weekend Wrenching

[jalopy_sec]

Originally Posted by alabbasi

I'm going to part out the silver blue 500slc. I hate to part out a complete and running car that is so rare but I have not had a lot of interest and I could use the parts to rebuild the Inca red car which has more potential.

Wish I had the space for it. At least from the picture in the other thread it looks like it has potential.

Bryce

[alabbasi]

Originally Posted by jalopy_sec

Wish I had the space for it. At least from the picture in the other thread it looks like it has potential.

Bryce

It really is a nice car, the interior is tatty and it needs a paint job but the engine is like a slingshot. Above 2000rpm it feels faster then my 6.9's and faster then the gold 450SLC 5.0.

It is what it is though and i need the space and the parts more then I need the car.

I've had some horrible low ball offers which I won't entertain. There is no sense in selling it for less then what it would cost in parts to put the Inca red car back together.

[alabbasi]

I read somewhere on either this forum or another forum about Melthonian shoe cream being used to restore car seat leather.

I did some googling and found that this stuff comes in about every single color that MB uses and costs about $3 jar. The Jars are not large so I ordered 6 jars of black, 3 jars of olive green, 3 jars of tan and a couple of jars of the neutral color (i'm very gullible about what I read on the internet).

So for about $50 I had all I needed to do my CA 6.9, my other 6.9, the 450SLC and the daily.

The Jars arrived today so I thought I would test drive the back seat on my CA spec 6.9 tire smoker.

I used a soft shoe brush to brush away any dirt from the seats then rubbed she cream in. The back seats consumed about one and half jars of leather cream and it soaked it in quite nicely.

The die used is quite potent and hard to get off your hands.

I let the seats sit in the sun for 15 minutes and then went back with the shoe brush and brushed the seats down again, followed by buffing it with a soft cotton cloth.

All in all, it took me about 30 minutes of elbow grease time to get the back seats done.

The results:

The seats look good, the leather is nice and shiny and soft and the there is a really nice smell of leather in the car that probably hasn't been there in 20 years.

As this cream does contain die, I will probably let it sit for a couple of days and then go back over with with the cloth and buff it one more time in order to remove any excess die.

Here are some before pictures:





Some after pictures:

[Mike D]

Looks good! It seems to really bring back the ,"Just sit on me, I'm soft and will caress your body" look. Leather upholstery is just so nice.

[Mike D]

I'm spending this weekend tracking down a "no-starter engagement" problem on my 280C project. No, it's not the NSS, more's the pity, THAT would be way too easy! Looks like I'll be delving into the wiring bundle leading from the fuse. Ugghhhh! I've been starting it using a remote starter button and I'm getting to the point of the restoration where it would be nice to have the interior all buttoned up. It looks a little odd to have these two red wires connected to a starter switch just flopping loosely in the console.

I've got a sneaky suspicion the PO had a safety/cut-out switch installed under the dash. I guess I'll spend the weekend standing on my head in the floorboards.

Al's spending the weekend doing his leather, what's everybody else doing?

[alabbasi]

Al has a bunch of stuff to do. The Canada 6.9 has a crazy height leveling valve. The control arm broke and it was sitting low so I tried to raise it. It now either sits all the way up or all the way down.

I've also bought a phase inverter for the 3 post lift and I want it in order to get the lift working and I need to switch the hood and trunk lid on my Euro 6.9 prior to selling it's new owner.

Pictures of your project please Mike!.

[tonkovich]

Originally Posted by alabbasi

Al has a bunch of stuff to do. The Canada 6.9 has a crazy height leveling valve. The control arm broke and it was sitting low so I tried to raise it. It now either sits all the way up or all the way down.

I've also bought a phase inverter for the 3 post lift and I want it in order to get the lift working and I need to switch the hood and trunk lid on my Euro 6.9 prior to selling it's new owner.

Pictures of your project please Mike!.

al, not to get too philosophical here, but is the citroen ds the grandfather of all these mercedes suspensions? god love the french for their ideas (traction avant) but the krauts seem to be the best at making it work.

