15x13 - 1985 Mercedes 300 TD

[bunniefuu]

Cars don't always need
to be fast to be special.

There's nearly 20 seconds
to 60 miles an hour.

The Mercedes Benz 300 turbo diesel.

A German tank!

A car's over 30 years
of age, a bit like you.

And age? Age is just a number,
as long as it's taken care of.

I'm not saying it hasn't got any problems.

It's got some problems.

Then we're home and dry.

It's rattly, it's oily!

What's life without challenge?

That hole will definitely
affect the way it shifts.

As you can see, our
fifth cylinder is kind of low.

I love everything about it!

And once we're done, this
car will go on and on and on.

This car's going to
outlive us, I know it is.

Now I've woken up this
morning with my tail in the air

because I'm on my way to go and see
one of my all-time favourite classic cars.

If you think about it, today
we have these great big SUVs

or these small little minivans to
move six or seven people around.

But back in 1985, the only
way to do it was in an estate car,

or as they call them here in America,
rather confusingly, a station wagon.

But I'll call it an estate car.

And the best of the bunch, and trust
me when I say it's the best of the bunch,

I've bought and sold loads of them.

And I absolutely love them,
is the Mercedes-Benz 300 TD.

But what's got me here to
come and see it is the price.

Mr. Juxin is asking only $5,000.

That's about £3,500.

And for one of these cars,
that's incredibly cheap,

because they're in vogue.
People want them again.

And if we can buy the car cheap enough
and do some small and minor repairs to it

and not take too much away
from the fabric of the car,

leave it as original as possible,

I know that I could probably
double what he's looking to get for it.

Look how charming that
looks, and proud of itself.

Wow. Look at this car. I love them.

You must be Juxin.

Nice to meet you.

Juxin, very, very nice
to meet you too, sir.

Look at that car, that's amazing.

It's a rust-free 1985, last model year.

And you're a young man.

So why did a young man like you want
to go for such an elderly statesman's car?

I have older gentleman's car.

I like it, like me.
You've got an old man's taste.

Well, I really like the
look of it on the outside.

I need to dig down inside it, so
shall we have a look in the boot?

Sure.

Right, nice and straight, nice and wide.

I love the width and the depth.

It's really easy to load
stuff in the back of this.

Oh, Charlie, there's something
about Mercedes doors.

They're lovely, aren't they? Look at that.

Like a tank.

Yeah, like a tank.

Right, now, what I like about these cars
is once you fold these bases up like this,

oh, look at that.

Wow.

Look at the size of it in here.

It's huge.

It is absolutely huge.

Very, very good.

Now, up front, what have we got?

Very nice indeed.

A couple of little issues straight away.

The dashboard's cracked.

The wood is broken down here.

The armrest has got a tear in it.

Right, now's time for that famous.

TD engine.

Okay, I get all excited
when I see one of

these because they're
such a good power unit.

Oh, dear.

There is some oil coming from
the front of the engine block.

It's just a 30-year-old diesel.

Yeah, nobody's cleaned it in 30 years.

That's the problem.

Okay.

Well, look, it's nice
that you rebuilt the turbo

and it's nice that you
say it's mechanically fine,

but I won't know how it's going to perform

until I actually get it out there on
the road and take it for a test drive.

Do you mind?

No, go ahead.

I'm not going to break any land
speed record driving this car.

The Mercedes 300 TD isn't a fast car.

It's an incredibly slow car.

But nobody said back then that
anyone should be in a rush in 1985.

If you put your family into one of these,

you just wanted to get them there safely

and you could choose
no better car to do it in.

So just cruise along and enjoy the ride.

In fact, because I've
got an open stressor

road here and I've got
a stopwatch on my wrist,

so I can almost tell you
how fast this car gets to 60.

You ready?

We're off.

So my foot's down.

There's that diesel spinning up.

Oh, it's quite smooth
through the gear changes.

That's nice.

We're still going.

Still going.

I'm only at 50 miles an hour at the moment.

Still got an open road in front of
me and I'm at 60 miles an hour now.

That was nearly 20
seconds to 60 miles an hour.

Now that is incredibly slow.

But the car's got some pull to it.

The engine's quiet,
particularly for a diesel.

That's a strange thing, but you
can see how good these units are

and how well they were
engineered and developed.

They really do perform fantastically.

And as I say, this engine will
live on way beyond its years.

It'll outlive me, this engine.

