Radtap
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2020
- Location
- Tucson, AZ
Here's my 1980 242DL 178k b21f w/ m46 and sunroof.
Bought in July of 2020 after my buddy sent me a facebook link, saw the car and immediately decided to buy it, was on bare rims on a trailer, hood didn't open, trunk key missing, doors barely open, parked in either 2000 or 2001, last tags on plate are for 2001. Said screw it and got it for $300, buddy sold me some wheels & tires to throw on it.
No title.
Turns out the guy I'm buying it from got it from a friend back in 2001 who wanted to send it to the crusher, previous owner lost title so they couldn't crush it. So there it sat. No attempts were made to get it running but neither the previous owner or the seller mentioned why it was parked, just "issues".
But there's clues. Fuel tray was nowhere to be found
Got in contact with previous owner who turned out had the title in her father's name who was the only one who knew where it was but he sadly developed dementia, so for about 6 months it sat at my buddy's house with minimal work and attempted to file for a lost title.
In that time both the seller and previous owner found both sets of original keys for the trunk and doors. Finally got the car to my house and started disassembling the fuel system.
By the grace of whichever deity you believe in the previous owner's father remembered where the title was, in his piano. February it was officially mine.
Acquired some goodies from a buddy
And started cleaning and reassembling the fuel system.
I was having issues with my fuel distributor. the pin didn't want to move smoothly, the fuel left inside rotted and ruined everything. Tried my best to clean without damaging hoping maybe it was salvageable but nope. Bought a known working unit and held onto it for a couple months while I replaced the rest of the fuel system along with the fuel tank.
Fuel viewing window ft. level float
Luckily this thing was parked in Arizona and spent it's whole life here, only rust was the fuel system. No packrats either! Just sunrot, entire interior has to go
https://i.imgur.com/QTW1Cm5.mp4
Just got it running July 2021, a year after I bought it, roughly 20 years since it was parked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHWO7XZnN2U
Friend came over and we half ass bled the brakes but the entire system is air, just air.
August 2021 it runs and it drives, took it around the block, its 11pm. Only one headlight works, no interior lights, barely any brakes, idling at 2k, speedo looks like an inflatable tube man, 30 exhaust leaks but I don't care. It finally drives. It's only up from here.
It's a tan interior, grey now. Transmission and body is all in good shape and so is interior electrical, we all know engine electrical isn't. Engine seems healthy, 160psi on all 4 cyl. Plan is to get it running and driving to enjoy it, restoring the interior and in the meantime building a turbo b230 to swap in and replace the b21f. I have a lot of plans but those will come when the bank account permits. Now we're just dialing it all in so I can go get tags.
Sorry my pictures aren't good I honestly forget to take them but I'll be posting more soon.
Bought in July of 2020 after my buddy sent me a facebook link, saw the car and immediately decided to buy it, was on bare rims on a trailer, hood didn't open, trunk key missing, doors barely open, parked in either 2000 or 2001, last tags on plate are for 2001. Said screw it and got it for $300, buddy sold me some wheels & tires to throw on it.
No title.
Turns out the guy I'm buying it from got it from a friend back in 2001 who wanted to send it to the crusher, previous owner lost title so they couldn't crush it. So there it sat. No attempts were made to get it running but neither the previous owner or the seller mentioned why it was parked, just "issues".
But there's clues. Fuel tray was nowhere to be found
Got in contact with previous owner who turned out had the title in her father's name who was the only one who knew where it was but he sadly developed dementia, so for about 6 months it sat at my buddy's house with minimal work and attempted to file for a lost title.
In that time both the seller and previous owner found both sets of original keys for the trunk and doors. Finally got the car to my house and started disassembling the fuel system.
By the grace of whichever deity you believe in the previous owner's father remembered where the title was, in his piano. February it was officially mine.
Acquired some goodies from a buddy
And started cleaning and reassembling the fuel system.
I was having issues with my fuel distributor. the pin didn't want to move smoothly, the fuel left inside rotted and ruined everything. Tried my best to clean without damaging hoping maybe it was salvageable but nope. Bought a known working unit and held onto it for a couple months while I replaced the rest of the fuel system along with the fuel tank.
Fuel viewing window ft. level float
Luckily this thing was parked in Arizona and spent it's whole life here, only rust was the fuel system. No packrats either! Just sunrot, entire interior has to go
https://i.imgur.com/QTW1Cm5.mp4
Just got it running July 2021, a year after I bought it, roughly 20 years since it was parked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHWO7XZnN2U
Friend came over and we half ass bled the brakes but the entire system is air, just air.
August 2021 it runs and it drives, took it around the block, its 11pm. Only one headlight works, no interior lights, barely any brakes, idling at 2k, speedo looks like an inflatable tube man, 30 exhaust leaks but I don't care. It finally drives. It's only up from here.
It's a tan interior, grey now. Transmission and body is all in good shape and so is interior electrical, we all know engine electrical isn't. Engine seems healthy, 160psi on all 4 cyl. Plan is to get it running and driving to enjoy it, restoring the interior and in the meantime building a turbo b230 to swap in and replace the b21f. I have a lot of plans but those will come when the bank account permits. Now we're just dialing it all in so I can go get tags.
Sorry my pictures aren't good I honestly forget to take them but I'll be posting more soon.
