MBDiesel.net - An Owner's Journey

Donna and I had a fun-filled week of adventure at Road Atlanta. We arrived at the track on Tuesday around 10:30am as part of a convoy with our friends Thomas and Mat, and we left Sunday morning right around the same time. The weather was beautiful, save for a couple hours on Thursday evening, and a brief shower very early Sunday morning. We had a blast, and, most importantly for this update, we took a lot of pictures.

They can be found right here.

Only 1 tight valve - intake on cylinder 1. Everything else was good. I'll probably need to adjust intakes on 3 and 4 next time I check them.

It's Saturday morning, and the weather is nice for the time being. Guess I better use the opportunity to check the valves on the 240D before things start turning nasty later on today!

Last weekend, we replaced the shocks in the 240D and the 300SD. I took plenty of photos of one side being done on the 240D, and have a write-up that can be found here. The procedure for replacing front shocks on both cars is precisely identical, so I didn't bother with shooting both cars. The 240D got a pair of Bilstein HDs, while the 300SD is sporting some new KYB Gas-A-Justs to replace the worn-out Boge-Sachs units that were previously installed.

Some photos of the 'sploded pulley and trashed v-belt can be found here.

Yesterday evening, we replaced all the fuel lines under the hood of the 220. The old lines were leaking at the carburetor, causing gasoline to run along the bottom of the carb and drip onto a shield directly over the exhaust manifold.

Eesh.

So yeah, 220 is roadworthy again.

If all goes well, I'll be replacing the alternator pulley on the 240D this afternoon. Spectacular failure there, with pics coming later.

Later on this week, or this weekend at the latest, we should be doing shocks and upper control arms on the 300SD, and shocks on the 240D. The 240D isn't in need of shocks - these *might* have 30k on them (I'd really have to check the service records to find out when we had our old shop install them). We are swapping out the Bilstein Comfort shocks currently installed for Bilstein Heavy Duty units. If Donna likes the HDs, then I'll probably sell the old Comforts, which are still perfectly serviceable.

Another round of dual oil changes for the 240D and the 300TD this past Friday. Donna changed the 240D for the first time, and did pretty good. She was still a little surprised with how quickly I knocked out the 300TD, though. The speed and comfort will come with experience, I told her.

Gearing up for some less-than-typical maintenance work on all the cars - including the first glimpses of the 220 we purchased several months ago. Keep checking back!

Remember when I said in the axle repair how I couldn't wait to see the inside of that bum axle?

Well, wait no more!

...from the 2004 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance! Lot of neat cars at that event, Mercedes and otherwise. Also spotted the rare and elusive Dodge truck with MB painted hubcaps while walking to the show, and had to grab a shot:

I'm currently uploading the photos, so it'll take a bit before they all load. However, you can still view the work-in-progress here.

With Mat's help, we replaced the rubber fuel lines attached to the wagon's fuel tank. They were original to the car, and didn't take kindly to the recent assault of axle grease and carb cleaner. Me managed to spill less than about a quarter cup of diesel in the process. The job was made a little easier since I had only about a third of a tank of fuel remaining.

Some big changes will be happening over the next few months with regard to the cars. Stay tuned!