Another year passed

Now the time has come, summers finally over and winter arrived. Northern Germany normally skips autumn and spring! 😉 Even though its always disappointing to take the cars of the road, its also the time to get started on all those issues our old friends collected over the year. So, whats on the list?

300TE

After a full and 110% makeover of the TEs undercarriage the season had already started. Nevertheless i still managed to drive it approx. 4,500km this year which were, what can i say, just faboulous. The complete documentation can be found here: Got to blog post With this setup the 300TE becomes a car that finally makes fun when bending corners! Even with its size and weight.

Enough said, unbolted the AMGs, took out the battery, final cleaning and straight off to the garage. Will miss it bad!

My wishlist for this winter is quite long, lets see what i can realize… Time is always short!

1. New veneer for middle console, ashtray and heating console
   
2. New engine harness, fuelpump relay and injetion nozzles
   
3. New paint for side trim, bumpers and roof
   
4. Built in of collected options (door illumination, active bass, headlight washers)
   
5. New screws & bolts for engine bay
   
6. New coating for valvecover and airfilter cover
   

We will built both engine harness and headlight harness with fine silicone cables as the M103 engine grills its neighbours the same way later engines did. Oil pressure and coolant gauge already started to show total nonsense which became more and more annoying. The veneer needs a makeover as well to match the sweet looking leather interior. Also some options i added made me use different patterned veneer pieces. Uniform in this regard will be a big progress  . The paint has highest priority, the roof will be done. No matter what!

Thanks for Ciprian for the latest pictures of the 300TE!

Ciprian on Instagram

Coupes

230CE Sportline

Both waggons took my full attention for the last two years. This was the reason that i didnt take the 230CE this year as i still have some minor things to do. As 2017 will be less T-waggon work load its time to re-focus on the coupes again as a summer without a CE is something i dont want again! First thing to be done is to bring the 230CE to its winter housing. Will be in good company at a friends garage. For next season i need to repaint the back part of the undercarriage as the paintjob done 5 years ago starts to starts to flake. While doing this all fuel and break lines will be fully replaced as the first ones are still in place. After this the car should pass technical inspection with ease. The car has been with me since early 2008 so most things are already done!

The neverending story of my 280CE, MY1980

I wish i could only little jobs left to be done. My friends are still laughing about me as i had plans of using it for my wedding in 2014. Threatened by marriage and upcoming maternity i maybe have been out of my mind. Havent done major works for the last 1,5 years its time to start again. This long term project started in 2011 and ended up in a full restoration with nearly every bodypart being completly done due to rust. Bodywork is done, new paint and interior needs finalization. Engine is mounted, gearbox and fueling lines still miss. I have to admit that i lost focus a little bit when trying to have every piece new or at least looking new. This is nearly impossible to do so i will compromise now. The plan is to have it technically inspected by end of August, the remaining works are the following:

1. Gearbox and driveshafts to be mounted
   
2. paint the undercarriage, axles are new already
   
3. New fuel and break lines
   
4. put the brakes back in
   
5. exhaust system
   
6. powdering wheels and new tyres
   

Details underneath the car, interior or engine bay not even mentioned. Till then the total time spent on this car will reach unbelievable 1000 hours. After 5 years of working this should be covering at least 90% of all needed work. For those now saying what shitty car this has been, 2000€ with 10 months of german TÜV left. Already been registered as a vintage car. The W123 series is even more sneaky then all the later models.

But hey, im a welding pro now…

Our daily rides: E300TD & 190E 2.0

My wifes 190E gave me real hard 12 months but i finally can see the end of all the workloads. Just passed the technical inspection 6 months too late. Only a few things left to do. Paint, paint, some paint and paint. Body is free of rust by now, mounted new fenders lately and took care of the a-pillars. LSD differential was already replaced by myself and is busted again so im happy to do it once more. My wife loves it. What can i say.

The diesel waggon is with us since January only which is the reason that i still need to check some body spots for rust. Rocker panels, left trunk window frame and front wheel hosuings to be precise. New fenders and paint for the trunk lid in January or as soon as i find some time for it.

SuperTurbo preparations are in progress too, new axles are in the making as well as 300TE 24V brakes, sway bars and oil coolers…

What else?

In January there will be some intensive days for Richards 200TE. With three people in total we plan to weld everything needed, which frankly spoken is everything. But in order to have the young man driving the car his dad bought new back in 1992 he definitly needs some help. Equipped with lots of angle grinders, welding units and even more dynamism we hope to get this done on a three day weekend. Richard will try to get this documented on some GoPros so we hope to get a nice time lapse movie from this. Even if not, this will be a nice project you dont come around with too often!

A little teaser what is about to come:

Laugh or cry? We will see…