|
|
|
Had it on the lift yesterday - it's all looking very good underneath! I took the opportunity to grease all the hydraulic-, brake-, and fuel-lines and covered some areas with a spray of linseed oil. The oil stays liquid for a long time and has incredibly capabilitis of creeping. It'll creep in any fisures in the PVC underseal and soak into any rust that might be present and after some time (this time of year probably 1-2 weeks) will polymerize and encapsule the rust. Well - that's the theory anyway. Linseed oil is cheap & healthy, a fully biological product. IMO there'S ni point in spraying a car with hazardous rust protection stuff - the car may stop rusting, but the driver get's it's daily dose of volatile aromatic hydrocarbons? Makes no sense Not found a single piece of rust that needs adressing by welding - it's all been done before Oh, and the radiator leaks like a b*tch! This needs quick adressing too! Maybe I put in a Turbo radiator and see how I can route cold air to the intake. The std. 300D n/a rad is smaler and leaves room for a fresh air intake to the front. The Turbo radiator is too wide for that... On to the hydraulic lifters today... Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 13, 2014 17:26:20 GMT
|
Removed the pickey chrome on the passenger's side too - it's only superficial rust. Phew. The other side is worse... Drenched all rust with rust converter and owatrol oil - hopefully this will keep it at bay for a couple more years. This time I've used "Kovermi Rust Converter" on the passengers side - and Brunox Epoxy on the driver's side. Both appear completely different at first, but settle forthe same lila-black appearance. Hmm. This better be working good! After the Kovermi dryed, I gave both sides a sprinkle with primer and after this had dryed a slight coat of epoxy filler. To smoothen the surface. And inbetween I went to investigate the metallic ticking noise the engine makes. The hydraulic lifters feel very weak, but I have not experience as too how "tight" they should be? I will replace them and see. I changed the (hydraulic) chain tensioner today - the old one was completely dead. This has softened a rattling noise - but the ticking noise still persists. Will take off the cam and replace the lifters tomorrow. You may remember the grey 300D Turbo I broke for parts - the engine has a set of 12 new INA lifters which have done less than 15.000km - so I figure they will be fine in another engine - which has done god know how many miles... I've not yet determined the engine number. But the camshaft is worn out more than the one in the 475.000km spare turbo engine. So my guess is, it's also done at least 400-500.000km. Those cams don't wear prematurly, so it's a "safe" assumption. And of course a lot of reading tea levels. Or in other words - I have actually not the slightest of ideas about the engine's mileage And also discovered a leaky radiator - which explains the colant smell & loss of said coolant. Bumhats. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 13, 2014 14:52:07 GMT
|
Oh dear, 911s - wasn't expecting this in here Currently my n°1 source of moneys - fixing 911s imported from Canada xD And dare I say it here & now? They'r truly hatefull things. But your entry fee into 911 world was incredibly low. Maybe you are to enjoy it - I for once don't. Well - the entry fee will have quadruppeld in no time anyway - there's no such thing as a cheap Porker Put your concentration on the Z - yes? Can't wait to see this nearing the finish line! And all looks like you'r getting there! Keep up the good work!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 11, 2014 22:17:25 GMT
|
Registered this morning an now on the road And this found it's way in the boot...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I like it too. Makes a for a busy, "very serious working place" look
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
To be perfectely honest, most of them have no purpose at all Apart from looking cool xD Though 3 are std; rear screen heater, hazards and rear interior light. Wagons have two more switches; one for rear screen wash and one for rear wiper. Taxis have again one more switch; to activate the auxiliary heater pump with ignition on/engine off - to make use of the remaining hot coolant for heating. Could also be ordered by customers. Then there is the option for the extra horns - which has a switch to switch between std. and extra loud horns. And the remaining option on wagons wuld be the remote-heater for the luggage compartment (which makes sense with the folding seats installed). And osme US cars got an antenna switch to adjust the electric antenna - and there's one more I've only ever seen once on a Taxi - to silence the CB radio speaker. But in theory you'd be able to fill all places with a FULLY equiped US-spec wagon - if that ever existed. Probably not... So a full line of switches is indeed very rare - the previous owner (there is only 1 1/2, btw.!) cheated a bit here
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Your fooking expensive handwoven sheep wool rug does a great job of keeping my Taxi's allseason tyres warm! Only the best for my Taxi
