I'm thinking they are a bit too thick. When I get the drums machined I'll get them to take a little bit extra off, maybe that will give them just enough clearance.

The door panels are in excellent shape, except the driverside rear. It had a lot of water damage. Mostly just the card behind and not the vinyl. My plan eventually is to make a template and cut a new back panel and glue the vinyl to it. We'll see if that ever happens lol.

I had to heat the hinges pretty good, I would heat for a bit and try to pump grease, and repeat. You have to be careful around the door seals though. New seals are currently probably worth more than my car lol.

It does have trim rings, I just didn't have it on in that picture.

__________________
"It's what non-car people don't get. They see all cars as just ton-and-a-half, two tons of wires, glass, metal and rubber. That's all they see. People like you or I know, we have an unshakable belief that cars are living entities..... You can develop a relationship with a car, and that’s just what non-car people don't get."
-Jeremy Clarkson

Soooooooo, update time.

So I finished up the front brakes, set the bearing end play.


I picked up my radiator, it looks great. The guy said that it only had one leaking tube which he blocked off. Said it flowed great, and not to worry about losing a tube until you start to loose like 6 of them. Repainted it. Only charged me 55 bucks.



I decided to go ahead and replace the front subframe bushings before I get fluid in the brakes. They were totally collapsed, and probably original. I had to disconnect the front brake hoses, I removed the sway bar and endlinks, and disconnected the front spring part that is connected to the subframe under the sway bar (not sure what that part is called.) I disconnected the engine from the motor mounts and put it on a jack stand, then removed the bolts for the subframe mount and dropped the front axle down until it would clear. Only did one side at a time, left all the steering peices connected.
This is the old mount once removed.


This is the mount disassembled, there are few parts. Two rubber mounts, metal cone, the mount itself, and a few bolts.


Mercedes no longer makes the kit to replace all the parts for the front mount. Sometimes you can find them on ebay but they are pricey. Mercedes does still make both rubber mounts inside the mount, you just have to clean and reuse your old hardware.
Upper mount 1103311344 $9
Lower mount 1103311244 $36

Here is a comparison of the lower mount lol


This is the mount repainted, cleaned and reassembled.


Another angle


Here it is installed.


You don't have to worry about the spring, it's held in place by the a arms and the king pin. W110 chassis's have unique front subframe bushings, there is no substitute.

I ended up having to grind down the rear shoes on my bench grinder to get the drums to fit over them, all is well now with them. I need to get the radiator back in and change the belts and hoses, grab a battery and I'll be ready to fire the engine. I need to finish bleeding the brakes, and some misc stuff and it'll be ready for the road! Slowly getting there!!

__________________
"It's what non-car people don't get. They see all cars as just ton-and-a-half, two tons of wires, glass, metal and rubber. That's all they see. People like you or I know, we have an unshakable belief that cars are living entities..... You can develop a relationship with a car, and that’s just what non-car people don't get."
-Jeremy Clarkson

Yesterday I got some more work done on the 68.

But first, happy first day of spring!!!


Got the fuel lines run for the carbs. Unknown to me, because I'd didn't check lol, the fuel hose fitting coming off the fuel pump is a little bit smaller than 1/4 inch, and the fuel fitting on my weber carbs is 5/16. So I had to get a reducer for the fuel line to drop the size down. I'm not sure where the fuel line is supposed to run but for now I have mine going across the upper radiator hose. Hope this doesn't cause any issues from the heat, especially after shutdown. I got some fancy fuel injection hose clamps and some brass fittings for the T, and the 90 degree elbow. I ran out of clamps though I'll have to buy more.

The radiator is installed, I had to fish the solder balls out of the upper radiator tank, I figure they wouldn't be too good for the water pump. It still has a bit of corrosion inside of it, on the top and bottom of the tubes. When I get the car running I'm going to flush it with citrus to get it cleaned out. I was unsure how close the radiator is supposed to be to the fan. I put it back as close as it would go, there is probably 3/4 inch clearance between the fan and the radiator. I figured it was safe since the motor mounts are new and I'm not going to be doing much drag racing.


