- Thread starter
- #101
The new vehicle
...
...
Sheila's evisceration and birth of an HJ62 -> Tofudebeest
- Thread starter Tofudebeest
- Start date
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Long Live RADIO FLYER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Thread starter
- #103
Update (finally)
Baby steps, fellas, baby steps...
Installed the pedal bucket. It went in easier than the original one came out (no pedals
). Drilled holes in the firewall for the c.m.c., uneventful. Put steering column back up, installed the c.m.c... half-hour job, 20 of which was getting the two bolts in at the top of the pedal bucket. That's a hard job without removing the defroster vent, which is even less fun, yikes.
Baby steps, fellas, baby steps...
Installed the pedal bucket. It went in easier than the original one came out (no pedals
). Drilled holes in the firewall for the c.m.c., uneventful. Put steering column back up, installed the c.m.c... half-hour job, 20 of which was getting the two bolts in at the top of the pedal bucket. That's a hard job without removing the defroster vent, which is even less fun, yikes.
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Slap your MC from the HJ on there and bolt up the brake pedal to it. Clutch pedal might bolt up as well 
Glad to see your still working on it. Still think your gay for not showing up for the trail ride
Glad to see your still working on it. Still think your gay for not showing up for the trail ride
- Thread starter
- #105
Slap your MC from the HJ on there and bolt up the brake pedal to it. Clutch pedal might bolt up as well
Glad to see your still working on it. Still think your gay for not showing up for the trail ride
Dude, can't break my mom's heart...
But she surely owes me one...
And why do I need the MC from the HJ, as opposed to just using the FJ's? Are they not the same? How about the booster? Which one should I use?
I used the FJ master clylinder, needed the HJ cap and wiring connector to match the HJ harness though....
- Thread starter
- #107
Despite 5 days of no work for the Thanksgiving holiday, I was able to claim a mere five hours of "alone time" to wrench, two of which got wasted running around looking for eight bolts (and going back to fetch my forgotten wallet). 
So...
Crossmember in. Pedals in.
I had to use a combination of 3/8" and 7/16" x 3" long, grade 8 bolts to mount the crossmember in its new forward location. I drilled through the frame for this, which required a new tool, a close-quarters right angle drill (bought the Ryobi cordless).
I like this installation better than welding the crossmember in place.
Edit forthcoming to add pictures tonight.
So...
Crossmember in. Pedals in.
I had to use a combination of 3/8" and 7/16" x 3" long, grade 8 bolts to mount the crossmember in its new forward location. I drilled through the frame for this, which required a new tool, a close-quarters right angle drill (bought the Ryobi cordless).
I like this installation better than welding the crossmember in place.
Edit forthcoming to add pictures tonight.
- Thread starter
- #108
Damn. The new (for me) 300D in post #101...
I own it for what, a little over two weeks? This past Tuesday, I got in it to drive home. I began to back out of my spot on the 3rd floor of my parking garage, turned the wheel, heard a loud POP, a splash of fluid, and the front end of the car rises up about 6". I put it in D, rolled forward about two feet, put it in park and got out. Yup, power steering fluid all over the ground. Wheels pointing in opposite directions!
Popped hood, saw that the steering box was, um, not right. Called my MB shop, they were calling a wrecker for me.
My MB mechanic and the service manager surprised me by coming over personally (@5:30 PM!) because the wrecker company they use said they couldn't get to the 3rd level of the garage due to clearance problems (we found one hours later that could, and did nab it), and they wanted to see if it was still drivable. Well, they looked and couldn't believe their eyes. All three bolts holding the steering box to the frame had sheared off clean. As a result of this failure, the steering coupling and some lines were destroyed as well. They had not seen or heard of this failure before. All they could figure was a PO had work done and that shop didn't tighten those bolts, they came loose over time, the play created fatigue and it was just a matter of time before they broke and once one went, the other two were toast.
Important fact: I bought it from the co-owner/widow of the MB shop. Spoke to her the next day. She said, and I quote: "Don't worry about it, we'll take care of you." Her late husband Walter, the former co-owner of the shop, who had an impeccable reputation had purchased this car from a guy who had just moved to Gainesville and got a new S-class. Walter thought it needed a new paint job (it had faded from 20 years under the FL sun), so he turned over the keys to his regular paint man to do it. This 300D was the 5th in a group of vehicles getting a respray from Walter, and a low priority as it was not anyone's DD. Walter then promptly died and the car didn't come back from the paint guy for about 6 months, and when it did, it was a surprise to the newly-widowed woman and she wanted to unload it as well as about a half-dozen other vehicles Walter had collected over the years (but she kept a couple of the best). The point: while it was sold to me by my mechanic, it's history was second-hand knowledge to them.
