Clearly I fell short of keeping you all up to date as promised.

The hub caps came off before I made it home. Now I'm sporting the stock steel wheels. I have some alloys but the offset of them will require some spacers.

The steps came off shortly after I got home.

I'm actually getting closer to having a turbo engine. I'm swapping in an om617a that I got from John in place of the om617 (anyone looking for one?) I did some work to the transmission including replacing the input shaft bearing with a one-piece unit.

I've rebuilt the shifter unit, had the radiator boiled out, replaced the brake lines, un f-'d the wiring, lowered the seats back to their stock height, fixed the broken center console, and taken care of a bunch of smaller tasks like making the turn signals all work.

-Tad

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1995 G320
2003 C230 Kompressor Coupe
2005 ML500
2007 ML350

What do the bare wheels look like?

What was wrong with the wiring and how did they raise the seats?

I don't blame you for swapping the engine out. I've driven a LWB non-turbo diesel G before and they are SLOW to the point of being dangerous.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?t=277488

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Sorry in advance if this is a threadjack, but I'm curious as to how someone goes about tracking down GD for sale. What are the best resources for finding one?

You hunt for a very long time.....all the gray market trucks pop up in different places and sadly there isn't just one source for ads. Also don't cancel out the gasoline models either. (The diesels are rare even by Gwagen standards)

http://www.gwagen.com/search.php

(Autotrader, ebay, cragislist) You have to be vigilant and check from time to time. There are a few other forums where you might find some postings (Expedition portal, pointed three)

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

I found mine on Ebay, but they do turn up on the sites mentioned, even this one from time to time.

The wiring looked like this all over:


Those two thick black wires were spliced into the main ground wire and connected to a security switch under the dash. Only he didn't use ring terminals to connect the 2 gauge wire to the studs on the switch. He splayed the wire out flat and smooshed it under the nut on the stud.

I'll take an outdoor pic once it moves again, but here it is with the wheels visible:


Another quality repair, the fan clutch:

This made me remove the water pump before I removed the engine because the fan would not come off any other way.

-Tad

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1995 G320
2003 C230 Kompressor Coupe
2005 ML500
2007 ML350

Yikes that is some pretty messy wiring! Always liked those wheels, strong and functional as they should be.


Please do keep us updated on your progress

__________________
1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

Here's another source:

http://www.clubgwagen.com/classifieds/vehicleads.php

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1973 280SE 4.5 (Sold)
1984 LWB 280GE (Sold)
2000 G500 NMLE - "Deep Throat"
2007 ML320 CDI (Sold)
2010 Porsche Cayenne S Transsyberia TipTronic (Sold)
2010 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (Sold and Sorely Missed)
2014 ML350 BTC
2015 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI (On Order)