[alabbasi]

Originally Posted by tonkovich

is the citroen ds the grandfather of all these mercedes suspensions?

Yes it is a very similar set up to the DS or CX suspension. As a matter of fact, I read an article some years ago in a Classic Car Mag about a well known Citroen specialist in the UK (Pledes or something) that was able to recharge the Spheres on 6.9.

[Mike D]

First one. Here's the mess I have running from the fusebox along the fender. Uggh. Not as bad as it looks. There's one wire which has had the insulation removed for some reason. Solder, heat shrink it and re-wrap the bundle. Piece of cake.


The next two are of the starter bypass button. You see what I mean about it looking a little odd?



The relay which I believe is the problem.


Notice the electrical tape over the original wrapping?

[alabbasi]

That looks like the mess that is my 280CE non running nightmare. I must get back to that someday.

[Mike D]

Another shot of the relay wiring with the electrical tape removed. Down by the exposed wires, it looks like a "X", is where someone had removed the insulation and wired a gray wire into the ignition feed wire. Kill switch? Radio feed? Alarm? Who the frick knows. I do know they just cut the ignition wire, stripped back the ends and twisted the three ends together, slapped some electrical tape over it and considered it done. I'm guessing they just cut the wire flush with the tape when they removed whatever it was.


If I ground this pin (#86 on the relay) the starter spins, even with the one wire disconnected.


Two quick pictures of the relay, which I am assuming to be the "Starter/seatbelt Interlock" (1974 W114). Can anyone verify the relay?



On a side note, after unplugging, shaking the relay around listening for loose parts and replugging it, the starter works normally. Who knows, corroded connection?

Oh well, time to break out the soldering iron and heat shrink.

[alabbasi]

First mission has been accomplished , I managed to reset the height control valve to the normal position. Now I need to find a control arm so that it will stay there.

[Mike D]

Starter mission accomplished. Wires correctly soldered, heat shrunk (shrinked?), re-wrapped with the "proper" insulating tape, NSS renewed and re-installed, relay terminals cleaned, anti-corrosion lubed and car starts properly.

Of course, not being the kind of guy to leave well enough alone, now I've got the gauge console torn apart and am in the process of cleaning and "prettying" it up. All the fuseholders look they could use a quick scrub and re-greasing while I am at it. Now might be a good time to re-work that glovebox lid, replace the window sliders.........

[alabbasi]

Today I spent my time working on the lift. I bought a static 3 phase inverter in order to get it running. I was able to get it to raise without issue but running the motor in reverse mode almost burnt it out and the capacitor in the inverter.

More work needs to be done here or I need to find an alternative single phase motor. I don't know enough about 3 phase to understand why it would work fine in one direction but so weak in the other.

WBrian63 stopped by today and picked up my 76 Euro 6.9. It was a bitter sweet moment because I sunk a lot of money into this car and I always wanted a euro 6.9. It was also my favorite color combo. That said I'm glad that I have one more car off my plate and it's gone to a good owner who will give it the attention it deserves.

All i did after that is mess a little more with the lift replace the battery connectors on my 6.9. The old ones were corroded and nonadjustable. Therefore starting the car is always a gamble. Since driving the Canada spec 6.9, I realize that my other 6.9 is in desperate need of spheres. This car rides so soft it's beautiful. I do need a thermostat for it.

Tomorrow, a gentleman from Florida is flying in to see my silver blue 500slc. He is interested in restoring it to original condition. This makes me happy because I hate the thought of parting it and could use parts from a 380SL or SLC to rebuild my car (except the radiator which is special).

[Mike D]

Ahhh frickety-frick-frick! Shoulda known to leave well enough alone. Went ahead and repaired my speedo, fixed and cleaned my gauge lenses, pissed about with the clock, stripped the cracking finish off the wood and re-assembled. As I was slipping the console unit into place I heard a "crack". Freakin' brittle old oil gauge line snapped right at the bend.

Sigh, of course it's 6:00 PM on a Sunday. Oh well, buttoned it up and called it a day. I know it'll start now, anyway.