I learned a lot about the vacuum systems on the vintage Mercs working on the SL over the last 18 years or so. It used to have TONS of vacuum leaks (and ran like a crippled turtle as a result), and one of the most ALARMING things it did was shifting into 1st at a stop light! Felt like someone ran into you! *WHUMP* "WTF was that?!?!" Tranny fought you to downshift, upshifted WAY too fast, and at low RPM's was truly violent until I got the vacuum problems fixed. The SL is a Euro and vacuum diagrams are really hard to find for it, so I learned a lot in the last several years hunting down and troubleshooting problems in that car.

Just about everything in these cars is mechanical. When you think about how it's all made and the thought that went into designing it, it's really a work of art. Newer Mercs do very little for me (90s and later), but mid-late 80s and earlier I simply admire for their engineering.

I've read PeachParts for years, but only recently started posting when I got a 300SDL. I'm pretty well versed in the M117 and the R107, but learning a lot about the W126 and OM603 from this site and getting greasy hands.