If you start driving a car which hasn't been driven for nine years, it's a good idea to check the fuel tank for rust as early as possible. Cleaning out the tank will prevent rust flakes blocking the fuel intake and starving the motor of fuel, and choking the carbies with rust and crap. Who knows, you'll probably save heaps in towing charges and repair bills.Tips for 124 owners:
On the 124 Coupé - particularly the CC - the boot lock shaft is made of plastic. If this cracks (and it will after a while) it's impossible to find a replacement. Even sourcing a replacement boot lock assembly is a pain because the key will then be different from the door locks. Here's a tip: remove the lock from the car - you will see that the shaft is attached to the lock with a pin. Cut the plastic shaft off, go to the local hardware store and find an end stopper for some 13mm reticulation. Cut the stopper to match the shaft, drill a hole in to fit the pin and reattach. I used some Araldite to ensure it would stay on. Then you've got a replacement boot lock shaft for an outlay of about 80 cents.
CC owners will know the frustration of the rear side window latches. These constantly fall off the glass. Some solutions include: regluing the tabs every time they break off, screwing a screw into the gutter to permanently hold the window shut, fabricating a small J-shaped piece of metal, gluing the tab to that and sliding the hook of the J over the window frame, or getting a professional glass repairer to drill a hole through the glass and tab, and inserting a screw to hold the tab to the glass, like the BC's have. God knows why they changed from the BC's window latched to the CC's. That's progress.
General Tips
If you've swapped your original gearbox for another - eg put a 131 'box into a 124 - the shifter may not be in the same location. If it's too far away, Graeme Wellington offers the following tip:There's a trick to the gearstick-at-the-other-end-of-the-paddock problem. You have to remove the shifter mechanism, heat to red heat where the bend is, bend it a bit more so that the shifter angles back more, and then re-temper the steel (multiple heat to cherry red and dunk in bucket of water with swirling action. You then put a lock nut on the top of the extension where the gear-knob goes, so you can stop the knob from screwing right down, thereby giving about an extra 20mm. The two of these bring the gear nob within realistic reach.
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