bbbear
04-18-2007, 01:15 PM
Greetings to All!
First I must admit, I'm not much of a mechanic, but I've always been enough of a wanna' be to have overhauled, ( rings, bearings, honing cylinders, having a machine shop check the cranks and do the heads, valves, etc, on a few old Volvo gassers, and one old straight 6 cylinder Woolsey.) I also maintained a one lunger in our 36' sailboat as we sailed the Gulf Of Mexico for five years.
And last year I stumbled upon an MB 300D T. It's without rust, no cracks in dash, just a few minor dings, good compression, and I paid $400.00 for it. I did the standard all fluid/filter change, and cleaned, oiled and replaced the injector nozzles. Then I installed a kit to burn WVO and it's worked flawlessly for the last 11,000 miles.
With the help of many real mechanics on an MB forum, I did many other things has nearly brought it back up to par. I now only have to finish prepping it for painting, and replace a sometimes whiney differential.
In the meantime, Wife wanted a truck for the garden ( and I wanted one for the fun of it.) ;) All we really needed was a four banger diesel... no more gassers! ( Wife still drives a Lexus, but maybe by next year I'll find her a creampuff 1990 to 1995 E class MB 190D, to convert to WVO . )
However, there must be a huge demand for small diesel trucks, because in our price range, they were all dogs. That said, I decided to look at American Diesels... I bought the first one I looked at. :D Compared to the dogs I'd seen and driven, it was a Rolls Royce.
I think I got it for a good price, but who knows with used vehicles? Yet it does have records from day one, all kinds of gadgets, a few minor dings, but no rust, no smoke and plenty of power. It's the J code LL4 engine with the 3 speed transmission and 4.10 differential and only 2 wheel drive and, although I haven't had a chance to check it out, it seems most people get around 12 to 14 mpg... Which is probably why I got it for $2000. Here's some pics: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...omshare&U x=0 (http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=6ct8bbj.9r19ot3j&Uy=z06d2g&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0)
Anyway, I'm now building my own WVO kit and should have it burning the free stuff within a week. In the meantime, I know I'll learn a lot from the many smart diy mechanics on these fora... and I will do my best to help whenever I can.
Best wishes,
bbbear, aka, charlie
First I must admit, I'm not much of a mechanic, but I've always been enough of a wanna' be to have overhauled, ( rings, bearings, honing cylinders, having a machine shop check the cranks and do the heads, valves, etc, on a few old Volvo gassers, and one old straight 6 cylinder Woolsey.) I also maintained a one lunger in our 36' sailboat as we sailed the Gulf Of Mexico for five years.
And last year I stumbled upon an MB 300D T. It's without rust, no cracks in dash, just a few minor dings, good compression, and I paid $400.00 for it. I did the standard all fluid/filter change, and cleaned, oiled and replaced the injector nozzles. Then I installed a kit to burn WVO and it's worked flawlessly for the last 11,000 miles.
With the help of many real mechanics on an MB forum, I did many other things has nearly brought it back up to par. I now only have to finish prepping it for painting, and replace a sometimes whiney differential.
In the meantime, Wife wanted a truck for the garden ( and I wanted one for the fun of it.) ;) All we really needed was a four banger diesel... no more gassers! ( Wife still drives a Lexus, but maybe by next year I'll find her a creampuff 1990 to 1995 E class MB 190D, to convert to WVO . )
However, there must be a huge demand for small diesel trucks, because in our price range, they were all dogs. That said, I decided to look at American Diesels... I bought the first one I looked at. :D Compared to the dogs I'd seen and driven, it was a Rolls Royce.
I think I got it for a good price, but who knows with used vehicles? Yet it does have records from day one, all kinds of gadgets, a few minor dings, but no rust, no smoke and plenty of power. It's the J code LL4 engine with the 3 speed transmission and 4.10 differential and only 2 wheel drive and, although I haven't had a chance to check it out, it seems most people get around 12 to 14 mpg... Which is probably why I got it for $2000. Here's some pics: http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...omshare&U x=0 (http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=6ct8bbj.9r19ot3j&Uy=z06d2g&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0)
Anyway, I'm now building my own WVO kit and should have it burning the free stuff within a week. In the meantime, I know I'll learn a lot from the many smart diy mechanics on these fora... and I will do my best to help whenever I can.
Best wishes,
bbbear, aka, charlie