Dolly - Finally My Finny - The Journey Continues

[CTD]

How much work was it taking the dashboard out of that W111? Do they swap reasonably easily?

[meltedpanda]

took a bit, but not bad , I recommend taking steering wheel off and the seats out , gotta get on your back, lots of hidden screws and such but pretty logical, getting it all back together , now that is another story

[meltedpanda]

well tonight I changed out the shift bushings at the steering wheel, seemed simple but I could not get the bearing off the column to get at the bushing under the plate that the shifter goes through , soooo I disconnected the steering coupling and pulled it out enough to get at it , the top one was easy, getting the coupling back together with a flopping column was not easy , ended up taking it off and redoing the whole deal. Good news is reverse is now easy to find and the other shift points seem more exact

Had a local guy make me a replacement mirror and I fitted it into the original housing


new problem now is the horn mechanism , I cant figure it out , I have the little wire thing and the copper ring, I placed in back the way it came out , I think but when I tighten the steering wheel down it now sounds constant , back the steering wheel not off a bit and it stops. Ran out of daylight so called it a day . Any suggestions oh Finny experts , seems like the copper ring needs to sit further away from the back of the wheel.

[meltedpanda]

The answer may be the thin wavy wire. Where does that go ? I thought just around the edge!

[muleears]

I had a '67 250S that would sound the horn every time you turned the wheel all the way to the left, made parking lots of fun. Found out (on this forum) there it was a worn shifter bushing (this was an auto) that would short the horn. Got the wheel off and replaced the bushing and no more horn problem. Like I said, probably no help but sounds like it may be a bushing issue not a wire issue. I enjoy this thread, please keep it up! Hopefully within a few weeks I'll have a finny of my own.

[meltedpanda]

The bushings you refer to are new so I do not think that is the issue. I really think it has to do with the assembly of the various parts. Ring wire ,trim ring, brass ring ,steering spring and 2 part steering wheel.
Jeez....

[muleears]

I had forgotten my horn blew when I tightened the wheel down too. Here is the link to my thread on the topic:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/vintage-mercedes/303102-horn-keeps-blowing-after-replacing-shifter-bushings-help.html

Hope this is of some help.

[meltedpanda]

man o man , that is my problem exactly, your set up is the same as mine, I did the same repair. In your post ,this was the resolve , but I dont quite get it , is the horn ring the steering wheel itself or the brass thingy??

Did you make sure the tabs on the back of the horn ring are seated in those angled slots you can see in your photo? Before you put on the wheel, give the horn ring a twist until you feel them seat.

[muleears]

Originally Posted by meltedpanda

man o man , that is my problem exactly, your set up is the same as mine, I did the same repair. In your post ,this was the resolve , but I dont quite get it , is the horn ring the steering wheel itself or the brass thingy??

Did you make sure the tabs on the back of the horn ring are seated in those angled slots you can see in your photo? Before you put on the wheel, give the horn ring a twist until you feel them seat.

Unfortunately my brain doesn't go back that far... Wish I could help more. I'll see what else I can find and post back. Good luck Panda.

[meltedpanda]

OK , so I tried everything, bottom line the wheel seated to far on shaft to allow proper clearance from the horn ring , only talking a 1/16 of an inch. So I remembered that I had several teflon type washers/spacers left from a rebuild kit from a W126 steering box. Low and behold there was a perfect fit Teflon washer that I slid onto shaft, rode on the center of the bearing and not on the bearings, did not mess with the spring function , put wheel back on , tightened her up to where it was suppose to be, no play, no drag, no horn . For now that is my solution , time will tell

[meltedpanda]

Dolly sporting a little bling

[muleears]

Very chic!

[meltedpanda]

got the back seat refurbished , cleaned, door cards and chrome cleaned and back, rust proofed inside of doors, all window mechanisms working and cleaned and repaired classic sun shade sitting on a newly covered read deck card

[gmog220d]

Looks nice! I really like white paint with red interiors - very cool.

[muleears]

Looking good! Did you have someone do the upholstery from scratch or did you/they get a set from World Upholstery?