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yeah, for a straight six with 3l capacity it's - not fast Especially with a slush box... About 4 years ago, I had my first TD, a 2.5l one. This was even slower... And now imagine; MB sold these with the 2l diesel with 75HP! There was one for sale with a slush box - I'm very glad I didn't buy it. Christ, that must be slow... Btw. speaking of my first TD; the satin black hub caps are from that car! retrorides.proboards.com/post/1187693/threadThey'r now on the 4th car, in the meanwhile they have been on 3liter 's 230Te and 300TE. This year I got them back and was on the verge of throwing them away, they'r realy bad painted, badly scratched and the Coupé needs 16" wheels... I'm glad I kept them!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sooo - today I red in the radio correctly. So I don't have to enter the code every time I start the car... And whilst i was at it, I thought "why not install the Taxi glove box lid". and after I did this I kept on thinking "now that this is in, I might as well install the taxameter". With the huge taxi box in the center console, I don't need the glove box. Which is smal on a Taxi anyway, due to the extra fuse box (as illustrated earlyer in this thread). And well - it's looking like a Taxi indeed ^the Taxameter is not wired in, though. Police might accuse me of runing an illegal taxi... Ok, and the mic is just hanging there to make the picture appear extra cool And then I gave the wheel arch another coat with Brunox Epoxy which is now curing under infrared light I'll register the car next week. and I'm about to order a set of new lifters, as they'r noisy. It's 106€ for a set of 12 INA lifters - that's a good price I think. And it's not too hard to install these on a OM60X engine That's all for now... Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I promised myself to not buy another one. and yet I did buy another one. Mainly for two reasons: rust - and the overly complicated rear suspension. Engine wise; whatever floats your boat. They all get into the mid-20 to 30 MPG. The difference is not huge between 4 & 6 cylinder, driven normaly. However, the 4-pots feel stressed and sluggish when coupled to an automatic transmission. All 4-valve gasoline engines, except the 300-24 with KE-injection, suffer from rotten wiring looms, sometimes even burned ECUs (shorting of wiring loom). And then things get expensive... RUST! have a look here: jan-wulf.de/?p=7536 - it's serious! The later the build date, the severe the rust issue is! Bets years seem to be '88-'91. In my opinion, there's currently a hype on these, as they are cheap & plenty. However, personaly I think they are way overrated. They are good cars, no doubt. But not as tough and bullet proof as rumour has it. Be carefull what you buy - they are realy modern cars, despite being 20-30 years old now. And even base-models have a lot of electronic controll units... Due to the good reputation many of them are run to ground and then sold on when they need a bigger sum thrown at.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hi! The Taxi roof sign is neither in my possesion nor for sale. And if it was for grabs, guess who'd buy it So; sorry, no Sprouting : that looks very clean inside! And I've never realised that the bonnet opener kept it's position on RHD cars Back to the TD; I was keen today and removed one of the chrome trims... *Gulp*. But I expected it to be even worse, to be honest So a few spots of rust are fine by me. The signs of the trimm will polish out - some preservation and paint will have it like new. Ish. Went through my collection of Taxi bits and decided to retro-fit most of them. The rarest bit is the twin-rearview mirror...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yes! Started today with installing a new Star - feels weird driving a Mercedes without it... Next on the shedule was the remaining jacking point. Had to turn the welder up a bit, it was so cold in the morning. And since this time of year it doesn't get very warm, I had to find a way to get the paint to dry. My solution was infra red... Worked suprisingly well Next up was a broken passengers door handle. Which appears logicall, since this is the probably most used doof on the whole car It's also the only door with a new catch strap. #justtaxithings And since the welder was still warm... There, I fixed it About 25 minutes later I found the new door card the seller had put in the boot... *D'oh!!* Next point on my imaginary to-do list was the lighting. Since a couple of years ago, a broken light is a TÜV fail. The chack up lead to me replacing a headlight with one I had left over from the TDT. Becaus this was working - not so well... So why bother, it's faster to replace the headlight than to tinker with wires... I'll repair it at one point and store it away as a replacement. And with everything working and a dab of paint on the sills - I drove the car to the TÜV station... On the way I stopped to get a new rear wiper. And with that the car was as prepared as it could be. I had not even looked at the brakes, nor tinkered with the parking brake. Imagine my surprise whn the car passed without any advice Though the TÜV guy wrote down a note that I need to watch the brake discs and adjust the parking brake - parking brake was on the verge of a fail. But passable. Phew. The headlights were adjusted too high - Mr. TÜV adjusted them - and I had new TÜV Now I can register the car on monday or tuesday and drive it as my new daily. Taking the Taxi to get to work And fear not - there's still a LOT to do... Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Will be my new daily, yes.
