Winterbarge - 421,000 mile - Mercedes Benz w126 diesel

[bob1179]

The project is coming along nicely! I need a 560SEL in my life, they are like rocking horse poo in the UK. I went to look at one a few months ago and it was completely rotten. The hunt is still on though...

If you are looking at swapping the wheels from the 560, have a look at the clearance around the arches. The 560's had their arches slightly flared out compared to the lessor models due to having wider wheels.

[_Nathan_]

OP - what was wrong with the 560. it looks lovely

[MPoon]

_Nathan_ said:

OP - what was wrong with the 560. it looks lovely

The 560 was running very rich, had been sitting for a year, and the rear fenders are rusty. That's all really, I paid the equivalent of £300 for it, and drove it home.
It has 230,000kms on it, but mechanically and cosmetically it is in much worse condition than my nearly 700,000kms 300SD.

[MPoon]

bob1179 said:

The project is coming along nicely! I need a 560SEL in my life, they are like rocking horse poo in the UK. I went to look at one a few months ago and it was completely rotten. The hunt is still on though...

If you are looking at swapping the wheels from the 560, have a look at the clearance around the arches. The 560's had their arches slightly flared out compared to the lessor models due to having wider wheels.

I also just bought a 420SEL for the equivalent of £250 ... will the wheels on the 420sel be of a different specification than those on the 560sel?
the 420sel needs a valve job ... but I'm going to drive it home tonight, and I will probably dismantle it as well.

Here's a photo

Edited by MPoon on Friday 16th November 20:59

Edited by MPoon on Friday 16th November 21:05

[jbi]

really nice to see a proper old car like that being looked after and kept going.

I'm tired of trying to reason with people on here that a car is worth keeping after it reached 100,000 miles even if it does need a bushing or two replaced, heaven forbid.

[bob1179]

MPoon said:

bob1179 said:

The project is coming along nicely! I need a 560SEL in my life, they are like rocking horse poo in the UK. I went to look at one a few months ago and it was completely rotten. The hunt is still on though...

If you are looking at swapping the wheels from the 560, have a look at the clearance around the arches. The 560's had their arches slightly flared out compared to the lessor models due to having wider wheels.

I also just bought a 420SEL for the equivalent of £250 ... will the wheels on the 420sel be of a different specification than those on the 560sel?
the 420sel needs a valve job ... but I'm going to drive it home tonight, and I will probably dismantle it as well.

Here's a photo

Edited by MPoon on Friday 16th November 20:59

Edited by MPoon on Friday 16th November 21:05

I really am jealous!

I believe the 420 should have wheels wearing 205/55 R15 tyres, the 560 aren't much wider (215?). The narrower wheels should just bolt straight on.

I need to look harder for a 560 now...

[MPoon]

bob1179 said:

I really am jealous!

I believe the 420 should have wheels wearing 205/55 R15 tyres, the 560 aren't much wider (215?). The narrower wheels should just bolt straight on.

I need to look harder for a 560 now...

My current tires on the 300SD are 205/70/14 ... but the original car would have come with 195/70/14 summers, and 185/70/14 winters.

[MPoon]

Just put the 15'' wheels on tonight, I think it looks fantastic!
It even handles better too, it has less of a propensity to break loose when I throw the car around corners.

Here are some photos. All in all, the car looks more like a 1991 than a 1981. Next exterior project- repaint and european bumpers perhaps.
Interior project - leather re-dye, and installing the center glovebox from the 560sel.



and next to my Jaguar XJ8 ... they both get the same fuel economy on the motorway, but the 300SD outshines the XJ8 in the city.
The XJ8 is so capable, you just want to keep pushing it, and before long you are already at 130mph. I've been using the 300SD as my daily driver for the past month though, and I love it!


and looking between 15'' wheels and 18'' wheels... they deserve a clean, but i've been far too busy lately.

Edited by MPoon on Saturday 17th November 06:42

[Locke]

I would never fk with a guy driving one of these cars. (here in the UK) they always seem to be owned by 7ft tall scary looking as fk Russians. The most intimidating car on the road imo.

[MPoon]

Locke said:

I would never fk with a guy driving one of these cars. (here in the UK) they always seem to be owned by 7ft tall scary looking as fk Russians. The most intimidating car on the road imo.

I wouldn't consider it the most intimidating car on the road actually... considering it is painted silver-blue. I think Black with blacked out chrome would be far more sinister looking... but the drug dealers in my city tend to drive around in blacked out G55 AMG and G63 AMG's, or Range Rover HSE Supercharged.

In my city: here's a very typical looking vehicle that people who want to intimidate others drive... but I call them 'small penis cars'....




and if my w126 was all black out like this... it would be far more intimidating:

[tommy vercetti]

Very cars, love old school mercs

[chris182]

Lovely car. It's sacrilege to break a basically sound 560 though, could you not fix it up and sell it on and use an old 300 or 420 for parts?

