Zel's Motoring Adventures...Peugeot, Renault, Rover, Trabant, Invacar, Volvo & A Sinclair C5 - Updated 09/10.

[Crackers]

18 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Nice little detail to find.  Just a shame it's so faded...wonder if someone sells reproduction engine bay sticker sets for the W123...

If you can find someone online/local with one of those stickers in good clean condition, it would be astonishingly easy to get a replacement made up. A high-res photo of it in bright, even lighting would allow you to get an almost perfect reproduction. Worth a go.

[Zelandeth]

4 hours ago, Crackers said:

If you can find someone online/local with one of those stickers in good clean condition, it would be astonishingly easy to get a replacement made up. A high-res photo of it in bright, even lighting would allow you to get an almost perfect reproduction. Worth a go.

Looks like for about £20 I can get a really good quality looking set of reproduction foil backed stickers for the whole car - which given that they are basically all missing or looking extremely dog eared may well be the road I end up going down.  Not making a decision on that yet though.

Gave the interior plastics a really quick wipe down this afternoon with some vinyl & rubber care solution.  Never ceases to amaze me how much life that alone can bring back to the interior of a car.

The interior really is a pleasant place to be.

Also gave a few of the exterior plastics a quick wipe down - totally forgetting the grey bit of the radiator grill.  Derp.

Noticed while doing this that there's quite a bit of condensation in the nearside headlight.

So given how warm it currently is have just popped the rear cover off it, hoping the weather will dry it out for me.  I'll have a closer look to see if I can see any evidence of where water may have got in at a later date.

May just renew the foam seal around the lens as a precaution if I can't find anything.  Looks easy enough to do at least.

Edit: Forgot to include a couple of photos from earlier in the day.  Really do feel that there aren't many cars which can match the sheer presence the W123 has on the road, not until you start getting into Rolls territory anyway.

Really does suit the estate shape I think too, quite a few estate variants can look quite clunky next to their saloon or hatch counterparts but this one just works.

[Noel Tidybeard]

21 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Did notice one nice detail in the engine bay that I'll need to try to remake...you know all that technical info for servicing you're likely to need?  Spark plug type and gap, timing details, valve clearances...all right here on the slam panel.

Nice little detail to find.  Just a shame it's so faded...wonder if someone sells reproduction engine bay sticker sets for the W123..

you're welcome

https://www.marceldeijkers.nl/index.php/mercedes-stickers/1025840740-detail

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Mercedes-190-und-200-serie-M102-98-Aufkleber-W201-neu-1025840740-W201-W124-/184052780957

https://mercedes-190.co.uk/mercedes-sticker-many-in-stock-see-example-in-the--t58620.html

[Noel Tidybeard]

oh by the way

you are Citizen Khan AICMFP 🤣

[Slowsilver]

14 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Gave the interior plastics a really quick wipe down this afternoon with some vinyl & rubber care solution.  Never ceases to amaze me how much life that alone can bring back to the interior of a car.

The interior really is a pleasant place to be.
 

Looks much smarter already. Try some boiled linseed oil on the driver's heel mat. That would finish it off nicely.
 

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Slowsilver said:

Looks much smarter already. Try some boiled linseed oil on the driver's heel mat. That would finish it off nicely.
 

Haven't even vacuumed yet, the heel board will probably just get a decent clean.  Have to admit to a serious distrust of boiled lineed oil as it was responsible for one of our neighbours when I was five or so burning their garage to the ground...while I consciously know carelessness was the deciding factor (they were a bit of a clown) it's just something that sticks in my head.

Rocker cover gasket arrived this morning so should be able to look at getting the valve clearances set and the top end at least something resembling oil tight soon.  Then will get an oil and filter change done.

Not doing that beforehand as I'll probably want to clean things up after removing the petrified remains of the old seal etc so don't want to end up washing crud down into the sump if it's full of fresh oil.

[PhilA]

You know you need to have the correct stickers.

It's German. Having stickers is important.

[Zelandeth]

Noticed the other day that one of the rear exhaust hangers weren't attached.

Upon reattaching this it became immediately apparent why - because the exhaust hits the bodywork with them both on because they're too short.

Cue horrible buzzing rattling noise as soon as the engine was started.

Solution?  Fit two new hangers which are slightly longer.  Problem solved.

While in that corner I investigated the non functional reversing light.  Just a case of dirty contacts, after a quick clean it was back in action - though it needs a good clean and ideally a new lens.

