grill screws and washers

[john.mancini]

This may be an old topic. I tried the "Search" and came up empty. Do all 113 grill surrounds, (230-250-280SL's), attach with screw/washer hardware? I had read somewhere that the 230SL's did not have those solid, thick washers. They had slotted screws only? Does this sound correct?
John

[Mike Hughes]

By 1966 they had the washers.

[scoot]

By 1966 they had the washers.

and there is some twit selling them on ebay (or trying to) for an insane amount of money.

[66andBlue]

and there is some twit selling them on ebay (or trying to) for an insane amount of money.

I am not sure on whom you bestow the title "twit" here but if it is this seller: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370160197667
then you are dead wrong. 
This one is an honest Ebay seller and he was one of the first who supplied the community with chrome parts made to DIN standards and MB specified dimensions that were not some crap from Far East.  I bet that that took more than a few phone calls and a sketch on a napkin.
He is now charging EUR 10 for a set of 8 of these conical washers, it may be high but before he started selling them you could not get them from MB.  Now they are available, but have you called the Classic Center and asked how much their price is? You'll be surprised!
Of course, one can always go to the local ACE store and get some metal washers that will do the job and pay perhaps $0.15 a piece.

[DavidBrough]

I bought a set of these from SLS in Germany some time ago and they seem very good quality, they still list them at 0.94 Euro per screw and cup washer.

[scoot]

I am not sure on whom you bestow the title "twit" here but if it is this seller: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370160197667
then you are dead wrong. 

No, different twit.  The person above is not the person to whom I refer.  This one is:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200311680858&
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200310593849&

Scott

[J. Huber]

Back to the original question for a second: John, I think you may have read that the visble ones on the bottom had washers, and the top ones were just a large slotted screw. I recall hearing that -- and lo and behold that is how my 63 is. Can't guarantee mine is the original set up though -- but no reason to think otherwise.

[waqas]

Back to the original question for a second: John, I think you may have read that the visble ones on the bottom had washers, and the top ones were just a large slotted screw. I recall hearing that -- and lo and behold that is how my 63 is. Can't guarantee mine is the original set up though -- but no reason to think otherwise.

I can't imagine why only the lower screws would have washers.

When I bought my '65 230sl, the grille had a few washers only, incompletely scattered in both upper and lower locations. I always thought some previous owner had misplaced the rest of the washers.

The washers are necessary to ensure the screws always go in vertically and prevent damage to the grille shell (very thin metal there).

I currently have stainless steel screws and washers of the $0.15 local hardware store variety, and these shall remain until I get around to replacing with chrome equivalents.

[john.mancini]

So.....................the consensus would be that 230SL's had the washers and screws for grill mounting. I bought a set from MB. Reasonable price. I feel badly for the person that paid $31.00 on ebay for the washers. He'll be over $4.00 per washer with shipping costs. I wonder if he would be interested in some NOS air that I found in a spare tire.
Thank you,
John

[egggplant]

The MBZ 230sl - 280sl parts manual shows the following:

( 8 ) 007983 003216 Lens head countersunk sheet metal screws
( 8 ) 900056 003505 Countersunk washers

He is now charging EUR 10 for a set of 8 of these conical washers, it may be high but before he started selling them you could not get them from MB.  Now they are available, but have you called the Classic Center and asked how much their price is? You'll be surprised!

MBZ wants $2.40/washer = $19.20 for eight.
The price for 8 reproductions is 10 euros = $12.62 at today's $/euro exchange.

So the reproductions are only 2/3 of the MBZ price which is quite a savings.  Of course this doesn't take into account the cost of shipping from Europe.