W126 Self-leveling suspension adjustment

On a recent drive with a few friends I noticed my 560SEC was sitting a bit low at the rear. I had it parked next to a 380SEC, which I am pretty confident is at the correct height, and my car was lower. Based on that, I started reading through the section on W126 self-leveling suspension adjustment to work out why.

The length of the control rod that links the height corrector to the sway bar impacts the ride height. However, the manual is quite clear that this adjustment is not there to compensate for the standard ride height (without […]

W126 front window regulator

Back a few weeks ago I identified the problems with my power window was the W126 front window regulator. In particular, the passengers side front. The regulator was missing some teeth. I had bought a new one some weeks ago, but the regulator was in the shipment that FedEx lost. I went with a VDO regulator as I expected it to be higher quality than a Meyle unit.

Due to the lost parcel, I had been driving around with the door card removed for weeks. I was rather pleased to see the box arrive yesterday. The new regulator looked identical […]

Reinstalling W126 self-leveling rear suspension

The previous owner of my 560SEL had the self-leveling rear suspension removed. He told me that he was having problems with it, and the suspension shop he took that car to (Pedders) advised him to remove it. This was pretty bad advice, but he wasn’t to know that. A 560SEL should have a supple ride, but my car rode like an old pickup truck. The Pedders springs and shocks were overly firm and caused the rear to bounce around. It may have been better with three heavy adults in the back but my children are six, four and four, so […]

MBCNSW June Night Drive – Berowra Ferry

Today was the June MBCNSW night drive. This month, we had planned to do the route originally planned for March. Back then, Sydney had just experienced the worst storms in 60 years. Our route was not going to be possible after all the storm damage. We also had to postpone our planned route tonight. We were supposed to drive over Berowra ferry, but as we got close to it there were signs indicating the ferry was closed for urgent repairs.

Instead of taking the Ferry, we headed up to Peats Ridge via the Old Pacific Highway. We took the old […]

450SLC rear windscreen screen rust update

A couple of weeks ago I discovered rust around the rear windscreen in my 450SLC. At the time, I was having the 450SLC rear windscreen changed for a unit in better condition than mine. The rear screen seal was replaced back in 2006, but no sealant was used. Even though the car has been garaged the whole time, water had gotten stuck between the seal and the metal. While the cars were originally built without additional sealer, it is generally a good idea to use it. It stops the water getting stuck behind the seal like it did on my […]

560SEC performance exhaust

Last year I had the exhaust replaced on my 560SEL. At the time the exhaust was rubbing on the drive shaft and had a few holes. I had a custom stainless system built that I am really happy with. This year I saved up to do the same thing on the 560SEC. While the SEC’s exhaust wasn’t rubbing, it was starting to get a few rust holes. It was also sometimes scraping on the ground even after replacing some hangers. In addition, somebody had previously removed the back box and welded in an oval tip I didn’t think suited the […]

W126 B-Pillar trims

The W126 introduced a lot of new features for Mercedes-Benz. A small convenience feature is the height adjustable seatbelt for the front seat passengers. This feature brought with it a few problem. The W126 B-pillar trims. The MB-TEX on the B-pillar starts to separate from the pillar around the height adjuster. Its an endemic problem and common to the W124 as well. It was already occurring on my old 300E which was 15 years old at the time.

The W126 B-Pillar trims are quite easily removed. I didn’t attempt to fix this job myself. I would have only made it […]

250SE crash repair update – paint

Today I went by to check out how things were going on the 250SE crash repair. Last week the panel work was nearly complete and the car was almost ready for pant. The paint was just done yesterday so it was good timing to take a look at the car. It’s looking really good!

The front chassis, wing and bonnet are now all painted and they look perfect. The leading edge of the bonnet got a few scratches from the Kangaroo’s head. the area of the wing just to the left of the grille took the brunt of the damage. […]