Otherwise it's been a pretty frustratingly unproductive day.

[R1152]

4 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Haven't even vacuumed yet, the heel board will probably just get a decent clean.  Have to admit to a serious distrust of boiled lineed oil as it was responsible for one of our neighbours when I was five or so burning their garage to the ground...while I consciously know carelessness was the deciding factor (they were a bit of a clown) it's just something that sticks in my head.

Spontaneous combustion of rags used for applying linseed oil is well known to both wood finishers and cricketers.

[Slowsilver]

I was warned on here about this spontaneous combustion risk just after I first used it. I had left a rag soaked in it in the garage so immediately ran out to check and was surprised to find that it felt significantly cooler than the ambient. Maybe I was just lucky, but I have had no problems with it at all.
 

[R1152]

13 hours ago, Slowsilver said:

I was warned on here about this spontaneous combustion risk just after I first used it. I had left a rag soaked in it in the garage so immediately ran out to check and was surprised to find that it felt significantly cooler than the ambient. Maybe I was just lucky, but I have had no problems with it at all.
 

I think the problem arises when the rags get put in sealed containers or bins, as some do to prevent the rags drying out. 

[Zelandeth]

Couple of things done today...first of which you wouldn't be able to see on camera - cleaning the inside and outside of the windscreen.  It's nice being able to see where I'm going now.  Inside was particularly bad with a really thick, greasy coating on it.

Had a nose around under the bonnet with a view to seeing what I need to move to get the rocker cover off.  Doesn't look like it should be too bad.

Found a nut and a few washers so have replaced the missing nut on the exhaust manifold.

You can see pretty well how much oil is everywhere.

I am seriously looking forward to cleaning this engine bay.  Not only will it be immensely satisfying, but it will be really nice to not get covered in black grime every time I so much as walk within ten feet of it.

Spotted something that needed immediate attention today...this looks like it might be a vacuum leak.

Yep...

Found another one of these in a similar state over on the offside inner wing.  I don't have a diagram of the vacuum system yet so not actually sure what this does just now...

I'll probably go around and change all of these boot connectors at some point as they're all a bit soft.

Speaking of rubber that needs changing, the supply line for the self leveling suspension is looking rather sorry for itself.

Will look to get that changed soon.  I do need to confirm what type of fluid this uses - though the initial glance at Google seems to suggest that it's basically LHM with a Merc logo on.  Which would be nice as I've a load of that in stock.

Realised this afternoon that I'm going to need to spend more money before the proper cleaning can start though as my pressure washer died a couple of months ago.  This shows that she really needs a good clean...

I think one of the first  on mechanical issues will be seeing what I can do to straighten this out.

This panel needs to come out anyway for two reasons.  One is to replace the tailgate gas struts, the other is to fit rear speakers as there currently aren't any.

The moulding is basically fibreboard and I imagine has got wet at some point.  Hoping that with a bit of persuasion I might be able to get it to sit flat again.  Apparently getting this hooked back in place is a pig of a job so hopefully I'll only need to do it once.

[J-T]

Regarding that suspension hose - have a read around 1st before you touch it if it’s not actually leaking. I have a hazy memory of one being NLA but I can’t remember if it’s the one from the reservoir to the pump or the one from the pump.

I think it is LHM that it uses. That was about the only fluid that I didn’t change so god knows how long it’s been in there.

As an aside, it was also never particularly water tight in terms of cabin leaks,  so I’d recommend covering it if keeping it outside and not using it that often, when the weather changes.

[Noel Tidybeard]

on the subject of jet washers i'm thinking i may need to replace mine soon so i've been mooching- pro-kleens units look good value for money

https://www.prokleen.co.uk/pressure-washer-kits

[Zelandeth]

6 minutes ago, J-T said:

Regarding that suspension hose - have a read around 1st before you touch it if it’s not actually leaking. I have a hazy memory of one being NLA but I can’t remember if it’s the one from the reservoir to the pump or the one from the pump.

I think it is LHM that it uses. That was about the only fluid that I didn’t change so god knows how long it’s been in there.

As an aside, it was also never particularly water tight in terms of cabin leaks,  so I’d recommend covering it if keeping it outside and not using it that often, when the weather changes.

Thanks for the heads up.  She's going to be in regular use so hopefully any water ingress issues will be tracked down reasonably quickly.

