Seventeen years ago today, I flew into Honolulu from the Big Island,
had a big hassle getting the rental car I had reserved, and ended up
getting a mustang convertible. There was not enough room in the
"trunk" for either my toolbox, or the box containing the head off my
400k mile OM621. Both barely fit in the back seat. The hassle was
because this day happened to be the 50th year since the attack on
Pearl Harbor, and many of the able survivors were coming back, many
for the first time. I wanted to be there for the commemoration, but
MBs called.
So, with son Adam, we drove out to Hawaii Kai and bought the 66 200D
with the broken timing chain and the head in the trunk. I fished out
what was left of the chain, and connected it to a new timing chain,
and prayed no pieces had gone between the chain and the crank
sprocket. I slowly turned the crank around while Adam fed in the new
chain and pulled up the slack on the old chain. We were
lucky. Nothing caught between the chain and the sprocket.
I bolted on the head, and hooked up the manifolds, linkages etc. I
used the nozzles in the "new" head and hooked up the injection lines.
All this was in the street in front of the PO's house.
When we got it all together, we cranked it and got the engine
running. Not great, but enough to get it home, up to Kailua, via Waimanalo.
I was worried that when the engine had gotten water in a cyl, and
snapped the timing chain, that the rings were broken in at least one
cyl. (that later proved to be true.)
When we got it started, the PO came running out of the house, yelling
at me that we had ripped him off. That was quite a chuckle, because
nobody else in the state new those cars as well as I did, and he had
been trying to sell it for months. The fact that I had a spare head,
and knew enough to order the TC and knew how to put it together did
not mean that he got ripped. It did mean that I knew more about 110
Diesels than he did.
Anyhow, after we got the car to Kailua, I checked the timing and
tweaked a few things. Then a couple of weeks later, we shipped the
car on a barge to Hilo, where it became our pride for the next couple
of years before we moved to the mainland.
My favorite picture of any ever taken of any of my MBs is the picture
I took of that car in front of the Hawaii Volcanos National Park
sign. I need to find that photo and scan it.
when the big move came, we shipped two cars via barge to Honolulu,
and from there by Matson to Seattle. A few days later we flew to
Seattle, and took a taxi from the airport to the Matson terminal. We
claimed our cars, then claimed our pallet of freight, which included
the crate from the OM621 short block in my black 200D (not this
one). We distributed the freight between the cars. Then we went to
the space needle for lunch. (We got separated on the way, so Anna
and I parked underground, then went up to the street corner to watch
for the Escort to drive by. I was hoping they WOULD drive by on one
of the two streets! We saw them and waved them into the
parking. Life was exciting before cell phones!
After touring the 747 plant at Everett, and taking in the air
museums, we headed east. This is when the broken rings became
apparent. Climbing the mountains was a slow process. Remember the
OM 621 had no altitude compensation either! Plenny black smoke
Bruddah! Look like Pele!
After we arrived in Iowa, I parked the blue 200D, and it waited for
years until I could work on it. When Adam was about to get his
driver's license, I told him he could either buy any car he could
find for $500, and he would need to keep it running, or he could have
the 200D and I'd help him fix it up. He chose wisely, and chose the
car he used to ride in for Cub Scout meetings at Volcano. (Yes, we
drove 60 miles each way every Sat for Cub den meetings.) Well there
was one den in the pack, so they were pack meetings too!
I found a 1981 OM 616 engine in Chicago for a reasonable price, and
had it shipped in. Then I figgered out all the reasons why it would
never fit in a 110 chassis. Then we devised ways to overcome each
obstacle. So this is how we ended up with the 200D 2.4 from Hawaii,
with at least 10,000 sea miles on it in addition to a whole bunch of
land miles. (At least 5 separate ocean voyages) My best guess is
400k to 500k miles on land. A Mercedes Veteran for sure.
Loren Faeth
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