These great big chairs sit in this huge,

ridiculously oversized steering wheel.

Just makes for the journey
to be, oh, just so pleasant.

Well, what a great car and
truthfully, I have fallen in love a little.

Now, Yaxin is asking a
very reasonable $5,000

for it and truthfully,
I'll pay that for the car,

but there aren't those leaking
problems with the engine.

The wood inside is a bit cracked.

It does need a little bit of tidying up.

So if I can get it just
a little bit cheaper,

it'll make me happier.

So wish me luck as I go back and
try and get this car to take home.

Do you like it?

I'm going to be honest with you, yes.

I really do.

It's probably the slowest
test drive I've ever been on.

It's never going to win a race.

It's never going to win a race.

I feel like I set off from
here hours ago and it's

taken me hours to get
back because it's that slow.

But that's part of its charm
and that's why I love it so much.

It's not without its problems.

It has got a few issues.

The one thing I do like
about it is how straight it is.

The wood, the dashed top is broken.

That's going to be expensive to fix.

The hose is underneath the bonnet.

There's an oil leak.

You want, I think, quite a
reasonable $5,000 for it.

I'm going to be reasonable with you.

Would you take four
and a half grand for it?

I'll take it.

You will? Top man.

And I just bought myself a Mercedes 300 TD.

Wagon.

Estate car.

All right.

So, there you go.

I just bought myself
the Mercedes Benz 300

turbo diesel and I
paid just $4,500 for it.

All me and Ant need to do
now is pay respects to this car.

Fix the oil leaks, change
the rubbers, clean the car up

and I'm convinced we can
give this car a new lease of life.

I just hope Ant's on board.

I want to get it back to the workshop.

A German tank!

What, is it a Panther or a Tiger?

Yeah, you could say that.

This is one of the finest
engineered cars ever made.

The Mercedes Benz 300 estate car.

And it's a turbo?

It's a turbo diesel, yeah, the one to have.

Yeah, the non-turbo ones
just aren't worth having.

Well, no, they are like
a snout with no legs.

They're just not worth having at all.
Isn't it lovely?

Right, I'm going straight
to the business end.

It's a bit dirty.

It's just like you would expect it to be.

That fuel pump, though, is a little piece
of engineering that I know you would love.

So there is an issue with the fuel pump?

I would have thought so, yeah.

I mean, a car is that slow
that that is probably, you know,

leaking or got something wrong with it.

All right, start her up.

Hands clear.

And I don't mean your German brother.

It's raffly, it's oily, it's
noisy, it's dirty, it's smokey.

I love everything about it.

I know it's fantastic, isn't it?

It's really good.

I don't remember it being
this dirty when I bought it.

Let me turn it off.

I can't hear ourselves think.

Oh, the hooter works.

Right, so what does she pull like?

Okay, well, this has got a very
complicated vacuum system

and it operates a lot of things, like
some of the gauges, the central locking.

It also helps make the gearbox operate.

Yeah, cut to the chase.

Is there a problem with the vacuum system?

Of course there's going to be a
problem with the vacuum system.

What did you expect?

It's going to leak, isn't it?

I mean, this car's over 30 years of age.

A bit like you, you're over 30, you leak.

The good thing about this one being a 1985,

this is the best of the best.

There's so many good things about it.

I mean, look how low
and easy it is to put stuff in.

I just think this car's
got so much to give.

All right, let's go straight to cash,

because you've obviously
paid, what, seven, eight?

Oh, you would say if this
car was seven or $8,000,

it would be a cheap car, but actually
the guy was only advertising it for $5,000.

You got all of this for five grand?

No, no, I'm a Wheeler dealer.

I got it for $4,500.

That's great news,

and that leaves a little
bit of extra cash in the kitty

to sort out the vacuum
and the fuel pump issues.

Yeah, and also the cleaning issues.

Look at your hand.

We've had the car for five minutes,

and you need to show a
bit more respect to the cars.

The Mercedes-Benz 300 Turbo Diesel Touring.

This is a classic car.

See, back in the day, this would
have been the ultimate family estate,

designed by proper car
people, engineered to last.

And on the back of this,

Mercedes dominated
that luxury estate market.

Now, our car's based on the W123 platform,

which lasted for nine years,
from 1976 all the way to 1985.

And then, well, something
rather sinister happened.

The money men at Mercedes got involved.

