Most of my cars use the Tranzit Blu. That product has a control button that solves that problem.  However, I don’t have that system in my 250SE, and I have a period radio to install in my Daimler that also doesn’t use it.

I figured finding a solution for the 250SE would also translate to the Daimler as well.  I didn’t want to modify the car in any way, or need to be constantly recharging something.

After some research, I found some basic Bluetooth controllers that use a button battery.   Those batteries should last for at least a year.   My phone should be able to connect to two Bluetooth devices.  The Bluetooth box at the back of the Becker, and this controller.

There were a lot of these controllers for sale. I wanted a small one that has buttons for previous and next track, volume and answer call.   I found one that was quite inexpensive on Ali express and ordered a couple.

I found it to work ok, although not perfect.  It pairs with my phone, and goes to sleep.  When it is sleeping, it wakes up when a button is pressed and re-pairs with the phone.  You can then press the button again and it will then do the function.

The biggest frustration is that it is not possible to rename the Bluetooth device in my phone, so once I have a couple, they will all look the same.  I’ve also not verified how long the battery really lasts, as the 250SE isn’t used as much as some of my cars.

Its possible to press the buttons without having to take eyes off the road.

while the controller comes with some double sided table, I managed to slot it in under the A/C unit. It is very unobtrusive.

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Naturally I wanted to keep the radio in the car, but be able to play music through my phone.  The Becker Mexico does not have a line in capability, so I used the iSimple Tranzit Blu HF.  This is the same as on my 450SLC and other cars.   This unit is essentially a box the size of a deck of cards.   It plus into the antenna source of the radio, transmitting an FM signal onto the antenna wire, rather than into the air.  This provides a much cleaner signal than most FM transmitters.   The regular antenna plugs into the unit, so when it is disabled, regular radio reception is possible.   There is a small control button and a microphone for bluetooth calling.

I’m glad I bought a few of these units a few years ago when they were on sale, as they no longer seem readily available.   From what I gather, there are three variants, the ISFM23, ISFM2351 and the ISFM2381.    The first two seem discontinued, and the latter is always listed as out of stock.   This is a shame, as its a great solution for classic cars.

As with the other cars, I also put in a couple of USB charge ports so I could charge my phone and not leave the ashtray hanging open.

I didn’t want to modify the car in any way, so I simply unplugged the power feed to the cigarette lighter and used it for the Tranzit Blu and the USB charging ports.  Luckily I even had a section of MB wiring harness from a W126 washer bottle pump that plugged right in, thanks to my old 420SEL parts car.

I wired it up so the USB charge ports were on switched power like the cigarette lighter would have been.   The Tranzit Blu is wired in the same way, but a relay only powers it on when the Becker is switched on.  I did this by using the antenna trigger to enable the relay.   The relay then powers the Tranzit Blu and also trigger the antenna.  I’ll probably add a hidden switch to control the antenna.  I often park under a hoist which would damage the mast if I forget to switch off the radio.

This job was a little harder on the W116 than on the W123 or W126.  When the ashtray is removed, There is a backing plate that prevents access to behind the radio.   The job is still quite straightforward, but a little fiddly.

I built the wiring harnesses I needed outside the car, and then proceeded to remove the Becker.  The Becker radios have their own mounting system based on mounting hardware that is tightened by a large flat head screwdriver.    I also had to remove the carpet section under the glove box to get access to the Becker amplifier (for the antenna trigger) as well as under the steering wheel to mount the control button on the underside of the steering column.

Testing everything without putting it all back together properly revealed some strange behavior I could not work out.   I was only after I got my power probe out that I realized my mistake.  I had assumed that since the brown wire went into one side of the plug, it was the ground.  The wires were probably crossed inside the plug.   Not only did that cost me an hour of time, but I shorted out my Tranzit Blu.   That was really frustrating since these are now hard to get.   I had one more that was earmarked for the 560SEL that I had to use.

Once I sorted out my mistake, the rest of the installation went fairly smoothly.  I was able to get the Becker back in and correctly in the dash.  I also installed a missing plastic retainer for the glove box insert which is the same as on the W126, another part from my parts car.

The install was in time for the drive down to Canberra for the ACT German Car show. Having bluetooth audio through my Becker made the drive much better.

The post W116 Hidden bluetooth box appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

As a stop-gap, I used the old Pioneer speaker trims.  They were not too ugly and at least fit.  Some of the aftermarket speaker trims are horrific.

Doing some research, I found that some people had 3D printed slightly larger trims to fit under 5″ speakers.   A friend kindly offered to try and print a set of these on his 3D printer, but the printer was unable to cope with them.

