Moisture from AC Ducts

After running the AC for a while, I would get drops of moisture from the AC ducts.  My assumption was that since the car spent years sitting, the evaporator was dusty and after heavy use I had clogged up the drains with mud.

The first thing to do was to get under the car and take a look.  Sure enough, once I pushed a cleaning brush up into the drains, my arm was covered with a deluge of cold muddy water.  After giving them a good clean, I was now getting steady dripping on the ground under the car when running the AC.

A few days later I returned and checked again, and it looked like it had clogged up again.  Getting back under I got more mud out, and noticed a third drain I had missed and cleaned that too.  Not sure what that is for, maybe the heater box?  In any case, after going back a day or so later and testing it, I was getting clean water through the drains, so at least for now this problem seems fixed.

Vibration from Brake pedal

Throughout the trip, I had some minor vibration from my brake pedal under hard braking.  This was much worse on the last day.  I removed all four wheels and checked the discs and pads, and they all looked good.  The inside of the wheels were quite dirty, so I cleaned them up.  While there, I took the opportunity to rotate the tyres.

While I didn’t do a very long downhill section, testing the brakes locally didn’t have any vibration, so I’m optimistic.  I didn’t actually do anything here, but perhaps there was so much dirt it was affecting wheel balance?

Cleaning the underside of the car

The underside of my car was all muddy and there were dead crickets everywhere.  Even the steering linkages and lower suspension arms were covered with dead bugs.  While I wasn’t trying to clean the car for a show, I managed to get a lot of crud from under the car, and gave the inside of the wheel arches a quick clean while I was there.

SLS control rod

While I was under the car, I noticed that the SLS control rod had broken from one end.  This probably happened on those big dips around Silverton.  Since I have a few cars with SLS I had a spare one on hand.  The old rod seemed very long, so I did the procedure of locking the valve into the neutral position with a drill bit and then installing the new rod with the car on the ground.

Future jobs

There were a few things that I didn’t get to.  The speedometer cable needs to be replaced.  This is part A1165420307 and is 1570mm for right hand drive cars, as opposed to the much shorter one for LHD.  I have a few options for this.  It is NLA, so while a NOS one is possible, it is probably unlikely.  I can therefore either remove mine and get a speedo shop to rebuild it, or I can find a good second hand cable.

I want to take the car for a longer drive and make sure I have actually solved that brake vibration issue.  I’ve also not yet properly diagnosed the occasional non-start issue either.

Finally, I had a stone chip on one of the headlight lenses last year.  Since I knew I was going to do this road trip, I haven’t installed the NOS lens cover I bought for it.  This is on my list.

The post 450SE after road trip repairs appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The W114 and W115 models had been in production since 1968 and the facelift was coming very soon.  So while the W114/W115 was getting a refresh rather than being replaced, you had the contrast of a brand new S-Class with a model that was reaching the end of its life.

That is reflected in the comparison with the December 1969 price list.   If we compare the two time periods, CPI rose 23.9% and average male weekly earnings rose 37%.   Most of the W114/W115 models rose in line with inflation, mostly around 25%.  That made them cheaper in real times.  If we take a W114 250 Auto, it grew by 26.6%, a real increase of 2.2%, but went from 111.5 weeks wages down to 103.

The new S-Class was the opposite.  If we compare the 280S and 280SE W108 with the W116 models, they went up by just under 45%.  That meant they cost 16-17% more in real terms.  Against wages, a 280S W116 took 133 weeks wage to pay for vs 125 weeks on the W108.  The 600 was similar, going up just under 44%, 16% in real terms and represented a whopping 452 weeks of average wages.

Since this new price list is from just after the W116 launch, not all models were replaced.  The 300SEL 3.5 and 300SEL 6.3 stand out.  The 6.3 wouldn’t be replaced until the introduction of the 6.9 in the late 70s.  The 350SE was the replacement for the 280SE 3.5, which was introduced after the December 1969 price list.

Probably the closest replacement for the 300SEL 3.5 was the 450SEL.  It wasn’t an exact replacement.  While the 450SEL had leather as standard, it didn’t have the exclusivity over the rest of the W116 range that the W109 had over the W108s.  In any case though, the 450SEL ($21,807) still cost 21% more in real terms than a 300SEL 3.5 and was 216 months of an average wags vs 197.   The 6.3 was 283 weeks wages in 1969.

It is also notable that the regular cars did not include a radio.  My understanding was that Becker Radios were not standard until 1976.