But all is not lost,
because our car's an 85 car.

So it's the very, very last
year of that nine-year block

where Mercedes produced
these unbelievably brilliant,

bulletproof masterpieces,

which means this car
is pretty flipping cool.

Now, you have to approach
diesel engines differently

than petrol engines when
diagnosing a problem.

You see, in a petrol
engine, when you accelerate,

you actually increase the air intake,
which then demands more fuel.

In a diesel engine, it's
the other way round.

To accelerate, the driver
adjusts the amount of fuel that's

injected into the engine,
which is why, on a diesel engine,

the fuel injection pump
is very, very important.

Now, if you ask any Mercedes diesel nerd,

they'll tell you that the injection
pump is a mechanical marvel.

It's something wonderful
to behold, because it is.

And it's also the heart of our engine.

Now, this model had a
tendency to lose power over time.

Not that it had much power to start with.

I'll start by removing the injection lines.

Careful when removing the fuel
lines as not to drop the copper washers.

Now, this Californian model left the
factory with only 118 brake horsepower,

while the rest of the US got
a little bit more, 123 brake.

But either way, it's not a
lot of grunt for a car this size.

These engines will run for half a million
miles if they're looked after properly.

The pumps, however,
these need a regular service.

You know, this isn't
something I can tackle in here.

So I'm going to get this to Mike to take
to a workshop with all the right equipment.

You know, this age of
Mercedes relies on vacuum

pressure for a lot of
the functions to operate.

Things like the ignition,
the central locking,

the climate control, even the cruise
control needs vacuum pressure to work.

And more importantly,
for the driving experience,

so does the gearbox.

Now, this is a diesel engine, so it doesn't
have any butterflies or a throttle body

that a normal petrol engine
would use to help regulate the

natural vacuum that's created
when a petrol engine runs.

So as a diesel engine, that
vacuum's actually quite negligible.

So instead, it's fitted with this
little vacuum pump right there.

Now, I already know that the pump's fine

because a lot of the
systems in the car are

working, like the central
locking, for example.

So what I need to do is
investigate from the pump,

tracing backwards to see
where we have a problem.

Now, the main feed
comes off this pipe here.

It goes all the way up to this junction

where it tees off to the
various things just before

the servo, and I can
already see the problem.

This bit here is perished
and broken already,

so I'm just going to swap that out
quickly now with a new bit of pipe.

Now, this machine here is going to
help me find any leaks within our system,

and it works by heating
up a really fine oil.

The point is, when you
introduce smoke into the system,

it allows it to bleed out
of even the tiniest of gaps.

so I can see exactly where the leaks are.

I'm just going to disconnect the main line,

put a bit of rubber hose on just to create

a really nice airtight seal,

and the other end of the
machine is this hose here.

So if I turn it on, it's pretty
obvious how it works.

And the system within the
Mercedes relies on negative pressure.

It relies on creating a vacuum,

and what the machine does is
it's putting in positive pressure.

It's pushing smoke around all the pipes,

and I'm just going to see
where it escapes out the system.

It's going to be obvious
because, like here,

it's just so simple.

God, it's pouring out of there.

Even the teeniest of tiniest
of holes within a system

that's designed to maintain vacuum
pressure is going to affect performance,

and that pipe there leads all
the way down to the gearbox,

and that hole will definitely
affect the way it shifts.

I think it's pretty obvious that a lot
of these pipes and fittings have failed,

but the good news is I've
got hold of a load of new ones.

And this fitting here, this
was only $5, about three

and a half quid, and that's
the most expensive one.

This whole reel of pipe's about $6,

and I guess the point I'm trying to make is

because it's so easy and
because it's so affordable,

don't cut corners.

I'm just going to replace the whole
lot, which is not only going to look great,

it's also going to work
great, starting with this.

Now, this should be a real nice, tight fit.

No wonder it's leaking.

Our Mercedes 300 TD has
covered a mere 200,000 miles.

In diesel terms, that's not much at all,

and that's thanks due in part to its
wonderful mechanical diesel fuel pump.

It really is there to
be the heart and soul

of that vehicle and to
keep it slowed down.

Now, mechanical fuel pumps have
been on the car since the mid-'40s,

all the way up until 2000 when
they changed to common rail.

Our one, unfortunately,
has seen better days.

It's got a little bit tired, so I've had it
sent here to my friends at United Diesel,

and they reckon that
they can fine-tune it for me

and get it performing like
it did 200,000 miles ago.