The smog pump is put back on (aka the belt tensioner lol) took me 3 trips to the parts store to get thr correct size belt. If anyone needs it you have to get a narrow 39 inch v-belt. It was pretty funny watching them try to figure out which belt I needed when I told them I needed a belt 1 inch longer than the one I purchased originally. It's sad that generally speaking no one at parts stores are "car people" anymore. "We'll sir I'm not sure what we're going to do if the belt that was listed in the computer for your car didn't work"
My power steering pump is not adjustable, the smog pump is the tensioner for that belt, so it had to be retained. If down the road I can locate a bracket for a car that only had power steering, I may swap it.


Getting really close to firing the engine. All new radiator hoses, and the expansion tank are installed. I put my hallowed out thermostat in, in preparation for flushing. I really just need to grab a battery and it should be ready.

Starboard side view of the engine room!


Port side

__________________
"It's what non-car people don't get. They see all cars as just ton-and-a-half, two tons of wires, glass, metal and rubber. That's all they see. People like you or I know, we have an unshakable belief that cars are living entities..... You can develop a relationship with a car, and that’s just what non-car people don't get."
-Jeremy Clarkson

Got the master cylinder put in today. Looks a little funky, I don't think the master cylinder is correct for the reservoir, but the reservoir is correct for my car because I have low fluid sensors. Which I believe is unique to the 68 w110. Works though! I blew the old brake fluid out of the lines with compressed air, don't want any of that old stuff getting in my new calipers or wheel cylinders. I gravity bled the brakes for a bit and once I had fluid dripping from the lines I tightened them up and bled everything normal. Pedal feels tight, can't wait to drive it!

She Lives!!!!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y4u_ZrJEGoU

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=u5lx_PX1zZk

Got it started without too much trouble. Forgot a hose clamp on the fuel line so I had a small fuel leak by the front carb. Got that squared away, then set the timing. My guy that rebuilt the distributor told me to set it at 12-15 degrees at idle with no vacuum advance. Not sure what the manual specifies, I don't have one. After timing was set I fiddle with the carbs a bit, got the mixture and idle speed set by ear for now. Pulled it out of the garage for the first time in almost a year.





For now I have it running off a 1 gallon gas can. I drove it for the first time ever lol, a few houses down and back home on our street. Transmission shifts good, very solid. Still have a bit to do. I need to change the rear diff fluid, install the driverside rear fwd trailing arm bushing, change the flex disc and center carrier bearing, also need to finish cleaning the gas tank, and do some general tidying up and cleaning.

I found out the steering box leaks pretty good, so I need to get a reseal kit for it. There only about 30 bucks. The horn doesnt work. No other discoveries though.

__________________
"It's what non-car people don't get. They see all cars as just ton-and-a-half, two tons of wires, glass, metal and rubber. That's all they see. People like you or I know, we have an unshakable belief that cars are living entities..... You can develop a relationship with a car, and that’s just what non-car people don't get."
-Jeremy Clarkson

When I get home this afternoon, I can give you the timing information from my manuals if you would like.

By the way, I just found a full FSM for the W110s on E-bay for $22 and free shipping (a very good price)- you'd better snap it up! It will be the best $20 you spend working on this car.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-Service-Workshop-Repair-Manual-1959-to-1967-sl-s-se-d-c-b-sb-gas-diesel/112869528745?hash=item1a478c54a9:ghwAAOSw1m9aqaeB&vxp=mtr

Thanks for the heads up! I just bought it.

__________________
"It's what non-car people don't get. They see all cars as just ton-and-a-half, two tons of wires, glass, metal and rubber. That's all they see. People like you or I know, we have an unshakable belief that cars are living entities..... You can develop a relationship with a car, and that’s just what non-car people don't get."
-Jeremy Clarkson

Took the car around the block, runs great!

I changed out the rear differential fluid. I put 80w90 in it from walmart, figure ill run that for a bit then put a good non-Synthetic in it. The pinion seal is leaking pretty bad, so that's on the short list now. I got the interior put back together. Started buffing the paint out too.



Engine is cleaned up, I'm going to get the gas tank back in tomorrow if the weather holds. I also took out the aftermarket ac.

__________________
"It's what non-car people don't get. They see all cars as just ton-and-a-half, two tons of wires, glass, metal and rubber. That's all they see. People like you or I know, we have an unshakable belief that cars are living entities..... You can develop a relationship with a car, and that’s just what non-car people don't get."
-Jeremy Clarkson

The pinion seal will take about an afternoon's worth of work to replace. You will have to disconnect the back of the drive shaft (where it hooks up to the rear-end), and then push it off to the side so you can get at the pinion nut. The drive shaft does not need to be removed from the vehicle for this job.

