I picked up this car a few weeks ago. It was imported into Vancouver BC about 10 years ago from Japan. As I specialize in W126 MB's it is right up my alley. Not a lot of history but came with a few service records from Canada. It's been lowered at some time with H&R springs but with cheapo shocks so some Bilsteins will be on my list. I pulled the interior, steam cleaned the carpets, re-dyed the seats, removed all door cards and serviced the window regulators along with the door straps. Cleaned and cleaned some more. It is amazing how dirty the inside of these or any car gets in 25 years. Fixed all kinds of little things along the way. You have to love the GenII euro bumpers. GenI are nice but the II's are really sleek and smooth.
Now onto the mechanical issues. With the help of members Bondavi and KRH I have identified that I have the Hi-powered Euro engine and all the goodies including factory Tri-Y's, external oil cooler and more. Car didn't seem like a 300hp car when I got it as it had rough idle, throttle surging/hesitation and not much zip. It did run ok but not right. Tracked down the main vacuum line to find a dried out rubber elbow that was cracked and basically fell apart when I attempted to re-install the vacuum line. So a quick and easy project will be to replace all the rubber connections along with the hard plastic tubing. I had a few bits laying around and corrected the most obvious issues. Runs great now. Smooth idle and goes really fast!
Rewired the aftermarket stereo and replaced bulbs in the instrument cluster. Just noticed the clock is erratic but that's easy fix as well. One of the biggest mistakes people make with aftermarket stereos is wiring the speakers out of phase. Years ago I created a special CD to verify speaker phase and it has come in handy ever since. When the speakers are out of phase the bass is thin, that is the first clue.
This car is titled as a 1989 but it is clear that it is an 88. Inside is pretty much complete except I have yet to dig into the rear sunshade. Car has 142,000 KM's which equates to 88k miles. HVAC blows cold and all functions are correct. All windows, sunroof and locks work so I think I got lucky.
As mentioned previously I plan on keeping this car so I'm leaving some mechanical stuff to attend to during the fall/ winter months and when more funds are available.
Here are a few photos. I plan on updating this thread as my mechanical adventures begin. And "Yes" I am aware the trunk badge is not installed at the correct height and I need some kool wheels. I will get there.
Thanks for reading,
Mike
Now onto the mechanical issues. With the help of members Bondavi and KRH I have identified that I have the Hi-powered Euro engine and all the goodies including factory Tri-Y's, external oil cooler and more. Car didn't seem like a 300hp car when I got it as it had rough idle, throttle surging/hesitation and not much zip. It did run ok but not right. Tracked down the main vacuum line to find a dried out rubber elbow that was cracked and basically fell apart when I attempted to re-install the vacuum line. So a quick and easy project will be to replace all the rubber connections along with the hard plastic tubing. I had a few bits laying around and corrected the most obvious issues. Runs great now. Smooth idle and goes really fast!
Rewired the aftermarket stereo and replaced bulbs in the instrument cluster. Just noticed the clock is erratic but that's easy fix as well. One of the biggest mistakes people make with aftermarket stereos is wiring the speakers out of phase. Years ago I created a special CD to verify speaker phase and it has come in handy ever since. When the speakers are out of phase the bass is thin, that is the first clue.
This car is titled as a 1989 but it is clear that it is an 88. Inside is pretty much complete except I have yet to dig into the rear sunshade. Car has 142,000 KM's which equates to 88k miles. HVAC blows cold and all functions are correct. All windows, sunroof and locks work so I think I got lucky.
As mentioned previously I plan on keeping this car so I'm leaving some mechanical stuff to attend to during the fall/ winter months and when more funds are available.
Here are a few photos. I plan on updating this thread as my mechanical adventures begin. And "Yes" I am aware the trunk badge is not installed at the correct height and I need some kool wheels. I will get there.
Thanks for reading,
Mike