The hose is the intake from the tank to the pump.  Not too worried if the factory one is NLA as it's just a bit of generic hydraulic line at the end of the day - it's just a jubilee clip and barb connection at both ends so doesn't need to be anything special (beyond being resistant to mineral oil obviously).  The fluid does look pretty manky - it's definitely not the colour of LHM, but that doesn't mean anything.  It definitely *smells* like LHM. 

Noted when working on the exhaust manifold earlier that it looks like there has been some long term weeping going on in the vicinity of the brake master cylinder which hasn't done the paint down there any favours.  That's something which will definitely be cleaned up and an eye kept on.

[Zelandeth]

4 minutes ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

on the subject of jet washers i'm thinking i may need to replace mine soon so i've been mooching- pro-kleens units look good value for money

https://www.prokleen.co.uk/pressure-washer-kits

I'm still somewhat undecided on what I'm going to go for here.  I'm probably going to end up going down the petrol route.  Either that or a Kranzle...though they're ****ing expensive.  Though if I did buy one it would probably outlive me.  It was the one tool that never, ever let us down at the garage despite much use and abuse.

[Noel Tidybeard]

5 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

I'm still somewhat undecided on what I'm going to go for here.  I'm probably going to end up going down the petrol route.  Either that or a Kranzle...though they're ****ing expensive.  Though if I did buy one it would probably outlive me.  It was the one tool that never, ever let us down at the garage despite much use and abuse.

flash bastid😁🤣

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

flash bastid😁🤣

I spent many years not having two pennies to rub together, trying to keep the cheapest bits of tat which someone else had already been thrown out by someone else.  We did honestly regularly have weeks where we had to  chose between putting £10 of fuel in the car or putting dinner on the table...which was a difficult compromise when the supermarket was 15 miles away.

Given we're in a halfway reasonable position these days I keep getting kicked by the rest of the family to actually buy half decent tools.  Not about to go full my garage with Snap-On kit, but the pressure washer is something I use quite a lot.  Wrangling the power cable and trying to keep it from getting tangled around either of the hoses annoys me more than just about anything on earth, hence my wish for either A: A petrol one to eliminate it, or B: A more professional one with a wicked long hose on the Lance so the pressure washer itself just stays put while I work.

If I came across an ideal engine I'd not say no to buying a pump head separately and making one...the little Briggs on our old mower wouldn't be a bad candidate aside from having a vertical shaft which is less than ideal.

 

[Noel Tidybeard]

they've not long had a new one at  work- wall mounted!

main unit inside, hose reel outside, 100litre tfr tank inside! the only thing it don't do is hot!

[DodgyBastard]

Regarding that suspension hose - have a read around 1st before you touch it if it’s not actually leaking. I have a hazy memory of one being NLA but I can’t remember if it’s the one from the reservoir to the pump or the one from the pump.
I think it is LHM that it uses. That was about the only fluid that I didn’t change so god knows how long it’s been in there.
As an aside, it was also never particularly water tight in terms of cabin leaks,  so I’d recommend covering it if keeping it outside and not using it that often, when the weather changes.

Yes, I found out about the water ingress after it rained and left the front seats drenched but after thoroughly cleaning the sunroof drains out with compressed air it never leaked again.
We had torrential rain a few weeks ago and I'm happy to say there wasn't a drop of rain inside the cabin.

Sent from my moto g( power using Tapatalk

[J-T]

26 minutes ago, DodgyBastard said:

Yes, I found out about the water ingress after it rained and left the front seats drenched but after thoroughly cleaning the sunroof drains out with compressed air it never leaked again.
We had torrential rain a few weeks ago and I'm happy to say there wasn't a drop of rain inside the cabin.

Sent from my moto g( power using Tapatalk
 

I never actually had it leak from the sunroof! Though clearly it had done before from the state of the headlining around it.

It was letting in water at the corners of the screen and from the bonnet hinge area, but I managed to get that about 75% stopped. I used to find if it had been sat, it was worse - if it moved regularly it didn’t seem to build up. So just keep using it!

[Zelandeth]

Yep...we do have a fuel leak when the tank is fullish and the car is moving.

It's not on the supply/return circuit, it's definitely just caused by fuel sloshing about.  I'll need to pull the floor out of the boot and see if we can see the gauge sender.  Hoping it's just the seal on that having failed as replacing that sounds way less hassle than dealing with a hole in the tank.

Tidied up the little storage compartment next to the fuel filler neck while I was peering in there to see if I could see any leakage around the neck.

