Newbie from lincolnshire
Hello people,
I'm an ex ford Masters Technition, I did the Rs thing with the fords in the late 90's and have recently been into my VW's. currently have a supercharged Mk3 vr6 and a mk1 caddy. I am going to sell them as I'm fed up of being shaken to bits and getting stuck on a fag paper. Anyway I had a w201 merc a few years back,I had it for 5 years it had the 5 pot 2.5 diesel in it and it is the best car I have ever owned.
i am now on the lookout for an early G wagon with a manual diesel in to fettle with, does anyone have any recommendations?
cheers
Sam.
I've just put mine on the road today after 23 month rebuild. Be careful what you buy. I bought mine unseen off eBay and wished I hadn't it took loads of time, welding, new panels, new parts and loads of cash. Buy one that's in good order and save yourself lots of hassle. Second hand parts are difficult at best and never local, I love mine to bits but wish it hadn't been do much work.
good luck in your quest ideally take someone from on here to view any motor you fancy buying
gordon
Welcome to the GWOA Sam,
After running seemingly fast vehicles, I wonder if you will be happy at a Diesel G-Wagen performance? Please try a few out before commiting to one. As wonderful as G-Wagen is, it depends very much what you want from it.
The early G-Wagens are notoriously slow, requires the patients of a mellow family man rather than a full blooded young chap.
(Assuming you are :-)). The latter G-Wagen started going the right direction in terms of performance but a step taken too slow in the general market place; there are faster examples of Diesels about. The very latest versions of G-Wageens are the bee's kness, in my opinion, it is a shame these did not come out much earlier, but the price brackets are Lottery numbers for most of us.
Some one of your persuation could develop more out of the old G's, like turbo charging or supercharging these. There have been some turbo charging done to the Diesels' but generally, of low pressure and an umimpressive result given the investment put to it.
Keep an eye for a local meetings in your local area, if there is none, prompt for one; at one of these meets, ask for someone to have Road test on a few examples and experience one, be patient and do your homework before commiting to one.
A poor example can cost you an arm and a leg! Unless you have the budget for one, don't touch one.
But on the whole they are a great vehicle.
Good luck.
Hello Pistonhead,
dont worry I'm under no illusion that they are going to have the performance of a modern diesel, the plan will be to tidy it up with existing engine, give it a few months on the road to see where I need to upgrade.
i know I will need to upgrade the engine to give more power and better economy but changing it is part of the fun, and I'm looking forward to owning another quality built merc.
cheers
sam.
Hello Sam,
Welcome to the GWOA and thanks for the overview. As highlighted by other members the step down in performance maybe a tad challenging, however in a V8 that would not be the case! :)
There are a number of different option you can take when looking to improve your G and feel free to post up any question you may have, I am sure someone on here could answer it. We do have a member down Near Bristol how does specialise in engine transplants and from time to time has hosted meets down at his place. Having seen his work on the diesels, as a V8 owner I must say I have been impressed with the performance he can get out of it. (watch this space as I have asked if I can do a ‘numpty’ test against his later in 2013).
Once again welcome and good luck with your endeavour!
Spider1V
Hi Spider1V,
I will not be getting the G for speed, it will be a long term project I have my Supermoto for my speed fix. I have spoken to Axel and have a big TD in mind for a conversion, you can unlock a lot of HP from a std TD on any car and the torque gains are impressive.
I have had a look at 1 G so far it was 3k and all the wings/ arch's were gone, around the bottom of the windscreen was gone and parts of the suspension mounts were not very pretty, so I left it.
is this normal on a car this price? It was a manual Diesel, chap did not want to budge on his asking price, is this a bit rich or about right for this type of car?
cheers.
Samson27,
G Wagen prices? LOL you have now opened a can o'worms!!!! There is much debate on what is/what is not acceptable and if you do a search on the forum you will find loads of threads posts. All I will say is you have done the right thing in joining the GWOA as with the breadth of knowledge and experiance it should shield you from getting a lemon. You made a good start with Axel.
Simply put you want a RHD orginal UK Spec? I have seen early ones go for £3-4K. As Peterperfect has posted earlier this month - a real shell of a car went for £1,000!!!. There are bargins around so don't be frightened to ask the questions. (as an old teacher of mine once said - 'there is no such thing as a silly question! Answers on the other hand........')
Good luck and Good hunting - do you have a budget in mind? There are a few bargins down at G Wagen in Caversham
http://www.ballooner.co.uk/used-cars/search-results?bodyType=4x4
Spider1V
Hi Samson27
Kick van Hengel - member in Linwood Hampshire has a blue 1990 300gds for sale on ebay (search Gwagon does not come up on G wagen). Honest car and owned for a long time.
It has a new MOT and he is only selling as he has bought a turbo conversion.
Rotten wings can be sorted rotten windscreen surround is far more serious.
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Hello Gordon,
i will take my time in looking for one, I'm in no rush I have seen the thread on what to look out for so I will look around a few and then ask on her if the price seems right. I don't mind a bit of work, I like giving vehicles a new lease of life.
cheers
sam.