Well done, Justin.

Okay, so what are we
actually looking at here?

What is a mechanical fuel pump?

This is basically the
brains of the diesel engine.

This is what actually
puts fuel in the engine,

controls the RPM.

Your pedal is hooked to your ejection
pump, and when you put the pedal down,

the injection pump starts
to put fuel in the engine.

And these are complicated little
bits of engineering, aren't they?

It's like a small engine within an engine.

Oh, yeah, but basically,
inside that fuel injection pump

is a cam like this, and
basically what that does

is move lifters up and down
to control pumping plungers.

The pumping plungers are
going up and down and turning

to control how much fuel goes
to the injectors and the engine.

I mean, that is complicated, isn't it?

And these little beasts, if they go wrong,

you have to pull them
apart and rebuild them.

It seems to be quite a few components.

Correct, I mean, they can cause smoking,

low power, overpower, missing.

I mean, if the injection pump's not working
right, your engine's not working right.

Well, my car, it's tectonically slow.

Honestly, when I put my foot down,

I can grow a beard faster than
I can get to 60 miles an hour.

Well, like I said, this
basically controls your

fuel, so if you're having
a low fuel problem,

you're going to have a low power problem.

So what we could do is actually
take this and put it on our test stand

to actually check the calibration
in it and see where we are.

We're going to spin this
thing about 2,000 RPM,

so we want to make sure
this thing's really locked down.

We'll also put an inlet line of
fuel and then a return line of fuel,

and then we have our
individual cylinder injector lines.

When we're eating each
cylinder up on the screen,

we're going to see
where our fuel delivery is

to be able to tell if we're having
a fueling problem over and under.

Gotcha.

And if it needs some kind of
adjustment, why don't you adjust it?

These two nuts, you
can move them back and

forth, and that will give
you more or less fuel.

So as you can see, one
through four are pretty

even, but our fifth
cylinder is kind of low.

Yeah, low.

So this could be our low
power problem right here.

So what we're probably going to have
to do is make some adjustments here

to get our fuel level back
up to the factory spec.

So what's the first adjustment
you're going to make?

So basically what we're going to do is

we're going to increase
the fuel on the high end here.

So Justin, I notice you
took the... What is this?

This is the diaphragm.

Yeah, you took it off the pump,

brought it over to the bench,
and you're working furiously on it.

What's gone wrong?

We think there might
be a crack in it or a tear

where it's not letting air push the
diaphragm down so we can't get that full fuel

for that low power problem
we're complaining about.

And how would that have happened?

Dare I say, is it the home mechanic?

No, I wouldn't say we're the home mechanic,

but it's a possibility,
but it also is a 1985,

so everything wears
out, so it's hard to say,

and once I get it
apart, I may have a little

better idea, but I just
don't know at this time.

Justin's working flat out behind me.

He actually cracked open the diaphragm,

and the way that this works inside,

there's this little diaphragm plate,
and it's either vacuum or pressure,

and they need it open
to get fuel fuel into it,

and this little post here
should be joined to it.

It's broken, so we need a new part,

and that's what he's put on, and he's gone
back into... It's hard to get in his way.

He works really quick.

Faster than my Mercedes, actually.

Much faster.

As you can see, it's a big difference

where we're at 44, 43,


Oh, there it goes.

So what that could
tell us is there's actually

a delivery valve in there
too that could be sticking,

and it just might need to be taken
out, cleaned up, and then put back in.

Whoever owned this
vehicle had water in their fuel.

You can see all this rust in there.

Oh, right.

And that's real bad for injection pumps.

Water is really bad for any fuel system.

Dare I say that if you
found it on this cylinder here,

is it not going to be the
same across all of them?

Yes, because basically all five cylinders.

are in the same fuel chamber,

so they all share the same
fuel that's gone through it.

There's a lot more work involved.

The diaphragm's now working.

We know the injectors are going to be good.

Right, so fingers crossed that we get
good numbers all the way across, yeah?

Fingers crossed.

Yes.

There we go.

That is fantastic, and it's green
all the way across the board.

Yes, very good.

It even sounds different.

So you're pleased with it now?

I'm very pleased with it.

So what we'll do is we'll get
this all cleaned up for you and

get you on your way so you can
get this back on that Mercedes.

Lovely. Thanks, Justin.

Thank you.

