A couple of weeks ago I started investigating the dragging brakes on my SLC. I found both of my rear calipers had been overheated and were in poor condition. I ordered a set of rear calipers, and decided to change the rotors too. Mine were still in spec, but on the lower end. The hoses I had purchased last time were also not...
For the last couple of years I have noticed a noise from the rear of the 450SLC while driving. At first I thought it might be a wheel bearing or some kind of bushing. I mentioned it to my mechanic and he took and look and it wasn’t any of those things. Last time I took the car on a longer drive, the noise...
This evening I took my 450SLC for a drive up the old Pacific Highway. I wanted to check the impact of re-connecting the vacuum advance on the distributor. I had discovered the line was broken when doing some maintenance. With the advance enabled, mid throttle response seems a lot better. I do get a little pinging when cruising on the motorway, so I am...
My 450SLC was originally sold with 14″ alloy wheels. This style of wheel was the standard Mercedes alloy wheel from the late 60s to 1985. It has a few nicknames such as Bundt Cake, Baroque, Fuchs etc. On the V8s it is 6.5″ wide but narrower versions (5.5″ & 6″) were available. The challenge with these wheels is that good tyres for a heavy...
The windscreen washer has not been working on my 450SLC for a couple of months. The wipers started up, but no water squirted on the windscreen. On quick inspection, I assumed it was the pump as it was rather rusty. The W107 windscreen washer pump is a poor design in my view. It appears that the motor is below where the water is...
NSW has a great historic registration system. It allows for classics to be used for 60 days on a logbook for a drastically reduced fee. For unknown reasons the plates issued are tiny plates with purple numerals. The plates are so small they are not wide enough for the mounting holes on most cars. As these plates don’t end up...
The Achilles heel of M116 and M117 engined cars is the timing chain. As the engine is an overhead valve engine, the chain is used to make sure the valves open and close when they should. On the V8 the chain needs to go to both heads and down to the crankshaft and so it is very long. This exacerbates the...
The 450SLC is complete and I picked it up over the weekend. What a difference from the faded original paint at the front of the car – it is like having a new one. The respray took place over three weeks (Week 1, Week 2, Week 3). In addition, rust was cut out, and the air cleaner was re-painted.
The 450SLC is now completed. Last week the actual spraying was done, and this week the car was polished, re-assembled and checked. I do my final inspection and collect the car this weekend. In addition to having the car re-sprayed, I had the air cleaner resprayed in black and the chrome arch covers removed as they can attract rust. The brackets that...
Another week has gone by at the panel beaters on the 450SLC and the car is getting much closer to completion. Last week was mostly rust repair and preparation, this week completed the preparation and started the actual re-spray. Where components could be reasonably removed, they were to ensure that they were painted correctly. The 450SLC is 906G which is Grey/Blue metallic. ...
My 450SLC has now spent a week at the panel beaters having rust removed and being prepared for paint. The starting point was the chassis rail on the drivers side. This is as very common W107 rust spot. This was welded and then painted. From there, work moved to the boot where both sides were rusting and there was some rust starting in the...
The big Achilles heel in the R/C107 chassis is its propensity to rust. They are pretty much bullet proof mechanically, but the rust proofing from the factory was poor and there are a lot of areas where they can and do rust, even in climates such as Australia that are not prone to it. Once the rust gets to a point, the...
My 450SLC was starting to slip a little in reverse, especially under load (e.g. up a hill). The transmission was shifting gears very well other than this one area, and the fluid looked clean and at the right level. The 450SLC uses the 722.0 transmission, which unlike the later models has an adjustable B3 band (which is used for engaging reverse). This...
The drivers door on the 450SLC had become harder and harder to close properly over the past year or so. It normally took a couple of tries before it would latch correctly. I therefore decided to try replacing the door striker, which do wear out over time. The part number of the new striker was 115 720 06 04. As can...
The 450SLC’s gear stick had become more and more floppy, and given my experience with the 250SE, I thought it was better to take a look and potentially fix the issue than have it totally fail on me. The gear selector bushings are a common issue on these cars. Looking under the car, by 1977, Mercedes had gone to a better design. As...
There are plenty of interesting classic cars out there that I are fun to own, and drive on the weekend. My E-Type is one of those for example. Not so many can be realistically driven every day though. In my opinion, the Mercedes-Benz range from the 60s is one of those who can. I just saw an interesting story of a...
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