M129 Heat Exchanger

My 250SE Cabriolet had a feature I was not aware of.    Underneath the injection pump is an oil/coolant heat exchanger.   This was also an option on late 230SLs.    Instead of a separate cooler that the M130 engined cars have, the heat exchanger helps warm up the oil when the engine is cool and cool it down when the engine is hot.

There are lines from the oil filter housing that go to the heat exchanger, as well as coolant lines that come from the side of the block.    An example is pictured below.  The picture is not my heat exchanger.  It is a second hand unit available on eBay.   From all I read on the Pagoda forums, the M129 Heat Exchanger is quite effective.  The 250SL runs quite cool with it.   The heat exchanger is now NLA, but the part number is 000 188 44 01.

M129 Heat Exchanger

I would have been blissfully unaware of my heat exchanger except for a growing oil leak.     The oil leak was coming from the braided flexible oil hose that runs from the far side of the M129 heat exchanger to the oil filter housing.

When my mechanic investigated further, he also discovered that the coolant outlet on the engine block was corroded.

I started looking up what parts I needed to buy to fix the oil leak and make sure the heat exchanger was working properly.    On my car, the longer hose had a short metal section, the braided flexible hose and then another short metal section.    But in the EPC this was one hard line.   There was no mention of any other system.

M129 Heat Exchanger

I started doing some further research and I found a post on the W113 forum. It described how in the paper parts manual, there is an earlier setup which had been superseded. The older setup was never brought forward into the EPC.

In that section you had the two hard lines (127 180 00 27 & 127 180 02 27) plus the braided line (198 180 01 82).   This was replaced by 127 180 03 27 which was the single metal hose.  308 in the diagram above.  In case you’re wondering 127 180 01 27 is the shorter hard line for the other outlet of the M129 Heat Exchanger (302).   This never changed.

While I had the backup of taking the existing braided hose to a hose shop to have the ends re-used for a new hose, I first checked to see what parts were still available.   Since the braided house was first used on the 300SL, it is still available.   The surrounding hard lines are not, but mine were perfectly fine.    Additionally, the replacement part 127 180 03 27 is also still available.   Neither were particularly expensive.  Both are probably cheaper than having a hose company re-use the ends of my existing braided hose on a new one.

I decided to go with the 300SL part.  I had a few reasons for this.  Firstly, there is very little space around the M129 Heat Exchanger.  Getting a flexible hose in and connected with the engine in situ was probably going to be far easier.  This was going to save me labour time.   Secondly, the parts cost was less than half.  Thirdly, I figured the flexible hose had a bit of give in it for vibrations and parts not being perfectly aligned after 60 years.    And finally, I liked the idea of having 300SL parts on my car.

M129 heat exchanger

While the car was at the workshop, I had new rear shocks fitted and the power steering pump adjusted so it wasn’t so noisy.   My oil leak is gone. I’m also sure the heat exchanger working properly will help the car cool on very hot days.    I also learned a lot about a feature of my car I never knew it had.

Guest Post: SLK230 – Installing a Pippins wind deflector

Editors Note: This is part three in a series by Nick Gruzevskis about owning a Modern Mercedes convertible – in this case his R170 SLK230.   The first part can be found here and the second part here.  

There are times when you feel like you’re making progress on a classic car and other times it just feels like you’re procrastinating. As I have just completed an interior, I was feeling positive, so decided to strike while the iron was hot.

Since putting the interior back, I’d used the car on freeways several times and noticed the steering wheel shuttering from 90kph and above. I dropped car off to Donnellans, noting that front wheels likely needed a balance. I’d almost completed drinking my latte when I received text message communicating job was complete. First job done.

I had been looking into replacing the original fabric wind deflector, not due to its condition, but rather as it was somewhat difficult to see out the rear with the top up. I had viewed the Pippins wind deflector some time ago, with most reviews being positive, but did note there were a few that commented on reflections.

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I ordered the R170 wind deflector with roll bar inserts on Feb 22nd and they arrived Mar 3rd, costing $415 AUD including delivery. The wind deflector is 8mm think smoke grey Perspex. You can opt to put a logo or design, but I choose not to do this, as I didn’t want anything impeding my vision.

Pippins wind deflector

The rollbar inserts are made of the same smoke grey Perspex. Installation was quite simple, only tools you need is a Phillips screwdriver, removing the two screws that hold the hooks. It is tricky to install the deflector and put the two hooks back, took me about 30min to complete the job. The roll bar inserts are easier to get in, these just insert from the front of the car, inserting Perspex into top of rollbar, then compressing the roll bar material, pushing it into place. They are securely held in place by pressure/friction alone.

