6.9 progress...

[Big_Richard]

.

[WGB]

It also has no oil cooler on the side of the radiator like a euro.

Looks like a lot of fun - hope it is salvageable.

Is this an excuse for a WA 116 meet? - if so give me a week or two as I am about to tear my 6.9 apart again.

Bill

[TJ 450]

That's interesting about the VIN. The car has a "European Delivery Program" badge on the front. The first owner of the car as read from the Maintenance book is "Mercedes-Benz Aust. Pty Ltd, Dunlop Rd. Mulgrave."
The car has a compliance plate dated 1-78. There is an air pump that is operational (not seized). Maybe it was an early demo car? The black console and Zebrano really surprised me...

Tim

[alabbasi]

The Zebrano and black console make me think it's a 76 6.9. My 76 6.9 is the same.

[WGB]

That's interesting about the VIN. The car has a "European Delivery Program" badge on the front. The first owner of the car as read from the Maintenance book is "Mercedes-Benz Aust. Pty Ltd, Dunlop Rd. Mulgrave."
The car has a compliance plate dated 1-78. There is an air pump that is operational (not seized). Maybe it was an early demo car? The black console and Zebrano really surprised me...

Tim

It was quite common in the 70's for those qualifying by being overseas for ?23 months (I think) to purchase a car overseas and provided you owned it for 12 months before returning there was no Customs duty or sales tax payable.

You could have the car manufactured with full Australian Compliance Specifications so that registration on return was a simple matter of going over the pits and paying the State Stamp duty.

I would suggest the car was manufactured in late 1976 and arrived in Oz for early 1978 registration about 13 months later.

It is possible that the original purchaser either worked for D-B Australia and had been overseas as an expat working for the company or was a speculator who arranged to sell it to a dealer locally before the car arrived. These cars were very hot property in 1978 and most of these cars (M-B or not) arrived with almost zero Km.

One of my first wife's Brother's in law did this with a Porsche 924 Turbo in about 1980 and it cost him $14,000 landed in Australia after his OE in the UK. He still owned the car when I last spoke to him a year ago.

Bill

[s class]

Our library says that 474 6.9's were built in 1975, and 1475 in 1976, so this is definately a 1976 build. 

The early cars had zebrano on the dash and a black console.  Some time in 1976 they started fitting zebrano consoles as well.  My early blue 6.9 has this setup and I know one of CraigS' early cars has the same.  The full zebrano was very short lived, as they soon switched to burl.

Any ideas on VIN numbers for the black to zebrano change, and then the zebrano to burl change?

Nathan, which of styria's cars has the sub-1000 VIN?  His gleaming beauty is a euro car brought from Africa, so I presume you mean the silver one?

[TJ 450]

Interesting... That sounds spot on, Bill, it all seems to fit.
Sounds good, Ryan, It must be a '76 build.

I hooked up a battery yesterday. It took a bit, but it seems all the electrics are operational. The fuel gauge does not move at all though... it stays in the same position it's in the picture I posted. Anyway I'll be pulling that out tomorrow to fix the temp gauge.

Tim

[TJ 450]

I had some time to do some work on the car today. So, this is what I did...

I drained the fuel tank and changed the filter. It didn't look too bad.

I attempted to drain the sump... there was not one drop in there, just a heap of sludge on the drain plug. This is where it gets bad... the oil filter canister was 1/2 full of almost tar-like black oil, the oil filter has a date of 1988 on it ! This was the when the 120,000 km service was done at Brighton Star, the last service in the book. Anyway, I got a heap of Castrol GTX and put it in there after cleaning all the crap out of the filter bowl. After a bit of mucking around I got it turning over... without the spark plugs and with WD40 in the cylinders as per PB's advice. It made a bit of a grinding sound for a bit. I replaced the spark plugs... there is now compression and it sounds OK. Spark is OK as well. It did not start, though. Oil pressure goes up when cranking.

It seems the fuel pump is not operational, there is a relay under the dash coded "12", with a loose wire. Is this the fuel pump relay? Edit--- I just realised 12 is the A/C relay.

Tim

[s class]

about oil in the sump - the 6.9 is dry sumped - you need to drain the oil out if the off-board tank in the right front fender. 

[Big_Richard]

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[oscar]

TJ, well done mate.   The car looks better than I thought it was going to be.  Wish I could offer some advice.   Meantime I'm gonna sit back and hopefully see you test driving this thing before nightfall If not the next few days.

[WGB]

Stay brave TJ - you'll get there.

I'm not working for the next few days (except on my seat leather), if you need any moral support or tools leave me a mesage

Bill

[TJ 450]

Thanks, guys.
I now have two weeks off, so I will be taking my time getting it running.
I'm sure I'll get there eventually 

Oscar, I reckon I'll have it started in the next few days... oil aside, it's looking pretty good.

Bill, thanks for offering assistance, I'll PM you if I get stuck.

Seeing as it appears that it's not getting fuel, one interesting point is that the fuel gauge doesn't work. Maybe it's related, I'll have a look at the wiring diagram.

Tim

[500eguy]

looking good there! i bet you can't wait till she is finished.

[TJ 450]

Nathan came over yesterday and we got it started with one of his fuel pumps/fuel down the intake. The front suspension is now at the normal height 
However, the starter motor continues running after the key is released from the start position. I've narrowed it down to a faulty ignition switch... the back is very loose. Is there any differing part numbers with these, or are they all the same. The key is of the conventional type, not the blade type.

Tim