Well, that Mercedes fuel pump
really has come a long way.

Well, it's done 200,000 miles, in fact.

But now look at it.

It's had a proper test and check.

It's had new delivery valves.

The diaphragm has been replaced.

It's all been cleaned up, and it looks
like it will do another 200,000 miles.

In fact, I don't think I'm
going to be seeing these guys.

I've seen this for many years to come,
because this is ready to get back on the car.

Hey, up, fella.

Hey, how's it going?

How are you?

Yeah, good.

That's a German tank getting on.

Yeah, good.
Well, I've sorted out a load of leaks.

They were everywhere.

And more importantly,
that pipe there runs down

to the gearbox, and it
had a massive hole in it.

Right, so now you've sorted that out,
and it should shift nice and smoothly.

Oh, yeah, it's going to be lovely.

Proper.

Listen, while I'm in the kind of
engine zone, what's the service history?

Well, being that the car's old, the
paperwork's been lost along the way,

so just for safety's sake,
I would adjust the valves.

The valves, yeah, same page.

Yeah, good.

Okay, so now the car should shift, right?

Let's hope we get our performance back,

because as you know, it
was dog slow when I bought it.

So the fuel pump people
had this on their machine,

and they diagnosed a load of force,

number one being this diaphragm.

It's metal, and the post was
actually cracked and snapped off.

They even checked every
single one of the injectors.

Perfect.

Well, I'll wrap up what I'm
doing, and then I'll get this all in.

Before you do, I've got
one more thing for you.

It's that.

Why?

Well, it's an aerial.

Well, I can see it's an aerial.

Well, the other one was broken, and
even our tank needs a good reception.

All right, good luck.

Oh, yeah.

I'll see what you did there.

Now, this injection
pump, it's just amazing.

It's like an engine within itself.

It has a camshaft,
cylinders, pistons, and valves,

and Mike's done me a real
favour getting it serviced,

but it's not just a case
of bolting it back in.

Now, before I took it
out, I deliberately set

the engine to 24 degrees
before top dead centre.

Now, Mercedes make it easier for you because
they put these little marks on there,

and I'm just checking
that they haven't moved.

Yeah, that's good.

Now, the engine's set, and the
pump itself also has a timing Mark.

That little notch there needs
to line up with that notch there,

which it does.

This unit acts as a pump and an
injection system, and on top of that,

it times the exact moment
the fuel hits the cylinders

and all of that within a
fraction of a nanosecond.

That's why the timing is critical.

When fuel combusts, it takes its time.

It's actually not instant.

If you watch a video of fuel
burning in super slow-mo,

you'll see that it burns
from the outside in.

The flame spreads across it like a wave.

The high pressure created by the pump
forces that exact same droplet of fuel

into loads of smaller droplets, creating
a mist of fuel within the cylinder.

The surface area of that
same droplet has increased

massively because, of
course, now it's really fine.

Basically, setting fire
to a cloud of vapour

is way more efficient than
burning big droplets of fuel.

Quicker burn leads to
bigger expansion and leads

to the pistons being thrown
down with more power.

I've deliberately left the injection pump
loose because there's one final adjustment.

You'll notice that the pump itself.

rotates ever so slightly left and right.

It's a bit like a distributor,

the idea being that you want to try
and find the sweet spot for fuel delivery.

To do that, I'm going to do a drip test,

which means taking that cap off.

and undoing this bolt.

Hidden under here is a tiny little spring.

Let me take that spring out.

At the moment, the pump's
set up for high pressure.

By removing the spring, it makes
that first outlet a low-pressure outlet.

I'm just going to add
this tiny little pipe.

I'm going to use this spare cap
here just to catch any excess fluid.

Then, using this hand pump on
the side, I'm going to prime the pump.

This is here just in case
you do run out of fuel.

Unlike a petrol car, you can simply put
more petrol in it and start it up again.

But a diesel needs to be primed.

It needs to be completely full of fuel.

It's perfect for this set-up.

You'll see the fuel is
just starting to drip out.

Manually, I'm building up
the pressure within the pump.

If I open up the throttle,

by rotating the pump one
way, the drips get faster.

If I go the other way, of
course, the drips get slower.

The point is, I want to
try and find the sweet spot.

where it drips at about one drip a second.

Perfect.

Then, lock that in place.

Of course, that leads me
to drop the spring back in.

The unit goes back to high pressure.