So......I got it back today.
$359.17; 4 hours of shop time at their discounted service rate of $70/hr, a few parts (coupling, lines, new bolts, etc.). All I got was parts at cost and a reduced labor rate of $70/hr. as opposed to the normal $85/hr and some greasy fingerprints all over my hood. I am upset. If that had happened while I was driving down the road, I could be dead. That's not a huge shop bill, I realize, and I was "lucky" it wasn't much, much worse, but c'mon, I owned it for 17 days!
I was expecting her to cover the bill, or split it or SOMETHING meaningful, and her words led me to that presumption (along with a sense of decency). Is this overly optimistic? If I ran that shop and made that kind of gesture, would I be a s***ty business person? What would you do? I don't know, but I think I'd cover it 100%, but I am sure I am looking at this from a biased perspective.
What I do know is that the 5-cylinder MB powertrain for sale here on mud (that I had negotiated the purchase of this morning!) is now an unfunded purchase. I was going to have to finagle the shipping to be able to afford it, but now... DAMN. Now I have to deliver this s***ty news...
I own it for what, a little over two weeks? This past Tuesday, I got in it to drive home. I began to back out of my spot on the 3rd floor of my parking garage, turned the wheel, heard a loud POP, a splash of fluid, and the front end of the car rises up about 6". I put it in D, rolled forward about two feet, put it in park and got out. Yup, power steering fluid all over the ground. Wheels pointing in opposite directions!
Popped hood, saw that the steering box was, um, not right. Called my MB shop, they were calling a wrecker for me. My MB mechanic and the service manager surprised me by coming over personally (@5:30 PM!) because the wrecker company they use said they couldn't get to the 3rd level of the garage due to clearance problems (we found one hours later that could, and did nab it), and they wanted to see if it was still drivable. Well, they looked and couldn't believe their eyes. All three bolts holding the steering box to the frame had sheared off clean. As a result of this failure, the steering coupling and some lines were destroyed as well. They had not seen or heard of this failure before. All they could figure was a PO had work done and that shop didn't tighten those bolts, they came loose over time, the play created fatigue and it was just a matter of time before they broke and once one went, the other two were toast.
Important fact: I bought it from the co-owner/widow of the MB shop. Spoke to her the next day. She said, and I quote: "Don't worry about it, we'll take care of you." Her late husband Walter, the former co-owner of the shop, who had an impeccable reputation had purchased this car from a guy who had just moved to Gainesville and got a new S-class. Walter thought it needed a new paint job (it had faded from 20 years under the FL sun), so he turned over the keys to his regular paint man to do it. This 300D was the 5th in a group of vehicles getting a respray from Walter, and a low priority as it was not anyone's DD. Walter then promptly died and the car didn't come back from the paint guy for about 6 months, and when it did, it was a surprise to the newly-widowed woman and she wanted to unload it as well as about a half-dozen other vehicles Walter had collected over the years (but she kept a couple of the best). The point: while it was sold to me by my mechanic, it's history was second-hand knowledge to them.
So......I got it back today.
$359.17; 4 hours of shop time at their discounted service rate of $70/hr, a few parts (coupling, lines, new bolts, etc.). All I got was parts at cost and a reduced labor rate of $70/hr. as opposed to the normal $85/hr and some greasy fingerprints all over my hood.
I am upset. If that had happened while I was driving down the road, I could be dead. That's not a huge shop bill, I realize, and I was "lucky" it wasn't much, much worse, but c'mon, I owned it for 17 days!I was expecting her to cover the bill, or split it or SOMETHING meaningful, and her words led me to that presumption (along with a sense of decency). Is this overly optimistic? If I ran that shop and made that kind of gesture, would I be a s***ty business person? What would you do? I don't know, but I think I'd cover it 100%, but I am sure I am looking at this from a biased perspective.
What I do know is that the 5-cylinder MB powertrain for sale here on mud (that I had negotiated the purchase of this morning!) is now an unfunded purchase. I was going to have to finagle the shipping to be able to afford it, but now... DAMN. Now I have to deliver this s***ty news...
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Sucks, man. W123 was the last well-built Mercedes.
Bummer! unforeseen shopbills AND bad customerservice, not a good day, sorry for you mate!
But as you said, be glad it did not happen at 60MPH!!!
But as you said, be glad it did not happen at 60MPH!!!
Wrong!!! That's the W126
Wrong!!! That's the W126
I disagree... W126= cheaper quality everything. ;p
- Thread starter
- #112
As the owner of both (albeit the W126 for only about 3 weeks now), I must concur.
Nobody tells the tale of a 500,000 mile W126.
I know first-hand at least a half-dozen W123s with 500,000 miles+.