A few months later, I found a set for sale on eBay that had already been printed.  I purchased them, and they have been sitting on my workbench for months.   This weekend, I finally got around to installing them.

On closer examination, they look pretty good.  They have an identical pattern to the factory trims, but are printed from a different material.  The factory trims have more of a matte look, as well as some fabric on the underside.

Regardless, they are a much better solution than ugly aftermarket speaker trims.  The installation process was very easy and I had them installed in a matter of minutes.

It is only a small thing, but I think it makes the car look much better. Compare old and new.

Especially looking through the glass, the difference in material is not really all that noticeable. 3D printing is a great solution to simple plastic parts such as these.

The post 450SLC 3D printed rear speaker trims appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

I got the radio back last year, and finally found time to re-install it.    I had also seen on Instagram where anther W123 owner had installed a USB charge port meant for an E36 BMW in place of the factory fader.    My factory fader is still working, but my 240D has two switch blanks on the top console, which is the perfect spot for a charge port.   The USB charge port was quite expensive, but it looked like a really good solution so I ordered one.

To power the Becker 596, I also planned to install another Tranzit BLU Bluetooth Box.   This is the same solution I have used in my 560SEC, 300TE and 450SLC.   I’m very happy with it.   The Tranzit BLU is a small box, about the size of a deck of playing cards that provides a FM signal directly on the antenna wire.   This makes it far less susceptible to interference.  It also provides a handsfree option for calls.

Normally the Tranzit BLU is controlled by a hidden button.  However, I had the idea of using a factory sunroof switch in the other blank switch location instead.   I didn’t have a W123 sunroof switch in my box of parts, but I had one for a W116 or W107, which is good enough to test with.

The installation was pretty simple.  I use the connector for the cigarette lighter to power the USB charge port.   The spade connectors that came with the charge port were too narrow, and not quite long enough so I made some extensions.   In testing the USB charge port, I was also able to easily pull off one of its connectors, so I crimped on a new one.

Since the USB charge port is designed to be added to an E36 BMW, it has been designed to piggy back off another accessory.   Therefore, it already had power and ground connectors for the Tranzit BLU.   I used a relay to trigger the Tranzit BLU from the Becker Antenna trigger.   That relay then powers the Tranzit BLU and also triggers the power antenna.

Instead of the button that comes with the Tranzit BLU, I wired in the sunroof switch.  I used a multimeter to work out which of the four pins are activated when the switch is pressed forward.   Essentially the way the switch works, is when it is pressed, it joins power to one side of the motor, and ground to the other side.   Thus, pressing the switch the other way reverses these connections, allowing the motor to run in reverse.   I assumed for this purpose I just needed to make the connection to trigger the Tranzit BLU.  Turns out I was wrong.

I wired it all up and did a quick test of the system.   I was able to pair my phone and play music through the Becker 596.  However, the switch did not work.   I tried a few more pin options to no avail.   I had assumed that the switch was ‘dumb’ and just made a connection to trigger a press of the button.  However, it was looking like that was not the case.   I got the Tranzit BLU switch and connected that to a multimeter.   On very high resistance settings, I was able to trigger a change in resistance when pressing the button, but it wasn’t constant.    Given there appeared to be more to this button than I anticipated, I gave up and put the switch blank back in place.    The Tranzit BLU button is now on the steering column out of sight like in my other cars.

Despite the failure of using the sunroof switch to power the Tranzit BLU, I am very happy with the setup.   The correct Becker is back where it should be and I can play music through my phone and make and receive phone calls.    I am taking the 240D on its first road trip this weekend, so having music will be great.   The install is totally reversible with no factory wires cut.

The post Becker 596 Installation with bluetooth box appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The Europa 596 was the lower end radio supplied by Mercedes Australia.  It was the main radio supplied in most W123 models from 1979 to mid 1981.   It has mechanical radio presets, a cassette player and AM/FM function.   The Europa 596 does not have the ‘wunderbar’ auto seek function or the auto-reverse feature as found on the Becker Mexico cassette 374 that was installed in my 1979 Mercedes 280SE.

These radios have a black plastic face with the ‘washing machine’ style knobs.   Personally I don’t think they are nearly as elegant as the pinstripe radios.   They do it in well in a base model like a 240D that has the black plastic console.

In order to test the radio properly, and send it off to be repaired, I decided to remove it from the car.

Removal of these radios is similar to other Becker analogue radios.   The knobs pull off, allowing the face to be removed.   Unlike on the pinstripe radios, the surround stays on the radio.   Hiding behind the face are the two brackets that secure the radio to the car.

