Although we still offer basic, Free membership, and Paying membership which entitles you to receiving our print magazine Pagoda World and our news letter, as well as full access to our technical manual, the membership system has been completely revamped on the new system.
The International Club for Mercedes-Benz 230 SL, 250 SL and 280 SL Roadsters based on the W113 platform.
This site and this Group were established as a source of information relating to the Mercedes W113 cars and to help maintain, restore, exhibit, and promote the ownership and admiration of these cars among the international community of W113 enthusiasts.
For details about our Group, see the menu items at the left. We have our charter, membership information, and lots of fun sections here.
The buttons above this text bring you to our Forum, for a wealth of information and a great community of car owners. Join us today for your free Forum membership. If you become a Full Member for a nominal fee you help to pay for the upkeep of this site and receive additional benefits.
We have a Technical Manual with lots of useful information to keep our cars running and to maintain or restore, or just learn more, about your vehicle. Our Technical Manual is powered by a Wiki, so Full Members are able to edit and contribute to the content. There is some premium content available, only for Full Members.
Pagoda University Blacklick 2009
Pagoda University Blacklick 2009, hosted by Joe and Mary Alexander, was a huge success. Some 80 attendees enjoyed lectures and show and tell sessions on saturday. Useful items to do with our cars and hobby provided for by a number of vendors and individuals were raffled off. Thanks to (in no particular order) Bob Geco, Michael Salemi, Ray Hays, Bud's Benz, Haartz, (Juan) Tomas Santos and Tosh. We ended the day with a nice dinner in a restaurant nearby.
On sunday over 20 cars - and their crews - were present when Professor Joe Alexander did a number of live car tune-ups, diagnosing problems, and fixing smaller ones, and generally performing his magic. Some of the cars saw longstanding, little problems disappear with a few tweaks of the master.
If you missed this great event, then you can still find all the presentations here: Pagoda University Blacklick.
Cars in attendance for sunday photoshoot (photo by Al Lieffring)
230, 250 or 280 SL? Which is best
Many magazines and other sources say that the Mercedes-Benz 280SL is the most valuable car of the W113 range of Mercedes cars. They cite improved horsepower, a more reliable crankshaft with more bearings, and up-to-date equipment such as an automatic gearbox or disc-brakes all around for this.
But is this really true? The experts and members of our forums beg to differ. They consider the lighter, manual 230SL to be more of a sports car. They also prefer some of the detailed fixtures on the car, such as the additional chrome, the mirror posts, the door fittings.
However, even they cannot agree. Some prefer the most undervalued of the range, the 250SL. Already adorned with some of the improvements of the 280SL, but without losing the charm of the 230SL, and certainly without the emissions control features of the 280SL, it may be the best compromise.
Hey, don't take our word for it. Check your thoughts in this thread dicussing the differences in detail.
Technical Manual
Many visitors head straight for the forums... hey that's where it's all happening, right?
Well, not so right. We have a community effort going on amongst Full Members of this forum to produce the definitive source of all knowledge Pagoda. Need to know about minute differences between a 230, 250 and 280 SL? Need to know how to do something that the Mercedes-Benz manual doesn't give you enough detail about? Has the Haynes manual let you down?
Check out our Technical Manual first. Chances are, you'll find it in there. Some bits aren't finished yet, and sometimes it may just be wrong. That's because it's a community effort. It is getting better all the time, and most of it (except for some precious parts that alone will make your Full Membership of this group worthwhile) is freely accessible.
And if it isn't there.. why don't you ask about it at the forums and write up in the Technical Manual what you find out? Because that is what this community of real car lovers is all about: sharing knowledge and helping each other out.
Once the Technical Manual is in a further advanced state, we shall be distributing paper copies for use in your garage or workshop (well, you wouldn't want to get oil in your keyboard, now?).
There should be a very small screw on the side of the valve body that you can remove and then extract the entire valve assembly for cleaning. Mine was broken off and rusted over so I had to just keep using lubricating fluid to move the valve back and forth. There will be grit between the walls so you need to get that out. The valve should eventually move with almost no effort. Keep applying fluid, move valve and shake out fluid, repeat multiple times. Took me about a day and a half to finally get it clean and moving.
I agree with what has been said... and.... Here is how I look at it. Since I am doing the work myself, I buy parts from the MB Classic Center. It is easy and I believe it gives me the highest chance that the install will go smoothly, the part will fit, the part will function as intended, and the part will last as long as a new part is supposed to. If you buy a non MB part, you are taking a chance with all of those points. Of course, there are exceptions to everything, but I simply take the route that I believe will give me the highest probability of success. I buy from the MB Classic Center. Now my decision is based on the fact that I want the car to outlive me or to pass on a car that is as good as I can make it. If your motives are profit driven, or you just want to get by as inexpensively as you can, then you will use different decision criteria. Good Luck and Enjoy the Ride.
Amazing Craftsmanship. Its funny when a lot of these fixer uppers are listed for sale they say needs TLC Well that is what your lucky pagoda is getting.