It is interesting to look at the comparison to Jaguar.  The Jaguars were much cheaper.  The XJs were priced like a W114, but closer to a W116 in terms of what you got.  If you take an XJ6 4.2 Auto ($11,000), for the price of a manual 280E, you got a car closer to the 280SE.  And the XJ12 Auto ($15,000) was priced like a 350SE, but with significantly more performance.  Build quality was much better on the Mercedes, but I would have had an XJ6 over a W114 at the time.

The post Mercedes-Benz June 1973 Saloon Car Price List appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

Each of the shows the organizers invite some different car clubs to display. This will be the third time the Mercedes-Benz club have displayed at the event, attending in 2025 and 2024.  It was a good opportunity for me to get out my 1965 250SE Cabriolet and take it along for the day, especially as I wasn’t able to display it at the German Car show this year.

The Rover club have always been a mainstay at these events, which suits me as I am a big fan of classic Rovers, especially the P4, P5 and P6.   There was also the MG car club, Holden FE-FC and the Ducati car club.

Attendance was lower than I would have expected, probably due to concerns about the weather.  I had some rain on the way home, and it rained heavily the night before.  The main part of the event had good weather.   The Mercedes-Club display had a decent representation of cars, including a W111 Coupe, Roundie, W126, W124, W116, C123, Classic G-Wagon etc.

I spoke to a few owners at the event.  The three door classic Range Rover was sold new in Toorak, so the original Toorak Tractor. He did the restoration himself and there are not many classic range rovers in nice condition.  The Bentley S2 is a daily driver and the only car of the owner.  He gets lot of looks just driving around Sydney in it like any other car, but in far more comfort and style.

The large grounds were recently subject to an appeal on a land claim from the NSW Aboriginal Land Council.  As I understand, there was a claim back in 2016 which was partially successful, and 1.2 hectares of land, and McCredie cottage was transferred to the land council.  Earlier this year, there was an appeal to this, with the large grounds subject to a further claim to acquire and redevelop the land.   The claim was partially successful, with a large section of the rear of the property to be turned over.   Apparently this means the front grounds are now safe, but given that was the expected outcome of the 2016 decision, that remains to be seen.  I hope to continue attending events here, as there are few open spaces like it in Sydney.

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As I rolled in, I ended up parked in front of a Daimler 250 V8 in red, which was a nice combination.

As usual there was quite a lot to see on the day.   This month, there was a big turnout from various Mopar enthusiasts with some interesting cars, like the early generation Plymouth Barracuda with the huge rear window.  They had a pair of them parked together.   There was a decent number of older Ferraris including a 330, 308, 328 etc.   I also enjoyed seeing the Iso Rivolta, an unusual car in Australia.

The Saab guys were also back this month and had a nice group of cars all parked together.  The 99 Turbo is still the standout car, but it was also nice to see an early 900 Turbo parked beside it.

In addition to that, there were a decent number of pre-war cars on display, which I always love to see.  The more those cars are seen out and about the more interest there will be with younger people to be their next custodians.

I didn’t get a chance to photograph it, but there was a 450SLC in exactly the colour combination of mine, although this one had a lot less on the odometer and the interior was in much better shape!

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The museum is located in an old car dealership and service centre.  It only opened during the COVID era, so has been there about five years. Going to the musem, you would be hard pressed to see that though.  There is so much automobilia on the walls that it gives the feeling of a museum that has been operating for many years.

The museum collection is entirely on loan.  While different parts of the collection probably turn over at different rates, I would imagine it will look quite different if I ever return.  The museum concentrates on South Australian motoring, particularly motoring in the Strathalbyn area.  It is run by volunteers.

The first room you enter is mostly pre-war cars, and quite interesting ones too.  I think I understood that one of them was going to be entering the bay to Birdwood the following day.   Its always good to see cars of this area out on the road.

The next room has a variety of different cars.  This one had a lot of focus on locally made cars.  For example, there was a Bolwell Ikara there, of which only 12 were ever made.  There was also a few other things like a Morgan Three wheeler, and quite an extensive collection of motorbikes.

The next room had some interesting local cars, including a van that wears SA 1, apparently trading in numeric plates in SA is not possible, so the van is kept registered to keep the plate.  There are no annual inspections in SA.  SA 1 actually pre-dates NSW 1 and Victoria 1.

As well as the main museum exhibits there is also an excellent reading room full of car books.  You could easily spend a few hours in that room.

Beyond the reading room, there was also a small annexe that had a series of micro cars, including one with a vinyl body.   And of course, like with many museums, there is often a bit to see in the public parking lot too.  At the time we were there, probably because of the Adelaide Rally and the Bay to Birdwood, there were quite a few groups going through.  There was a guy from the the Mercedes Club in Victoria in his E36 AMG.  There was a whole group with Australian made Mitsubishis, and there was a Ferarri BB512.

