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Hello from a 6.9 owner

Started by adamb, 03 December 2005, 02:58 PM

adamb

Hi,

I recently joined your forum. Well done on setting it up. I frequent http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mercedesw116/, sometimes post on http://www.w-100.cc and other W116 related forums. I own a 1977 6.9 in classic white with black leather. It was originally imported into Hong Kong and used to chauffer a top barrister up until 1997 when Hong Kong returned to the Chinese.

The car was re-imported to UK by the original owner and was mostly neglected until I bought it through his manservant for ?3K in 2002. It had done just 67K but was not a garage queen.

I've partially releathered the driver's seat, changed door rubbers. Initially suspected that it had a water leak from the pump but that turned out to be just the hose. The biggest job was the diff which I rebuilt with new bearings (see pics at http://www.cs.bath.ac.uk/~ab1/6.9/). Amazingly, the diff had already been rebuilt in the past because I saw evidence of previous failure. This is common on 6.9s. I also fixed a hot starting problem and have become quite knowledgeable about CIS as a result. As with any old car which had suffered neglect there were lots of minor things such as water leaks into the cabin from the sunroof and minor electrical niggles. The plan for the future is to tidy up the body work and sort out the rear arches which have not enjoyed 28 years of rain.

I've owned (and broke apart) a few W116s and a 1973 280SE was my daily car for about 3 years. Also for 3 years I drove a W123 250. Nice car but what an annoying carb!!! Give me FI any day.

It's a shame there aren't more W116 fans where I am. It would be great to meet up. I am presently in Colchester but hope to move to Woodford, London in the near future.

Does anyone on this board know Ken Tyler? He's an Aussie and I used to correspond with him a lot.

Cheers,
Adam in the UK.

AMG69

Adam, I own a 6.9 in Perth WA (#5554); It also was purportedly sold new in UK then taken to HK and then imported into Australia - with only 70,000 miles; I have tried to trace back ownership but to no avail as HK say you MUST have the number plate number (their computers not clever enough to record VIN / Eng numbers it seems!  anyway, car was resprayed in HK and generally extremely well looked after - has electric rear seats so presumably a very well heeled previous owner given the cost of these cars plus options!  Sorry, dont know Ken - but next sunday we have 6 Perth 6.9 owners all meeting for the first time for a frive day plus lunch(all corresp has been via email so far!) so I will post some photos on this site afterwards!
sigh....sitting back contemplating the next purchase..!

adamb

I've taken my time to respond, sorry  :-[

Looking at my initial email, I've now moved to London (with all its parking problems). Looking for a garage but they are as rare as hen's teeth, and I am not prepared to pay the exhorbitant charges some are proposing. I tried to convince a nice old lady who has a totally neglected garage in a prime location to rent it to me but she prefers to store old junk in there. What a waste.

To answer Styria's question: my hot starting problem was fixed by replacing the primary pressure regulator which is the one that screws into the back of the fuel distributor. The fix only worked once I took heed of a very important piece of advice in the manuals -- lightly coat the regulator in fresh engine oil before installation. The oil stays and provides a seal while the engine is switched off. So the pressure doesn't drop and fuel doesn't vapourise. Now the 6.9 starts as well as any pre-78 model without a pressure compensation valve at the fuel pump. If I find a 78- car at a scrap yard or manage to get a parts car (unlikely given my new location) I will install the pressure compensating valve which became standard from 1978 onwards.

Adam

PS. If you are a W116 owner in UK and read this forum it would be nice to hear from you. We need to organise a W116 event. W116s are becoming rarer than gullwings these days.