Pippins wind deflector

Testing for the first time, rear vision is dramatically improved. I’m not sure if wind buffeting , more testing is needed here, but looks a lot cleaner than the fabric deflector. The cons, apart from the cost, you do get some reflections from cars in front of you. It’s not really a deal breaker, just something to be aware of.

Pippins wind deflector

Pippins wind deflector

Author:  Nick Gruzevskis is a contributor to classicjalopy.com, and the custodian of a great collection of classic and modern cars.  Links to some his other articles can be found here

560SEC battery tray

On my trip to Victoria last last year, the alternator on my 560SEC packed in.   I was able to limp the car home by swapping batteries with a friend in another W126.   I also purchased another battery on the road.   When I arrived back in Sydney, it was this new battery that was still in the car.   I was just going to leave that one there, until I noticed a slight creaking from the bonnet hinge.   The bonnet was also a few mm too high.

Turns out the new battery I bought along the way was slightly too big.   It was fouling on the bonnet and putting pressure on the hinge.   Since there was nothing wrong with the old battery, I decided to just put that one back in.    In the photo, the one on the right is the new one.    It’s a shame, because the new battery is brand new and a better spec.

battery comparisonThe other thing I wanted to fix was the battery tray had some surface rust, and the battery hold downs were missing.   The battery hold downs may seem unimportant, but they prevent the battery shorting out on the bonnet or moving around over bumps or heavy cornering.   They were also missing on my 560SEL.

I’ve previously repaired the battery trays on both my 450SLC and 560SEL.   In both cases I used a rattle can primer and then top coat.    I wasn’t especially happy with the result on either car.   On the 450SLC, the top coat was too thick and ended up being soft.    On the 560SEL I did two thin coats, and it was better, but the trays are not uniform and it was hard to get even coverage.   I thought I would try something different this time.

As before, I started with a wire wheel attachment for my drill to remove surface rust.  I also used some brake clean to get some grease and residue off the tray.    Surprisingly, the tray in the 560SEC was better than the one in the 560SEL.    After a go with the wire brush, it actually came up reasonably well.

560SEC battery trayThe bottom was even better, the only real rust around where the ‘tongue’ attaches to the main body of the tray.   I still thought there was value in doing this side regardless.

560SEC battery trayInstead of the rattle can, I decided this time to apply specific rust epoxy paint with a brush.   This would result in a worse finish, but a much better application of the paint.    Since the battery tray is really not visible with the battery installed, I thought this was a decent trade off.

I did two coats on the top and one on the bottom.   My nine year old daughter enjoyed painting the 560SEC battery tray.

560SEC battery trayI probably could have even used a product like miracle paint and had a better finish, but I didn’t have any, nor the time to drive to the supplier and get some.   After two coats, the 560SEC battery tray looked quite a lot better, but it was of course obvious the paint had been applied with a brush.

I’ll see how it looks when I remove the battery next time.    There is certainly a lot better all around coverage of the paint.

560SEC battery trayWhile the battery tray was out, I vacuumed all the leaves out from underneath it.   It is worth removing the battery tray every few years to remove any dirt and leaves from this part of the car.    Getting the 560SEC battery tray back in the car was a bit fiddly, it was hard to get all three holes to line up.

In the end I had the tray in and it was a huge improvement to before.  It’s still obvious it was painted with a brush, but there is no longer any rust or detritus.

560SEC battery tray

Final step was to re-install the battery.   While I was there, I installed a battery hold down.   I had a couple on hand, a very rusty one from the 420SEL parts car, and a reasonable one that I found in the boot of the 560SEL after I ordered new ones.

battery hold down

I’m not sure what I am going to do with that big Delkor battery. Off the top of my head, I don’t think it fits any car I have. I may try and sell it. It wasn’t cheap, but it did get me home.

Enthusiast Insurance Cars and Coffee March 2024

Today I went to a cars and coffee event at Gough Whitlam Park.   It was organized by Enthusiast Insurance.    I had been invited by a friend, and assumed it was a regular cars and coffee event that they were sponsoring.   I think it was more an event for their customers.    I’m not an Enthusiast customer, but it didn’t seem to matter a great deal.

Gough Whitlam Park is the same location that is used for the annual German car show.   It is a bit small for that event, but probably better suited to a simple cars and coffee.   I would estimate around 100-200 cars were on display.    Probably the lions share of those were modern modified and performance cars, but there were some interesting classics too.