Strathalbyn is an interesting town to visit, and Gilberts Motor Museum is worth a stop.

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While the museum has a varied collection, the thing that makes it stand out is the focus on Australian motoring history, and in particular, cars made in South Australia.  South Australia was vital to the Australian car industry when it still existed.  And seeing that shows what we have lost.

The best part of the museum for me was seeing the Holden Concept cars.  My favorite was the 1970 Torana GTR-X.  It was essentially Australia’s own competitor to the Datsun 240Z.  I personally think it could have sold really well, but from what I understand risk adverse management in GM killed it off.  It was supposed to be released in 1973, with three cars built.  Two survive, and the one in the museum was the promotional car.   Along the same lines was the 1969 Hurricane.  Unlike the Torana that was seriously considered for production, this was very much a concept.  It already had a reversing camera and an early satnav.  It is very striking, but I preferred the Torana.

There was also a WB Kingswood, a car that was cancelled after the launch of the VB Commodore.  The assumption being there wasn’t room in the lineup for a car between the new Commodore and the WB Statesman.  They were probably right, but Holden did loose sales at the time from people who wanted a larger car.

They also had concepts like a convertible Ute in in the same vein as the Chevrolet SSR, and a convertible Monaro.  I can’t see the Ute having done well, but the Monaro may have.  They also had a concept for a later generation Monaro that was never built, that probably would have done ok.

Along one wall they had a bunch of Holden Milestone cars, e.g. most of the Holdens made to celebrate each million milestone, the last being the 7th Millions in August 2008.  They had the last Holden from 2017, and I later learned that Holden Manufactured 7,687,675 cars.  An impressive achievement in a small country like Australia.

As well as the Holdens, they had a good section about pioneering motoring in Australia, and some early cars manufactured here that were not commercially successful.  Then there was a section of commercial vehicles, plus of course the general section.  Is a serious car museum complete without a Gullwing or a Bugatti?  Clearly the museum curators think not, as they have one of each.

I spent about an hour in there due to there being so much to see outside the museum.  Had I come on any other day I could have spent a lot longer.

The post National Motor Museum, Birdwood appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

A few months ago we moved the start time one hour earlier. Overall this seems to be working quite well.  It does make it a bit more of a rush for people to get there after work, but it makes the nights more manageable.  It doesn’t suit everyone, but it seems to suit more people than it inconveniences.

After the aborted attempt two months ago, I decided to take the Daimler along again.  This time, all the spark plugs stayed in the head.  The drive started out at Shelly Beach and we had a pretty good turn out.  I was there in the Daimler, and we had two 124s, both 300Es, three 126s, a two 420SELs and a 280SE, and a 123 200 manual.   I had seen the 200 at the German car show the week before and it is quite a rare car in Australia.

The drive to manly is pretty cruisy, although there are more traffic lights than I would like.  Tourboss helps with being able to see when I have to stop and let the group catch up.   At Palm Beach, one of our participants is a member of the surf club there, so he opened up and we had coffee/hot chocolates and snacks.  A great way to end a pretty relaxed drive.

Our November drive is the annual drive to Bilpin.

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I though the show was a pretty big improvement from last year.  The new imagery was a nice change, it was well advertised, no confusion this year about where to buy tickets, there were a lot more sponsors and the whole thing had an air of being well organized.

Probably the only thing that wasn’t as good, as last year the cars were arranged in groups, roughly in 50s through 70s, 80’s and 90s and moderns.  This year it was to a degree, but they were mostly in wherever they could fit.   I suspect that numbers were up this year, and Gough Whitlam park is very space constrained.

As usual, there was a good display of Mercedes-Benz.  I’m much more focused on the older cars, and was able to see a good range of them.  I especially liked a dark blue W108 with a red leather interior and a manual gearbox.  This is a very unusual combination here in Australia.  While in the USA, W108s with leather are seen a bit, they are very rare in Australia.

There was also a good showing of W123s with a manual 200 carby, a signal red 280TE from Victoria and quite a few other nice examples.  W116s were also well represented, with two 450SE’s, a 280SEL and a 280SE.

I didn’t have as much time to spend in the other marques sections, but the Audi one seemed quite small.  I liked seeing the BMW E28 M5, and there were some nice older Porsches.

Overall, I thought the event team did a nice job putting on this event and I’m glad I was able to make it, even without displaying a car.

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Air Conditioning

My 450SE was still running the original Frigidaire A6 compressor.  It had a leak from the back.  The original Frigidaire went out of production in 2024, so simply buying a new one wasn’t an option.