Should be a warning triangle and a first aid kit in here too, I'll get those reinstated at some point.

Yet more Scotchlock connectors... they're all over this car.

Wonder if this car had a tow bar fitted at some point in its life.

[DodgyBastard]

Yeah, it had a tow bar, you can see an outline from where it used to sit.

[cort1977]

I changed out a hard pipe and fluid on the SLS system on a W210 wagon once.  The fluid is essentially LHM as I understand it but the Mercedes version is a clear colour.  It was eye-wateringly expensive as well so definitely use the green stuff if you have it in stock and it's compatible.

[Zelandeth]

What you need to do to pull the rocker cover on a W123 with this engine:

Remove air cleaner housing (4 10mm nuts and pop two PCV hoses off).  Remove HT leads from the little plastic channel they sit in.

Detach the throttle cable at the engine end (little ball and socket setup, just pops off) and feed it back through the cable bracket.

Remove the nuts (noting that one is a bolt and post arrangement to hold the ATF dipstick in place).

Lift off rocker cover.  Time taken?  10 mins tops.

It's almost like someone actually put some thought into maintenance access.

As expected given the previous threads on this vehicle there's definite evidence of this poor engine having been quite neglected earlier in its life.  Grubby is the word that springs to mind.

The camshaft has definitely suffered - the lobes on the exhaust cams for cylinders 2 and 3 in particular have some impressive scoring.

This folks is why you should change your oil & filter regularly.

Valve clearances were a mixture of slightly loose, perfect and slightly tight. 

The plugs which came out look okay to me, albeit with number three showing slightly more by way of deposits than the other three (1 is to the left, 4 is right).

I think the engine is slightly quieter now, though she's still quite tappety.  I reckon I'm probably on a doomed quest to try to quiet it down much given the state of that camshaft.

Does anyone know if the camshaft can be swapped easily on this engine?  I know it's not the case on the XUD because the camshaft and head are line bored as a pair...no idea if that's true here.  If not I've probably got a solution on hand.

With the car came an entire spare cylinder head...on which the camshaft lobes look like this.

Nice and shiny.

So my thought would be at some point to transfer the camshaft and rocker assemblies over to the head in the car.

One thing I will be trying first though is to pull that spray bar off and making sure it's fully clear...given the amount of gunk present it wouldn't surprise me if several of the holes (particularly over 2/3) were clogged.  I didn't just do that on sight today as I've not checked if there are single use seals under it or anything like that.

After a quick test run it looks at least like the rocker cover may now be oil tight.

Let's see if it's still looking that way after a few miles have been covered.

Edit as some further thoughts from this afternoon came to mind: While this car shares the K-Jet injection system with the Saab, this being a "downdraught" setup plonked basically on top of the inlet manifold is definitely more maintenance friendly.  On the Saab you had to ensure that the (awkward to fit, often in the way) boot between the throttle body and air filter was in place and *absolutely* perfectly sealed, as the metering flap was basically bolted to the top of the air cleaner.

Being able to run this for testing purposes just like a carbed car with the filter off is *way* more mechanic friendly.  It also means that the entire injection assembly is about a foot higher up and easy to get to rather than buried in the depths of the nearside inner wing in front of the wheel arch.  I guess that's the price you pay on the 900 for that really low, sleek bonnet line.  Another interesting side effect is that it means you can actually see the metering plate doing its thing, and how the throttle linkage also interacts with it, providing the equivalent function to the accelerator pump on a carb fed car.  Speaking of mixtures, I really should stick the CO meter on this and make sure the base mixture is set correctly - though my nose and the condition of the plugs I just took out suggest to me that it's pretty much spot on.

I'm sure there will be expletives galore to follow (especially if and when I get involved in suspension work, she almost definitely needs new rear springs), but so far the couple of small jobs I've done have really shown that this car is an absolute joy to work on compared to anything I've owned in many, many years.

[Zelandeth]

Decided given we had obvious signs of poor lubrication on the camshaft that at least verifying that we had clear holes in the spray bar made sense.  Especially as I had a spare present on the spare head.

Here's it having just been removed - it has four pretty small holes in it which provide a drip feed of lubricant to the cam lobes, one for each pair.

They are pretty small.

Despite this head being about 93% cleaner than the one on the car, only two of the holes in this were clear... doesn't bode well for the one on the car.  I gave the "clean" one a thorough clean and got it flowing nicely.

Ten minutes later, had them swapped over.

Having clean metal to contrast it against really highlights how grubby that top end is.

