Due to lack of time my 230CE Sportline didnt make it onto the streets this year. My plan was to reactivate it only once the last deficiencies have been resolved. Since the red waggon took nearly all of my freetime this year the coupe had to wait. Sad and first year without it since a while but thats the way it is. Even though there isnt that much to do it would be a full friday to sunday weekend to get it finalized. When doing the rearaxle some things went wrong 6 years back so the paint starts to tear at some points. Some would say just drive it as it is, but thats not my thing. I hate rust in all kinds and therefor it has to be done first. The axle will be removed and new paint will be applied once the old stuff has been taken off. This time the paintjob will last forever!
Once done the fuel and breaking lines will be replaced as well, will never be that easy to replace them. Guess i could go further and start to restore the steering knuckles?
First wash since more than a year, stored it dirty i have to admit. The smell of its leather seats with a decsent smell of Fluidfilm, god, i have missed her!
Once it was clean again i put in some new ignition wires and valvecover including seal. I used the coupe as a breaker, hope she wont retaliate for this. Which she normally does….
Its a fact the waggons are great, but a clean and freshly waxed C124 coupe just beats everything! Even if it had absolutely no options on board!
Still my wifes 190E needs major attention. This weekend i were able to finalize the bodywork, the left door sill had a huge rust spot in the back which moved underneath the liftplatform jack. This is a spot which is nothing for starters as up to 5 sheets of metal do meet here. As i dont know whether the 190E will stay for longer a welded the spot with having the cars value in mind. Could be better, could be worse. Rust is gone, if my wife plans to attend Concours d‘ elegance i will have to give it some more attention ;). Once done the spot was flooded with rust preventing color (Brantho Korrux, dont whether its sold internationally). Rust wont have a chance here again!
While the color was about to dry i changed the stabilizer bushing, the photos need no explanation. My friend Erik was so kind and changed the read brake lines. Old ones were totally rusted and surely MOT test would have been failed with these mounted.
Only thing left are front and read tie rods so i can finally get the car alligned again. Once this is done, MOT.
The red 300TE waggon really thought after all those hours and euros spent, hey lets brake the left driveshaft. The joint on the wheelside was broken, even though i fully restored them. The Diesel has a loose heatshield and i traded an old engine for this former beauty:
First series 300CE in smokesilver with wheel houses fully tortured to fit wheels bigger than 9×17. This unlucky patient cannot be helped, this car is dead. Every classic rust spot on a C124 needs to be done, nothing . With AC, automatic transmission, auxiliary heating and 4 power windows this was the lifelong dream of somebody who spent major money to fulfill this dream. I still cannot understand how peope can deal like this with such an valuable object. At least the engine was working well and was only bleeding from the timing chain cover. Will be useful for my 3.2/3.6 project. Some spare parts for my 230CE, rest will be available for sale. Interested in parts? Give us a mail to info@wagen24.com and we will see how we can help!