Systems check 71 280SE, Lots of initial questions (input appreciated)

[TxDave]

Seeing as I've driven the new car only on neighborhood cruises since purchase and never over 50mph I took it out for a test run. She got up to 80mph and seemed like she still had some room to spare though acceleration was minimal. I was happy to confirm 80mph and backed off. Supposedly it would hit 118mph from the factory. Boy is this car smooth! Engine (acceleration), brakes, suspension all in excellent order. I sure like driving this thing! I'm seriously considering making it my daily driver and getting to work.

Here are some questions and observations:

1)Gauge lights don't work. I fiddled with the brightness knob. Is it possible all the lights are dead? If so, how do I change bulbs?

2)Best I can reset the tripometer is to 1 mile. The ones digit is out of synch when I start rolling it. Just live with it?

3)Needle that shows what gear I'm in stays in park. Anyone messed with this?

4)Trans definitely making it into all 4 gears. Only flairs when changing from 3rd to 4th. Is "trans x" the first course of action? What about vacuum lines that typically go? How about the filter? Would flairing happen in this particular spot if it is overfilled?

5)Figured out why the wiper fluid reservoir was empty. Filled it up and pumped the pedal. Got fluid to spray then realized the bellows was leaking on the floor as well. Replace it? I did the test with the car off. What is that electrical connection at the bellows?

6)Driver door stem switch missing but I can see the plug it goes into. Guess I should just buy one and see if if flies. The one in the passenger door makes all the lights turn on and off correctly. Although my front interior light fixture needs to be replaced. The light comes on, but only if I'm holding it in one of the positions. Bad connection. Easy to swap the whole thing out?

7)Rear door on driver's side won't open. Just get in there and pull the door panel off? What might I expect to find?

8)I'm attaching a bad night picture of something called an "atomizer" I found under my hood. Looks after market. It is apparently in the fuel line system. Never seen one. Do I need to poor out the soot from the jar? Just remove it?

9)Haven't tested my heater yet. Mostly because the levers broke off at the controls. Should I just get a screw driver and manually rotate those climate control disc thingys? While looking at the firewall I noticed a metal tube coming through with no hose connected to it. Is my heater not hooked up or is that some kind of drain? I don't know where the evaporator coil is located. Bad night picture attached.

Otherwise most of the bells and whistles in this car seem to work. Even the AC though suffering from a blown hose (hence no freon hence no cold air) seems to be in working order. The compressor kicks in, the fan works, and even the little green light at the AC knob works.

I know this is a very lengthy post and I'll be back with other questions. Most of these things I could figure out blindly, but it would be easier (and more fun) with input from those who have been there done that.

Thanks,
Dave

PS. What type of wood is that in my dash?

http://users3.ev1.net/~eldave/1971MERCEDES280SE/MERCEDES.htm