These hard lines here,

these transport the fuel
from the pump to the injectors

at over 5,000 psi.

That's the pressure required
to turn those droplets into a mist.

These flexible hoses here
link all the injectors together.

What's really cool is the
pump actually supplies

excess fuel to the injectors,
just in case you need it.

Any fuel that isn't used gets returned
via these hoses back into the system.

It's pretty genius.

Newer, more modern diesels
inject fuel at around 40,000 psi.

If a fine mist on our 80s Mercedes is good,
a very, very fine mist is now amazing.

Automotive progress.

We're now proud owners of the
indestructible Mercedes 300 TD.

A German tank!

To keep it going for another
quarter of a million miles,

we've already dealt with the vacuum leaks.

Even the teeniest of tiniest of
holes is going to affect performance.

And the injection pump.

Fingers crossed that we get good
numbers all the way across, yeah?

Now, on to the valves.

Now, even though this is diesel
powered, it does have a lot of parallels

with your average
petrol engine in that both

have valves, and those
valves need adjustment.

Now, valves are critical for an engine
to run properly, especially in diesels.

And if they're not adjusted
correctly, it can mean a loss in power.

Now, this Mercedes, you have to
check the valves every 12,000 miles,

or every year, whichever one comes sooner.

And judging by the miles on the clock,

and no service history,

I reckon it hasn't been done in a while.

Now, underneath here is pretty much
identical to an overhead cam petrol engine,

in that there's a camshaft.

Now, underneath that camshaft,
there's hidden the valves,

and those valves are held
closed by valve Springs.

As the camshaft rotates, driven
by this timing chain off the crank,

it's the changing shape of
the lobes on the shaft itself

that forces those valves
to either open or close.

And it's the exact point
when the valve is either open

or closed that is critical
to this engine running.

And the bit I'm interested
in is that tiny little gap there.

Now, if that gap's too
tight, the valves can open

at the wrong time, which
can affect compression.

If that gap's too loose, not only is it
going to make an annoying tapping sound,

it's also going to throw
out ignition timing.

The point I'm trying to make is
that over time, that gap can shift.

And it's for that reason, Mercedes
make it a regular maintenance item.

It's always best to do this
when the engine's cold,

because metal has a tendency to expand
and contract as the temperature changes.

So doing it when it's
cold keeps it consistent.

Now, I've rotated the camshaft so
that the heel, the small part of the lobe,

rests against the rocker with
the valve sitting underneath.

Now, Mercedes tell me that the gap between
here should be ten thousandths of an inch.

Now, that is pretty small.

But to give you an idea, if I was
to take two sheets of A4 paper

and slide it in the middle, that's the gap.

But, of course, I'm not going to use paper.

I'm going to use these feeler gauges.

And each one of these
fingers is a different thickness.

And the one I want is this one.

Ten thousandths of an inch.

And that should slide.

I mean, that's pretty much no gap at all.

I can't even get the Gauge in there,

which tells me that that valve's probably
open when it really should be closed.

And that's going to affect the
compression on that cylinder.

And low compression means we're not getting
the maximum power from that cylinder.

So I need to open that gap up.

These handy bent spanners are
all I need to secure the locking nut.

And release it enough to adjust the valves.

The idea is you use one spanner
to hold the lower locking nut

and then use the other
spanner to rotate the upper nut.

And then you either open
or close that valve space.

And keep checking it
with the feeler gauges.

When you've got the right desired
width, you simply lock it in place.

Double check it.

Perfect.

And then move on to the next one.

Check the next intake valve.

Rotate the engine so that the
next cylinder intake valve is closed.

I'm going to do all the intakes first.

That one's also tight.

Same again. Loosen.

Adjust. Tighten.

That's the intake side done.

And now on to the exhaust side,
which is done in exactly the same way,

although the tolerances
are slightly different.

On every single engine, the
exhaust valve is the hottest part.

And that's because it's right at the point
of all that fire and fury of combustion.

And because of the hot exhaust
gases escaping out of a tiny little gap,

the metal in that area
is subject to expansion.

So it gets a bit of leeway.

And that is it.

The valve clearances are done.

It's such an important job, and it's one
of those jobs that often gets overlooked.

See, back in the day,
it's something that you

would have done at home
yourself on the driveway.

Nowadays, it feels like
that skill's kind of lost.

So have a go yourself.

Now, these cars are bulletproof.

The build quality is outstanding.

