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What have you done for your W116 today?

Started by BWalker82, 18 May 2011, 06:27 PM

jjb-w116-hu

how much are these visonik speakers? i would love to replace my fronts ;)
that be some well old paper in tharr....

RB450SEL

#76
As to the cup holders, which fit perfectly (two of them) in the 450SEL center console tray, here is the link:

http://www.ultimatecupholders.com/fischercupholder.html

I'd provide a picture, but after a dozen attempts, it does not seem to work. Must be a PC Internet Explorer thing. I'm on a Mac.

What is great about this cupholder: if you ever leave a cup which LEAKS, it only leaks into the base of the cup holder, not all over your car. When you see the animation on the site, keep in mind, when you see the thing open, THAT is the side which is mounted. The OTHER lid opens to reveal the cupholder. The mechanical action is so cool, you will find people playing with it. It holds BIG drinks and small cups.

Currently, Europe is on holiday, and so you cannot contact Visonik. By mid September, they should be back in business.

http://old.visonik.de/en/david.php

In the picture on that page, the speaker on the far right shows the "Handle Bar" which is the mounting bracket. You need the speaker with the handle bar. The sound is astonishing, especially if you have audiophile taste. The Davids should cost in the neighborhood of $300 US the pair, more if you buy from a dealer, of which there are only a few, and only in Germany. There may be importers elsewhere, but the high end nature of the speaker will jack the price.

If you are 18 years old and listen to distorted bass music on twenty million watt ready for the trash sonic garbage subwoofers, buy from your local retailer.

Visonik Davids were in my 1976 Mercedes 220, and one person who heard them wanted to move into my car to live. These monitors live in recording studios, mobile studios, and radio stations. Nothing you can buy as "car audio" will compare BECAUSE it is "just" car audio.

Visonik Davids in a Mercedes instead of a home or studio was the brainchild of an esoteric audio store in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in the late 1970's. The fact the David still exists, nearly 40 years later, attests to having got it "right." They tell me it has been improved. I removed top of the line recently installed "car speakers" from the back and even re-did the hat deck, ditching the first aid kit compartment to make a smooth, freshly OEM Mercedes carpeted hat deck to accommodate the Davids. For me, everything old will be new again. And a new first aid kit goes in the trunk, away from the sun.

BTW - it is tragic how cheap the Mercedes stock hat deck really is. Skimping on a luxury car... tsk tsk. You can use thin plywood for a huge jump in quality. You also need padding FREE carpet, and the Mercedes carpet, padding free, is still available in most colors. It is important to realize the carpet must OVERHANG front and back past the edges of the (new) hat deck. At the window, the carpet tucks UNDER the molding, and in front, folds BEHIND the rear seat.

As to the front speakers, just buy something high end which fits. Not much quality audio comes from such a speaker, as it is kind of small. With the Davids, you just add presence in the front and let the quality stand out from the back.

Also recharged my air conditioner, which was blowing barely cool. The problem: this was an R12 system, and I did not want to hassle with R134a conversion. The answer: a different ozone safe coolant which can live on top of, or in place of, R12, which also features a larger molecule so as not to leak so easily as R12.

http://autorefrigerants.com/co00033.htm

See the "Industrial 12a" which is nothing short of amazing in terms of ease of use and performance.

I bought the six pack with a charging hose. Delightful air has returned, including the automatic features. All working perfectly. Need to get a non photo thermometer to test the base temp. My photo thermometer pegs at 60 degrees F.

Someone asked as to my mileage. It is about 50,000, but the car was kept in the sun... Still a great find for $1K. It's an "only in California" type vehicle which took 2 years to find. It was owned by someone in the music biz.

Well, next, it's fixing the oil leak.

More details soon.

Richard Brown








BWalker82

Today I used my 300SD turbo diesel to winch my Ford F150 4X4 out of a small ravine.  If I only had a picture/video of the action in motion; What a sight for sore eyes it would be.  What a highly versatile car its turned out to be.  More comfortable than my SL320 on the highway (due to bent rim).  Sips diesel, saves 4X4's, and is quite a sheer pleasure to drive. 

I guess my new question  to you all would be... What has your W116 done for you today?

RB450SEL

Today, we rolled the car up onto a ramps, and tackled my oil leak, which was centered on the lower oil pan. Removing it, we found no evidence of a gasket or any other sealant. No wonder it leaked. We cleaned the removed pan cover (after my assistant finished his "clean," I hit it with PEC-12 (borrowed from the photo industry) and finished the job where the new gasket was going. We then sandwiched a Victor Reinz gasket between layers of high temp sealant/adhesive, and reinstalled. Will be testing tomorrow after finding ourselves about two quarts low on oil on the refill. 

Also, my new hat deck was delivered by a local car legend, who built the new one based on the old, finding the original Mercedes carpet in the right color, and hung around to supervise the install. We are leaving it a bit unfinished waiting for the Visoniks to arrive. a minimalist installation, hole drilling wise, is desirable.

We have two more parts to install prior to smog testing and getting the tags reinstated. The first arrived today, the new nylon bushings for the shifter linkage along with its install (compression) tool. The next should arrive in a day or two, a pair of rubber bushings for the steering chain, as I know, like most of the others we've scene, they are going to replace dried up and crumbled existent bushings.

I had a very sloppy steering wheel, but am happy to report the replacement of the completely dead steering damper with a fresh one took out a LOT of the play in the steering wheel.

My friend, the local auto legend (think working with Chuck Barris back in the day, and doing interior installs for the big three U.S. auto companies for TV and print ads for decades, and now doing only custom work for himself and others) took a look at my cracked dash and suggested an attractive fix with crack filling and vinyl wrapping which will make the dash both look new, and due to the toughness of auto grade vinyl, a good look that will stand the test of time.