All back together.

Has it made any audible difference?  Not really.  Though at least I know there's a good chance of lubrication getting to where it should now.

The old one was pretty manky indeed.

Only one of the holes was clear, one other was about 50% clogged and two were completely missing in action - and you couldn't even see them for the gunk...so I think this was worth doing, even if most of the damage is already done.  I feel better for knowing it has been checked out and cleaned at least.

[Zelandeth]

Having got to a point where I think I'm done messing about under the rocker cover for a bit it was now time to change the oil and filter.  Went out for a run first to get everything nice and warm and to ensure as much of the gunk was stirred up in solution as possible.

Sump plug unsurprisingly is really easy to get to and came off without excessive effort.  What came out was really dark but I've definitely seen worse.  It was dark brown rather than black ink like you tend to find in diesels.

Oil filter has some crud immediately visible on top of the filter even before it was pulled out.

This definitely looks to have done its time...the fact that part of the filter has collapsed tends to suggest to me it's a bit plugged.

It has actually pulled the element away from the top cap there.

Out of curiosity I will dissect this filter to see if there's any evidence of issues visible.

New filter in, new O-ring and copper washer fitted to the filter housing...

The old O-ring had (like the rocker cover gasket) pretty much turned to plastic.

Double checked I'd refitted the sump plug... possible to do easily from next to the car as you have line of sight of it.

Then refilled with some fresh oil, started up and checked for leaks.  None present.

I'm not used to seeing this sort of thing actually making any visible difference...but this has where hot idle oil pressure is concerned.  When at full temperature, in gear at idle I used to see 1 bar or fractionally above of oil pressure (it jumps off scale as soon as any revs are really used).

So it looks like I've gained somewhere in the region of 15psi of oil pressure at a hot idle.  Not going to complain at that.  I may try 15W 40 for the next change (10W 40 or 15W 40 are recommended) and see if that makes a difference.

Think my oil change program on this car is basically going to be "Change it as soon as it starts to look dirty" for a while.

[Zelandeth]

After 30 or so miles today the rocker cover still looks to be oil tight...except for the oil cap which looks to be weeping.

I did check that the PCV was clear when I had the cover off and it seems to be.  The problem I think is actually that the paint is flaking off the rocker cover meaning that the sealing surface isn't flat.

My solution is pretty simple...scrape the remaining paint around the cap sealing surface (having stuffed a rag in there to catch the flakes).  Yes I did spot I'd missed a bit after taking this photo.

We'll find out next time I have the car out probably tomorrow.

Only other thing I did today was to get the new front speakers fitted.  These had been upgraded at some point in the past, I'd say somewhere around 2000 based on the speakers found.  Discovered why they rattled so badly... because they weren't screwed in.  Just sitting on top of the dash.  Turns out this has also has resolved one of the main rattles in the dash in general.

The new ones are just cheap units (all of £16 from Halfords) but that really does show how far speaker technology has come over the years in that they're far better than the Sony ones that came out.

The dash moulding here is actually metal under the surface so now these are screwed down they are very securely anchored.  The grill just fits over the tweeter thankfully.  Equally thankfully the neon orange is completely hidden behind the grill.

The passenger side one sadly has one broken clip on it so the grill doesn't clip down securely at the front edge, I'll need to see what I can do about that - as I'm certainly not paying the £50 someone is asking for one of the covers on eBay at the moment.

I need to take some measurements to confirm if I have enough depth to play with, but if so I'll probably just throw a set of the same speakers in the rear.  As you've only got little 4" enclosures to play with (though the front ones do have proper acoustic foam in the enclosure behind them) I don't really think there's a huge point in paying big bucks for speakers.  What I'll probably do is look into getting one of those little self contained under-seat combined sub and amplifier boxes to just help things sound a bit more rounded out.  Should be easy to just run the wiring through the centre console as well without needing to dismantle too much.

Speaking of wiring...I really do hope that Mercedes included wiring for the rear speakers as part of the loom as routing wiring all the way back there will be a major faff.  Especially with the speakers being mounted in the head lining.  Not holding my breath there though!

I know audio is really low priority compared to a lot of things, but it's one of those things which make the car nicer to live with so I'd like to get it properly sorted sooner than later. 

In more useful news, a set of bootlid struts have now been ordered.  The next specific task I'm probably going to go after will be the trim on the bootlid.  It's tried to cut my wrist twice walking round the car now and I really don't want that happening to some random member of the public who then decides to sue me.

