129 in my 250SE/c - and I DID work it hard, hauling that monster coupe around...

Recently, however...there are some horror stories indeed...

As my old M-B guru sez - "never buy one in which the letters come before the numbers..."

[riethoven]

Man has this thread gone all over the place!

To address the cloth issue. The models that MB exported to the US in the 60's and 70's were mostly with the largest motors and the most options. MB Tex was an option over cloth. I also think that the southern climate is just hard on cloth what with warm humidity and higher UVs the cloth just goes away faster. I think the German cloth of the 70's was wool and just did not hold up compared the all synthetic cloth on the large American iron of the day. I remember my dad getting a new Olds 98 Regency with a 455 big block and velour seats that were like thin pillows attached with buttons to the rest of the seat. What a tank those cars were. I had a 76 BMW 2002 in 1981 that had spent part of it's life in Canada and even in five years the cloth was in bad shape.

Now on the hijacking of the thread. Just got back from a week in Naples and had a great time. It was sunny and warm every day. Looked at condos and saw that prices have sunk back some from their high a year ago. A basic condo is $260 or so. We took one or our 300TDs and put over 3000 miles on it with no problems. What a great car!

[Tristar1959]

riethoven -

forks can legitimately be found in threads, as well as the ends of islands protecting the Connecticut shoreline...

speaking of which, I note a 911 in the inventory, there -

(new fork)
In a box of old parts I got from my local Benz dealer when they moved, I found the Benz parts contaminated with a set of Mr. Porche's Euro 911 headlights, which had apparently been removed (new)to put in US sealed beams (Virginia being intolerant of anything but sealed beams, at least until the recent re-emergence of halogens). They have Bosch numbers on them, which I can find if I work my way back into the shelves, a bit...
I picked them up over twenty years ago, so they're at least that old - chrome, not painted, rings.

Any recommendations as to where one might best list these other than eBay, specialty 911 forums, etc?

Thanks,

Stan Braisted
Achilles, Va