What have you done to your Pagoda today?

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

On Friday last a good friend of mine and I stopped all of my oil and coolant water leaks (new gaskets some seals and replaced 2 broken bolts). Feels great to have no more water/oil puddles in the garage.

Next project is to clean up the engine bay. A nice winter project.

Put the hardtop back on (weatherman calls for rain and more seasonal temperatures) ave her a nice wash.

[Kemal]

Soft top cleaned and put away to rest for a few months.
Hard Top on 

Please stop raining !!

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Hi Kemal,

Looks good with the hardtop on does it not Kind of suiting for this time of year.

It's also raining in little London town across the ocean

BTW. Why not take out a membership and enjoy the fine fellowship and Technical Manual of this site it will save you plenty of sterlings to pay the low membership fee for this great site.

[Jordan]

Found the final screw hole for my drivers side under dash panel, after removing the panel, and got it fitted so it doesn't keep hitting my feet.  Thanks to those who replied to my other post on this matter.  While the panel was off I checked the drain tube and it fell apart in my fingers, still had the original clamps.  Found a piece of coolant hose that fit perfectly and reinstalled, after checking to make sure the up and down sections were clear and gave them a few shots of rust inhibitor.  Now I definitely don't have to worry about wet feet.      Next up is getting the hard top back on in time for an MB drive planned for the 27th.  Personally I think our cars look best with the hard top in place.

[Kemal]

Hi Kemal,

Looks good with the hardtop on does it not Kind of suiting for this time of year.

It's also raining in little London town across the ocean

BTW. Why not take out a membership and enjoy the fine fellowship and Technical Manual of this site it will save you plenty of sterlings to pay the low membership fee for this great site.

Hi Rolf,

She's a true Pagoda with her hat on! The 360d views looking out of all the windows is great also. ( Stereo sounds better at had high speed too.   )
I'd be proud to have full membership here but unfortunately I wouldn't benefit as Im really not technically minded at all and as for the magazine we have post issues here! ( Go missing! )

Still Raining here  

[Lou F]

I took my 280SL to a local car show.  It was the only Mercedes at the event.  It was a nice time with cool weather.  I did not get presented a trophy (there were only 4 prizes).  On the dive back home I saw the Brake condition light flickering along with my interior light.  When I put the car in the garage I noticed a fluid stain by the right rear tire.  It was not water and did not smell like gasoline.  So I think I have a break line leak.  I hope it will be OK for me to drive it to the shop?

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Congratulations Lou, I also won an award last month at Williamsburg, VA (second place ~ peoples choice form the cars on the show field). Last week a  Second Place Pagoda Price arrived in the mail. I was quite surprised.

Hope you get your brake issue resolved.

[Benz Dr.]

Better check your brake fluid level before driving your car to get it repaired. Our cars have a dual braking circuit but you will loose a lot of effect even with the rear brakes out of action. Loss of front brakes will make your car unsafe to drive and a tow truck is in order.


  At the Williamsburg event I spent most of my time poking round in engine bays. some of what I found was kind of alarming. I concentrated on two main areas - brake pedal free play adjustment and throttle linkage adjustments. Brake pedal free play is very easy to adjust by looking at the eccentric bolt that's right in front of the firewall padding. This is what pushes on the push pin that moves the diaphram inside of the booster. There is a small notch on the head of this eccentric bolt and it should face towards the firewall in a horizontal position. Of the dozen or so cars I looked at only two were corrrect. I saw some that were turned 180 degrees forward which will produce mximum brake pedal free travel. If you have to pump your brake pedal or it seems like there's a lot of pedal movement before you feel solid brakes, check this adjustment. It's quick and easy to do.

Throttle linkage adjustments are covered in the linkage tour so I won't repeat how it's done here. Most I looked at were right or close to right. Some were off so far it's a wonder the engine would even run. I did have doubts that I could fix one on Sunday with the limited wrenches I brought with me. It did fix OK as far as I know.  One car had throttle linkage that was ready to fall off the mounting braket above the spark plugs. Being somewhat forgetfull when I'm working away at something, and it was noticed when I first got to the show, I told the owner to come and find me before he left for the day. Good thing he did because it slipped my mind and it could of been very bad for the owner. 