The 240D is very original in that it still has the original radio, and the factory fader is still in place.   However, when I removed the radio, I noticed something rather odd.   Screwed to the back of the radio was a relay controlling the antenna.   This is rather odd, as the power for the antenna is just a trigger, and the antenna gets its power from a separate harness.   In principle, there is nothing wrong with it, but I didn’t like how it was getting the power from the hazard switch.    The power to the radio and cigarette lighter would have been a far more sensible approach.

I wondered if the antenna in the boot had been wired up to take power from this setup, so I checked the antenna in the boot.   While the antenna didn’t look factory, it was wired up as I would expect with a grey trigger wire and a power wire.    Going back to the radio, the additional relay had two blue wires going through the centre console.    One was blue/grey and the other blue/brown.     Turns out the blue/brown wire was the antenna trigger.    Not sure what the other one is for.

I decided to remove the whole setup.   While the Europa 596 was out to be serviced, I installed the trusty old Europa II I had in the 250SE for a while.   The Europa II is also a once piece unit and has basically the same connections as the 596.   It certainly wouldn’t do to drive the W123 around with no Becker.    The Europa II is what was installed in US Market 300Ds in this era (the 240 getting the Europa Mono).

The Europa II looks great in the dash, and and it’s tempting to leave it there.   However, the 596 is the original radio, and I will re-install it assuming it can be fixed.

While I was playing around with the antenna trigger, I accidently blew the fuse.  When I went to change it, the fuses were badly oxidized, so I decided to change them all.   This is something I like to do with a newly acquired Benz.

The post 240D radio troubleshooting appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

A few years ago, I removed the 90’s CD player and installed a Becker Tribute Radio.   This is a modern radio that looks like an original Becker.   However, when the alternator died it presumably damaged this radio and it was never the same.   It did very strange things including sometimes running with the car switched off.   Since it could drain the battery, I had to remove it.    So there was not a gaping hole in the dash for the German car show last year, I quickly installed a Europa II Stereo from my Becker Collection as a temporary solution.

The Europa II in question was a mid production radio.   From its features it would have likely been manufactured between 1975 to 1977.   It made a good temporary solution as it needed a service anyway, and the Europa II being a single piece radio, it was a quick install.

After driving around for six months with the Europa II, it was clear that my car was no longer killing radios.   It was therefore time for something more permanent.    I could not install the correct radio due to the dashboard butchery, but I could install a DIN size Becker radio.   In addition a friend suggested I use the knobs off a slimline radio that would match the car better.   I ordered a set of those, and while I waited for them to arrive, went about thinking about which radio to install.

My first option would have been a lovely Grand Prix mono from 1971.    This radio is in superb cosmetic condition and the four band LMKUU markings would have fit in well with the age of the car.   However, I would have needed to fit an external amplifier to drive four speakers.  In addition, the auto seek ‘wunderbar’ feature is not working on this radio.

Next option could have been a very early Becker Mexico.   I have one of these from 1972 that could have worked.   However a built in cassette isn’t right for a 1965 car since that didn’t come out until 1971.   In addition, this early Mexico is a mono radio with a Stereo cassette player.   As I wouldn’t have been using the cassette, only the radio, this seemed a worse choice than the Grand Prix Mono.

Finally the other option was a Grand Prix Stereo.   This was appealing as is a top of the line Stereo radio that seems to make sense for a car like a W111 Cabriolet.   I have a couple of these radios, but the early ones need service.   By far the best is a 1974 model Grand Prix Stereo   I decided to go with this as it was in excellent condition.   Being a 1974 model, it had the smaller amp that would be easier to fit, and I had already put the plugs on for the small amp, since that is what is built into the Europa II.

I had this radio refurbished, so everything works.  I could have used an earlier model, but the early Stereo radios have a balance wheel on the front, but that dates them to 1971-1972.   In the photo below, it is sporting its original knobs.  The only downside is the Grand Prix Stereo is a two piece radio with a separate amplifier like a Mexico cassette.

The other Advantage of this radio was that I could plug in an external Bluetooth module into the port that normally would have accepted the external cassette player.   This port accepts a Stereo signal.     I tested the Bluetooth module on the bench and it works really well.   It only interrupts the radio signal when you want to play music via Bluetooth, and it has a hands-free calling function too.  In the photo below I am also testing the module in an earlier Becker Grand Prix Stereo.

