Projects on my new, to me, 1973 280SEL 4.5

[ejboyd5]

It is simply amazing how many of today's electrical parts are defective right out of the box. It makes one question one's diagnostic abilities when symptoms persist or reappear shortly after a part change. We didn't seem to have these problems when Bosch was made in Germany and the electrics for Detroit iron was made in the USA.

[twinockchef]

That is why its best to purchase OEM parts. In particular most rubber and electrical. My aftermarket coil and leads lasted only two years. Most the time your not really saving money in the aftermarket when its replacement is more frequent. Am sure that the OEM coil and leads will last 30 years.
When I installed new rubber on the medal shields it was very difficult to get them in correctly. It is a very tight fit. Lots of pushing and pulling to line up the screw holes.
Before you install shields and the door cards preform a test on the vacuum system (door locks). The lines are probably good but the rubber connectors might need to be replace. Even it everything appears good remmember rubber does not age well and next year they could fail.

I was wondering why you removed the cruise control? Was it not working?
Good Luck

[jerhofer]

Originally Posted by twinockchef

That is why its best to purchase OEM parts. In particular most rubber and electrical. My aftermarket coil and leads lasted only two years. Most the time your not really saving money in the aftermarket when its replacement is more frequent. Am sure that the OEM coil and leads will last 30 years.
When I installed new rubber on the medal shields it was very difficult to get them in correctly. It is a very tight fit. Lots of pushing and pulling to line up the screw holes.
Before you install shields and the door cards preform a test on the vacuum system (door locks). The lines are probably good but the rubber connectors might need to be replace. Even it everything appears good remmember rubber does not age well and next year they could fail.

I was wondering why you removed the cruise control? Was it not working?
Good Luck

The door locks are working but I will check those rubber connectors.

The cruise was not working. I do use cruise a lot and may install another system. The unit in the car was installed back in the '70's.

[jerhofer]

I drove the car to the paintless dent repair shop today with no issues. I arrived at the infamous stoplight just as it turned red so I had to sit there for the duration. No change in idle and, once the light turned, the car pulled away like it should. What a relief!!! Haven't heard from Pelican yet.

[CTD]

Glad to hear the car is running better now that the coil has been 'un-replaced'!

[Rialas]

I get up every morning and look forward to this daily read.

[jerhofer]

Originally Posted by Rialas

I get up every morning and look forward to this daily read.

Glad you enjoy it. Kind of like I look forward to my daily Bring a Trailer email.

No car here today but I am going to clean up each of the door panels and the rear ash trays. I am also going to paint the dirt shields.

I did discover an issue with the radio during the past couple days. I installed the Becker Europa II radio to what I think is the factory wiring. I know it is the factory wiring for the speakers but the power lead was the same one used for the cassette radio that I removed. That voltage wire appears to be a factory 12V lead.

The speakers are wired into the speaker fader control on the dash. It works as it should except for one thing. There appears to an amplified signal to the speakers even when the radio is off. With the radio off, if I turn the speaker fader potentiometer, I hear a scratching noise at the speakers. I can hear a faint crackling noise as well. I don't understand how the speakers can have a signal with the radio off as there is only one power lead to the radio. I am wondering if I have a separate amplifier that is not turning off. According to Becker, the radio I purchased does not need a separate amplifier.

With the radio on, I get a whine from the speakers that is related to engine speed. If I turn up the radio enough, it masks the whine pretty well.

Suggestions would be appreciated. Issues like this are one of the main reasons I like to post my projects. One can normally assume that he will not be the only one who ever had a specific problem.

[BWhitmore]

Does the coil have a capicator attached to the negative side? It has been my experience that a whining sound in the radio that correlates to the engine speed is related to the ignition system. I too look forward to your posts and attention to detail and cleanliness that you have. Also very nicely equipped garage that makes us all wish we,had the same. It is also great that you fully document all procedures. You are definitely as asset to the classic car community. You might want to consider writing a book on the cosmetic/mechanical restoration of a W108 car. Publishing a series of article in the MBUSA STAR magazine is also a nice contribution to the hobby.

[jerhofer]

Originally Posted by BWhitmore

Does the coil have a capicator attached to the negative side? It has been my experience that a whining sound in the radio that correlates to the engine speed is related to the ignition system. I too look forward to your posts and attention to detail and cleanliness that you have. Also very nicely equipped garage that makes us all wish we,had the same. It is also great that you fully document all procedures. You are definitely as asset to the classic car community. You might want to consider writing a book on the cosmetic/mechanical restoration of a W108 car. Publishing a series of article in the MBUSA STAR magazine is also a nice contribution to the hobby.

It does not have a capacitor attached to it. I have a couple left over from another project. I will install one and see if that helps.

I am glad you are enjoying the posts. Don't know I am ready to write a book or if there would be much demand for said book. Articles for the Star magazine would be more doable.

