240d Revival
 

a guy i know has three 240ds, all w123s. Right now they all sit and he will most likely be willing to let them go for a good price. One has only 100k on it has a newly installed manual tranny, and is dencent shape, other then a "shot" engine that was run out of coolant. out of the other two. The bodies are both in bad shape, and one wont start (he doesnt know what is wrong with it) The other will start, however has a shot rear end(thats his diagnosis) and can run, but doesnt drive.

If i was to get all three of these cars how hard would i be to do an engine swap from the running one into the manual tranny "good condition" car.

Is this more trouble then its worth? I figure between three cars there should be enough working spare parts to make a beater out of at-least one.

I would say it's not worth it. You can find a decent 240d driver for $500 around here. Speaking from experience here. I was esentially given both of mine (parts cars now) and ended up buying another 240d as a driver for $600 that just had 6k put into it. I know they are all asking 1-2k but they just aren't selling for that at least from what I have seen. People are having a hard time getting rid of 300Ds around here for 2k

How hard would i be to find a manual shift one?

Figure what its worth to you for a beater. I love my 240d however it needs a paint job, if I did that and had to sell maybe I would breakeven. I have seen extreemly nice one's on ebay go for $3200-6000. I'm talking nice original paint, maintenace history some with 60 thousand mile. Snowbirds in Florida use them in the winter when they comedown for a few months every year. The they get too old to drive and let it go. I always thought the most expensive work was the body and inteior. The engine and stuff at least I could give a try but body work and I have no comman thread. If you don't mind driving a beater and I'm not to proud, give it a shot as long as you have some time and its cheap.
There will be some satifaction when you get it going. Just don't expect a show car and its ok. Good luck and have fun.

My plan was to just let it be a scrappy car. Paint it with spray cans, and just have a real junker. I mean with a little help from someone experienced how hard could the engine swap be?

Not here, they are getting top $ :o

My thoughts were that you seem to want to find something on the cheap for a driver and there is always a reason why a vehicle gets parked. Maybe you will get lucky and be able to just swap a motor into the best car but my experience is it rarely works out that way. I have found that it is usually much easier to find something that is currently on the road that way you can rule out many of the potential gremlins that always seem to move right into those backyard finds. Not saying it can't be done and believe me I have done it the way you are hoping to as well but usually with much more down time and extra parts.

I wish we were getting top dollar out here as I might be trying to take advantage of that. Something about the 6 months of road salt I imagine kind of makes it a buyers market up here for anything pre 2000.

Good point, we don't have the salt here

A straight 240d driver with a manual tranny around here is still bringing around $1500 give or take. A nice one can be $3k. But then diesels in the NW are notoriously high.

Must be because they DON'T salt our roads and the alternative fuel movement is so big in this part of the country. You still can't find WVO for less than 50 cents a gallon around here, even with diesel down to around $2.50/gal...

Yes, only in the Northwest will people pay for WVO. I bumped in to a guy selling unfiltered WVO a few months ago for $1.25/gal, and he had regular customers. Insane, isn't it?

Back on topic, ggspeed, please repeat after me; There is nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes-Benz! Now, sit and chant that for at least fifteen minutes, and then think hard about whether or not you want to take on the task of turning three cars in to one. Even between those three cars, there will be a ton of parts that simply will be no good, and you'll need to buy new ones. Motor mounts, flex discs, and exhaust hangers add up. So do primer pumps, gaskets, filters, etc.

Ask me how I learned the lesson that a cheap Mercedes will cost a lot! Mine initially cost me $600, has easily absorbed more than three times the purchase price in parts plus countless hours of work, and a significant amount of fuel driving around to retrieve parts. After all of that, I still don't have a car - I have a W123-shaped piece of yard art. Rebuilding this car never was, and will never be an economically sound decision. It does, however, keep me off the streets at night. :lol:

On the other hand, with three cars you will undoubtedly end up with some hard parts that would be worth a few bucks to other people, so you could potentially offset the cost of building a working car by selling off stuff you don't need. Really, you just need to know why you want to go through the trouble of combining a small herd of cars in to at least one driveable one. If it's because you need it for transportation, then it's a horrible idea. If you just want to do it because it somehow sounds fun, and you're fully prepared to accept the financial burden and the bloody knuckles, there's no reason not to go for it.

On the other hand, with three cars you will undoubtedly end up with some hard parts that would be worth a few bucks to other people, so you could potentially offset the cost of building a working car by selling off stuff you don't need. Really, you just need to know why you want to go through the trouble of combining a small herd of cars in to at least one driveable one. If it's because you need it for transportation, then it's a horrible idea. If you just want to do it because it somehow sounds fun, and you're fully prepared to accept the financial burden and the bloody knuckles, there's no reason not to go for it.[/QUOTE]

I already have two drivable cars, i think its a better way to spend my time then drinking, and or playing video games. So i think i may take the challenge.

Seems like sound reasoning to me. Just be aware that occasionally, old W123's will make you want to drink! :lol: