Introducing our new-to-us 1957 Mercedes-Benz 190SL!

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

Charles - that 190SL you describe really does sound cool!

[DieselPaul]

Originally Posted by atypicalguy

The 190sl were pieces of crap when they were new, and they are still pieces of crap.

That's constructive, ever driven one?

Good looking car Mark, I've driven mine (which was set up by JA17) quite "spiritedly" and they are a lot more fun than anyone gives them credit for. I would be curious to experience the changes made to your car, I think I read your car has a front disc conversion, the biggest issue on 190s is the somewhat complex front drum setup which most people have poorly set up and poorly adjusted so 60 years later the cars get a bad rap for terrible brakes. Properly tuned they stop very well, but I'm sure the disc conversion represents quite an improvement still. For it's size the 190 isn't super light either but it still fairly toss-able, so I'd imagine the weight losses on your car are very noticeable.

Like JA17 suggested, I'd look towards W123 stamped aluminum wheels, bundts are not particularly light for what they are.

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

We have quite a project list for the 190SL but we thought we'd take a quick aesthetic detour and install a set of rally-inspired headlight grilles for a more unique look.

Here's the before:




And after:




The process was pretty straightforward as the grilles have hinged tabs which connect to the headlight rings themselves then the assemblies are covered as before with the trim rings.

A few more pics from the project:

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

The assembly together and placed back into the headlight bucket:



Next up, front rotors and pads, repack the front wheel bearings and fine-tune the carbs for the new air cleaners.

Then the best part, a test drive before we embark on the next phase of enhancements! More to come!

[vwnate1]

I'm keen to hear about these front brakes ~ were they dual leading shoe ? .

I have experience with them and yes , when not set up or adjusted properly , they're awful , worse then average vintage brakes but when every thing is 100 % , they're amazing .

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

Over the years, this 190SL has evolved into a fun and capable track car featuring upgrades to help improve its performance, overall grip and safety. Items like Carrera shocks, aftermarket springs front and rear, full-width roll hoop with triangulated pick-up points and fuel cell but one of the most significant upgrades was made to the front brakes. Some time ago, off came the drum set-up and on went the spindles, rotors and calipers from a 1970 280SE 4.5. Track use can wear parts pretty quickly and these front rotors and pads had met their match; it was time to replace them with some fresh parts.

So here we go with our front rotor and pad DIY on the 190SL!

Front corner shot before we got serious:



Check out the rotor! Very little of the pad material was actually contacting the rotor surface. Doesn't show much in this picture, but the front rotors had experienced significant heat based on the colors we saw, plus both left and right side rotors were warped:





Dust cap off, ready to dig in:

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

Great shots of the hub disassembly, right through to the removal of the bearings for a thorough cleaning and inspection:

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

Bearings and surfaces looked pretty good so we prepared them for re-installation. In the meantime, here's a few shots of new rotors vs. old units, plus we lined-up the new pads for a good look too:

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

New rotor, with hub, re-packed bearings and all sealed-up!:



Retaining washer and collar installed. Caliper re-installed and waiting for new shoes!:

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

Time for the the pads! Our 190SL came with well-worn racing pads but we've chosen to install OE pads as the car will see more street than track in it's future, aside from the occasional canyon run













And all done!

Come see our 190SL at the next Coffee & Cars with Pelican, Saturday, July 11th! Details HERE!

[mercmad6.3]

back to an earlier question, how did they rectify the steering fault when using W108 spindles? got any pics of the steering arms ?

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

Sorry, I missed that one. I'll get it in the air and pop a wheel off so you can see what the previous owner did to correct this. Hang tight, will have the pics info Monday!

[vwnate1]

Thanx Mark ! .

Please be sure to post pictures showing the rotor surface sweep area too .

TIA ,

[mercmad6.3]

[Mark at Pelican Parts]

From overhead, looking down at the spindle, arm and rotor:



Further details shots. Yes, creative cutting, relocating and welding occurred here at some point in this 190SL's life: