1985 300TD, clean, knocking for $1,451, should I buy?? - Page 4 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

DeliveryValve · #46 04-26-2008, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimmyL

"Captain, she's going to fly apart!!"

"Fly her apart then"!!!!!!!!!

Anyone??????

If Starfleet was successful (but it failed) with the transwarp drive, Excelsior would of never been in position to fly apart!

Back to asnowsquall's trip, I consider changing to heavier weight oil, instead of using Lucas.

TylerH860 · #47 04-26-2008, 02:33 AM

They overbuilt the Excelsior class starships for transwarp, which it never achieved. Kind of like how they designed the W123 to be worthy of a 12 cylinder bi turbo, but never got over 6. Scotty sabotaged the ship from achieving this landmark. http://youtube.com/watch?v=A_SGXx3pLzs

Strange, how more than 100 years can go by and the speeds never changed in the Star Trek Universe.

Dilithium lobbyists in United Federation of Planets, perhaps?

I think Excelsior is an appropriate name for this wagon, since she still has bugs to work out in the drive system. Excelsior class vessels are also in full duty service in TNG era, like the W123 spanning multiple generations of regular service.

and I wonder why I havn't made it past the 2nd date in over a year.

turbobenz · #48 04-26-2008, 02:35 AM

Im pretty sure ive heard of a lot of people driving with knocks for a long time. If this car only has a small knock, I would only be worried a little. If it were me, id be doing 90 all the way home, with my fingers crossed and my heart racing, giggling to myself every miles im closer to home thinking of a crankshaft breaking in half and a rod firing out the side of the engine block. Not lying, thats just me

DeliveryValve · #49 04-26-2008, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TylerH860

.....Strange, how more than 100 years can go by and the speeds never changed in the Star Trek Universe.

Dilithium lobbyinsts in United Federation of Planets, perhaps?

......

Funny... Are we not seeing this with how MPG for new cars has not really change in the last 20 years?

asnowsquall · #50 04-26-2008, 08:04 PM

One of my twin 3 year old boys decided to have a rough night lastnight which was poor timing so pretty much tired all day so I did stop for more breaks than normal. Up at about 5:00 am to get out the door. Pretty much an uneventful trip. Nice flight. Little tricky finding each other at JFK, I was a little nervous that one of us may have a problem with our cell phones and be screwed, but it all worked out. Very interesting person, and a really nice guy. Got a ride in his Audi wagon from the airport to his home. Looked the car over, heard it run, did the transaction, threw plate on and within 500 yards was the on ramp for 687 East so off I went.

A little nervous at first but relaxed more and more, especially getting out of the city. There are a lot of drivers that make me feel people aren't trying to save fuel, man they drive like nuts!
I started by doing only 50-55 mph. This speed got faster the further along I got like up to 70- 75 with my eyes on the temp gauge. One of the first stops was for 5 gallons of engine oil at Walmart, think I went through about half of that. Turbo return looks like its leaking. Love to be back in the seat of a wagon, so comfy. The body on this is really clean, I lucked out bigtime. One door at the bottom of the seal has a little rust spot, the rest of the doors are clean! Its not all original paint but it I can't find evidence of collision work which is cool. The front hood has some small rust spots. Maybe some winter I'll strip it down and paint it. The odometer isn't always function so who knows really what the mileage is, but for me, a body like this in New England for what I paid is well worth it to me. The Michelin Harmony tires are like new. It has a Panasonic stereo with cool graphics which isn't something I'd buy, but it is neat. May just drive it like it is for now, plenty of time to think about it. Check out the blow by video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ_fTXcbHl0 and pages of pictures here: http://asnowsquall.smugmug.com/gallery/4698366_5yyyF#285459631_v5uLF
That it for now, I'm wiped out. I'm calling it a Bargain.

Dave

bgkast · #51 04-27-2008, 02:57 PM

Wow, that looks clean. How is the knock in person?

asnowsquall · #52 04-27-2008, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgkast

Wow, that looks clean. How is the knock in person?