One thing I had noticed from the Europa II was the whine coming from the speakers based on engine RPM.   I purchased a radio noise filter from Jaycar to assist with the install.   The actual installation was fairly straightforward.   The Europa II came out pretty easily.    I then wired in the noise filter and the separate amp for the Becker Grand Prix Stereo.     I managed to use cable ties to hook the amplifier onto the heater box.

The actual installation was fairly straightforward.   Switched power and ground went into the noise filter.   The noise filter the powered the radio.

I wouldn’t say the sound is perfect.  For better sound I would need to replace speakers and use an external amplifier with a high pass filter like I have in the 560SEC.   It does sound reasonable and looks great.   The slimline knobs look great but were a pain to get on.   Like the knobs on all the early radios they screw on rather than push on.  It can be really hard to get the tiny screwdriver in when the radio is installed in the dash.

Overall I am really happy with the install and how the radio looks in the dash.   The slimline knobs make a huge difference.

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The post W111 Becker Grand Prix Stereo appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

I went with the Crunch DSX120, in a kit for the S124 that included adaptors for the Becker plugs.    The picture above shows the underside of the speaker and the mounting clips.    For some reason the speaker connections are hiding under the magnet and I had to bend them back to put the supplied adaptors on.     The supplied adaptors were pretty poor quality.   The positive terminal fit ok, but the negative terminal was too large and needed adjustment with pliers to make them work.

However, to mount the new speakers, first had to remove the old.   The grilles are easy to remove once you know how.   The thin strip to the side of the grille just clips into place.   It can be removed with a trim removal tool or even a flathead screwdriver.   Once removed, there are two screws that hold down the inside of the grille, with the outside held down by two plastic tabs and the A pillar trim.

Once I had the trim off, I was confronted with some small speakers that had been poorly mounted in the holes.   At least they had not cut the hole any larger.    No wonder they rattled and sounded terrible.

The previous installer had soldered them to the Becker wires, which seemed a lot of work when fitting the wrong sized speakers.    As nothing was cut, it was a simple matter of just clipping the new speakers into the factory speaker holes.   They fit perfectly.

I tested the speakers before I refitted the grilles.  They sounded a lot better.  No more rattling and buzzing from the passengers side.   The extra size also added more depth.

Once tested, I put the grilles back on and my 300TE speaker upgrade was complete.   I am pretty happy with how it sounds with the original Becker.  Unlike in the 560SEC I am not running a modern amplifier.   Given the size of the rear speakers, I don’t think its necessary.   This has been a quick and simple upgrade that sounds a lot better.   And now with the factory grilles installed, it is invisible.

Doing the front speaker upgrade was also the impetus for me to refurbish my instrument cluster, as I could push it out from the speaker hole.

The post 300TE speaker upgrade – Part 2 – fronts appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

In researching what was possible, options were not extensive for the S124.   The front speakers are both an unusual size (12cm) and an unusual mounting system.   The rears are are a more common 10cm size, but mounted in the door handles.   I personally don’t think much of the speaker setup in the car.   There is room for some larger speakers in the front, and the door handle speakers are just silly.   It would have been possible to come up with a much better way to mount door speakers in a much larger size.  Certainly in 1990, the W126 in some markets (Not Australia) already had much better door mounted speakers.

Given these idiosyncrasies, I there were not a lot of options for the car.   I found a German car audio store that was selling a kit for the S124 that included the four speakers and adaptors for the Becker plugs.   I bought this, and also the correct speakers for my 560SEC to combine shipping.  These were the Crunch speakers pictured above.

I started from the rear.   The rear speaker grilles are very fragile, and its likely ham fisted speaker installers have damaged them over the years.   There is a screw on the underside, and then the grille lifts up.   Unfortunately some owners have put screws in the top which is highly unsightly.

My car wasn’t that bad, but the clips on the top of the drivers side rear were broken off, so some kind of glue was holding them in.   Removal of the cover revealed a decent looking Alpine speaker.   I prefer to have all four speakers in a car the same make and model family, so I still changed them.

The new Crunch speakers went in quite easily.   I didn’t need to use the adaptors, as the Alpines had normal speaker plugs.    It was fairly trivial to plug them in and put the grilles back on.   The first part of my 300TE speaker upgrade only took about 30 minutes to do.     I thought I had photographed the new speakers in place, but looks like I didn’t.

At this stage, its hard to determine the impact as the rears are less important than the fronts.

The post 300TE speaker upgrade – Part 1 – rears appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Changing the rears in the second generation W126 is a bit more of a fiddly job.   For starters the factory grilles are now very brittle.   Not only are they over 35 years old, but the Australian sun is not kind to plastics.   It is quite common for them to break when removed.   The best way to ensure this does not happen is to remove the seats first.    The grilles have to slide towards the front of the car, and the top of the rear seat is in the way of that.

