As a Father's Day present for my dad, I am planning to pull a 250SL out of storage, where it has been sitting for about 15 years, and get it running again. Unfortunately, it was not properly prepared for long-term storage, so I've got my work cut out for me in getting it back in running shape. As the car's been in the family since rolling off the boat in March of '67, I know its history pretty well - the reason it was parked was that the fuel injector pump hadn't been rebuilt properly the last time the car had work done, and was murdering the fuel economy.
As I see it, I am going to need to replace or clean and rebuild every component of the fuel system, all the way from the tank to the injectors. Every fluid in the car will need to be purged. All seals and gaskets should be replaced. The motor itself was in fine condition before being put up, so I don't think I'll need to do too much to it aside from un-freezing it and getting all the carbon off. I'm not sure about what the automatic transmission needs, as it was working fine when the car was parked, but now the shifting lever is insanely loose, as though it is no longer attached, and is practically floating through the gears.
My questions for everyone are: 1) What am I forgetting about? I know there's got to be other stuff that I'm not thinking of. 2) Where should I start? In what order should I attack this project? 3) What, as a rough estimate, is this going to cost me, assuming I do all the labor myself, and there are no hidden surprises? The body and interior are in good shape, so I don't have to worry about them, save dealing with 15 years of dust.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, feel free to ask, and I'll try to answer as best as I can.