I cannot speak for the US, since we never had the opportunity to buy the dieselversion, but, correct me if im wrong, isn't it exactly the same engine as the W123?
The series here starts with the 280SE, like mine, and no, I haven't seen any that have done 500.000 miles, but the reason here is that the W123 diesels were used as taxi's, the W126 not, because of the gasengines.
As for the rest of the component, a lot is similar between W123 and W126, and having restored my W126 and worked on W123 using the expertise of a good friend who, like his father, is a trained merc mechanic I have found no differences in built-quality.
As a matter of fact, in restoring mine I changed NO mechanical components at all, I had the rust made, changed the interior from blue to black and had it painted. It has 233.000 miles on it, and doing just fine! I have not seen any other cars that are pushing 26 years with ALL electric add-ons and options still working, from power windows to ABS... (btw ABS, who had that in '82? Oh yes! Only the W126
)I am not putting the W123 down at all, just saying that big brother is just fine too!
euclid
SILVER Star
I'm speaking as a mod of the 60 forum, not as a w123 owner. Move this discussion to chat or the "other" vehicle tech section. There is some leeway on "build threads" for folks to tell their story, like Tofu did above.
Back on topic, please. Whats up with the beast, tofu?
Back on topic, please. Whats up with the beast, tofu?
- Thread starter
- #115
Last Non-60/62 Post For This Thread
OK Euclid, last post off topic, just for clarification (lawyers are never wrong, they just clarify)...
I was confused thinking the W126 replaced the W123 (I think hks3sgte was too). The W123 is the short wheelbase (the 240D, 300D, 300TD, 300CD, among other, earlier, less common models in both gas and diesel). The w126 had many models ranging from the 280 to the 500, all stretch sedans. The best (most durable) was the 300SD, the stretch sedan which used same the 5-cylinder diesel (the OM617) as the w123s. Lastly, the 240D had the 4-cylinder n/a OM614, and another MUCH rarer diesel, the OM615.
The W124 replaced the W123, was inferior in many aspects, and is not known to be as durable. I own the '83 300TD (w123) station wagon, and the '87 300D (w124). Interior is modernized a tad in the w124, the motor is quieter, but overall, I like the looks, feel and especially the durability of the w123. Reason for the shorter motor life span--they switched from a cast iron head to an aluminum one and they cracked in about 1/3 of the cars before 100K miles, almost exclusively due to an exhaust particle trap which was recalled due to it overheating the engine (to much back pressure???) and was replaced with a cat and manifold instead, eliminating the problem (they still don't routinely get the extreme mileage like the 5 or 4 cylinders do.)
So, the W123/126 was the last solid as a rock quality MB made...
The W124 was the beginning of MB slipping, though still heads and shoulders above their competition (at least in the U.S.).
OK Euclid, last post off topic, just for clarification (lawyers are never wrong, they just clarify)...
I was confused thinking the W126 replaced the W123 (I think hks3sgte was too). The W123 is the short wheelbase (the 240D, 300D, 300TD, 300CD, among other, earlier, less common models in both gas and diesel). The w126 had many models ranging from the 280 to the 500, all stretch sedans. The best (most durable) was the 300SD, the stretch sedan which used same the 5-cylinder diesel (the OM617) as the w123s. Lastly, the 240D had the 4-cylinder n/a OM614, and another MUCH rarer diesel, the OM615.
The W124 replaced the W123, was inferior in many aspects, and is not known to be as durable. I own the '83 300TD (w123) station wagon, and the '87 300D (w124). Interior is modernized a tad in the w124, the motor is quieter, but overall, I like the looks, feel and especially the durability of the w123. Reason for the shorter motor life span--they switched from a cast iron head to an aluminum one and they cracked in about 1/3 of the cars before 100K miles, almost exclusively due to an exhaust particle trap which was recalled due to it overheating the engine (to much back pressure???) and was replaced with a cat and manifold instead, eliminating the problem (they still don't routinely get the extreme mileage like the 5 or 4 cylinders do.)
So, the W123/126 was the last solid as a rock quality MB made...
The W124 was the beginning of MB slipping, though still heads and shoulders above their competition (at least in the U.S.).
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I appologize, it was me that highjacked the thread, sorry! I'll be more carefull in the future...
Yup!
Back to the Tofudebeest!!!
Any pics of the crossmember?
Sorry about that Euclid! 
Christian and Sheila... thanks for the merc history.
So.......... when is the new tofudebeest going to be on the road?!
Christian and Sheila... thanks for the merc history.
So.......... when is the new tofudebeest going to be on the road?!
- Thread starter
- #119
Sorry for the delay...
Hang on, butt loads of photos...
Hang on, butt loads of photos...
- Thread starter
- #120