You can see why they take
half a million miles in their stride.

And that's because it comes from an
era where Mercedes built things to last.

And I don't mean they built things
simply, because like any other car,

it still has its foibles
like this cracked dash,

which hopefully Mike's
going to sort out later.

But another worry is if I turn the
ignition on, press the antenna button,

yeah, my aerial has a
problem rising to the occasion.

I'm not the only 300T the owner that's
going to have a problem with the aerial.

On this car, it's quite a common issue.

Now, in modern cars, they tend to hide it.

But if you owned a car from,
say, the 1930s to the millennium,

undoubtedly, it's probably
fitted with an aerial,

which becomes an important
part of the aesthetics.

It keeps the car in period.

Nowadays, they kind of hide it in sexy
shark fins or Bury it within the glass.

It's a long way from that bent old broken
coat hanging you used to shove in the hole.

Which, trust me, I did too.

A lot of these telescopic
aerials are manual.

You have to get out the
car and simply put it up.

This is a Mercedes.

You can't expect a Mercedes
driver to get out of the car.

I'll know. This one's motorised.

Fortunately, the aerial is easily
accessed by the spare tyre well.

Just a plug and a couple
of screws and she's out.

As suspected, there's the problem.

In fact, if I compare the
old one next to the new one,

you'll see that this white piece, this
serrated edge, is a fraction of the size,

which means the broken bit's
somewhere buried inside here.

First off, remove that tiny
little circlet and the washer.

And then these gears
come out one at a time.

And if I turn it over, there's
this little housing on the rear.

There it is.

The broken piece is hidden inside there.

That's the bit that's missing.

It's actually really easy
to put it all back together.

and then slide the new one in.

And that is the aerial fully seated.

It's always best practice to
give a tidy up before you refit.

Done.

Look at that car. That's amazing.


years, except if you're driving this.

This is the best of the best.

The Mercedes Benz 300 estate car.

But all those miles have taken their toll.

That hole will definitely
affect the way it shifts.

And dealt with the issues
thrown his way by father time,

and I helped inject some
new life into an old pump.

That is fantastic.

And it's green all the
way across the board.

It still won't get you where
you're going in a hurry,

but as they say, success is
the journey, not the destination.

Now, how much did that journey cost us?

We bought the car for $4,500.

Vacuum lines and connectors, 60.

Fuel injection pump,
calibrated with new seals, 700.

A valve cover gasket
and valve adjustment, 22.

Antenna repair, 24.

Wood shifter panel, 250.

New driver's armrest cover, 84.

Dash cap was 129.

Carpet dye was just $40,

which gives us a grand total of $5,809.

Around 4,500 pounds,
all done in 17 man hours.

You're not going to find a classier
individual on the road today.

Look at all this stuff.

What, and you don't think we're
going to get all of that into this car?

Oh no, this car is going to
swallow everything we throw at it.

These are fantastic for this kind of stuff.

I was always impressed
with this car when I bought

it, how good it was, but
now you've cleaned it up.

Look at it, it's like it's brand new.

You're going to love this.

Open that up.

Right, well before this
was an embarrassment.

Oh yes, it was covered in
soot, dirt, muck, oil, grease.

It was covered in everything,
but no, that looks fantastic.

Perfect.

Let's load up.

We've got a trip to do.

Right, so middle bar, yes.

Do you want to have a bungee?

No, I think I've got this.

Oh, it looks incredible.

The dashboard, the wood, the seats, wow.

Yeah, well you think I'm
going to leave it like that,

sort it out the dash, bits of wood,
also this little armrest as well.

It all adds up to a beautiful Mercedes.

Yeah, it looks absolutely fantastic.

It's got that Germanic build quality.

And the thing I like
about these cars, although

they're old, and this
one's 34 years of age,

I can guarantee almost everything
in there, all the switch gear,

is going to feel like the day it did when
it rolled off the factory production line.

Yeah, are you excited?

Not yet.

I am now.

Go on then, off we go.

Right, this is the bit
where I start the car up,

tear out the driveway, lay
some number 11s down.

No, not in this car.

This is the bit where you look both ways,
make sure you indicate and pull out gently.

Right, adventure.

Go quick, quick, quick,
quick, before this car comes.

This is quick.

Back in the day, this car
was really the equivalent

of a hundred grand sort
of Range Rover today.

And with that 300 TD engine,

you can literally throw
anything that's combustible at it.