Trim is one of the things which just aren't available new for these cars and the prices for used parts are just silly if you look at the likes of eBay, so it's a case of make do, mend or wait patiently until something turns up at a sane price, most likely found through word of mouth rather than any internet search.

Tyres will probably be getting changed next week or the week after.  She will be getting a full set of Uniroyals fitted, and (if it's better than the current one) the best will be retained for the spare.  She does wander around a bit so I'll have the wheel alignment checked while we're there - I think the main issue though is just a bit of play in the steering box which we might be able to improve a bit with some adjustment.

So we are doing more important things than just replacing speakers!

[BorniteIdentity]

Huzzah.  Congratulations on the s123 purchase.  I've mused many a time that I would absolutely bloody love one of these, especially with a petrol engine and the matching wheel decorators.

The problem I now have, is what I'd sell to make room for one.  The Escort Kombi proved that it is helpful having an estate on fleet, but 90% of the time the hatchback (Sierra) will deal with the task at hand admirably.  

The other problem is most of the nice ones are pushing £10k with dealers who can afford to sit on them indefinitely.  

This was, no doubt, a decent buy.  Looking forward to you steadily improving it over the coming months.  It looks ace in front of your Motorhome (is it a 207D? - i had a 307 briefly!)

[Zelandeth]

Hmm...can you tell which panel I experimentally gave a wipe clean then hit with the polish and wax?

Looks like the paint might actually come up better than I expected.  The actual colour change was a surprise!

Tyres have now been ordered, garage have said they'll just give me a call when they're in and I can just drop by then.  Will be nice to have that done as the current set vary in age from 2017 at the newest to 2010 at the oldest and all have pretty significant perishing.  Front two look superficially fine as the sidewalls are OK, but they're cracking up inside the tread area instead.

I always like to have a matched set of tyres on a car anyway so this would probably have happened anyway...as it is though these have had it.  While being able to provoke a drift at just about any speed on a damp road is occasionally fun it's less than ideal in the real world when you're just trying to pull away from a set of traffic lights on a busy signalised roundabout.

13 hours ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Huzzah.  Congratulations on the s123 purchase.  I've mused many a time that I would absolutely bloody love one of these, especially with a petrol engine and the matching wheel decorators.

The problem I now have, is what I'd sell to make room for one.  The Escort Kombi proved that it is helpful having an estate on fleet, but 90% of the time the hatchback (Sierra) will deal with the task at hand admirably.  

The other problem is most of the nice ones are pushing £10k with dealers who can afford to sit on them indefinitely.  

This was, no doubt, a decent buy.  Looking forward to you steadily improving it over the coming months.  It looks ace in front of your Motorhome (is it a 207D? - i had a 307 briefly!)

I'd stopped even looking at these a few years ago because of the way prices had gone.  It's a car which had always been on my bucket list, but never thought I'd get hold of one. 

When this one popped up though I figured I had to go for it.  It's pretty much exactly the car I would have specced from new to be honest even down to interior and exterior colours.  Only thing which would have made it better would have been air con - though it probably wouldn't work even if it was fitted!  The huge sunroof and bloody effective blower fan do at least make a good effort at balancing it out too.  The blower set to 1 pushes through about as much air as the Xantias one did at about 85%.

Does prove though that if you keep your eyes and ears open there are still examples out there that change hands for not insane money, even if they are inevitably going to need a bit of TLC.

Van is indeed a 207D, in normally aspirated 2.3D flavour.  With a far too ridiculous exhaust that I really need to figure out a reasonable way to tame a bit...and just stop procrastinating about it and buy a new bonnet.

If I had even half a brain I'd polish it up and sell it now with how the prices of campers have gone...but I know full well that I'd never be able to get another one.  I'd wanted an old Merc van since I was about 5 when we hired one to move house with.  The life size Tonka toy looks and bus-like dash immediately hooked me...but I could never justify just buying a van for the hell of it.  We had discussed possibly getting a family camper though...so when this popped up on here a few years back it ticked *both* of those boxes so I immediately grabbed it.  Always puts a smile on my face driving it too.

Even though I reckon the van and car both having the same single multifunction stalk but on opposite sides of the steering column is going to mess with my head.

Prior experience with the Cappuccino has shown that getting my brain to switch to the indicators being on the right is easy.  It's switching back that messes with my head.  Much to the amusement of my parents when I used to visit them in the weekends back then.