I worked on the dirt shields today. The side facing the tire has a textured surface much like that used on the rocker panels. The back side had a small amount of surface rust near the bottom where the debris sat. There is a rubber gasket on one side and strip caulking is used on the opposite side. I scraped away that caulking before I put the pieces in the bead blaster.




While I thoroughly cleaned up the paint on the back side, I only lightly blasted the textured side so it would be cleaner and to remove grease.







From another previous project, I had a can of black textured paint to use on the textured side. After thoroughly cleaning the shields and going over them with some denatured alcohol, I was ready to paint. I have stretched a piece of wire between two small trees in my backyard. With the hooks I have made from coat hangers, I hung the shields and painted away.

[Markedes]

Hi jerhofer,
I just joined the forum, specifically because of your posts. On behalf of many of us, Thank you for all that you do.

I'm particularly interested in your story because I intend to find a 108 for my retirement years.

Regarding your radio, I think you may very well have a constant-on situation. Perhaps there is in fact a separate amplifier that remains powered. An aftermarket radio I installed in my wife's car years back required both an unswitched power source as well as a switched one. Presumably the unswitched source was for the radio's clock. However, there was always power to the speakers. A PIA, and I removed it.

Regarding the whine, I have the same noise in my SDL with the factory Becker. There is no ignition system, though, and I have been told it is "alternator whine." Perhaps someone reading this forum can contribute their electronics knowledge.

At any rate, a schematic of the Becker as well as of the 108 should be useful in tracking this problem down.

Good luck with the car and thanks again for the inspiration.

Mark

[jerhofer]

Originally Posted by Markedes

Hi jerhofer,
I just joined the forum, specifically because of your posts. On behalf of many of us, Thank you for all that you do.

I'm particularly interested in your story because I intend to find a 108 for my retirement years.

Regarding your radio, I think you may very well have a constant-on situation. Perhaps there is in fact a separate amplifier that remains powered. An aftermarket radio I installed in my wife's car years back required both an unswitched power source as well as a switched one. Presumably the unswitched source was for the radio's clock. However, there was always power to the speakers. A PIA, and I removed it.

Regarding the whine, I have the same noise in my SDL with the factory Becker. There is no ignition system, though, and I have been told it is "alternator whine." Perhaps someone reading this forum can contribute their electronics knowledge.

At any rate, a schematic of the Becker as well as of the 108 should be useful in tracking this problem down.

Good luck with the car and thanks again for the inspiration.

Mark

No pressure here!!!

I will look into this radio issue when the car is back in the garage.

Good news! Pelican is replacing the coil even though their return policy specifically says they will not take back electrical components. I appreciate them taking care of this. Having posted the entire story on this thread probably didn't hurt my chances. Regardless, I am so pleased that the car is running right. In a situation like this you always wonder if you will find the solution.

[jerhofer]

Cleaning day today. The rubber gaskets for the dirt shields are in very good shape but they were dirty.



When I had replaced the door check strap on the driver's door, I had cleaned up the door trim for that door card. The rest of them received a similar cleaning today using chrome polish.









With the trim ready to go, I then did a thorough cleaning on each door card. They are ready to go back on the doors.

[jerhofer]

This was lying on the rear parcel shelf when I bought the car. Does it have any function in the car?

[jerhofer]

I had found a wheel to replace the original one with the hogged out bolt holes. The spare tire was mounted on it today.

I received the replacement coil today. Another one made in Brazil. I am picking up the car from the paintless dent repair shop in the morning. I will bolt on the new coil to make sure it works.

Chances of rain each day this weekend will be a perfect time for putting the car back together.

[jerhofer]

I picked up a computer virus while searching for information on fixing the clock in the car. Nothing seemed to work so I was at the Apple store early this morning for the fix. Took them all of ten minutes and I am back to normal. Well worth the trip.

Because of that, I only had a couple hours to spend on the car. I picked it up yesterday at the Paintless Dent Repair (PDR). The guy did a fantastic job. I had dents on top of both front fenders, on the hood and various other places around the car. He was able to peel back the pad to get to the hood dent. None of them are visible now. There were a couple small ones that were in places that were not accessible for his tools. Count me pleased.

Today I lubricated all of the window tracks. I found a dry lubricant that I used on the felt window guides and I used white lithium grease on the slides and the gears. I also sprayed some while lithium on all of he door know joints. The front windows had been going up and down fairly quickly but the rears were very slow. There was little to no lubrication on the rear windows. They now go up and down nearly as fast as the front windows.

















Before cleaning the doors, I removed all of the metal door card fasteners that had become stuck in the doors. Later I will transfer them to the door cards.







I also inspected the rubber vacuum connections for the door locks. There were in very good shape and the door locks are working well.





Now it was time to clean the doors and polish the interior door chrome trim. Now that the doors are clean, I can replace the plastic water protectors and begin putting everything back together.