I am currently in the USA and had a few hours to spare in Cincinnati Ohio before I headed out to the airport. When I lived in the USA, I used to go to the self service junkyards to grab bits and pieces. These junkyards are larger in the USA and they have standard price lists for parts, no matter what car you...
My latest rental car was the 2018 Chevy Malibu. It is probably the best rental car I’ve had for a couple of years, but that is not really saying much. The Malibu is the latest in a line of cheap ‘full size’ cars that used to be the mainstay of the big 3. With buyer preferences moving to SUVs and raised hatchbacks,...
My 560SEC had a problem where it would emit a puff of smoke after idling. This was rather embarrassing taking off from the lights. It did give me the advantage of keeping people back who got too close. My assumption was that it was cause by old valve stem seals. As the seals get old, they get hard and allow a small amount of...
UPDATE: 30/4/19 – This car is now SOLD. My Traction Avant Light 15 is for sale. It will go up on carsales in a couple of weeks. The asking price will be $22,500. The Light 15 was built in 1954 in Slough. As an English built Traction it has more luxuries than the cars built in Paris. It also has 12v Lucas electrics. More...
The Shannons Sydney Autumn Classic Auction for 2019 happens Monday next week. I work close to the display centre, so I went down to check out the collection during my lunch break. As usual, they had a nice range of interesting cars on offer. Also as usual, there were offerings to suit most budgets. The lots that I will be keeping an eye on...
The Timing chain replacement is almost finished on the 560SEC. The new chain is installed, guides fitted and valve stem seals replaced. I stopped by the workshop to pick something up that I had left in the car and I was able to see it almost done. The photo shows the new chain in place with all new guides. They are a much...
The 560 is the ultimate M117 engine. This family of engines was introduced in 1969 with the 3.5l M116 and was followed in 1972 with the 4.5 M117. The M117 is a longer stroke version of the M116. Both engines share a SOHC design, 2 valves per cylinder and always had fuel injection. These engines evolved over time with the final iteration coming between...
Most Mercedes from the mid 50s to the late 60s had a similar set of controls for the heater. There are four horizontal levers controlling the amount of heat and the direction of the air flow. At least on the W111, the lever on the top left controls the amount of outside airflow. The top right controls the direction of the airflow. The two...
A couple of months ago my DS had one of the front suspension boots replaced to cure a bad LHM leak. When this was done, it was apparent the bushings in the steering rack were worn. Since the front of the car was apart, it made sense to order these parts and then have them fitted before the front was put back together. ...
Auto Brunch event is a cars and coffee event held monthly at St. Ives Showground. I attended back in November and enjoyed the day. It’s an easy event, you can drive in and be parked in minutes and leave whenever you like. With over 100 cars on display its a nice way to spend an hour or so. This time I took two...
When I last used my 560SEC before Xmas, I noticed a rather large puddle of petrol underneath it. I’ve not driven the car since as it is rather dangerous to drive with such a leak. I had assumed it was probably fuel hoses. Many cars run on E10 rot their hoses. I purchased a few of the relevant hoses so I would only have...
The Hero Hoists Side by Side Parker is now installed and fully operational. The locking mechanism is now working, and I have put the E-Type on top. In the last part, I had the electrical connection hooked up and did the final adjustment. The challenge I had with the locking mechanism was that a 1M rod needed to be installed from the rear of...
The Hoist is almost operational! The only thing left is to get the unlocking mechanism working. In part two I installed the motor and hydraulic lines. Yesterday an electrician connected up the hoist for me. After fixing a minor hydraulic leak I had a working hoist (sans unlock rod). This is timely as I needed to get the 560SEC inside. While the unlock rod...
Back in 2015 I did a review on the SuperCheap Auto Vehicle Positioning Jack. I had purchased a set of these during a SCA sale. Overall, I have mixed feelings about this purchase. The jacks are useful to move cars that are not running. The big challenge with them is that moving even a medium sized car requires two people, even on...
In Part 1, I had done the heavy lifting to get the Side by Side Parker installed. I have arranged an electrician to come and hook the hoist up on Wednesday. This gave me a deadline to get as much as I could before they arrive. Most importantly to mount the motor. The motor is quite heavy, but straightforward to get mounted. A...
I help defray the costs of my workshop by renting some spaces for car storage. This was making the workshop quite cramped, especially with the addition of the 560SEC. Hero hoists offered an interesting four post hoist – a model that could lift two cars side by side and lift them both without the centre pillar. The presence of the centre pillar would...
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