Tomorrow, maybe, the passenger front seat goes back in complete with iPad holding articulated carbon fiber arm.

Got to get some tinting done as well.

Well, back to my adventure travel advertising work.

Will report again.

hi ho

Since my 4x4 is out of commission I've been relying on the 450 as the daily driver for the last 1.5 months.

I was mentioning to a friend the other day the car must be female - you wake up in the morning not knowing what you're going to get...some days she's gorgeous to drive - others a bit of a bitch...

The other night it was raining, I turned right onto a freeway on ramp she went about 20 metres and the engine stopped, I sat there with hazard lights on in the rain feeling frustrated and embarrassed as trucks and cars went around me. After several tries it fired up and I got her home. Fuel - I thought.

Next day I got underneath to check out the fuel pump and found the protective box had gone - yep - just gone! I figured the problem was the pump and electrics were getting hammered by water and grime so I installed another box and the car has behaved herself over the last week.... cross fingers

jjb-w116-hu

they are something like females these classics , ignore them, dont drive them - they'll certainly show you they missed you.
treat them right and look after them, and they'll return the favour.
of course somedays its just 'bad side of bed day' and all rules are out the window. hopefully not a window stuck down in the rain thanks to a bad regulator ;)

But really, would we drive anything else? i"ve driven my friends' CL55 and a E55 AMG Kompressor and i love both those cars but nothing is as unique as sunny chrome days by the water .....

gavin116

Here, here. 

I second those last two posts.  No only is Mrs White female, but going by her name, she's an ol' lady too!  Hopefully all the moodiness will be magically waved away by the Mercedes specialist workshop where she will be staying for the next few days/weeks.  I hope to get the fuel assembly and related componentry renewed in its entirety, get the aircon recommissioned, and a good service.  I have also asked them to look at any MOT failure things, as this needs to be renewed in two months time.  May just as well get any issues sorted now.

I will be re-installing her cruise control amplifier when that comes back from re-soldering too.  I will then busy myself with installing the new MB door, boot and tail light seals.  After that I might install a new audio system.  Currently listen to music loaded onto the TomTom playing through its built in miserable speaker.  Can't get more retro than that!

Keep on 116ing

Gavin
1979 450SE "Mrs White"
2022 Touareg-R 3.0TSi Hybrid
[url="http://forum.w116.org/test-drive/my-first-w116-here-at-last/"]http://forum.w116.org/test-drive/my-first-w116-here-at-last/[/url]
[url="http://forum.w116.org/the-org/british-near-london-meet/msg97613/#msg97613"]http://forum.w116.org/the-org/british-near-london-meet/msg97613/#msg97613[/url]

Casey

I have a hard time envisioning my W116 as female with it's larger, more aggressive chassis.  The W115 and W123 on the other hand, seem more feminine, especially the coupes for some reason. :)

Type17

Quote from: Raptelan on 10 August 2011, 05:42 AM
I have a hard time envisioning my W116 as female with it's larger, more aggressive chassis.  The W115 and W123 on the other hand, seem more feminine, especially the coupes for some reason. :)

Agreed, my wife says that when you look at a 116 and listen to it, it can only be male...
'76 350SE in Silver-Green

hi ho

have a hard time envisioning my W116 as female with it's larger, more aggressive chassisssis

It's the 116's temperament that conjures the female personification.... (although after a few beers, my 450 starts to look really good:-)

Sorry, getting off the topic (Maybe an interesting separate topic)

BWalker82

Changed oil and filter today and set the injection idle pump to a little lower setting.  I previously raised it but 1200-1300 rpms at idle just seems to high esp. for an oil-burner.  The oil change has made cold startups much easier with no help needed from the pedal now. 

My window is now stuck down and keeps blowing fuses when I try to raise it.  It's been doing this before but only when raising it.  If you release the switch in the past before it gets seated at the top, the fuse would blow.  Now it's just blowing it all the time.  I'm thinking I need a new motor.


Casey

Quote from: BWalker82 on 14 August 2011, 08:48 AM
My window is now stuck down and keeps blowing fuses when I try to raise it.  It's been doing this before but only when raising it.  If you release the switch in the past before it gets seated at the top, the fuse would blow.  Now it's just blowing it all the time.  I'm thinking I need a new motor.

Maybe your regulator is warped.  Take it all apart and check it / lubricate things!

Check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-hmch7hXRA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRY9-ydbup4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5da-nqJT52E

cp361

Today I removed the carpets from the car and vacuumed the used the hoover carpet cleaner. My carpets are original pad is still in good shape. The corners were curling up in places so I set my iron to steam. Placed a towel on the ironing board and another towel to cover the area I wanted to get the curl out of. Then I laid the carpet flat and placed some weight on it.

JasonP


Today I opened the sunroof and a window and removed some carpeting, to let the car air out and breathe. We have had rain for a solid week, and yes, my car leaks. Today was sunny and in the upper 70's, so it got a chance to breathe.

My Green Machine also aired out a little, but as there is no battery in it, I just popped open a few doors for a half hour to let the breeze through.

1979 300SD
Color: 623H "Light Ivory"
1979 300SD
Color: 861H "Silver Green Metallic"
1977 280 E
Color: 606G "Maple Yellow"
-------------------------------------------

Kjhall65

Today I displayed the car in a local car show along with about 35 other Mercedes and about 1000 other cars  ranging from a T model Ford through to a Lamborghini Diablo and most things in between