300SE Odometer Repair Update

Back in early 2017 I fixed my broken odometer. The 300SE odometer repair was successful, but there were two things I needed to follow up on.

The odometer was reading 10% low. I could hear the gears, especially in cold weather.

In addition, some time after I repaired the odometer, one of the bulbs that illuminates the instrument cluster at night failed. The fix for all these things required the removal of the instrument cluster. The procedure to remove the cluster and the speedometer is covered in my previous article.

The low reading was attributed to having the wrong gear. […]

Citroen DS under bonnet insulation

As my DS has a NOS bonnet, I did not want the hot engine to damage the paint. The Citroen DS under bonnet insulation not only protects the paint, but also reduces noise. I was also told that I was missing two brackets that help hold on the insulation.

I was able to purchase a good used pair of the brackets and have some help to get the bonnet off to install the insulation. It comes in three pieces so is quite easy to install. As can be seen in the picture, it does not cover the whole bonnet, as […]

E-Type radiator fan failure

Unlike most cars of its era, the E-Type uses an electric fan rather than one driven by the engine. This was probably due to room in the engine bay, as other Jaguar models of the era used engine driven fans. True to form, Jaguar used a very cheap fan (actually a windscreen wiper motor) with two blades like a propeller. This fan was barely adequate in the UK in the 1960s and is completely unsuitable for the Australian climate. When I purchased my car, it had been upgraded to an aftermarket fan, but not a great one. I replaced it […]

2018 British Car Show, Sydney

The 2018 British Car show was held on Sunday at the Kings School. This is probably the best car show of the year in Sydney. As usual all the British marques were there. Also as usual was the lovely display of cars. Overall it was a great day with excellent weather and interesting cars to see. Having said that, the Kings School made some changes this year that were not for the better.

This year the Jaguars were moved from the top paddock to the middle one. This pushed clubs like Rolls Royce and Daimler down to the bottom paddock. […]

2018 OzBenz National Meet

The OzBenz forum is one of the online resources I use to maintain my Mercedes-Benz’s. The forum has evolved over a 15 year period, starting with the Mercedes Veterans mailing list, branching off to the OzVets mailing list. This became the OzVets forum and then later the OzBenz forum. I joined very early on and found this a great set of resources to attempt small jobs on my then 230E W123. This included things like troubleshooting the central locking myself, quite a saving as a university student. Over the time I got to know a bunch of people, some of […]

Citroen DS front end wiring – part 5

After all my hassles with the DS wiring, I wanted a better solution. Not only were the existing bullet connectors old and brittle, but their colours had largely faded. Instead of replacing the bullet connectors with new ones, I decided to use multi-wire plugs. In this case, Deutsch connectors. Instead of eight wires on one side and six on the other, there would be a couple of simple connectors to unplug each time the wings are removed. On the DS, the wings are removed for many service jobs, so they come off every year or so.

 

I had […]

250SE Battery disconnect switch

I like to fit a battery disconnect switch to all my cars. It ensures the batteries don’t run down and prevents fires. Fires are a real risk from cars with old wiring. I had put one of those cheap on terminal switches on the 250SE when I got it a few years ago. Of late it had been playing up and was difficult to reconnect each time. I also wanted to close the bonnet on the car when connected to the trickle charger, but the alligator clips were too large.

Most of the battery disconnect switch models available online were […]

2011 Coldwater Car Show

One of the last car shows I attended in Michigan was the Coldwater Car Show in 2011. As the Coldwater Car Show is held in May, it is quite early in the season. I left Michigan in early July of the same year – this was probably the last decent road trip I did in my 560SEC. The SEC was a great road trip car and I put a lot of miles on it in the roughly three years I owned it. The drive was about two hours, a nice distance in that car.

At least back in 2011, this […]

The Gosford Car Museum Revisted

I first visited the Gosford Car Museum a bit over two years ago. Back in 2016, the Museum had recently opened. Since it operates as a hybrid dealership/museum, the collection slowly turns over. This means a return visit two years later provides a lot of new cars to see.

I would estimate that at least 50% of the collection has turned over since that visit. It is still a very impressive museum, although the collection is now 10-15% smaller. In addition, there are probably fewer jaw dropping cars than before. For example last time in the Mercedes Benz section there […]

2004-2015 Toyota Fortuner Review

My latest rental car was the Toyota Fortuner. I’m not sure the exact year, but it was the previous generation model. I needed a seven seater for a holiday in Thailand and the Fortuner was the largest car offered by Thai rent-a-car. The Fortuner is based on the Hilux with the SUV body instead of the pickup truck. The name sounds like it should be on a Pirate ship rather than a car. I get mental images of swashbuckling pirates seeking gold and fortune. Instead I’m driving a glorified Hilux. As as seven seater the Fortuner works OK, although cars […]