The pinion seal part number is 004 997 56 46, and it should cost less than $10.

The pinion nut is round with four grooves in it, and requires a special 36 mm socket to remove. The socket looks like this:


The socket should cost about $35. I have the special socket if it winds up being hard to find.

You will need to match-mark the nut and/or count the number of turns required to remove it, and then replicate that when you are re-assembling it after replacing the pinion seal.

After the pinion nut is out, the seal is easy to replace. The FSM will provide useful information for that part of the job.

Caution: One very important thing when putting it back together is to not over-torque the pinion nut. There is a crush sleeve under it which will be damaged if the pinion nut is over-tightened. Be sure to only tighten the pinion nut back to its original position!

After that, everything should be straight forward as far as re-assembly is concerned.

Thanks for the info on the pinion seal CTD, I'll tackle that when we get moved. We're moving to virginia beach in June.

We decided to drive the car for to the in-laws for easter, and then into old town to get some ice cream. Every red light we stopped at people were asking about the car, it was pretty cool.



Before all that I had to do a fair amount of work.
Starting with the gas tank. I had 2 gallons of mineral spirits soaking in the tank for the last few weeks to loosen up all the varnish and crud in the bottom. Seemed to work well. I then sprayed the tank with a pressure washer, loosened up the remaining crud and I flushed it out. I painted the outside of the tank with POR-15 to cover up what little bit of surface rust there is. I had to get a big bolt and a pipe wrench to remove the strainer. I think it was a M14 bolt. After that I let the tank dry out and reinstalled it. I put some water remover in the first tank of gas to get any remaining water out of it.


I have always been afraid of mercedes flex discs. So before driving the car any further I replaced it. I loosened the slip joint nut, removed all the bolts, and slide the driveshaft back to get the old flex disc out. It was 6 sided and the replacment is round, so it must be quite old. It was also starting to come apart.


The drive shaft will need more attention in the future but for now it is fine



So this is what I found out on our drive;

Turn signals don't work (bulbs)
Horn and wipers don't work (fuse)
Carbs need some turning
I think I have a wheel bearing going bad
Gas gauge doesn't work (most likely the sending unit, I think I messed it up when I was cleaning it)
Speedometer doesn't work (a few months back I connected the speedometer cable back to the transmission, I'll have to investigate further)
Alternator is only putting out 13.5 volts, pretty sure it's supposed to be over 14.4 volts.
It's weird to drive an auto transmission with a torque coupler instead of a torque converter, feels different.
Everything else on the drive went great!

Today I re-soldered the tabs in the front turn signal housings. Front signals and parking lights work, clearance lights still don't. I removed the tail lights and ran them through the dishwasher. I took some rubbing compound to the tail light plastic and they cleaned up nice. The seals on them are completely shot, not sure where I can get more. I replaced some bulbs in the back and they are good to go now. I removed and cleaned the tag lights on the bumpers.



Our first car show is this Friday if it doesn't rain!

__________________
"It's what non-car people don't get. They see all cars as just ton-and-a-half, two tons of wires, glass, metal and rubber. That's all they see. People like you or I know, we have an unshakable belief that cars are living entities..... You can develop a relationship with a car, and that’s just what non-car people don't get."
-Jeremy Clarkson

Excellent news to hear that the Heckflosse is now on the road! They are fun cars to drive, aren't they? The fins make it much easier to back into parking spaces too.

Virginia Beach is a good home for an old Benz. I frequently travel there in my 220 Diesel. Not too much salt on the roads, which is the arch enemy of the venerable Heckflosse.

Your fuel gauge may be dysfunctional due to a dirty connection at the sender. I have often had issues there that were cleared up by gently cleaning the contacts.

Regarding your speedometer: when you remove one end of the cable, does it rotate freely? It could be that the cable is broken. If not, then I guess you'll have to look for another gauge. There is also a shop in California that does a nice job rebuilding VDO speedometers if you choose to go that route.

13.5 volts is spot on for the alternator. It's a 30 amp Bosch AL79X if I remember right.