[Larry & Norma]

Any pictures of this brake adjustment would be appreciated.
Cheers

[Bonnyboy]

Yesterday afternoon a used fuel sending unit arrived in the mail from a fellow W113 member, so this morning before the neighbourhood was awake I pulled out my spare tire and re and re'd the sending unit.  Turned my key and Voila - I have 1/2 tank of gas.  It will be nice to know what is in my tank.  I was getting forgetful and heading to fill up and getting like $6.00 in the tank or thinking I needed a $10 top up and having the pump stop at $100.

The best part was burning the fuel soaked paper I used to absorb the fuel when I pulled out the old unit.  Nice quick fire in misty blackness of the wet coast of BC.

[Benz Dr.]

Any pictures of this brake adjustment would be appreciated.
Cheers

I agree. Could someone help us out with this?

[Cees Klumper]

...  Nice quick fire in misty blackness of the wet coast of BC.

One of the most prosaic contributions on these here forums yet!

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Hi Larry,

Refer to the 2 photos below, just above your master cylinder (near the firewall) for the brake is a connection (see photo 1) Benz Dr. found this connection revered (see photo 2 close up of the connection) on many cars at the Williamsburg P-50. When the connection is reversed it will results in a very soft brake paddle. Perhaps Dan (Benz Dr) can elaborate on this if I described it wrongly.

If your brake paddle is firm when you depress it (not mushy like ~ soft you know what I mean) then all is okay

Hope this helps.

[Basil]

Found out why 230 1964 is hard to start, when the engine is cold. No power on the cold start valve.
I searched our Forum and found out how current flows. Opened the relais 0 332 008 001 and there I found what caused the trouble.
Lots of rust and a broken connection.
It's that easy, when one is a full member who has acces to all Technical Manuals 
Have a nice day !!
Paul.

[Basil]

I wondered why there was no music from the radio. Found out that the loudspeaker was gone 

[J. Huber]

Well, over the weekend, we had a little celebration. My beloved Pagoda officially turned 50!

No cake -- but I did decide to give it a detail and a little check-up before a nice drive. As I noted somewhere else, I have been commuting with it fairly often lately -- and figured it was time to check the points since I was already under the hood. Interestingly, even though the car was running fine, the dwell was 44. A little too high for my liking so glad I checked. I popped the cap and rotor and did a quick gap adjustment. Started her up -- had a solid 37. Now, ideally 38 is my target but last time I had a 37 and got greedy. Took me about 2 hours to get back to 38... so I am sticking with 37.

Now this was interesting too. As I was hand cranking the engine, I noticed the wire to the CSV was fully severed. It had a piece of electrical tape on it so it must have been frayed or cracked in the past? Anyway, no idea when that happened. Car has started wonderfully for long time. So I replaced connector and hooked it back up.

Took the car for a spin -- started in a flash and seemed even more peppy than usual. Not bad for 50! Wish I could say the same... 

[49er]

 Happy Birthday to your sweet little car James. Hope the two of you have many more miles together (but not on I80:-)

John

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Happy Birthday James to your treasure

As to what I did … gave her a good cleanup and wash before covering her up for the winter. We had our first snow fall this past week, however, 10C yesterday good day for a quick wash.

EDIT .. corrected small typo … bet no one knows what "cleanup" meant LOL

[49er]

Another beautiful fall day here today so we took what might be the last top down ride of the year. Out for nearly three hours but only put about 70 miles on the odometer having to stop for coffee and apple pie along the way and lots of meandering roads. Got a might chilly when we got up to the 3000 foot level of the hills to the east of us so the heater was put to good use.  Had a few "beautiful car" shouts along the way as well which are always nice to hear. Car back in our garage for now but the soft top is still stowed so who knows, maybe I might be able to talk the navigator into one or two more TD rides this year, weather permitting

John

[Basil]

Today I put a Stainless Steel complete exhaust system under 230 SL.
The worst part is to take the old pipes from the header. I just had to grind a sleeve in the header to cut the pipe .
After removing, I welded the headers and ground them into shape. Just enough room .
It looks fantastic under the car 

[jeffc280sl]

I returned to the area where my car has been garaged.  Earlier today I started my SL after sitting in the garage for 14 months.  Pleased to say that it started right up.  I did nothing other than start the car.  The battery held a charge the whole time.  Engine ran very rich until the CSV warmed.  Car ran perfectly.  Very pleased!