Enthusiast Insurance cars and Coffee

I took my 1965 250SE, primarily because it was the car I had at home on the day and it was a last minute decision to go.   Given the wet and humid weather we’ve had in Sydney, it was the first time in months I’ve driven the car with the roof down.

It was an interesting contrast to come to this event vs the normal cars and coffee events I go to.   I still think St Ives is the best one in Sydney, but this was a nice way to start a Sunday morning and I was able to catch up with some friends.

New tyres for my W111 250SE

I recently drove down to Canberra in my 1965 250SE.   This was the first time I had taken the car on a longish trip in a couple of years.   The main reason for that was the running issue had been experiencing with the car over the last few years.   I finally solved this issue last year by fitting a new electronic distributor.

On the way down I noticed how bad the ride was.   The car was quite bouncy and not very enjoyable to drive.   While the car didn’t do any long trips, I was using it quite a bit on short trips to troubleshoot the running issues, so it seemed strange that the tyres would be flat spotted.     I checked the pressures on the tyres and they were all fine, perhaps even a little higher than they needed to be.

On the way back I had the same issue even after slightly reducing tyre pressure.  I also noticed a crease on the tyre sidewall, it was very slight, but still noticeable.     As the tyres were 8 years old this year, I had planned to change them anyway, so I decided to get a new set right away.  I was worried that the tyres were starting to separate internally.

On the last set of tyres, I made a mistake.   Instead of looking up the original tyre size, I just replaced what was on the car.   This was wrong.   The tyres on the car were 195/70 R14.   This was too low profile.    Depending on the source, the tyres were originally either 185R14 or 195R14.    The technical data book for 1966 says 185R14 and the Mercedes public archive says 195R14. They also have some old bias ply sizes.   This is what it looks like my car was delivered with per the data card:  7.75 14 Continental.

185R14 is now a hard size to find.   195R14 isn’t hard to find in a light truck size, but almost impossible in a car size.   Light truck tyres are not suitable for a classic luxury car, they are going to provide a terrible ride.   However, 195/75 R14 is available in a few decent options.   This is very close to the original size and in my view a pretty good alternative.    I went with the Hankook Kinergy Eco 2 K435.  This is the same tyre I have on my 450SLC, albeit in a different size.   I’ve been quite happy with these tyres on my 107.

tyres for my W111

I went with five tyres in the end.   The spare tyre pre-dated my ownership of the car.   I couldn’t see a date code on it, and by the tread the tyre reckoned that from the tread it was from the late 70s or early 80s.   It looked quite good, but I wouldn’t have wanted to drive very far on it.   The tyre fitter also mentioned to me that one of the tyres had started to separate internally, so I’m glad I changed them.   Tyres shouldn’t be used if older than about 8 years old and mine were getting up to that age later this year.

As well as the tyres, I had the car aligned.   I’ve have a few issues with the car feeling like its wandering at speed.   I’ve had a few issues with older cars not being aligned against the right specs, so I photographed the relevant pages of the technical data book.    since fitting, I’ve only driven the car a short distance, but the steering feels better.

W124 Blower motor replacement – part 1

I’ve known that the blower motor needed replacement on my 300TE since purchase.   It didn’t like to work on low settings and would make pretty bad squeaking noises.    The second to last owner had even planned on replacing it, but ran out of time before he sold the car.     I had it on my list to do and ideally planned to do it before the trip to Tasmania in December/January.

I looked into this and found an excellent video from ‘MMWA’ on youtube on how to replace the W124 blower motor.  If you own a W124 and you don’t subscribe to this channel, you should.   Since MMWA does such a good job of explaining the job, I’m not going to repeat things here.     My car is quite similar to his in terms of this job.   Its a series 2 with the manual A/C rather than the full climate control found on US Spec cars.

Based on the video, I ordered the exact blower motor he used.   Some of the motors available from the usual suspects were either brands I hadn’t heard of, or don’t trust.    Since I got busy with work and other things, the trip was coming up and I decided not to do this job.    Since its quite involved I was worried that I would have some issue or break some part and I wouldn’t be ale to reassemble the car in time.

In retrospect, I’m glad I made this decision.

On the way back from Tasmania, the blower finally failed on the last day of the trip.    Since it was the middle of summer, I wasn’t that keen on using the car without A/C, so I set about starting the job.

