My 1974 240D - reversing years of neglect - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

vwnate1 · #16 11-26-2020, 04:17 PM

Very, VERY nice ! .

I try to get others to do the little cleaning and polishing of the door jambs and sill plates but not one bothers and it adds so much to the appearance .

Yesterday I wanted to add simple passenger side assist handle to my truck, I wound up taking 1/2 the interior out and cleaning twenty years worth of crud and last weeks sugar sand from getting caught in a wind storm in Death Valley .

Your car is beautiful and the photos show it off well .

j-galap · #17 11-26-2020, 05:00 PM

Thanks Nate! The comments are greatly appreciated - always good for encouragement when things get frustrating

When I got the car it was in a barely driveable state, so it's great to remember that and realize how far it's come. I've said it before on this forum I think, but if I knew all of the issues this car had when I bought it I'd have run a mile. It's all worth it now though. Just got to get that starter motor changed now

vwnate1 · #18 11-26-2020, 05:38 PM

You're welcome .

I used to often purchase my vehicles as junk and towed or trucked them home so I know all about the hidden problems you'll encounter .
Resurrecting someone else's cast offs can be very rewarding although not to everyone .

I made a decent living doing salvage - reconstruct for decades and I used it as a learning tool as well .

Sugar Bear · #19 11-26-2020, 05:54 PM

You really have turned that car around, it looks great! What was done to the instruments? That cluster looks as new.

Rooting for you on those starter bolts. Keep thinking about putting the holes in the floor, it would hurt but solve the problem. Can you weld them shut? Hopefully the impact driver gets them loose.

Good luck!!!

j-galap · #20 11-27-2020, 11:57 AM

Thanks! I took the instrument panel apart, gave it an extremely thorough clean, glass polish and then fixed the centre cap of the speedo gauge which had come off. It wasn't too bad before but the glass was a bit dusty and marked up then some of the dash lights had burnt out. Very happy with it now

euroamg · #21 12-02-2020, 03:21 AM

Car looks great! Lots of patience and hardwork done to it.

j-galap · #22 12-07-2020, 05:11 PM

It's cold and rainy outside so I thought I'd do a mini update.

Car is back on the road. I could not for the life of me get the starter motor allen key bolts out. Lack of a workspace and it being winter really didn't help, so in the end I resorted to BCAAing the car to my friendly neighbourhood wrench guy and gave him some cash to change the starter.

Made me a little sad to have to get the car towed somewhere but I can make the excuse that it's only because it's an automatic and not manual

Buddy cracked off the bolts without too much trouble:

One day I should clean the underside of the hood.... or maybe I should leave it as it's a nice protection coat!

Also, I'd been wanting to change my dash speaker from the crappy 3.5" paper piece of junk that was there when I bought the car. It was more complicated than I expected as the size is pretty unusual these days, but I stumbled upon a set of Sony xs-v4642a speakers which were the ideal size (4x6) so I've since fitted one in there. It's like I've discovered music again!

Crappy:

Not crappy:

Speaking of stumbled upon: I also discovered a guy a few minutes drive away who was selling a few bits and pieces for a W109, including some marker light lenses. One of my rear ones had a big crack in it and I'd never bothered to replace it, but having landed on the ad I thought why not. $20CAD later and I now have four perfect condition marker lights

I'm also awaiting my buddy in Germany to receive and forward an OEM spec rubber heel pad for my driver's floor mat. Turns out there's a small company in Germany which makes them (but only ships locally). My carpet mats are in excellent shape bar the driver's heel pad rubber which of course makes sense after almost 47 years of life, so I'm happy to be able to keep it original. I'll post some pics when it arrives and of course those beloved before-after shots!

That's all for now

Sugar Bear · #23 12-07-2020, 07:35 PM

Great news about the starter bolts. Been wondering about them. Does it crank alot better? Ever use/find the block heater?

vwnate1 · #24 12-07-2020, 08:47 PM

Looking good ! .

Are you not aware that Becker sells brandy new correct speakers ? .

I recently bought a pair for my wagon, they even had better tonal quality ones that I popped a few dollars more for, they sound great and use the original mounting holes .

j-galap · #25 12-07-2020, 11:10 PM

Thanks guys. It's amazing how different the cranking is now. So fast and without that horrible laboured feeling. I replaced the battery a couple of weeks ago too so we're all good on the starting front for the long haul I think. Alternator is also fairly new

No block heater to be found! It doesn't really get below zero Celsius here fortunately so isn't usually a problem in the winter. I don't take the car anywhere snowy in general - as soon as snow appears in Vancouver everybody forgets how to drive and it becomes complete chaos. Best to stay away

I did see those original speakers actually! I was considering buying one and then found these Sony ones ten minutes down the road on Facebook Marketplace for next to nothing so I thought why not. Good to know the Becker ones sound good though - on the next car I think!

euroamg · #26 12-17-2020, 02:06 PM

Nice updates on the 240d looking nicer everyday...

j-galap · #27 12-19-2020, 05:51 PM

Today is cold and rainy (December in the PNW... shocking

) so thought I'd post another "small victories" update.

When I bought my car it had a Bundt alloy wheel as a spare which doesn't actually fit my car which I found out to my cost one rainy evening. Longer wheel bolts are needed. After that, the wheel was always on borrowed time but I didn't put too much time into looking for a replacement. Fortunately, a local Benz guy I met recently happened to have some extra W115 wheels lying around so I offered to exchange my Bundt for one of them. He was happy with the swap, so now I have a proper spare wheel back in the car that even fits the wheel well (and no random Bundt wheel rolling around the place). One for the purists!

The original wind-in fitting was still in the wheel well so I could fit the wheel in there properly too:

Now, here's a question: This isn't the original jack is it? Because this is the one that was behind the spare wheel. I'm fairly sure it's not MB gear, but thought it was worth checking:

The second thing I'm looking to get sorted on the car whilst it's horrible outside is the driver's floor mat. The interior is in generally excellent shape these days but the driver's mat really lets it down. However, I've gone to town cleaning up the carpet. It's amazing what a Chemical Guys carpet drill attachment brush and some carpet shampoo will do for the colour. That bamboo shade is niiiiice when it cleans up. I'm also re-adhering the insulation which is starting to lift:

As bad as the mat looks, the carpet itself is actually fine - but the hem around the sides and especially the rubber heel pad are totally ruined:

Ugly, eh? However - as I type - there's a replacement heel pad on route from Germany, from a small company based there which remanufactures them. Once that arrives I'll be taking the mat to a local auto upholsterer place to have the pad fitted and the hems re-done. I'll get the hem on one side of the passenger's side front mat done too, as that's starting to go as well. After that I'll have an interior that I'm happy with.