[MPoon]

chris182 said:

Lovely car. It's sacrilege to break a basically sound 560 though, could you not fix it up and sell it on and use an old 300 or 420 for parts?

It's not a sound 560... it's rusty and it runs rich, it wouldn't be roadworthy as it wouldn't pass emission control. My 300SD is rust-free. Besides, only 560 and 420's are cheap as they are so expensive to run. 300SE's are still quite pricey since they are relatively modest consumers of fuel and are less maintenance intensive.

I think it's fine to break cars in order to improve other cars since the parts are not being made anymore. Focus on keeping the good ones running.
Of course I can swap in some 420 parts to make the 560 complete again, and then I could probably sell it for $700... but why would I? The car is worth $5000 in parts over a period of 2 months.

UPDATE: also forgot to mention the transmission on the 560 does not have 4th, and slips from 3rd to 2nd, and also takes about a minute to engage reverse. It's beyond economical to fix up.

Edited by MPoon on Monday 19th November 22:08

Edited by MPoon on Monday 19th November 22:09

[chris182]

MPoon said:

chris182 said:

Lovely car. It's sacrilege to break a basically sound 560 though, could you not fix it up and sell it on and use an old 300 or 420 for parts?

It's not a sound 560... it's rusty and it runs rich, it wouldn't be roadworthy as it wouldn't pass emission control. My 300SD is rust-free. Besides, only 560 and 420's are cheap as they are so expensive to run. 300SE's are still quite pricey since they are relatively modest consumers of fuel and are less maintenance intensive.

I think it's fine to break cars in order to improve other cars since the parts are not being made anymore. Focus on keeping the good ones running.
Of course I can swap in some 420 parts to make the 560 complete again, and then I could probably sell it for $700... but why would I? The car is worth $5000 in parts over a period of 2 months.

UPDATE: also forgot to mention the transmission on the 560 does not have 4th, and slips from 3rd to 2nd, and also takes about a minute to engage reverse. It's beyond economical to fix up.

Edited by MPoon on Monday 19th November 22:08

Edited by MPoon on Monday 19th November 22:09

Well fair enough, that sounds a lot more broken than your initial description led me to believe. If the gearbox is shagged then that would be a big problem.

I don't actually know what the going rate for a decent diesel W126 is as they seem to be rarer than rocking horse excrement in the UK. I've been keeping my eye out for well over a year and not found a single one for sale in the time, shame as they sound like the perfect everyday car. I guess once people get hold of one they never sell it .

BTW I know all about how much a 560 costs to run

[Captain Cadillac]

560 SELs are actually (Or, I should say, were) rather common in North America.

And ANY NA-Spec W126 from 86-91 uses 205-65VR15s.

[MPoon]

chris182 said:

Well fair enough, that sounds a lot more broken than your initial description led me to believe. If the gearbox is shagged then that would be a big problem.

I don't actually know what the going rate for a decent diesel W126 is as they seem to be rarer than rocking horse excrement in the UK. I've been keeping my eye out for well over a year and not found a single one for sale in the time, shame as they sound like the perfect everyday car. I guess once people get hold of one they never sell it .

BTW I know all about how much a 560 costs to run

Nice 560SEC .. in white it is a bit miami vice :-)

As far as I know the 5cylinder Turbocharged 1981-1985 300SD was only made for the North American market, whether the 6cylinder 300SDL introduced in 1987 was made for other markets, I am not sure.



by the way... I really like the full width rear chrome on the boot lip that your 560SEC came with... I wonder if I could fit that on a 300SD as well.

Edited by MPoon on Tuesday 20th November 20:11

[MPoon]

thought it might be neat to post some photos of where I work on my cars... pictured in smoke silver is the 560sel, and in bronze-grey is the 420sel. In black are my friend's two XJ12's... replaced the bushings this evening on the 1994 XJ12, the other is a 1996 XJ12.









as can be seen in the photos below, the bushings really needed doing!!





here's what old vs. new bushings look like haha

[chris182]

MPoon said:

Nice 560SEC .. in white it is a bit miami vice :-)

As far as I know the 5cylinder Turbocharged 1981-1985 300SD was only made for the North American market, whether the 6cylinder 300SDL introduced in 1987 was made for other markets, I am not sure.



by the way... I really like the full width rear chrome on the boot lip that your 560SEC came with... I wonder if I could fit that on a 300SD as well.

Edited by MPoon on Tuesday 20th November 20:11

It does look a bit like a drug dealer wagon. I think that's why I got stopped when I went through Dieppe port and had the entire car searched by seven armed policemen. I was praying slightly that the previous owner hadn't accidentally left any incriminating items in the car!

The full width chrome strip on the boot lid seems to be standard on the SEC whilst the short strip seems standard for the SE and SEL. I don't know if the SEC boot lid would fit on an SE/SEL or not.

I wish I had a place to work like that, I only have a driveway in the rain