Get it running first...with the windows rolled down and don't breathe. The mounts and the steering dampner are not difficult at all. But these are not important at all if the damn thing isn't running. I agree that the fuel tank should be addressed first, because if I remember correctly your carbs kept getting fouled. Even draining it and rinsing it out would help a whole lot if you don't want to do do the boil out and coating now. Also I have heard lots of stories about those tank coatings pulling away from the tank after a while. I thought that you and CTH had it running, didn't you?

I see the concern about the gas tank...but here is a fact...CTH and I installed an inline fuel filter...it has NO rust in it and looks as nice as the day we installed it. The car has only had about 1.2 miles put on it since then, but....gas has been pulled thru it from the tank and it looks fine...I think I'd have to keep the tank on the "soon" list..

As for the car running...YES it DID...but the Mr. came to help me dial in the timing and undid the distributor BEFORE the car was started....so... it will no longer start...

The only other option beside trying to fix it, is trying to PART IT OUT on Ebay...but then again...there probably aren't MANY people out there wanting parts for a 250/8, since EVERYONE keeps getting in my face about the fact that this car isn't worth *****...

Oh...and I wanted to mention that the MUFFLER and EXHAUST systems were checked and are apparently ok....hole free...and the car doesn't have to pass emissions...being so old..so that's ONE good thing..

~Christy

One more thing...you guys...I way overpaid for this car! I was conned by a smooth-talking vacuum sweeper salesman!!!! That's why I can't come to terms with dumping this car!!!

Being burned at the time of sale doesn't justify blowtorching yourself by pouring even more (unrecoverable) money into a bad investment. If the body is as bad as your mechanic claims, you do not have a sensible foundation for a rebuild. Yes, the appreciation potential for a 250/8 is flat and probably will remain so for the foreseeable future. It makes a little more sense to find a good car of this type, spend some cash to properly rebuild it, and hang on to it for ten years then to plunge a lesser amount of money to run a lesser car for a few years, losing every cent you put into it, as well as part of the initial purchase price at the time of resale. I'm not trying to disregard the emotional element of the hobby, but this sounds like an unparalleled opportunity for personal bankruptcy.

The ideal game plan, presuming Christy's up to it, would be to invest some cash in the parts and do the work with "Girl Power". With our armchair help of course.

Presuming the brake job isn't a 100% replacement job, the parts for everything should be less than 500$. Add to that the many days worth of labor that's "free", cause it's just her Elbow grease and the result is a good solid education, a wild experience with the real world, and something useful to do besides raise 2 kids.

By the spring, this car should be smok'n. Worse case, all the new parts get taken off and bolted onto the next car.

Of course, it's Christy's call.

-CTH

__________________
- cth350@gmail.com
http://www.111lakeside.com/

Yes, I will keep my eyes open for a rust free 69 250 with the 114 engine, or no engine at all! I think it was Green with Black interior, no? Currently in Tucson salvage yards, there are the following: a 71 250 (early model) with a disassembled engine; a 71 220 Diesel, and a 68 280SE with a motor full of rust but with an exquisitely solid body. Then of course, there is the 72 280SEL 4.5 that I am parting! Cristy, THERE IS A SOLUTION TO THIS RUST PROBLEM that you are having in Pennsylvania. PA inspection requirements are some of the toughest in the Nation. Many domestic manufacturers had special parts to meet these regulations. In 1968 Lincoln Continentals sold in Pennsylvania had to have special taillight assemblies sans chrome ribs. (Just one example) This guy that you took your car to probably found so many State violations that he just deemed the car inoperable! Move to Arizona!!!

It will take a MIRACLE for this car to ever pass an inspection in this state!!!

But...call me a dreamer....I was just looking at various parts on Fastlane and the prices are totally great! I mean, SURE, if I bought EVERYTHING all at once, it'd be INSANE...but little by little...maybe just maybe...

Ok...another scenario...someone is selling a MB just like mine right here in Pittsburgh, on Ebay! Two problems are a slipping transmission and a SMOKIN' (literally) engine....So...WE (CTH are you reading this?) could swap out the transmissions....and I could LIVE with the smokey motor...and use any parts from my current MB! It will probably go cheap, too...but then again...the Ebay seller COULD be the vacuum guy in disguise...They are located so close that I'm tempted to STOP BY, just to DRIVE in their car....(since I've never REALLY went for a REAL ride in mine)...