I'm pretty sure you can
put logs in this engine,

and it will still go.

This is the perfect place
to put this car for its places.

We can test out the handling on
these twisty, winding country roads.

Yeah, I don't think
that's the car for this.

All right, what about a
little bit of off-roading?

Again, I think you're thinking
of maybe an alternative vehicle.

You're absolutely right.

This car's not meant to
do any of those things.

This car's sole purpose is to take people
from A to B repeatedly over and over again.

Yeah, and again and again and again.

And that's the point.

This car's almost done a
quarter of a million miles.

Think about it.

That's the moon.

I mean, that's going
round the equator ten times.

And after we've given it some love,

I reckon it's going to do a
quarter of a million again.

Oh, of course it will.

Easily, this car's going to outlive us.

I know it is.

And not only that,

all those tests would be absolutely
meaningless to a car like this anyway.

I mean, the only test that I
did do when I bought the car,

and maybe we should think about
doing it, is maybe a speed test.

Seriously, no, I did
a 0 to 60 test in the

car when I got it, and
it was painfully slow.

But now... Oh, right.

So you're thinking with
the improved timing,

with the work you've done on the fuel pump.

I mean, yeah, in theory.

Let's try it.

Right, now, remember, the last
time I tested this car... It's 20 seconds.

Before all the work you've done to it,
before me having that fuel pump rebuilt,

it was 20 seconds, so
let's see if we can beat it.

Okay. Ready?

Three, two, one, go.

Okay, here we go.

We're at 10 miles an hour.







And then we're coming
up to 50 miles an hour.



Come on, girl.

Come on, get to 60.



Yeah!

Yeah, show that, show that.

Seventeen, five, three, one.

That is fantastic.

So that means we've knocked
two and a half seconds...

It's almost three seconds, 15%.

I mean, that's brilliant, isn't it?

In an old car, with a little bit of tuning,

a little bit of work, a little bit...

And we've made this car
back to what it should be.

Just give the little
wobble in the steering.

Well, I've got these boats
on the roof, I don't know.

Oh, no, don't lose the boat.

This is perfect.

We're camping by a mountain lake.

You deserve it, Sunshine.

So why don't we pull over,
set up camp, call the sunset.

Lovely.

Whoa!

Mike!

What?

You nearly whipped me.

Nice.

I think we're almost done, aren't we?

Yeah, this is lovely.

What's great about this car is
it can go absolutely anywhere.

Talking of freedom, I'm
off to a log cabin tonight,

so you have good fun tonight, eh?

Enjoy yourself.

What?

Yeah, I'm going to go
and stay in a nice log cabin.

Well, it gives you a bit
of freedom, doesn't it?

Wrap up warm tonight.

Apparently, it's going to be pretty cold.

Are you kidding me?

No.

Is this some sort of mite for a wind-up?

Yeah, it's a joke.

Now, our Mercedes 300 TD was already
a fairly decent car when I found it.

All it needed was a little bit
of injection from Mike and Ant,

so that's exactly what we did to it.

Now this car runs, drives,
performs, and looks just as it does.

It's an easy car to get down the road.

So then, Ray, like what you see?

I love it.

You do?

Thank you very much, yeah.

So why do you want one of these?

They're classic beauty.

They'll last forever.

Do you agree with me that these come from
a period of time in Mercedes-Benz history,

when they just made the
finest cars in the world?

Highly engineered.

Really engineered?

Absolutely.

Well, I know you are really pleased
with the work that we've done to this car.

I've advertised it out there
at what the market wants.

That's $11,500.

What did you say?

That's a good price.

I'm thinking more of $11,000.

$11,000?

Yes.

That's a fair offer.

Thank you very much.

Make it another $100,
you've got yourself a deal.



You know what?

Top man!

Just bought yourself a Mercedes 300 TD.

Well done.

Thank you very much.

Well done, Ray.

Enjoy it.

You know, sometimes cars don't
have to be flash, glamorous or even fast.

They just have to be enduring.

Like this Mercedes 300 TD.

I'm convinced this car's
enduring legacy will outlive me.

When we've had this car in the workshop,

almost anyone who's come into contact with
it and touched it has wanted to buy it.

But Ray is the lucky man
who gets to take it home.

If you want to see more iconic cars like
this being turned around by me and Ant,

then join us again soon
on Wheel Of Dealers.

Tala!