1966 Mercedes 230

[JeffreyNMemphis]

Originally Posted by wolf_walker

50 year old wiring that has been yanked and flexed around to remove then re-install would concern me some. Especially in light of that car's recent escapades. But there isn't a cheap solution other than used parts. If stock is required I would consider re-using the connectors and building a new harness with new wire. There's what, five wires on that thing anyway eh?

I agree! If I was going to completely rewire the car, I would buy spools of new wire and use Mercedes connectors. The plugs are easily dismantled and the solder connections are easily undone. There are no "Printed Circuit Boards" or computers on these vintage cars; it is straight forward basic wiring.

This is probably a good time to remind everyone that leaking fuel lines or carburetors are dangerous. If you can smell gas fumes in your engine compartment your car can catch fire.

[wbain5280]

Since this car is a 1966 230, it has the dual two barrel Zenith cars, not any kind of SOLEX, at least that's what it came with. It does NOT have the 4 bbl Solex either, that's an M110 carb not an M180 carb.

[wolf_walker]

As many new hobbyists as there are that seem to be attracted (understandably) to these old cars it's amazing there aren't more fires from old fuel systems and pre-hacked wiring.
There probly ought to be a sticky about it.

[KCM]

Originally Posted by Brut

The thing I am most concerned about is the wiring harness
Is there a place where this can be bought without hitting the wallet too hard

Repairing the wiring harness is not that big of a deal if you don't need it 100% original looking, and won't cost a lot of money. All you need is some rolls of wire in similar colors to match the original, a wire end assortment, electrical tape, shrink tubing, and a soldering gun. What few special connectors there are, such as on the alternator, can be bought off a junked car or from the dealer at a reasonable price. Cut off the burnt wires one at a time, strip the wire ends, and solder the old and new ends together, covering with shrink tube. Then you can spiral wrap each group of wires together with electrical tape. Add the proper wire end and you're done. The end result will look very good.

The rest of the repairs just look like replacing parts, which could be a few dollars, polishing, painting, and a lot of elbow grease. I doubt it did any damage to the core part of the engine.

[Furious D]

If you're interested, i do have some parts avaliable for this car. Send a PM if interested, or check the thread in the for sale section.

[Mark DiSilvestro]

Originally Posted by wbain5280

Since this car is a 1966 230, it has the dual two barrel Zenith cars, not any kind of SOLEX, at least that's what it came with. It does NOT have the 4 bbl Solex either, that's an M110 carb not an M180 carb.

Actually, while all the W111 230S had the twin INAT Zeniths, early SWB W110 230 Fintails, like the '66 I once had, started out with twin 1V Solex 38-PDSI/J carbs (confirmed by one of my repair manuals). The W110 230 switched to the twin Zeniths, from chassis # 110.011-10-017649.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[SilkMoneyLove]

I have Solex carbs (single barrel), w/ matching air filter the matching intake and exhaust manifolds (intake is aluminum and the burned one on the car may not hold vacuum) and some of the throttle and choke linkage that came off of my 250. I believe that was the correct set up for a 230. Not sure why it was on my car (which I have a cracked original 2 barrel carb manifold and 1 zenith carb ;-)), but I have since dropped the $$$ with a JAM carb kit. The Solex carbs did leak, so they would need a rebuild kit to ensure the same fireball scenario didn't happen again. They aren't perfect and are priced accordingly in the parts section.

So, wiring harness, carb rebuild kit and used carbs and manifold, radiator, hoses, distributor, wires&plugs, battery, new belts, sand and paint. Am I missing anything?