Despite having owned three 560SEC’s in my life, I had never removed the rear seat.  I assumed it was like the C107 or W111 coupe, where getting the rear seat out is like wrestling with a gorilla.   However, that is not the case in the SEC.   The left and right sections are removed separately, making it quite easy to get them out.   As with the saloon, the bottom cushion is removed by pressing the red tabs, and then the backrest lifts off ‘hooks’.   It took me a matter of minutes to get the seats out.

While they were out, it was a good opportunity to clean them and apply leather conditioner.   While I regularly clean and condition the seats in the car, it was amazing how much better a job I could do having them out.   It was almost worth doing this job just to force me to remove the seats and clean them.

Once the seats were out, the speaker grilles could be removed.   They slide towards the front of the car.  It is vital to be very gentle with them.  There are various hooks that are easily broken off.   The hardest one to get out is actually the front one.   Normally what happens is that it also pulls out its receptacle from the parcel shelf.

Once I got the grilles out, I was shocked to find that the car still had the original factory speakers.   Still with the original MB part number on them, made in West Germany.   They sounded better than the more modern Pioneers I removed from the front.    It seems incredible that somebody would go to the trouble of rewiring the car for the speakers, fit new front speakers, fit a new head unit and leave the old rear speakers alone.   As the car had been rewired to remove the fader, the becker plus were no longer there.

The series 1 W126 had the same size speakers front and rear.  To fit larger speakers in the series 2 cars, the factory came up with these angled brackets to fit a 16.5cm speaker.   The brackets are held in with two screws towards the front of the car.  Once those are out, the unit pulls towards the front of the car and can be lifted out.

The factory speakers are glued to that bracket.  Given their age, its fairly easy to pry them off the brackets with a screwdriver.    Instead of gluing my new W126 rear speakers on, I used double sided tape.

The Crunch speakers fit perfectly in the brackets.   The speaker is actually deeper than the bracket, but that is ok, as there is a hole in the rear parcel shelf for them to protrude through.

Once mounted, the Crunch speakers are slightly taller than the old factory ones were.  They still fit into the hole in the parcel shelf and the factory cover still fits on there quite well.

In the picture above, you’ll see the square hole in the parcel sheft to the front of the speaker.  A receptacle for one of the hooks in the speaker grille goes in there.   In both cases for me, the receptacle came off with the grille.   It is much easier to fit the grille if you remove the receptacle from the grille and put it back where it goes.    I found this out when doing the second speaker.

But before I put the grilles on I tested the quality of the sound, and I was happy with it.   Its not perfect, but its a huge improvement on what I had before.   I feel like I have a system that looks like a factory setup, but sounds better.  I also have much nicer and cleaner rear seats.    I’ll have a long road trip to decide how good this system really is.

In testing the setup, It also sounds heaps better if the EQ function on the iPhone is disabled.

The post W126 rear speakers appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

I am also doing a similar project on my 300TE.   On that car, one of the front speakers is damaged and makes a rattling sound.    The W124 speakers are harder to find than for the W126.  The front speakers on a W124 use an odd mounting system, and the rears have minimal clearance.    There was an audio store in Germany that sold a kit for the S124, and also carried speakers that should fit into the second generation W126.  It made sense to buy them all at once, as shipping from Germany is very expensive these days.

Based on that, I ordered four sets.    I prefer to keep all four speakers from the same manufacturer (and ideally the same range) in a car.

The speakers for the W126 were 10x15cm for the front and 16.5cm at the rear.   The factory front speaker in the W126 is actually a small round speaker in an oval housing.  These can be replaced by oval speakers.    They also came with adaptors for the Becker plug system.

When I removed the grilles in the 560SEC, I found a set of old Pioneer 4×6″ speakers in there.   They looked like they were about 20 years old or so.   The Becker plugs were long gone, so it was quite easy to use the standard speaker plugs for the new crunch speakers.    On comparing them, the Crunch speakers had a far larger magnet, and it was quite a tight fit to get that magnet through the speaker opening.    The speakers don’t sit quite flush due to the large magnet size, but there is just enough room to install the speaker and cover it with the factory grille.

The new speakers sound a lot better.  It’s never going to be perfect as I’m playing music through an FM transmitter, but they do make a big difference.  On the 560SEC, I am using a Becker 1402, coupled with the factory line out module to use an external amplifier.

Next step is the rears, which are far more fiddly to install on the W126.

The post W126 front speakers appeared first on Classic Jalopy.