A friend with a 1973 450SE in Melbourne was in the same boat, so we had been comparing notes.  Since some of these compressors apparently require some modification to fit on the car, we hoped to buy locally so we could test fit and make sure it would actually work on the W116.  He has a trade account with Cooldrive and a few others wholesalers, so at first tried to get a compressor from there.

After months of nothing turning up despite being told they were on the way, we decided we would just have to source something ourselves.   Based on some research, I came up with the following options:

1. Have the A6 rebuilt.  This is possible, but not something I wanted to do. I’ve never had good success with rebuilt AC compressors. There are people around who can still do it, as that compressor was widely used. However, given the cost of fitting, the need for a new drier, regas and so on, I think this is a false economy.
2. Buy a rebuilt four seasons A6.  These are the most commonly available compressor to buy. They are not new, but a rebuilt version by four seasons. They have a pretty terrible reputation. I would think that option 1 is better than this one. You’ll find this on all the sites like FCP Euro, pelican parts and so on.
3. Buy the AKS-DASIS compressor.  I don’t know much about this one. Its made in China and I really couldn’t find any information about people using it successfully. So I don’t know if its any good.
4. Buy a PRO6TEN.  I’ve seen quite a few good reviews of people using this one, and I seriously considered it. Those reviews were not on Mercedes-Benz and so I wasn’t 100% sure it would be a drop in replacement. Its a new modern compressor in an aluminum body and its more efficient and much lighter than the old A6.
5. Buy an S6 Compressor.  Similar concept the PRO6TEN, but a different supplier. I found less reviews on this, but the vendor specifically mentions it for the Mercedes W116 and I’ve bought from them before and know they stand behind their products.
6. Modify the AC hoses and get a custom bracket to fit a Sanden.   I didn’t really investigate this very much, but it is an option.

I went with option 5, and ordered the S6.  Postage wasn’t cheap, but it was still decently priced landed here in Australia.  On arrival, I was pretty impressed with how it looked.  It is made by Sunair in Malaysia, and the part number is CO-5004CA.   The construction of the housing and the packaging seemed high quality.  It was made earlier this year, so hadn’t been sitting on the shelf for years too.

Next I needed a new receiver drier and I found a proper one overseas and had it shipped. I also got a new pressure switch.  The previous owner reported the AC had been very cold about two years ago, I figured that was probably all I needed.

I had the compressor fitted locally, and the good news is that the S6 fitted well.  There were no modifications required.  The bad news is that on the 450 engine, there is this quite elaborate manifold that connects the AC hoses at the top of the engine down to the compressor at the bottom.  Mine had cracked and the system would not hold vacuum.  I called around, and MB Classic in Greenacre had a 450 engine just removed from a wreck.  I was able to buy a manifold.  With the days counting down, I drove over to get it right away.

With the new manifold fitted, I no longer had a big leak, but I had another problem.  The system would not circulate freon properly.  It looked like the expansion valve may be blocked.  To make sure I got another in time, I drove the old one over to Cooldrive in Alexandria, and we matched it with a generic one they had.  They had stock in Melbourne, but it would take two days to arrive.

The days were counting down, As I drove over to pick up the new expansion valve, it was now Thursday and I was to leave on Tuesday.  That gave two business days to get the system sorted out.  The new expansion valve was fitted friday, however, there was still a blockage in the system.  The Mechanic left some kind of cleaner in the system over the weekend, hoping that would sort out the issue.

Luckily, that seemed to work, and Monday morning, he was able to remove it, and the system circulated properly and didn’t have any leaks.  On further examination, we think the cause may have been the old receiver drier breaking down when it was used a couple of years ago.  There is a sort of filter on the inlet of the old A6, and it was full of black debris.  The port to the drier seemed to have this also.  I guess the cleaning solution got a lot of this out of the evaporator.   That should have been ok, but as the system was finally gassed up properly, the gas bottle ran out.  We only had about half a charge in the system.

I called around and managed to get a favour from another Mechanic to fit me in the first thing the next morning.  The system originally had 1kg of R12 when new.  The gas bottle ran out with 450g of R134A, so the cooling performance was pretty tepid.  With 900g, it was icy cold.  I finally had working AC on the morning I was to leave for the trip.  It had been an ordeal, but it was now working.

Ignition Switch

In the last few months, two times when I had tried to start the 450SE, the key did nothing at all.  Normally I would wait and do more troubleshooting, but since the instrument cluster had to come out of the car anyway, I got a new ignition switch as a precaution.  I figured it was the most likely cause.

Instrument Cluster Lighting

Another small last minute problem was the instrument cluster lighting.  This had stopped working.  While the cluster was out, I had the rheostat bypassed.  No time to get another and I only use it on full brightness.

