Weekend Wrenching

[alabbasi]

I had a fairly productive weekend this week. On Saturday I stopped by David Poole's shop and he was kind enough to give me the W116 chassis manual to borrow so that I could figure out my raised suspension problem. I gave it the once over and got underneath the car.

The control arm that attaches to the lever on the left leveling valve was missing and the lever was pointing in the up position. I adjusted it to a low position (while the car was supported on jack stands). It's accessible from the right wheel well.

Then I put everything back and cranked the engine. The rear dropped on it's butt faster then I could say squat!

I then slowly started to adjust the valve up until the suspension rose to the correct level and now it sits beautifully. I contacted a Mercedes parts seller in Atlanta who I used a lot when I lived there and who also sells used parts. He had a spare self leveling control arm and is sending it to me.

I took the car for a quick spin and it drove beautifully, although after a little while, the car appeared to be leaking water (no coolant in the system) from the water pump.

Today I ran the engine again for a while to see what the deal is with the water pump and discovered that the problem wasn't the water pump and it wasn't leaking coolant but instead hydraulic fluid and a lot of it!

In checking the hex bolts, they all appeared to be fairly loose. So I went to tighten them to the torque specs in the manual (9.5ft/lbs). I went through tightening them and to my horror, one of them snapped. This could have been pretty bad, however, I unscrewed the bolt and both parts of the bolt came out.

I've already ordered a new suspension pump gasket, hydraulic fluid and filter which should arrive by the weekend (AutohausAZ seems to be super slow to ship). I'm going to order a full set of bolts, as these should not break.

I also learnt that this car has been converted to R134 and seems to be cooling well.

After cleaning up the mess on the hydraulic fluid, I decided that I would paint the air cleaner gloss black and give the engine bay a good wash.

I also vacuumed the interior and cleaned all the grime of the car. It seems like someone had lived in this car for a while, there was a pile of clothes in the trunk (old clothes) and I also found a 260kph Euro spec speedometer for a W116.

The interior came out pretty well but the front seats are obviously nasty. I picked up a set of black MB Tex seats in perfect condition on eBay for around $100.  The stars seemed to align this week as a friend was heading to Florida with a 24ft box truck to deliver gym equipment and happened to drive right past where these seats are located. So he picked them up and will be bringing them home. This saved me around $200 in shipping which is good.

Aside from this, the guy who rents the shop next to me runs a paint touch up business and touched up my 280SEL, E420 and the hood on my MGB which I dropped and chipped the paint in three areas. He saved me a bunch of money.

I'm really happy about this 450SEL, I was planning not to paint it and leave it looking the way it does now with cruddy paint, but it seems like such a sweet car, I may just pull the trigger and give it a Maaco makeover. We have a really good Maaco here and I've built up a rapport with the owner.

Finally, I gave the car the seafoam treatment and smoked out the neighborhood.

Next week, I'll change the oil and the filter and see if I can sort out the suspension pump.

Here are some pictures.

[CraigS]

Looks like you might have got yourself a good runner fsirly cheaply in the end - assuming not too much else rears it's ugly head ! Two things - we don't have Maaco paint shops here (chain of economical auto painters) or Seafoam (Carbon cleaner).  I guess the closest thing we have to that is Redex.

[alabbasi]

Looks like you might have got yourself a good runner fsirly cheaply in the end - assuming not too much else rears it's ugly head ! Two things - we don't have Maaco paint shops here (chain of economical auto painters) or Seafoam (Carbon cleaner).  I guess the closest thing we have to that is Redex.

Craig, Thanks, I almost have as many cars as you now :-)
On the seafoam, I have been told that ATF will do the same thing but I have never tried to pour it neat into the the throttle body.

On my original 6point9, it appears that the front end took a nose dive which will need investigation.

[WGB]

On the seafoam, I have been told that ATF will do the same thing but I have never tried to pour it neat into the the throttle body.

I have only heard of adding 250 mls ATF to a tank of petrol and then continuing to do this for 1 to 2 months as a means of cleaning out combustion chamber carbon.

Is there an acceptable faster system of trickling it straight into the throttle body?

Bill

[500eguy]

looks like  a productive weekend, that 6.9 looks fantastic! it looks like a Solid honest 6.9

[Andrew280SEL]

Yes indeed. A very solid looking car.

And I gotta say, MB Tex is pretty amazing. When I first saw the replacement black seats in the photos I thought they were leather... can't complain with that. To the untrained eye people will think it's leather, but with none of the creasing and cracking.

[alabbasi]

Andrew

The back seats are the original leather seats and they look fantastic. The front seats however are shot! Maybe because of the heated seat elements or because a really fat couple with no kids owned this car.

Only the front seats will be replaced with the MB Tex seats.

With best regards

Ali Al-Abbasi

[alabbasi]

Michel

It's good to meet you too. The 280SEL 4.5 is a W108. The US market models came with the lower compression 4.5 liter engine in order to meet emission. Here is a picture of it and there was another one in the first post (next to the 6.9) as I drove it through the weekend.



All the best

Al

[alabbasi]

This weekend was not as productive as I would have liked it to be. I made a list of possibly about three items and only hit three.

The MG is still giving me grief. The engine seems to be running rough, but for all I know, it could just be what the 4 cylinder B series engine is like (every other car is a v8).

What I did manage to do is install the seats that I bought for the 6.9. I kept the originals as they had the heated seat element, but the seat itself has lost its form and is probably scrap.

Removing the original seats was not a bad idea because things were growing inside it. It needed a good clean.

The seats really transform the car from this :







To this:







I also installed the self leveling control arm in the rear and the a new fog light lamp lens which improves the looks somewhat.





The rest of the day was spent installing a new manifold on my Chevy Powered Jaguar because the original was damaged in a duke of hazards style jump made by the previous owner when she lost her brakes and then detailing my daily driver. A 1997 Mercedes Benz E420.

Rain marks appear to have been burnt into the paintwork and were not coming out in the wash. So I had to machine buff with Maguire's machine glaze and the wax to restore the paint.

It looks decent now:





Next week, I'll install the suspension pump on the 80 6.9 and replace the self leveling valve on my 79 6.9. Hopefully I should also have the MG on the road.