TÜV: check.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thanks Full steam ahead; the most serious issue was the non functional speedo. But I soon traced down the culprit; the speedo cable. Unlike my first Taxi, this one got an electronic hall sensor for the Taxameter. The cable had snaped inside the hall sensor. And whilst I was down there, I found out the Taxi alarm is still working - and the horns are LOUD!! Ooopsie. I disconnected the alarm's ECU und went on... Luckily, I had a speedo cable left over from the TDT which was the right lenght (six cylinder, automatic gearbox). And also the gearbox drive is a std. drive, nothing special. So I replaced the Taxi cable with a normal speedo cable. I'll keep the original one, maybe it can be repaired. The rev counter was easy to fix as well... Though it was more a lucky guess. I knew the A/C compressor had been disconected. And from the Coupé-conversion I still knew that the rev counter gets it's signal from the A/C ECU. I swapped over the A/C ecu... ...stared the engine. Et voilá: A working rev counter. To visualize the painfull slowlyness of this vehicle. It's amazing, how much faster 6 easyer to drive the turbo engine is... And speaking of the Turbo; I had kept the floor cladding from the 300D Turbo we broke for spares this year. Which came in handy, since this was missing on the Taxi. EEverything on the engine & gearbox is so clean and fresh - would be a shame to let it get dirty But now back to serious buiseness; almost all W124s suffer from rotten jacking points. And as slid this car is, it is no exception. I present you; one totaly gone jacking point on the driver's side: And about an hour later, it was ready for some paint... I then turned my attention towards the empty radio slot. And filled it with the Becker radio from the TDT... Put the intrument cluster back in and started assembling the interior, dug out some Taxi parts I have collected... all was working - except the indicators. HUHM. FCUK. Back out with the instrument cluster!? I then remembered the Taxi alarm. ECU plugged back in - indicators working. Oh Erm. Well. Lol. What's unusual: no rear ash trays. Not seen this before - but I like it. Still - maybe I retro-fit them... But that's neither decided nor important right now. And just when it was getting dark, I noticed that I had to weld another jacking point... Back to the important things once again. Welding tomorrow, it was getting freezing - not worth getting a cold for work I can do just as well tomorrow... And that's it for today. My cunning plan is to visit the TÜV station tomorrow afternoon Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I have to ask however, were you involved in the Taxi trade? Not at all. And neither do I have a clue where my interesst for Taxis comes from. Most people I talk to are more like * OMG desinfection!!!!!!!!11111eleven!!* Though part of the fascination is probably the little extra stuff those cars got. I have a fetish for obscure and rare car parts And I sort of like the idea of driving ultra-high mileage cars. With that many miles on, stuff HAS to be repaired. I see so many low-mileage cars on our lifts. And they all need HUGE investemnts and a lot of stuff replaced, because nothing not a single bolt had been touched the last 25 years.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A manuall would certainly make it a bit "fresher" The difference between the Turbo and n/a engine is astonishing! The Coupé weighs 200kg more, has a longer diff - and moves so much easyer than this does... That said; I have a feeling the throttle & gearbox linkage don't allow full throttle yet... I'll be tinkering with that a bit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I think I can continue with this thread. I don't know how many read my Coupé thread lately; I'm basically fed up with the Coupé. Like - sick of it. THe cylinder head is probably cracked, there's a lot of gas in the coolant, the heater keeps on making disgusting, nerv wrecking noises. Due to the amount of air/gas in the coolant. Well at least I can't find any other fault - it's only a cracked head left (despite me not being able to detect any cracks...). Which basically means: the 253.000km engine is useless. New heads are like 2200€, used ones without cracks are unobtainable. Back to the drawing board... Maybe a OM606 is in order. Anyway. There's a reason I'm continuing this thread. I have since sold the Taxi interior, without plans of buying another taxi. I've been offered our company car, a 1 million kilometer+ Taxi with a 3l Turbodiesel OM603, same as in the Coupé. But I was not in the mood for yet another Turbodiesel, given my recent - painfull - experience with the Coupé. So I have been trawling all the online car advertising website things for the last couple of weeks. And that's where things got interessting. I wanted an estate with a diesel engine. Nothing more - but nothing less. The market for these is - limited. At one point I noticed that a certain car had just dropped from 1650 to 1350€. The same car was auctioned some days later on eBay. To make it short: I went to see it. We agreed to let the auction run - and in the evening I placed my bid. This was last sunday. Today I took Phil with me to go back to the same place. I soon discovered that the 12V socket was dead. So Phil took the sat nav and drove in front. Which was good, since I had no working speedo Nor did I have a working tacho. Actually - a lot of stuff doesn't work flawless. But - it drives, steers an brakes. That's a starter. And so the Autobahn was our next destination... 150-ish km later we arrived at E's for dinner and closer inspection of what I have just bought. Well - it's a Taxi-thread, so you might have guessed it allready It's a one (and a half) owner Taxi that ran in Berlin, with just 895.500km on the clock. It was used as Taxi from 1989 right up until 2012! It needed a yearly TÜV inspection for 23 years - mechanically it's in good condition, given the age & milage. All the hydraulic lines are in good nick. And everywhere you look there are signs of maintainance. And Taxi buiseness. Like this price chart in german & english. after dinner we headed south, with E. destination: a garage where E's other estate had just got a fresh TÜV. Back on the autobahn... This time with three cars. From there we continued with FOUR W124s towards our destination for supper. and then, all of a sudden, there were 4 T-Models on the yard Well - right. It's been a while since we had this many in one place. We then headed homw with the Taxi & Coupé to my place, headed back, I dropped of Phil who then went back home with E. It's been a long day - more pictures tomorrow. Just two more of the surprisingly clean engine. Which - of course - is a OM603. 3l six cylinder, but this time without turbocharger. But with cruise controll, A/C and parking heater. I have untill saturday, then the temp. plates will run out, I hope I can get it ready for TÜV by then Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Apart from the value & beauty; they realy are sh!t cars........
|
|
|
|
|
|
Oct 18, 2014 17:17:49 GMT
|
Likewise. Though I've not yet installed it. Finaly belt tensioner: Some other stuff, few bolts - driving. And with this I'm probably going to end this thread since I've lost interest in this place here. I don't know - but it's chnaged a lot from what it was when I joined. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|