Outstanding! You have great genes!!

After a day off yesterday, I was back at it today. I had removed the horns when I removed the electric fan bracket. I cleaned them up today.



As I was preparing to work on the engine bay, I removed the aftermarket cruise control that was installed back in 1977. It does not work but I have the original manual which contains the installation information. Later I will see if I can figure out why it doesn't work. If I determine that it is not repairable, I will probably buy a new unit to replace it as I have the "restless leg syndrome" which means my legs do not long stretches on the accelerator. I have installed after market cruise controls on a few cars as well as some motorcycles.




I had been working on cleaning the engine bay for only a few minutes when I bumped my head on the grill for the umpteenth time!! Time to remove it. There are two bolts on each side on the bottom. The other two bolts are accessed from the front of the hood. There are two raised areas where you can insert a 8mm nut driver to remove the bolts. The grill will remain in the trunk until I am finished working on the engine bay.










In the engine bay I began by cleaning the intake manifold and the firewall behind it. I wasn't going for a concours level job and an intake is very difficult to clean when attached to the motor so I got it the best I could knowing that most of it will be covered when the air cleaner is installed. I then cleaned up the left fender area. Again, not concours ready, but cleaner than it was.

> driveshaft flex disc

Definetely check that. Many cars don't have one, so owners don't even know it exists. It's a rubber u-joint behind the transmission. If it fails the driveshaft could cut through the transmission tunnel!

I have a nearly identical car to yours. Bought it in good shape, but with a broken timing chain. I rebuilt most of the motor while fixing it. Mine is also converted the r134a, and it's adequate at best. I think a larger or more efficient condenser would help.

Does the pointer for the shifter indicator on the instrument cluster work? They often fail and are hard to fix, as MB used an unblelievably complicated system. Another problem I had was that the turn signals flasher very quickly. Supposedly it's not uncommon with old flasher relays. I replaced with an electronic 550 flasher and it's been fine since.

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Csaba
1972 280SEL 4.5, silver

I hate to tell you, but your grille looks to be not original to this car.

Car looks good so far and the detailwork is great.

Alex

What's amiss with the grille?

Jerhofer: Do you hire out? Most impressed with you underhood cleanup work...especially with everything left in place. It might be useful to others if you described your methods and cleanup solvents/solutions.

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Berfinroy in CT
Present vehicles:
1973 300 SEL 4.5
1959 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud I
1959 Ford Thunderbird convertible/430
Past vehicles;
1958 Bentley S 1
1976 ex-Max Hoffman 6.9
1970 300SEL 2.8
1958 Jaguar MK IX
1961 Jaguar MK IX
1963 Jaguar E-type factory special roadster
1948 Plymouth woody
1955 Morgan plus 4
1966 Shelby GT350H Mustang

I will check the flex disc. Thanks for the tip.

I will have to wait for some warmer weather to see how well the AC works. It did blow cold when I tried it while inspecting the car with the seller. Good point on the condenser. I have a spare new condenser from an older project up in my attic. I may pull it down to see if it would fit and see if it is bigger.

The pointer works on the shifter but it is somewhat tricky to make sure it is in drive and not in second. The turn signals flash normally but engaging the turn signals requires a firm push on the stalk.

Could be. I didn't really look at the back to see what is written on it. It is in good shape.

There is writing on the ECM as well so I would assume it had been replaced at some point. At 45 years and 174K miles I surely wouldn't bet against it.

It would be a long drive to Connecticut to clean your engine bays. Might be very expensive as well as I am slow.

I did remove whatever I could on the left fenderwell. It sure makes it easier. I will have to remount the coil. An electronic ignition had been added at some point and was mounted on that fenderwell. I didn't like how it was mounted and plan on relocating it to where it isn't so obvious. You can see the ignition and the cruise control module in the photo below.




If I reuse this cruise control, it will have to be mounted in this same location as it needs to be directly across from the throttle arm. The unit I installed in the 912 with the 911 motor had an encased throttle cable and could be mounted nearly any place where the cable could reach the throttle by using clips to locate the cable. In this application, the control module was mounted against the firewall on the left side. It is totally hidden by the heater blower tube. You can see the black cable aimed towards the rear of the car and then routed forward to the throttle arm. In this car I think I could mount the newer type unit all the way forward and under the radiator support. In that case, only the cable would be visible. That's probably what I will do as I don't like cluttered engine bays.





When I have greasy surfaces as exist on the motor and the fenderwells, I begin with WD40. A toothbrush and a parts brush are used to break up the dirt followed by wiping it off with paper towels or a rag. Depending on the volume of dirt, I might spray it two or three times.

Doing the above usually results in loose particles. I break out the shop vac before I take the next step. Next up I use Simple Green to further clean up the grease. Once I have the grease pretty well gone, I use Windex for the final clean.

This car was painted at some point with a base/clear finish. However, the inside fenderwells still have single stage paint as do the hood edges and the area around the front where the hood latches. Once I have everything clean, I wipe down the engine bay in all of my cars after every wash. Because of the use of the chemicals to remove the dirt and the chalking of the paint finish, I used car polish on the painted surfaces in the engine bay in this car as well as the edge of the hood. This gives the finish a bit of a shine. I ran out of time yesterday but I plan on also waxing the painted areas. This will make it easier to keep it clean in the future. For polish and wax I have used Malm's for at least 30 years. I really like their products.

What do you call this suspension piece? In all of the cars I have had over the years I have never seen a setup like this. It needs new bushings but I don't know how to search for the right part.

If you have the original radio, would be be so kind as to post a photo? Mine has an '80's cassette radio that I will be replacing.

That suspension part is called a "strut" in the Electronic Parts Catalog. I think it act as a leaf spring. The bushing part number is 1123220385 - hopefully it is still available.

513 - Becker Europa Stereo - $126.00

The ECM (or ECU) seem to be a weak point. The one that came in my car was intermittent, so I got two used ones (early R107 SLs used the same engine and ECM) from a salvage yard. Both had been rebuilt at one point.

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Csaba
1972 280SEL 4.5, silver

Thanks.