..and that's just it....imagine buying a car...with all these hopes and ideas....and NEVER being able to drive it...THEN being told it's JUNK and to forget about it...

~Christy

I discovered that the mechanic who looked at my car DID "repair" one thing...

He DUCT taped the drivers window in place.....

That window WILL and DOES stay up on it's own WITHOUT DUCT tape.....but NOW I've got sticky GOOEY ***** all over the fabric part around the inside window...



~Christy

If you are going to buy another car, make sure it is SOLID and runs. Why bother with another PA rust bucket when you could be driving a solid California or Arizona Or Texas car from eBay? There are always plenty of them out there for under 1,000.00! Fly and drive home.OR, let me know if I can help. My family is in Maryland, and I usually go there (and I do mean go there) about three times a year. I would gladly drive cross-country again in a 250.

Chris!!!

Are you driving home for Thanksgiving???? Oh rats...I guess Pittsburgh IS 5 or so hours out of the way....I was thinking we could get a good start on the brake job!!! (You know HOW!!!)

I'd LOVE to buy a RUST FREE car on Ebay...here is just one small problem...the 1000$....!

That is sooo cool that you'd deliver it!!! Thanks!!!


~Christy

A word of warning about 'rust free' Arizona/California/Texas cars, they have 'vacuum salesmen' there too!
In 1984, my dad bought a 1967 230SL 'rust free, Texas car'. Well, it must have wintered in Minnesota or Ohio. Before long the rust was breaking out everywhere! It turns out that the P O / 'restorer' had welded on various body parts and every weld rusted! They had grafted fenders from a late 280SL and covered over the side-marker holes - more rust. There were many other restoration 'flaws' - I could write a book!
After my dad passed away in 1989, I sold his 'swiss-cheese roadster' for about half of what he paid and counted myself lucky.

Happy Motoring, Mark

__________________
DrDKW

Like the 250C coupes? Here's a fairly decent 250C 2.8 I found on Ebay.....yes, with a newly rebuilt DOHC 2.8 liter six...and it has like 185 horsepower, I believe.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=597992206

Here's a 250 sedan that's totally a daily driver.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=597939412

Oh yeah, Christy, I'm assuming that you are somewhere in PA...this is fairly near you. Here's a more modern MB...still quite affordable. Not perfect, but looks like a decent driver.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=597754818

-Sam

Sam!!!

OoooHhhhhhhhh!! Thanks for the links!!! I really like that 190!!!! I wish I could get it!! Looking at the price makes me want to VOMIT because for what I paid for my SHELL of a car, I could have owned THAT one...Gggrrrr!!!

But...back to REALITY...I've gotta work on MY car...

I just might have found someone to do my welding for me....I'm not getting my hopes up...well....YES I am....(ha!)....but wouldn't that be a HUGE help!!!
We'll see....I'll let ya know...

~Christy

You mean your buddy in Ohio ?

-CTH

__________________
- cth350@gmail.com
http://www.111lakeside.com/

Actually, it's Jason...the very busy, local guy who is recently engaged....for some reason, I think his fiancee may not have liked the idea of me and him all sweaty, under the hood together...

But...THIS time, he said have it TOWED to his garage and a guy who works for him will do the welding...and that they'd just keep the car there...which is fine with me...I think the car would be happy in a garage all winter...

...btw....he has an ENGINE hoist too....(hhhmmmm...)

we'll see...
~Christy

welding is only one little part of body work. You have to strip out the whole interior and remove gas lines from where the work will be. Then you have to either purchase and/or form the appropriate bits of steel to patch in. Weld, grind down the welds, prep for paint, and then put it all back together. It is a VERY long and expensive process that will take both time and money.

Get the car running and then driving, have it pass inspection and then enjoy it for a while. I would fix it, sell it and buy another before I started on it's body.

-CTH

__________________
- cth350@gmail.com
http://www.111lakeside.com/