2024-01-14 21-55-35

As is outlined in the video, its quite involved.   It was interesting that the bits on my car that were broken were totally different to on his car.  In particular, he talks about speed nuts around the wiper surround that were totally missing.   In the service history, the motowiper was replaced with a used unit a few years ago.   I guess they were lost then.

After a few hours I had the old W124 blower motor out.   It was a Bosch unit, and it was really hard to move by hand.  No wonder it failed.

W124 blower motor

The next day I returned assuming that it would be a simple matter of installing the new blower and putting the car back together.   However, the blower I had would not fit.   the squirrel cages were about 1cm offset from the housing.   I tried moving the cages, even lubricating the shaft with WD/40.  They would not move.    I wasn’t that keen on this anyway, as back years ago I bought a motor only blower for my 107 and tried to use the hot water method to transfer the cages from the old motor to the new.   They never really balanced and not long later I finally found a whole blower and replaced it.

My blower motor came in a plain brown box, unlike MMWAs.   At this point I was wondering if perhaps I had been sent a series 3 blower.   The series 3 cars have cabin air filters, and in the EPC, the blower is a little different.   I’ve never owned a series 3 car, so not sure if this was my problem, or I just got a blower that was damaged or faulty.

2024-01-14 23-08-43

Since I purchased the blower from a vendor that didn’t ship to Australia, and used a remailer, returning it wasn’t going to be simple either.

In the end, I did what I should have done in the first place.  I looked up if there was still a genuine blower for sale, and there was.  It wasn’t even any more expensive than the aftermarket one.   So now I have a genuine bower on order that should fit correctly.    The car has been off the road since mid January,  since It would be irresponsible to drive with no wiper.

MBCNSW February 2024 Night Drive – Heart Attack Run

This months night drive fell on a leap day, September 29.   The next time a leap day falls on a Thursday will be 2054, so it was a night not to be missed.   The main part of the drive was to drive the back roads of southwest Sydney, starting with Mulgoa Road.

Last year we had a drive that started from Krispy Kreme Penrith.  It was quite popular, as a few people bought a box of doughnuts to take home for the family.    This seemed like a good place to start this drive, as it was on the Mulgoa road exit of the M4.    Our destination was the ever popular Chubby Buns burger truck in Campbelltown.    Given we were starting at a doughnut shop and finishing at a burger truck, it seemed obvious to dub this run the Heart Attack Run.

The weather in Sydney on the day was an absolute stinker.   38C and almost 100% humidity.    It had been hot and humid all week, in keeping with a pretty unpleasant summer here in Sydney.    Probably based on the weather, we had five people come on the run.   As with most of these drives, the W124 was the most popular option, with three cars.   A 1986 230E, 1990 300TE and 1991 300E.   In contrast, we had a brand new demonstrator Mercedes EQE Electric SUV.   One of our club members is an automotive journalist and had this car on test.

I took my 1977 450SLC.   At first, the heat was so bad, that the air conditioning struggled to keep the cabin cool, but as the night progressed it worked better and better.

We met up at Krispy Kreme, but this time nobody was particularly interested in doughnuts.  I guess nobody wanted a heart attack after all.  After after a short drive through some heavy traffic areas in Penrith, we entered the back roads in the area.  While they are a bit bumpy in places, it was a nice relaxing drive with very little traffic.     Most of the drive was quite good, although the approach to chubby buns was a bit convoluted.   We had the odd drop of rain due to the humidity, and some quiet entertaining lightening in the distance, but no actual bad weather.

Heart Attack Run

While nobody was all that interested in doughnuts, the Chubby Buns burger truck was a big hit with everyone.    It was great to get out of the house and do this drive after sweltering in my home office all day.

Guest Post: Owning an R170 SLK230

Editors Note: This is part two in a series by Nick Gruzevskis about owning a Modern Mercedes convertible – in this case his R170 SLK230.   The first part can be found here.  

Sometimes the journey on improving a classic car seems to be more fulfilling than using the car. I’ve now owned the Sally the SLK since July 2022.  Every time I looked at the colour
combination of silver and the two-tone interior (red/black) I thought wow what a great colour combination, but then when I got closer to the interior plastics, specifically the paint
on the plastics she had all seen better days.

In my last update I wrote, I stated “the quality of the interior plastics vinyl paint is awful. Last September I decided to attack this problem, removing all painted interior trim pieces. I knew I would need to be careful when removing trim, as the plastics can quite literally crumble/break in your hands. Given my SLK had been garaged all its life I thought I’d be ok.  Still, some of the plastics quite literally broke when removing screws or panels. It was also obvious interior had been re-painted at least twice, maybe three times.

