Yes, it's a wagon

How much to rebuild the trans? If the car's nice enough, it might be worth it. Plus those wheels are sick!

sethmeister4 wrote: How much to rebuild the trans? If the car's nice enough, it might be worth it. Plus those wheels are sick!

1500-1800 for a rebuild with a warranty; about $400 in parts so I may buy a core and give it a go myself.

The wheels are impossible to find so I've been buying them one at a time for a couple years; most are 5x130 or 5x120 so I need to build a set to fit then have them filled and redrilled.

Allrighty; I've driven it a ton (my commute is 100 miles) and it is a great cruiser. I've had it on Craig's list for trade and really gotten nothing in the way of offers. So... I've decided to slam it with some nice wheels and just make it a driver. I'll show what I do here as I do it although it may not be to everyone's taste.

THis is what I'll be going for, a lot less wheel since I'll be driving it.

Think we could get a group-rate somewhere on trans rebuilds?

My 300e has the same reverse issue.

There's also another one for sale in BG with, wait for it, no reverse.

I found a trans for 650 shipped; car had a pole fall on it. Gonna pull the trigger on that next week. Prevailing wisdom is that the fluid needs changed pretty much every 25k miles so I guess that's what I'll do form here on.

Yours should be easier to find a trans for; its not 4matic or a wagon.

chandlerGTi wrote: Allrighty; I've driven it a ton (my commute is 100 miles) and it is a great cruiser. I've had it on Craig's list for trade and really gotten nothing in the way of offers. So... I've decided to slam it with some nice wheels and just make it a driver. I'll show what I do here as I do it although it may not be to everyone's taste. THis is what I'll be going for, a lot less wheel since I'll be driving it.

I like where this is going.

chandlerGTi wrote: I found a trans for 650 shipped; car had a pole fall on it. Gonna pull the trigger on that next week. Prevailing wisdom is that the fluid needs changed pretty much every 25k miles so I guess that's what I'll do form here on. Yours should be easier to find a trans for; its not 4matic or a wagon.

Yeah, but apparently in '91 there were two different transmissions used, and they're not interchangeable.

Once I finally get the car moved to the shop, I'll have a better idea what I need.

Yeah, mine is a 93 so it has a one year only trans for the 4matic since the rest of the line went to the 3.2.

Wow--the stance thing really works on that car.

I ordered a hodge lodge of suspension parts that I've seen put together for this thing; Saab, BMW, and Ford Ranger all in one place.

1) I have to bypass the SLS; probably make block off plates and reroute the power steering

2) I have to fabricate a top mount with bearing since the shocks run in a rubber top hat and I'd rather not have it rip out.

3) I have to figure out the angles for the axles and make sure they'll be ok. If not ill have to make carriers for it.

4) I have to do all of this for less than $500 because where's the fun in spending money?

Starting now.

ValuePack wrote: Heave some of this in there, one of the few snake oils that actually works. And if itdoesn't, you're only out $15.

haha I put that stuff in my volvos trans over a year ago as a stop gap to get me by until I had a chance to swap my trans... the trans would slip at anything over 1/4 throttle... um ya... like I said that was over a year ago lol... I'll prob get around to swapping the trans here in a few months... tired of how goofy the transmission shifts now... but it doesn't slip :)

The trans itself shifts great now; it was full of some crap like that so I swapped it out for synthetic ATF and it was good.

Didn't know these things had rear-facing seats like the big american barges, sweet! Slammed MB wagons rock.

chandlerGTi wrote: Yeah, it is a 93 300te; 4matic all wheel drive and hydrapneumatic suspension. It's somewhat funny; I knew it was elderly lady owned but when I got there I was surprised to see she replaced it with a lower mileage 1991 300te and she had a mint 34k mile 2004 GTI in the garage. Odd. I'll start cleaning it out tomorrow; I went to work at 4am today so I'm beat now.

Probably already been mentioned, but can never be mentioned too much. Back in the '90s, Mercedes, in their infinite wisdom, decided to "go green" and use biodegradable insulation on their wiring harness. In '96 they came to their senses, so keep an eye on the wiring harness.

Thanx
    Shorty

Eh, that starts in 94. Thanks though.

chandlerGTi wrote: Yeah, I usually have wheels for a car before it runs so I have these 17" momo R3 sitting here for when I tackle the sls.

So whazzup with the SLS? Unless all the struts are leaking, shouldn't be too much trouble to fix. Mabe needs new "spheres". (bladders bust and turn fluid black) Which aren't too expensive to replace.

SLS works fine; just won't take it as low as I've decided to go; I'll delete it.

Ive had ten or twelve Mercedes from this generation; I know a bit about them.

So then this happened...

I'm out of town working so I was trolling the Internet and found this 2.5 hours away south o Pittsburgh. $500 for a 112k mile trans. I'll change the fluid and throw it in.

Now I'm in trouble though since I have boxes of parts at home sitting on the steps and a minimum of time. Crap will happen.

This thread is making me look at W123 wagons again. I still miss the last one I had.

I need to build one with a LS swap for towing.

W123 swallows a v8 well; the 124 chassis engine compartment is really narrow. The 5.0 would fit but I'd have to do some surgery to fit an LS. It's narrow; I should look at some 400/500e engine compartments to see what changes were made.

EvanB wrote: This thread is making me look at W123 wagons again. I still miss the last one I had. I need to build one with a LS swap for towing.

Even an automatic wouldn't be the end of the world, ya know, to keep it cheap...

That's what I'm thinking. Complete 5.3 with auto shouldn't be too expensive. Weld up some mounts and figure out the driveshaft. Bonus points if I could keep the nice Mercedes shifter.

Although I would love a T56 for ultimate awesome points.

EvanB wrote: That's what I'm thinking. Complete 5.3 with auto shouldn't be too expensive. Weld up some mounts and figure out the driveshaft. Bonus points if I could keep the nice Mercedes shifter. Although I would love a T56 for ultimate awesome points.

Damn...you were reading my mind.

Cool project...off to peruse CL

What I've seen is if those didn't leak by 70k they don't leak; since mine now has 196k on it I'm not to worried. Also the easy way to watch for it is to check your oil regularly which I guess is a lot to ask for out of a typical MB original owner.

What side does the front driveshaft sit on Chevy half ton trucks? You could almost buy the transmission and transfer case with the engine, if it's the same side as the M-B. I'm sure the xfer case is bigger but, whatever...