I hope your Friday car show will be enjoyable.

Maybe we could grab lunch if you come through VA beach!

I disconnected the plug at the top of the sending unit. With the ignition on the fuel gauge is supposed to go to Full, it doesn't move. I checked resistance on the sending unit, I think I have half a tank of gas, the resistance was .089 ohms. I believe the range is .006-.069 so I'm outside of the limits on the sender. But the gauge isn't acting right either. I wonder if I have a wire grounded going to the gauge. The lights in the instrument panel work, so does the temp gauge, oil pressure gauge, and all the idiot lights.

I'll have to pull the speedometer cable and see if it spins freely from below.

Good to know about the alternator. I'll post up some pics after the car show.

Got the valve adjustment done, engine sounds a lot better. Not so clicky now. The manual I bought said to adjustment them to .08mm and .18mm for intake and exhaust. I had to rummage around and find some feeler gauges that thin.

Degreased the rear axle, transmission and engine. Looks a lot better now. I figure every little bit will help the transmission since it doesn't have an oil cooler.

We went to our first car show! We were the only Mercedes in a sea of fords and chevys!

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__________________
"It's what non-car people don't get. They see all cars as just ton-and-a-half, two tons of wires, glass, metal and rubber. That's all they see. People like you or I know, we have an unshakable belief that cars are living entities..... You can develop a relationship with a car, and that’s just what non-car people don't get."
-Jeremy Clarkson

That car show looks like it was fun. Also good to hear that your valves adjusted correctly. I had to replace a thrust washer on one of my exhaust valves to get it to adjust to the right tappet clearance.

How is it driving now? When running right, I think a six-cylinder finny should get about 20 miles per gallon.

Hey all,

We've been busy moving and what not, haven't had time to post in long time.

I've been driving the car a lot recently and the rear pinion seal has decided to finally leak enough that I believe it's now not smart to drive it. I'm going to get the new seal from mercedes and I need to buy the socket to get the nut off.

I'm also fighting an overheating problem. At idle the car stays pretty cool, right at 180. While driving it creeps up a little but as long as I keep it under 40 mph it doesn't heat up. If I drive faster than that the temp creeps up, and doesn't stop creeping. I've not run it long enough at speed for it to over heat but got pretty close one time after 45 minutes of highspeed driving. I had the radiator cleaned out and one leaking tube pinched off. The water pump is brand new, new thermostat, all new hoses. I replaced the fan clutch with a cheap one from ebay. I believe it worked for about a week, and the temps did stay down lower than normal so I'm thinking it might be the fan clutch. I kept the original one I removed I was thinking about refilling it and putting it back on. The car still has its fan shroud. Lots of fins on the radiator are messed up, but I figure that if anything that would cause issues at idle not at speed.

Fuel pump is starting to weep really bad, the ethanol in the gas probably killed the diaphragm. I ordered a new one from the classic center and an adapter for it to the block.

My shift bushing on the transmission disintegrated when I downshifted a few weeks ago to pass someone, so I drove home in 2nd gear. Ordered two from the classic center and popped it in, very easy repair.

My muffler fell off lol. I got a NOS one off ebay. My plan is to have the entire exhaust system replaced as it's all held together with clamps and random pieces of pipe. It sounds nice rightnow though, straight pipes with just the center resonator.

I ordered new trunk, windshield and rear window seals. I'm attempting to stop the little bit of water that gets in before I order my carpet kit.

I replaced the speedometer cable, didn't fix my speedo. I did hit a large pot hole while turning left and the speedometer started working for about 5 miles then quit again. Not sure what yo make of that. I need to pull it out of the back of the speedo head and verify the cable spins while driving.

I replaced my non working fuel level sender with a generic 35$ float arm type that is for a gm vehicle. It reads backwards which is annoying but I have a working gas gauge now and low fuel light and I didn't have to spend 300 bucks on a new sender. My old sender was so badly corroded I couldn't repair it.

I got the car on the interstate about 2 weeks ago for a few miles. I ran 80-85 in the fast lane, very surprised about how it ran. Super smooth no vibration at all, engine was quite even though I know it was spun up pretty good. Lots of power too, I guess because it was right in the power band.

Not much else to report that I can think of. It's fun to go to the beach in and cruise down the strip at va beach.