| Even on winter days, the DS had been getting a bit hot under the collar. Granted, D’s have never been the coolest running cars, and the heat of the Australian summer can tax them and their passengers, but they should easily cope with most days, especially outside the summer months. I had a few problems – the water pump was leaking and getting worse and worse, the heater didn’t work and the radiator couldn’t keep up outside stop and go traffic. Not only that, the coolant, despite multiple flushes looked like ditch water. I wanted to be able to use […] The 280CE was leaking quite badly, and it looked like it was coming from the water pump. I ordered a pump and not have finally started on the replacement. First job was to drain the coolant – which wasn’t in bad condition, disconnect the radiator, and remove it. The radiator is easy to remove with four metal clips that can be prized out, and the water and transmission oil cooler hoses. Next is to remove the fan assembly. This is where I had problems as two of the bolts were quite rounded and I was unable to remove them, […] The 450SLC’s gear stick had become more and more floppy, and given my experience with the 250SE, I thought it was better to take a look and potentially fix the issue than have it totally fail on me. The gear selector bushings are a common issue on these cars. Looking under the car, by 1977, Mercedes had gone to a better design. As well as the plastic bushing, there was a metal clip to stop the linkage failing altogether. Given this had a 115 part number, this was most likely introduced in 1968. As can be seen in the photo […] This month’s Shannons Auction had a few cars I wanted to drop by and see. The first was a W111 Convertible – A manual 220SE. The car looked nice from the photos and the price range seemed a bit low to me. ($54,000-$60,000). The car is nice for that price – I would rate it at a nice driver condition – the leather is a bit worn and has a few tears, the wood needs refinishing and the paint is not perfect, but that means this is a car you can use regularly. I wasn’t able to see the […] Aldi were doing a special on a 50l compressor for $129, including basic accessories. Even if the unit is poor quality, at that price I couldn’t pass it up. So far all I have done with it is inflate tyres, but as I use it more, I will post a proper review. The DS from what I can gather had been run on rainwater by the last owner – not sure about prior to that, but I do know it was in South Australia for a while, which has hard water. In any case, it looks like it was actually run on ditch water. There are plenty of interesting classic cars out there that I are fun to own, and drive on the weekend. My E-Type is one of those for example. Not so many can be realistically driven every day though. In my opinion, the Mercedes-Benz range from the 60s is one of those who can. I just saw an interesting story of a 250SE coupe in America that has always been used as a daily driver, is kept in great condition, and now has over 1,000,000 miles on it. My 250SE, which was used as a daily driver until the 90s has […] After using yet another bulldog clip to temporarily move the car, I went to look in my parts cupboard and found that I had two of the upper bushings from my old 250SE Coupe that came with some parts. They looked like the right part and had a 112 part number, so seemed correct. Like the lower one, it was quite an easy fitting. It is also important to re-connect the neutral safety switch. All seemed fine, but after a test drive, the lower end of the linkage fell off again. I put it back on, so either: I loosened […] | |