After removal this is what interior looked like:

I dropped off all the trim pieces to Bill Moussa at BM Leather Creations, where the paint needed to be stripped, the plastics that were broken went to the plastic welders, then back to Bill for two coats of two pack paint and two coats of clear. It is a long and arduous task and not cheap just given the labour required. In between dropping the plastics off, I purchased a 2001 S430 and then sold it a few months later. When seller asked me why I was selling it, I said I needed to focus on getting my SLK back on the road. Anyway, I digress.

Fast forward to Feb 2024 and interior plastics were all ready for collection. Bill had done an amazing job. Now the rest was up to me, to carefully re-install.

I picked a good day to re-install, temperature was expected to be 34C, in a garage that wasn’t insulated. I started early and by midday I had most of the interior trim back in. I did have a heart stopper moment when the roof wouldn’t go up or down but found the cable connecting to the roof button wasn’t fully pushed on.

I can’t believe the transformation; the interior just looks fabulous. Sally the SLK is now ready for the AOMC British and European Day on the 18th of February.

Author:  Nick Gruzevskis is a contributor to classicjalopy.com, and the custodian of a great collection of classic and modern cars.  Links to some his other articles can be found here

Wheels 2024 Queanbeyan

Today was the annual Wheels car show in Queanbeyan.   This is one of the biggest multiple marque car show in the Canberra area and is akin to the Eastern Creek show in Sydney.   I joined the Mercedes-Benz Club of the ACT as part of their display.

MBCACT always puts on a special display for this show and Wheels 2024 was no different.   The goal was to show the different generations of the S class (and predecessors) and the E class (and predecessors).   I wasn’t able to go last year, but the theme was AMG cars.   In 2022, I took my 450SLC and the theme was a car from each year from the 50s to today.

In order to show the different generations of the S-Class, I was asked to bring my W111 Cabriolet.  This was a great opportunity to take the car on a longer trip now its running properly.  Of course, less than a week after I agreed to show the car, the power steering pully disintegrated, but I managed to get a used pully and have it installed in time.

Wheels 2024

On the drive there, the engine ran perfectly, but the ride wasn’t all that good.  I think it may be related to the tyres, perhaps they have flat spots.    They are 8 years old now, so its time for a change.

As in 2022, the show was good.  MBCACT was allocated a much smaller area this year, although there was actually plenty of room at the showground.   Probably something that can be addressed for next year.

There are some nice cars in the MBCACT and this year was no different.   I had a very original 230S W111 on one side of my car and an immaculate 280S W108 on the other.    The 230S is still with the original family.    Having all the S-classes lined up allowed for the different design features to be observed from one generation to the next.   It was intresting to see that the W116 still had tiny vestigial fins.  Kind of like the vestigial legs of a whale.

The rest of Wheels 2024 was also very good.  There was a lot of variety.  For example, it was quite cool to see a Stanley Steamer puffing around the showground.    A bit smaller than in 2022, but that probably had to do with the weather.  While the morning of the show was hot and sunny, the day before had been stormy and storms were forecast for the afternoon.

On the way back, the rain was torrential.   All the modern SUVs were pulling over onto the shoulder, and few seemed to understand how to operate their rear fog light.    The W111 Cabriolet just kept going, albeit at about 50km for long stretches.

MBCNSW January 2024 Night Drive – Princes Highway

We started our 2024 night drive schedule with a drive south.    This month’s drive was held a week earlier due to the holiday long weekend and the absurd double demerits regime in NSW.  In the days before the drive, there had been torrential rain, but luckily the weather fined up on the day and it was just a bit overcast.

The recent rain did have one impact – we had to change our route along the way.    This was to be the same route we did in July 2022.   However, McKel Ave, which would have taken us down into the Royal National Park was closed.   We decided it to just skip that bit and focus on driving the Princes Highway (and avoiding the Princes Motorway).

As the weather had been terrible, it was quite a small turn out this time, three cars.   I took my 1977 450SLC and there were two W124s – a 230E and a 300E.   The small group made for a very relaxed drive and easy to modify the route.

Princes Highway

At the starting point, we briefly spoke to a man with a HR Holden Special on a trailer.   The Holden looked pretty good, and had been earmarked for a full restoration.   Apparently this guy does a full restoration every three months in his home workshop, equipped with a spray booth.   We were all a little envious of the parts prices on that era of Holden as well.

The drive turned out to be nice and cruisy and a good way to start the 2024 night drives.