Oil Change

The 450SE had about 4,000km since its last oil change.  I normally do mine at 5,000km or 2 years, whichever comes sooner.  Since the trip was another 4,200km, I did a quick oil change the night before, after picking up the car from the AC being repaired and before the final regas the next morning.

Speedometer Cable

The instrument cluster had to come out a few times with all the AC work.  One of those times, the cable must have been kinked.  Driving the car home after doing the oil change, it snapped.  There was no time for a repair, and I still wanted to take the 450SE.

I had Claude AI build me an app for my old iPhone to track the odometer and show a big speedometer correctly.  It worked quite well.  This allowed me to make sure I track the distance properly, and know my speed.  I put in a second mobile phone holder.  At some point in the future, I will have to advance the odometer to correct it.

Rally magnets and Spares

And of course, the final thing to do was put on the Rally magnets and pack the box of spares I had prepared.  I had:

• Full set of belts
• Voltage regulator
• Fuel pump
• Battery jump box
• Tyre pump
• Spare fuses, relays, wires, connectors
• SLS control rod
• Oil, coolant, transmission fluid, SLS fluid, glass cleaner, quick detailer, funnel
• Tools, first aid kit
• 6 x 500ml drinking water
• Cable ties, tape etc.
• Nitrite gloves
• Old towels and rags
• Head torch
• Power probe
• Spare fuel hose etc

The post Preparing my 450SE for the Bay to Birdwood trip appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

In 1969, the 420 based Sovereign was replaced by a new model based on the Jaguar XJ6, which had been introduced the year before.  The XJ6 was a ground-breaking car.  Its suspension and handling were still excellent even in the late 80s when it went out of production.   In 1968 it was world beating.   The XK engine, introduced in 1948 was still excellent and gave the car very good performance for its time.   The XK is all about torque and while the 133 KW is respectable, it is the 310NM of torque that makes these cars glide along effortlessly.

The Sovereign made a good car even better, the Daimler grille is much more attractive than the rather busy Series 1 XJ6 grille, and the small interior improvements are nice.  The lack of wood trim on the door is probably the only drawback.   The Daimler was also more exclusive.  While 59,077 XJ6 SWB were made, there were only 11,522 Sovereign SWB cars. At least in 1972, the Daimler was 3.85% more expensive than the Jaguar.

I drove this particular car because a friend was interesting in purchasing it and wanted another opinion.  It was made in 1970.   Being a 1970 car it had the black surrounds on the instrument cluster, but the earlier reversing lights and ventilation setup.   It also had the updated transmission.   It was finished in the very attractive colour combination of British Racing Green with cream leather seats.  Being originally a UK delivered car, it has a Webasto folding sunroof.   The car had amazing history and had been in long term ownership with significant work done on it.

Driving the car, it is easy to see why the XJ and Sovereign were such a revelation when new.  Even 50 years later, it is so far ahead of much else on the road.   The car was located on the central coast and we drove up there in his company car, a late model SUV.  The SUV felt every bump and undulation on the road, every expansion joint was fed back into the car.   It had a course, thashy engine and the interior was full of cheap plastics.

Contrast with the Sovereign.  The twin cam inline six cylinder engine is smooth and torquey.   While it is not fast by modern car standards, it has all the power you need.  On the motorway on the way back, there was Tesla attempting some kind of hypermiling up a hill at low speed.   The Daimler kicked down and passed it effortlessly.   The interior is a lovely place to be and it is quite comfortable.   But the suspension is probably the best part of it.  It is smooth and supple.   You really don’t feel any of the bumps on the road.   Yet and the same time it handles well.

Now there are of course some drawbacks.  Wind noise is much higher than on a modern car.   The sovereign is not fitted with air-conditioning and it was 30C outside.   The instruments are not especially accurate.   To me these are minor drawbacks and the car really is a delight.   I wasn’t in a position to buy another car, but had I been I would have been happy to buy it myself.

The comparison to my own Double-Six is interesting.   The cars are very similar.   The obvious difference is the engine and interior, but my car is based on the LWB car rather than the SWB in this case.   Obviously there is a fair performance difference.   But I didn’t find the Sovereign lacking.   It is more that the Double-Six is totally effortless, where as the six has to kick down at times.    The LWB platform gives a bit more space, but the proportions are better on the SWB cars.   The V12 also generates a lot more residual engine bay heat.   Being very tall, I found my own car a little more roomy, but i was able to get quite comfortable in the Sovereign.  There would certainly be room to own both cars.

This car was also an interesting comparison to the British Racing Green XJ12 I drove a few years ago.  The colour suits both cars.

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