Its not to bad. It seems to be only one cylinder. Even though it may be able to run like this for a while, the motorhead and common sense side of me says why. Bragging rights? Ya I got a motor knock and drove it for 50K without it failing. Well its atleast rebuildable right now and I have a replacement motor. I'm in the middle of rebuilding the VW rabbit so I think I'll finish it first, then I'll tackle the engine in this rig. How long do you think it would take to swap out engines. 2 weekends? Should I replace the timing chain in the 240K mile engine? I'll replace the turbo return line seals. Should I do seals at both ends of the crankshaft? Well there is time to figure this stuff out. I will register the wagon and see if it passes inspection with the knock and oil leak on the engine.

Replaced the broken reverse light lense and cleaned the dirty one and they both are working!

The left front fender has been replaced and the headlight door area is a little out of wack. Nothing that couldn't be straightened out during a paint job. This to me is one of those cars that looks great from a distance and in pictures. Its not all original paint and at "sometime" I wouldn't think twice about a total paint job which I would love to do on a wagon with such a clean substrate. Very happy with this one. It needs a lot of attention in certain areas but it will be really sweet in the end and is worth it to me. Engine mount broke, someone put big speakers in the back where the originals go, etc...

bgkast · #53 04-27-2008, 03:39 PM

It should only take 2 days to swap the engine. Check the chain stretch before you replace it based on mileage.

barry123400 · #54 04-27-2008, 04:13 PM

Just really good it made the trip with no real difficulty. Car as you mentioned looks really nice.
I too live north of you in even a more concentrated road salt area. It is always nice to find something locally with little or no rust. Not the easiest thing to do.

cphilip · #55 04-27-2008, 04:16 PM

Sure looks like a great platform and solid almost everywhere to me. Good luck with it. Looks like a nice score.

asnowsquall · #56 04-27-2008, 06:48 PM

Thanks guys. It was a good score for me mostly because of how clean the body is and that it was in NY so only 6 hours away. That and I have a parts car.

And I was really lucky to make it home without a problem. There were many places where I wouldn't want to break down in NY where theres not even a breakdown lane. Dumb luck or balls.

But the thing that makes me really lucky is that I have a wife that supports me and my hobby. The really cool part is that one of my twin boys wants to be right there doing everything with me.

I'm sure there may be better deals out there, but in the North East this body makes it a great deal. I'll do my best to shine up this diamond.

Ebay 2nd chance offer here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110242363890&ssPageName=STRK:MEWN:IT&ih=001

asnowsquall · #57 05-25-2008, 08:31 PM

Its the parts car heheheheh.
So I took video's and pictures of how all of the vacuum lines go, and I'm starting to clean the engine. Shouldn't be to long before I'm ready to pull. Will start making a list of the things to buy to replace while its out. This one doesn't leak much, but I will be replacing the seals for the Turbo return line. Pull the pan and replace the seal. Maybe the front and rear crank seals? Would like to upgrade the alternator to a 115 amp. New blets. Set the valves, check the chain stretch. Pull the injectors and see how they are. Maybe new glow plugs. When I pull the motor out of the good car, should I pull the motor and tranny together? Need to see if I can find a manual here somewhere. Will do more cleaning of the good engine when I get it out. Going to take me a while as I'm pokey and I have so many other things going on. Rebuild the turbo? New hoses.

DeliveryValve · #58 05-25-2008, 09:12 PM

I've done it both ways, but in your case I would pull the motor and tranny together. I wouldn't cut the radiator support on your parts car. Reason is that I would pull that motor/trans first just for practice. The second time around is a lot easier not bumping into things and you don't want the engine bumping into your sweet rides engine bay.

asnowsquall · #59 05-29-2008, 03:47 PM

So I gave up on trying to find the keys and pulled the drivetrain out in back of my garage. Not the best place with the soft sand, but I was able to use some scrap plywood OK. I'll be able to pull the next one in the driveway. Wasn't to bad to do, but I had it half way out before I realised that I should be pretending that the car had a front end. Still haven't decided how much I'm doing to this before it goes in. Will clean it up for sure.

asnowsquall · #60 09-08-2008, 07:56 AM

Found this thread when searching on axles. Still driving the knocker. Even took it on a trip to NH and back. To busy with siding,windows, and insulation (old house upgrades) to think about car work. Winters coming and this will be off the road anyways.