Topic: What have you done for your W116 today?

[Ray R]

Wheels came back from powder coating today.

They came out pretty nice for 14 x 6s. $160 for the set of 4.

[robertd]

Hello Ray,

Very nice, I like.

[Ray R]

Ugh....just when I think I've got the car just about done, I find the ACC has a short in the servo causing a slow battery drain.  More work. More $$$. Lots more $$$. 

But in the end, I think this car will be worth it.

[daantjie]

Welcome to the money toilet

[goldacre]

This week....

MISSION ONE - replace fuel accumulator, fuel filter, fuel damper, fuel flex line into chassis fuel rail, fuel outlet line from fuel tank to fuel damper (do check these as my old 280SEL dropped a whole tank of fuel as was way past its service life, fuel line that is) , replace fuel pipe between fuel damper and fuel pump, replace the 4 rubber mounts for fuel assembly. OUTCOME - looks good, the fuel damper and accumulator are now retro parted to W126 parts so accumulator a lot larger resulting in near silent fuel pump running, all else standard. Parts not supplied but essential are copper washers between fuel pump and fuel filter, don't even think of recycling used ones, part number - Copper O-Ring (12x17x1.5mm) - CRP 007603-012110 (can also use for oil drain plug if you don't have the tapered one). New pipe clamps for the fuel hose from the fuel tank and the hose between the damper and fuel pump are 12mm to 20mm clamps. Fuel hose between fuel damper and fuel pump -  1234763026 CRP-Contitech OEM - Fuel Hose/Line; Damper Cage to Fuel Pump; Reinforced; 14mm ID. No major issues, as was replacing fuel lines at either end i removed the whole assembly which made access to the mentioned fuel lines very easy  NOTE - to help anyone including yourself in years to come if you still have the car, use a permanent marker pen and write the month and year you replaced the fuel pump, fuel accumulator and fuel filter 

MISSION TWO - replace the rear mount for differential, not easy and a lot of stuffing around  OUTCOME - eventually, good, but required a set of bolts to drift back into place the mount as supporting with jack only raised the whole flipping car up and down  the two rear bolts to subframe can be a long length but the two front ones require bolts of less length so started with 2 X 90mm then went down to 2 X  50mm with greased washers to reduce ratcheting drag, got there in the end but took all day for what i thought was a 2 hour job 

NEW MISSIONS SHOULD I CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT - door locks not holding vacuum  sun roof cable binding so need to work out how to replace that 

G

[daantjie]

Good write up with nice detail.
For sure it is much easier to remove the fuel pack completely and work on it on the bench, as long as it is a well ventilated area

[Ray R]

Rebuilt calipers, new rotors, and new pads all around. And a valve adjustment.

I'm done updating the car now. I can't say restore because it was too nice to start with. It just had some stuff a 1979 300SD would need after 88k miles and 36 years.

What a great car to drive!

[Ray R]

I spoke too soon. The driver's window regulator broke today. DAMN!!  Another project.

[ZCarFan]

Finally got around to replacing the fuel strainer on the '78 280SE and put the alternator, pulley and fan.  She's running again.  Really needs a valve adjustment.  The M110 in my W126 is much quieter.

This one might be saved yet.

[als450]

Just picked up the 450, 4 new injectors, the others cleaned, sorted a couple of leads out, aircon regassed. Drove 60km home at highway speeds....and a tad more, drove beautifully, plenty of kick when the foot went down and aircon blew icy cold. Hadn't driven it for ages and now i know why I bought it, puts a great smile on my face whenever I drive it.

[floyd111]

keep the wheel caps! She looks fine!

[goldacre]

Essential hose management to ensure integrity! Hi folks, over my years of W116 ownership the inconveniences that have befallen me are as below and strongly recommend people check these as they can ruin your whole day, worse if in the middle of nowhere! as follows:

Fuel delivery pipe from base of fuel tank into damper-fuel pump - this hose can deteriorate and with my 280SEL it was so crusty after many years and exposure that after filling the 96 liter fuel tank it gave way dumping the lot  as the hose is integrated with a metal threaded fitting which screws into the base of the tank (there are two types of these so check part numbers/years, i bought both in the end, about US$13 each) a 'make do' fix is impossible. cheap to replace and not a difficult job to do but do it with fuel tank near empty so can put in bucket or the like.

Self leveling rear suspension pipe below reservoir to hydraulic pump - A recent photo shoot identified that the hose had split dumping the 'special' hydraulic oil which is difficult to get, more so cheap. Check this hose and if brittle replace it, easy job, took to hose specialist who asked what for, is it under pressure and how hot does it get (A: Hydraulic Oil, No its the delivery side from reservoir to pump so maybe a little suction, about 60oC to 90oC on average) internal diameter is 6mm and has a thick hose boundary, they sold me a USA made hose which solved the problem.

if either of these go you get in case one, no fuel, no chance of repairing hose to 'get by' even by McGuyver standards. In case two, little or no fluid which you cannot buy at local auto stores and cannot run car if no oil left as pump could seize 

Check these lines, i know you want to now! 

G

[ckamila]

Finally got around to fixing the dash clock. Was running slow and worthless after and hour of resetting the time.
2 x 100uF CAP's at $1.49 each and probably and hour to pull the cluster, remove bit and replace.


After an hour of garage clean up she's keeping perfect time again!


Chris

[Jed]

Well I have had this non running 6.9 (#484) since february but I've been preoccupied with some other projects.  Today I had the itch to try to figure out if this car is a parts car or maybe something more.  It has quite a bit of rust in the trunk floor as well as behind the two front wheels into the rockers.  It would definitely be a handful to restore. 

Well, I drained the fuel tank, refilled it, pulled the plugs and cleaned them, sprayed PB blaster into the cylinders.  It turned over pretty readily.  I then replaced the plugs and sprayed some starting fluid and she slowly came to life.  I can get it her to idle (rather rough) and was able to throttle up some to about 2k rpm, although the throttle mechanism is all gummed up and sticks.  Well she ran for a good 5 minutes when she started foaming and spewing hydraulic oil out of the top the the filler reservoir (around the cap). When I opened the cap it was all foamy and overflowing. (sucking air from a bad pump or blown spheres?) I gave the hydraulic system regulator a few taps and fired her up again and she stopped spewing from the hydraulic reservoir but soon after started overflowing oil from the dry sump reservoir cap....no idea why it would do that??

what a mess I made today....but hay she started!!!

now what...I am afraid I am opening up a huge can of worms!!!

[floyd111]

I wish you all the best with this, whatever the outcome, but have a good long look, a good long think, together with a W116 "expert", and do the maths as to what this will cost to get it to run with confidence and double that amount.
If you aren't ready to go there, my advise would be to not throw your money out of the window.
Unless you have enough money, then you should go for it, just so you can look back later on and tell yourself you did it.