DuncanClarke
Member
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2005
- Messages
- 22
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Hi
My name is Duncan and I am new to this list and new to Mercedes ownership too. I have a life long passion for Jensens (I own 13!) and it was this which led to my acquisition of my first Mercedes - a 1984 W123 280 ce. It's difficult to hide so many Jensens, so all of the neigbours and passers by will have seen a Jensen or two on my drive from time to time. One such passer by asked me wether I would be interested in a Mercedes which had sat on his drive since the MoT expired about 6 months ago. I wandered down to have a look and way quite taken by the understated elegance of this car. The owner wanted to transfer the reg. no. to his bike, so I bought the car from him for £1, on the understanding that I would surrender the reg. to him. Apart from a leaky water pump and minor electrical problems, the car seemed to be in fair condition for the year and I soon had her up and running and MoTd. There are 2 mechanical problems with this car. 1. The front driveshaft coupling has a bit too much play and 2) There is a misfire on #6 cylinder, which is not plugs, leads or fuel. MB want £80 for a coupling and the cost of parts for the rebuild engine work reach £100s. Not wishing to spend more than I had to, I scoured Ebay for a donor car with a good engine. I finally found a rear-ended 280e with a rebuilt head and gearbox. I won this for £36 and collected it last Tuesday. After changing the plugs and hot-wiring the fuel pump, the engine coughed into life and was soon idling well. I wasted no time in whizzing the old girl around the car park near to my workshop (2 car lifts, lucky me!), just to check the function of the steering and brakes (ABS works too!). This 280e is well beyond repair, but it was in very good order prior to the previous owner losing control on a bend. I can't be certain, but the cheap and almost bald O/S rear tyre may have been a contributory factor in its fate. I'm going to strip this car of the bits I need and the other parts I will sell, swap or dispose of in the near future. The doors are excellent, but of no use to me, as is the ABS pump and the rear window. I have put some bits on EBay, but almost everything is up for grabs.
Just as soon as I can, I will clean the 280e engine, change the water pump which has a slight leak and fix the exhaust manifold to head blow prior to swapping it into by 280ce. Both the rubber couplings are like new on the 280e, so I can fix that problem for free along the way. Pretty soon, I should have a well sorted W123 280ce for the price of a tank of fuel.
More later...
Duncan
My name is Duncan and I am new to this list and new to Mercedes ownership too. I have a life long passion for Jensens (I own 13!) and it was this which led to my acquisition of my first Mercedes - a 1984 W123 280 ce. It's difficult to hide so many Jensens, so all of the neigbours and passers by will have seen a Jensen or two on my drive from time to time. One such passer by asked me wether I would be interested in a Mercedes which had sat on his drive since the MoT expired about 6 months ago. I wandered down to have a look and way quite taken by the understated elegance of this car. The owner wanted to transfer the reg. no. to his bike, so I bought the car from him for £1, on the understanding that I would surrender the reg. to him. Apart from a leaky water pump and minor electrical problems, the car seemed to be in fair condition for the year and I soon had her up and running and MoTd. There are 2 mechanical problems with this car. 1. The front driveshaft coupling has a bit too much play and 2) There is a misfire on #6 cylinder, which is not plugs, leads or fuel. MB want £80 for a coupling and the cost of parts for the rebuild engine work reach £100s. Not wishing to spend more than I had to, I scoured Ebay for a donor car with a good engine. I finally found a rear-ended 280e with a rebuilt head and gearbox. I won this for £36 and collected it last Tuesday. After changing the plugs and hot-wiring the fuel pump, the engine coughed into life and was soon idling well. I wasted no time in whizzing the old girl around the car park near to my workshop (2 car lifts, lucky me!), just to check the function of the steering and brakes (ABS works too!). This 280e is well beyond repair, but it was in very good order prior to the previous owner losing control on a bend. I can't be certain, but the cheap and almost bald O/S rear tyre may have been a contributory factor in its fate. I'm going to strip this car of the bits I need and the other parts I will sell, swap or dispose of in the near future. The doors are excellent, but of no use to me, as is the ABS pump and the rear window. I have put some bits on EBay, but almost everything is up for grabs.
Just as soon as I can, I will clean the 280e engine, change the water pump which has a slight leak and fix the exhaust manifold to head blow prior to swapping it into by 280ce. Both the rubber couplings are like new on the 280e, so I can fix that problem for free along the way. Pretty soon, I should have a well sorted W123 280ce for the price of a tank of fuel.
More later...
Duncan
