New 1988 300CE owner

[andy_k]

you'll probably find the condenser has a big hole in it, the fan shroud is a really poor design and just fills up with crap which then eats it's way through the condenser

here's how I did mine on a slightly later W124

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=28123

HTH

 

[Roger Jones]

"Yep, 1988"

I raised the question because it says 1998 in your personal-info panel.

 

[squigg]

Doh!

 

[janner]

Try putting your VIN in here. You may find that the interior is actually leather. Some of the early cars had leather in the style of MB-Tex. Smooth door cards do not automatically mean Tex.
Nice car.

 

[st4]

Hi Squigg - nice car welcome and good to have another one from north of the border. We have a GTG in scotland coming up in stirling, you should bring along your new motor...

Going round roundabouts sideways is half the fun of owning an old rwd car with a bit of oomph and no crappy traction control, i dont baby mine and the old girls are 33 next year.

Funny you say that as I tried to have some fun today on a wet roundabout and instead of feeling the car go sideways I could feel the ESP apply the brakes on the rear wheels in an alternating manner to keep the car pointing straight and the power cut. I wasn't aiming for a massive drift, just a bit of oversteer to correct

 

[bluevenetian]

I reckon its leather -- the earlier w124's had the "unruched" leather on the door panels. If its MB tex, that would be a rare option on a coupe no?

 

[popuptoaster]

Hi Squigg - nice car welcome and good to have another one from north of the border. We have a GTG in scotland coming up in stirling, you should bring along your new motor...



Funny you say that as I tried to have some fun today on a wet roundabout and instead of feeling the car go sideways I could feel the ESP apply the brakes on the rear wheels in an alternating manner to keep the car pointing straight and the power cut. I wasn't aiming for a massive drift, just a bit of oversteer to correct

tis one of the reasons i tend to build my own fast cars out of large engines and old light cars, they dont try and "help"
My old mercs are not really powerfull enough to be that exciting, but i'm not sure how long i can resist the temptation to "improve" the coupes power output.

 

[squigg]

I've learned long, harsh, expensive lessons from trying to extract more power out of Hondas - I never intend repeating that mistake - if you want a faster car, buy one

Thanks again for the warm welcome - I enjoyed the 25 mile commute from Glasgow to Greenock tonight ... pretty sure the front ARB bushes need doing, but that's an easy enough job, plus I suspect it needs a thermostat - it was sitting about 60 degrees on the temp guage, way too cool!

ST - I can probably see your house out my window, across the Clyde - I am looking at Helensborough as I type...

Ah, the joys of old cars - it's half the fun though when you can do the work yourself and learn how it all works!

As to the leather debate, I'll get a picture of the front seats up - they have vertical panels which sounds like TEX, but I'm convinced they're leather .... if not then TEX will do just fine as I can't tell

EDIT: This is as good as I have - you can see the cracks! (Apologies for the mess, we were mid diagnostic!

 

[Silestanix]

Nice car matey...

 

[popuptoaster]

I've learned long, harsh, expensive lessons from trying to extract more power out of Hondas - I never intend repeating that mistake - if you want a faster car, buy one

I never bother with tuning small engines, to expensive and makes em to unreliable, i tend to just drop in the biggest lump i can afford, works much better and is far cheaper in the long run and a big engine has a far better torque curve for road use, most modern fast cars are boring these days, if i decide the coupe needs more power it'll get a damn great chevy LS7 V8 dropped in it probably.

 

[Howard]

I've learned long, harsh, expensive lessons from trying to extract more power out of Hondas - I never intend repeating that mistake - if you want a faster car, buy one

You want to talk to Mark300SL ...

He builds custom CRX's , has a couple running 400bhp + turbo setups , nothing can catch them ...

 

[del320]

As to the leather debate, I'll get a picture of the front seats up - they have vertical panels which sounds like TEX, but I'm convinced they're leather .... if not then TEX will do just fine as I can't tell

Have to agree - and same goes for Jontyash's 300CE

The earliest 12v 188bhp CEs are identified by their less lavish interior trim - no door cappings, no wooden strip along dashboard and plain doorcards. Nonetheless, the seats are leather. On the exterior, you have to do without the brightwork on the bumpers.

Get your name down for the Scottish GTG

 

[squigg]

I'll see how I'm fixed nearer the time - I'm not sure I can handle a "meet" this early into ownership