Bagged Mercedes W115...

[Zman86]

Did some more work today. Got the rear bumper off.



Found a small spot of rot.



Finished draining the fuel that was in the tank. Having to remove the fuel cap with channel locks confirmed my suspicion that the inside of the tank is heavily rusted. Tank will be coming out for a cleaning and lining application. In the mean time I put 15 litres of premium in it for moving around the yard.





Then it was onto the interior. I always like to remove the seats and do a thourough cleaning on my old cars, and since it does not have carpets in a typical sense, but rather larger padded form-fitting mats, it's easy to check for rust. I swung my head under the rear seat, and was quite surprised to find $180 in $20's.



Off to a good start!

Pulling everything out took about 25 minutes. I have an earlier style black interior without headrests that will be going in. This one, aside from the driver seat needing a going over, is in quite good shape, I just prefer the older one.








The rustiest part of the car so far. Seems nearly everywhere in these cars leaks water into the interior, this one being no exception. I'm surprised it's not more rotten given the amount of moisture I've found.



Found a couple holes while scraping away, but this has been it. No big deal, very minimal compared to how bad I've seen these things. I'll post up some of the rust I found in the green one later.






All in all it's looking pretty good so far. Fired it up with the new oil and fuel and let it run up to temp. It is a much, much happier car with new fuel in it. The lifters are a little noisy, but the valves have probably not been adjusted in a very long time. A couple were sticking when we first fired it up a couple weeks ago. Only concern so far is that there's a bit of blue smoke from the tail pipe. Hoping it's just from sitting around all these years.

https://vimeo.com/200429110

Debating whether to go in tomorrow to scrub the exterior...





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[Zman86]

Came into work today to give the car a good scrubbing. A decade of sitting had allowed a lot of dirt to build up, as well as some plant life.









It has some sort of sunroof, but I can't find any controls for it, nor figure out how it works.



Started with the roof. Rest of the car looked the same.



And all done!





The single stage paint is dull and crazing, but a good cut and polish should make it presentable again. We have a friend that runs a detailing business, it will be going to him once it's road legal. Currently debating what to tackle next, I really need to start stripping stuff off the green car for this one.


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[Zman86]

Pulled the rear bumper and smooth all red early 114 tail lights out of the green car last night and installed them on the 280 on lunch break.





The machinest also dropped off my new lower bag mounts for the front. I didn't like how the old ones didn't centre the mount in the control arm. These ones have a centring piece cut in the middle to keep the mount from moving on the control arm.




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[Zman86]

Got one of the euro headlights installed and wired today. These were also off the green car. Originally fitted with H4 bulbs, the previous owner had retrofitted them with Osram projectors/HID's. I opted not to wire up the fog lights that are built into the euro headlights as I really like how the factory NA spec ones look.

The lights are much better than the stockers, and the beams have a great cutoff (despite looking like your typical el cheapo HID dropped in a halogen bulb housing in the picture).






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[Zman86]

Today finds the LF headlight installed along with the front bumper, nearly complete if the installation of all the W114 cosmetic/euro exterior parts I have. I still have a early style side view mirror, but it is currently stuck in the green car (have to power up the window and roll it up), as well as drilling mounting holes in the door.

Next on the list is getting the brakes functioning, diagnosing the various electrical issues, and a full tuneup. Have to order my two-way air ride manual valve from Little Larry's and pick up all the line/PTC fittings, as well as swap the tank/compressor from the green car in and wiring it all up. Goal is to have it on the road by June.










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[loekaaz]

Great progress! Looking forward to seeing more updates!

I remember having a SoWo picture of green one as my desktop background like.....4/5 years ago? haha!

[Zman86]

Great progress! Looking forward to seeing more updates!

I remember having a SoWo picture of green one as my desktop background like.....4/5 years ago? haha!

Nice! I'm sad the green car is being parted, but am happy most of it will be able to live on in this car.


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[Zman86]

Today I decided to tackle the brakes, or lack thereof. This thing had absolutely no brakes at all, so I couldn't even move it around the yard safely. The master had sat empty for years, and all the calipers are garbage. It will all be getting replaced at a later date, but for now I needed at least some sort of brakes so I could move it around the yard and not kill myself.

Dumping some fluid in the master found the RF and LR lines blown, the RR damp and the LF not far behind, so I decided to just replace them all.





Three hours of fighting with the garbage OTC ISO flare took I bought specifically for this job later, all the lines were done. Filling up the master and pumping the brakes found no fluid getting to the RF or LR, but I have enough pedal now to move it in and out of the shop when needed.

The paint was garbage in the hubcaps, so off it came on my lunch break. These are probably the best condition set I've come across yet.





Next on the list is servicing the fuse box/electrical connectors/electrical problems.


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[Zman86]

Tested the brakes driving around the shop today, work well enough for yard driving.

Had to work through lunch, so the only thing I got done was swapping out the poor condition painted grill badge for an earlier enamel 114 badge I pulled from a parts car four years ago.





Picking up new fuses after work, hoping to have them all replaced/fuse boxes serviced in the next couple days, then see what works and what doesn't.


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[Zman86]

Started in on the electrics. Needless to say they were pretty crusty.





Used some battery terminal cleaner, scrubbed everything and blew it out with compressed air, then sanded all the contacts and applied dielectric grease.





Cleaned with new fuses, still need to take the ring terminals off of everything and give them a cleaning as well.



After that it was time to see what was working. Everything except for the fog lights and blower motor function as they should. Decided to dig into the fog lights, I will check the blower motor when I pull the centre console. Even the sunroof works. Kinda...



Both foglight power wires were disconnected and left dangling uncovered for some reason. Fishing around to get them back through the fenders, I found a spare key wired to the rad support. Lord only knows how long it's been there.



Both fog lights are getting power. I checked the ground with a test light and found it powered as well. Manually supplied ground from the battery with jumper wires and both fog lights work. The bulb is grounded through the light, and both lights are loose and the bases look kinda corroded, so I'm betting that's the issue. Will pull them and clean the mounting points.






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[Zman86]

Installed a W114 steering wheel today. Looks much better than the newer style in my opinion.







Also got the brakes working and took it on a short drive to make sure the trans was shifting properly, everything seems ok, engine seems to be smoking less. There's a nasty driveline vibration however, and I'm still having nightmares about the vibration issue I tried to address in the '73 I had from out west. The axles appear original, and when I replaced them in my green car, a lot of vibrations it had while driving went away. Hoping new axles and flex discs take care of the issue.


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[190Evan]

Definitely going to be those flex discs and I cant remember if these have Carrier bearings but if so you could be they are for sure blown and need replacing. Old benz driveline components like those cause the most annoying vibrations ever too. This car is way too cool man that steering wheel really do it a justice. I always laugh when I see old Benz electronics set ups.

[Børk Volvo]

How did you mount the thin style rear bumper? I have the early bumpers for my '76 280 and I figured out how to do the front, but I haven't figured out the back yet.

[Zman86]

How did you mount the thin style rear bumper? I have the early bumpers for my '76 280 and I figured out how to do the front, but I haven't figured out the back yet.

Had to drill one hole, I believe on the right side. On my bumper, there are only two bolts holding it on. One hole lined up, the other was non existent and had to be drilled.


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[fozzywozzy]

4u6y8e4u.jpg

I was wondering if you had relocated the rear shocks or is this the stock rear shock location?

Thanks,
Lam