Best regards,

[harleydan]

Earlier this week to prepare for winter hibernation (even though I still try to drive it at least once per month during the winter), my dog and I took the car out for a little ride.  As you all know the car itself gather attention; however, with the dog in his goggles (doggles) in the passenger seat, the attention is just amplified.   

Then had the tires rotated and balanced, and ensured the tires had the correct pressure by adding more nitrogen (instead of regular air). Later I washed and waxed car, moved car into my heated garage (ensuring it was a safe distance away from other objects to fully open the doors without hitting anything), and placed cover over car.  Maybe I should have added Stabil to the fuel as I did on my other vehicles as it is snowing here now and expected to be cold for at least a week.

1970 280SL silver Euro manual

[49er]

15F degrees (-9c) here this morning so put the soft top up for the winter. Weather was still nice (upper 60s) up until a couple days ago so we managed to get in a few more top down drives but it looks like those warm sunny have days turned into an early winter in these parts as this record cold weather is going to continue for a while. Put some stabil in the tank, drove it around the block and covered her up. The car doesn't really hibernate for the winter as we do have nice days once in awhile so we take always try to take advantage of those days with a drive, albeit with the top up

John

[mmizesko]

Today was a great day.  JA17 and I tore apart my dash, pulled the wood off, sending out my tach and speedo and europa II to be refurbed, pulled off all the chrome ad trim on the car and getting it ready for a full exterior paint job.  My hands are still bleeding.  Joe has the patience of a saint.  I would have snapped parts right an left trying to get them off alone.  Also replaced my 2w bulbs with LED's and adjusted the clock.  65 in Columbus today.  Also put in a new battery hold down.  All in about 5 hours.  In addition to paint, replacing the windshield.  Hope it's done by April.

Mike Mizesko
Columbus, OH

[Mike K]

In October this year I bought a 1971 280SL Pagoda, this is a car I’ve wanted/lusted after for the past 20 years. It was sold to me as a “fully refurbished” car, something which I didn’t entirely believe from the outset...

I’ve encountered some issues with the car, despite having checked and inspected it- overall body and mechanically all seemed good apart from some "minor issues".
When I bought the car I had already mentally prepared myself for some additional expenses, I guess though that my bank account wasn’t as entirely prepared as I was.

Over the past month I've done some upgrade work on the car:
Replaced the US style headlights with the European headlights.

Replaced both the fuel tank and the Bosch fuel pump with brand new ones, after encountering some intermittent fuel starvation issues on the 2, 000 km drive
from Holland back to France. To be fair, the seller paid for and shipped the new fuel tank to me.

Installed a 123 electronic ignition after the electrical switch gear died.

Disconnected and removed the +20 year alarm/immobiliser, after having had one look at the mess of wiring, fuses and connectors under the passenger seat. This was definitely a nightmare waiting to happen in the near future, when least expected. I’ve now installed a manual battery cut off system instead.

Connected the original Becker Mexico radio cassette to the newly replaced centre dash speaker.
Installed a remote controlled Fusion Marine iPod player under the rear panels, which is connected to the new front kick panel speakers, and which runs independently of the Becker.

The car was taking 6 or 7 turns of the ignition to start in the mornings. After doing some reading and research on this site, I removed the Cold Start Valve from the intake manifold and opened it up, found the injectors and needle valve blocked up with years of muck, and cleaned these out thoroughly. I also found that the solenoid was binding, and managed to free it up after some fiddling around and spraying with WD40; then bench tested it by running 12V through and it worked again. Reassembled everything and connected the CSV back onto the car and for the past 3 mornings since, she’s started on the first turn of the ignition every time!

The exhaust had 2 holes which I’ve now plugged with Holts Gun Gum, while I wait for the new stainless steel exhaust from SLS to be delivered next week.

Next up is stripping out the old carpets and installing “Thermo Tec Heat and Sound Insulation” to the floor panels- http://www.thermotec.com/products/14600-suppressor-acoustical-heat-control-mat.html. On top of that will go “Thermo Tec Cool It Mat” insulated padding- http://www.thermotec.com/products/14100-cool-it-mat.html  and then the new carpets on top of that, which I’ve already purchased from Niemoeller in Germany.

All this from someone who’s never worked on cars before. I’m really thankful for all the contributions, input and advice from the members of this Forum!

Best,

Mike