1963 Mercedes Benz 190DC Fintail. Bad fuel tank and leaks.

[juular]

It really is absolutely stunning.

The fact it's an ölmotor makes it even more impossibly cool 

[Dyslexic Viking]

The fact that this is a diesel is one of the things I like so much about it. An old car without point ignition and carburetors and that is reliable and uses little fuel is just great. Some would say it's slow and noisy, but I think it's fast enough for rural driving and the engine noise doesn't bother me as I like diesel engines.

But I've been thinking if I get the chance to buy another one, a newer one and possibly a petrol and then convert it to a newer diesel engine from a W123 and higher diff gearing from a W111/W112 so it could do 100kmh comfortably it would be fantastic. But whether I am capable to do this and whether the road authorities here would let me do this is something else.

But one can dream.

[Yoss]

I quite often find interesting cars at Lidl but never quite as interesting as today. 

 

Then I started Googling it to see what I could find. It might be a local car with a few pictures of it around here. But this picture really caught my eye. 

Because I used to own this 2000. In fact it was my first ever 2000 in 1991. A man in a Ford Transit cut across the T junction I had just arrived at and wiped the offside front corner off. It wasn't in bad condition up to that point but not as shiny as it is now. I sold it to another 2000 Register member who repaired it and sold it to another member. That was John and he has owned it for more than thirty years now. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

This is a very nice and I think unusual color, thanks for sharing. 

And a status update on mine. We've had unusually warm and nice weather lately and I'm wanting to get this one back on the road. 

The only thing that stops me is the condition of the roads,. They usually clean the roads in spring to but they are very slow to get this done this year. So that's what I'm waiting for.

[Jim Bell]

On 03/04/2025 at 18:58, Dyslexic Viking said:

Some would say it's slow and noisy

Those people should be pushed down a well. It's exactly fast enough and sounds glorious from cold. 

[hairnet]

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

6 minutes ago, hairnet said:

 

I've seen most of it but a little annoyed that they don't appreciate these more as is one of the greatest cars ever made.

[Dyslexic Viking]

On Tuesday night they finally cleaned the roads so today this got its first drive of the year.

[TrabbieRonnie]

The car is looking good, well done 👍 

[Sir Snipes]

48 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

On Tuesday night they finally cleaned the roads so today this got its first drive of the year.

It looks like something DDR secret police would roll around in, if they didn't have Volgas or whatever. 

[hairnet]

dugga dugga

hubba hubba

 

[IronStar]

What a glorious looking car! 

[Dyslexic Viking]

Thanks everyone and it will be a little nicer when the hubcaps/wheel trims comes back on.

[hairnet]

nej hubcaps - touring car

was looking at the omg you want to what to your car

ford club norway were saying to a chap that its like germany if you want to do stuff it needs approval but his car is a 90s rs2000

they were saying the pre 1970 rules are different

they said you can change engines but only for +10%

[Dyslexic Viking]

It's beautiful weather today and warm and nice so perfect day for a drive.

 

And I'm now done retightening the wheel nuts so the wheel trims can go back on.

 

I was a little nervous about how things would behave with how many new parts there are now in the cooling system, but I didn't need to be as everything seems to work perfectly.

I need to retighten the fan belt and that's basically it. And the Mercedes star on the bonnet is having trouble standing up again, need to see if I can find a better fix than what's there but that's a typical of how things has been done on this car over the years.

 

[auntiemaryscanary]

Looks a lovely day over there @Dyslexic Viking. Enjoy.

[Popsicle]

2 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

And I'm now done retightening the wheel nuts so the wheel trims can go back on.

I'm a big fan of steel wheels, love the simplicity and functionality of them. When you mentioned putting the trims back on I thought no don't do it, black on black is a nice menacing, moody look. But now I see the wheel trims, I understand why you put them back on, they have to be the sexiest wheel trims ever 🥰.

[Dyslexic Viking]

After I tightened the fan belt, I looked over the car. and noticed that the fuel tank is wet and it is dripping from it, this is diesel.

 

As seen in the picture above, I replaced the drain plug/filter thingy this fall in the belief that this was the main cause of the fuel leak, but it is not.

So upon closer inspection I see that the front of the fuel tank is wet and running down the tank and has been like this for a while, I have no idea how I didn't notice this last fall.

 

After the drain plug/filter thing was changed, the fuel tank was never full, which is probably why I haven't noticed anything until now as I have filled the tank full now. So my guess is that there's a leak in the seam, so tomorrow I'll have to go out and drive to use up  diesel, which will hopefully reduce or stop the leak. The next thing is how to fix it and since new tanks is available, this is the only right thing to do. So as soon as I can afford one I will order a new one.

One more problem but fortunately it's a minor one, the rear muffler is something someone threw on the car before an MOT and not something that belongs to the car and has had problems with the exhaust hangers on this one and now the last one has also fallen off so I have to find a solution for this too.