ps2cho

Pick-A-Part is the name of the places I have been. I have been to two in socal and both of them had at least 4 w124's.

I plan to do the fuel filter on my next day off. There is a little oil on the spark plug in cylinder #3....but nothing major. It probably needs a valve job at some point...but I can live with a little burning of oil for a while. It was nothing like my 300TE did!

Oh and the adapter I found for the CIS works with my distributor! Sweet

ps2cho

My Dad had some Momo XLS 18x8 Alloys in the Garage, so I threw them on to see how they looked...
What do you all think??

YNVDIZW124

Aren't those 2pc and more expensive than the car?

Looks good! just lower it and your done.

Black paint on those bumper..i keep telling u..lol

So you're the one stealing all my parts...lmao..j/k but i have a ton of fuel pump and OVP relays. I also try to get most of the fuel distributors i find...i have a bunch of use stock lol.

ps2cho

Yeh they will be painted for sure...its ugly right now. I was trying to figure out if I wanted to go dark grey or black...

Think I should remove the bumpers to paint them or just cover up good? I know the fronts aren't too hard are they? What about the rears?

YNVDIZW124

They are not hard to remove. On the rear you just need to take of those plastic covers on the quarter panels.

BTW, Did you go to pick a part? it was 50% off today. I saw an interior just like yours..

ps2cho

Yep that's where I got my new valve cover, mirror and a few other bits from yesterday
Went to the one in Stanton.

Unfortunately, they only had like 2 Benz' with the M103.

...The valve cover that was on mine was trashed..The inside was peeling so I didn't want that thing running with bits peeling all over. Much happier now. Gonna go get it smogged tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully it passes and I can start getting a feel for it on the road. It's definitely lacking on power. I know it needs new ignition wires though based on some funky resistance.

YNVDIZW124

Well, today they had 5 w124s in one yard and i know another yard that has a whole bunch of engines..The bad thing is that they strip the engines pretty good at pick a part.. Ecology has better parts but is more expensive. You should come by to long beach one of these days..

rivcal4life

Pick a part rules! I was at the Ontario one today but it wasnt half off

I did find a set of bilstein front shocks for just $15 each though I was so happy.

The ecology in rialto has an all-import yard with an assload of 124's, but they are more expensive and never rotate their damn cars.

YNVDIZW124

Let's have a pick a w124 apart day. I can strip an entire w124 in like 1 1/2 hours. lol...
but yeah anyone down that needs some parts...there's 2 yards and 1 ecology in wilmington..

rivcal4life

Umm im down for next weekend. I need to see how to take apart the interior without breaking anything since Im gonna be doing ultrasuede and ebonizing my wood soon.

pifcat2

PickNPull and PickAPart can have good finds, I usually see a few 300E's and 190E's. My only beef is people really trash the parts and area next to the parts they need and the cashiers are inconsistent...

YNVDIZW124

Well, pm me and let me know. I might try the black wood you want to do since i have extra wood pieces.

rivcal4life

Im still looking for the right stain, but I think Im just gonna go with minwax ebony. I was thinking maybe a java or mocha or espresso or whatever the hell they call it.

If it doesnt work out I can always just paint them body color when my PPG stuff comes in.

ps2cho

Ok just got back from the smog test...It failed bad



Any thoughts on my route to take?
Doesn't California offer to help me fix the car as it failed?

justinwrock

What component did it fail?


Yeah, California will give you some money to help fix your car.

ps2cho

Well it failed all 3...
but that's my fault because I broke off that vacuum hose that goes to the fuel pressure regulator in my frustration getting that stupid hose off the valve cover because its rock hard (I have all new idle air hoses on order btw).

So if I didn't forget to fix that hose it would have passed visual and functional check. So realistically it just failed the Emissions Test.

That fuel pressure hose shouldn't have anything to do with the results though...My 300TE didn't even have that hose attached for a good 2years...

YNVDIZW124

Aww, you're on the gross polluter list. Did you change the 02 sensor?

I need to do my smog tomorrow...crossing fingers...BTW, the don't help you if you are just registering the car...

Once, you get all your parts make a drive to ontario and fill up with 100 octane and drive the hell out of the car to get your cats really hot...
Also, you might want to adjust the fuel distributor and test the duty cycle of your eha. The temp sensor also messed up your fuel mixture so make sure that's working too.

justinwrock

My car is now legally smog exempt...

ps2cho

Aw man so I don't get any assistance if the car isn't registered to me?

I'll start with a full tuneup -- New wires, rotor, cap, o2 sensor, idle air hoses and then test the fuel pressure.

Duty cycle showed up as 50%. It even had a cap over it meaning it had never been adjusted!

You know what...The engine condition is very red...a possible indication of overheating, but no sludge at all...And I do notice this engine shows at least 20C cooler than my TE shows at idle...But can I compare the 2.6L to the 3L? I think I'll swap out the temp sensor too to be on the safe side...its like $20...

Much appreciated for input

lol how?

YNVDIZW124

Remember it's the temp sensor on the rear of the engine by the engine hoist hook. Run some Chemtool and get it really warmed up before the test. I'll see how it goes tomorrow and post the numbers here...


Smog exempt only if it's 75 or older. also if you changed your engine to a diesel.

pifcat2

Yeah Justin, why do you think it's exempt? I get away with anything on my '74 Porsche.

psycho, looks like you know the common causes are O2 sensor, tune-up, and cat. Failing all 3 is unusual, maybe that's why the seller gave you a good deal. You can find all the prior smog failures with a CarFax report.

justinwrock

For every rule, there is an exemption. I just happened to find on that applied to me...

YNVDIZW124

Do you live in california? My mustangs run headers x pipes to flowmasters and no smog ever!!!! I wish I could put a 5.0 on my benz...

What do you guys think about these plugs?? I've been kinda running lean but i'm getting close to 28mpg. The black part is where it was positioned on the exhaust port. Looks good to me but just want a second opinion...

justinwrock

I live in Sacramento.

pifcat2

email me the secret, lol I haven't needed an exception, my RT doesn't have much if any smog equipment and it always passed...