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General Discussion / Re: Starting a 280SL restoration
« Last post by johnk on Today at 05:00:48 »The other advantage of driving it a while before you tear it apart is you learn what else needs be adressed in the restoration.
Recent Posts
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General Discussion / Starting a 280SL restoration
« Last post by mchoi on Today at 04:19:18 »Hello everyone,
As I said in my new member introductions post, I was going to post some pictures of my 1970 280SL that I want to begin restoring.
Attached are 4 pictures:
a 3/4 shot from the front passenger corner
an interior picture
2 engine bay pictures from either side
From the 3/4 picture, you can see 2 small rust spots in the front middle of the car.
The interior wood is in bad shape and will need full replacement. I guess this is expected for a car this old. The dash is in pretty good condition, with only a small crack which can't be seen in the picture. The seats are in good condition. Carpet is ehh. Some rust in the floorboard (also expected?). A previous owner installed a speaker system which I want to remove.
The engine bay pictures show how dirty it is. Should be interesting to clean and dismantle this thing.
The engine hasn't been started in a 3 years, so I'm wary about starting it. I was leaning towards just disassembling it, cleaning it out and doing whatever rebuild is required, but in the introduction thread, Mike H suggested that I try to get it running first so I can enjoy it for a bit, which admittedly sounds pretty nice. I'm open to additional opinions, if anyone would like to provide any.
I sent the car to a shop a few yrs back and they did compression and leak down tests on it. I'd like to repeat these tests, but the results are below:
leak down 1-6 sequentially - 46%, 83%, 10%, 42%, 76%, 44%
compression #6 = 130 lb (by far the lowest), rest of cylinders 142-155 lbs
The 83% and 76% are pretty concerning to me. Not sure what could be causing it at the moment.
The compression scores are ?pretty good?
What do you all think?
As I said in my new member introductions post, I was going to post some pictures of my 1970 280SL that I want to begin restoring.
Attached are 4 pictures:
a 3/4 shot from the front passenger corner
an interior picture
2 engine bay pictures from either side
From the 3/4 picture, you can see 2 small rust spots in the front middle of the car.
The interior wood is in bad shape and will need full replacement. I guess this is expected for a car this old. The dash is in pretty good condition, with only a small crack which can't be seen in the picture. The seats are in good condition. Carpet is ehh. Some rust in the floorboard (also expected?). A previous owner installed a speaker system which I want to remove.
The engine bay pictures show how dirty it is. Should be interesting to clean and dismantle this thing.
The engine hasn't been started in a 3 years, so I'm wary about starting it. I was leaning towards just disassembling it, cleaning it out and doing whatever rebuild is required, but in the introduction thread, Mike H suggested that I try to get it running first so I can enjoy it for a bit, which admittedly sounds pretty nice. I'm open to additional opinions, if anyone would like to provide any.
I sent the car to a shop a few yrs back and they did compression and leak down tests on it. I'd like to repeat these tests, but the results are below:
leak down 1-6 sequentially - 46%, 83%, 10%, 42%, 76%, 44%
compression #6 = 130 lb (by far the lowest), rest of cylinders 142-155 lbs
The 83% and 76% are pretty concerning to me. Not sure what could be causing it at the moment.
The compression scores are ?pretty good?
What do you all think?
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Drive train, fuel, suspension, steering & brakes / Re: 1965 230SL was rebuilt once
« Last post by Benz Dr. on Today at 01:02:19 »Ah, I think I know the difference. The 230SL has one lobe per cylinder on the camshaft inside the IP. The 220SE has two lobes for each of two cylinders inside the IP. So, in effect, it sprays twice per cycle rather than running twice as fast.
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Items for Sale / Re: Factory overalls for sale
« Last post by Desertpagoda on Today at 00:20:56 »Sold! Thanks SL Group!
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General Discussion / Re: Trouble with NC title HELP
« Last post by Mike Hughes on Today at 00:15:17 »Yep, I've heard about that. They've got their hands full right now complying with the Real ID directive.
As long as an older CA registered vehicle continues to be registered in CA there isn't likely to be any problem, even if ownership of the CA registered vehicle is transferred to another CA resident. CA DMV recognizes its own grandfathered vehicle records as valid. It's when the CA registered vehicle leaves CA and has to be re-registered outside of CA that it has the potential to mushroom into the kind of problem that Russell describes.
As long as an older CA registered vehicle continues to be registered in CA there isn't likely to be any problem, even if ownership of the CA registered vehicle is transferred to another CA resident. CA DMV recognizes its own grandfathered vehicle records as valid. It's when the CA registered vehicle leaves CA and has to be re-registered outside of CA that it has the potential to mushroom into the kind of problem that Russell describes.
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General Discussion / Re: Trouble with NC title HELP
« Last post by 49er on February 23, 2019, 22:42:38 »So now the issue is: Will California DMV be willing to correct their grandfathered 11 digit VIN record to reflect the correct 14 digit DB VIN and issue a corrected title?
Hello Mike, California's DMV has gone through 3 Directors in the last 32 days because of the problems related to issuing the new TSA approved "Real ID" Driver's licenses. Individuals have been waiting several months to have their permanent licenses issued after submitting the proper documents. So far, vehicle registrations both new and renewal are being processed OK but I doubt anything will be happening in the foreseeable future to update their system.
John
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Body, interior, paint, chrome, and cosmetic items / Re: Removing deep scratches in steering wheel?
« Last post by Norm on February 23, 2019, 22:23:29 »I had my interior guy wrap my wheel in leather to match the interior.
He is pretty good.
Here is a pic
Norm
He is pretty good.
Here is a pic
Norm
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General Discussion / Re: Trouble with NC title HELP
« Last post by Mike Hughes on February 23, 2019, 22:12:22 »This is purely speculation but I am beginning to see a pattern: From what others are posting it is beginning to appear as though California simply made up 11 digit VINS that incorporated only the last six digits of the 14 digit DB serial number back in the era before 17 digit VINs. This may be because domestic vehicle manufacturers were all using 11 digit VINs back then so the California DMV computer system was set up with an 11 digit VIN field. The 14 digit DB VIN wouldn't fit so they made up a five digit vehicle descriptor followed by the chassis number from the DB VIN in the last six digits. In the case of a Pagoda the five digit vehicle descriptor is obvious: 2?0SL. When all the DMV computer systems were upgraded to accept the new 17 VINS in 1980 for the '81 model year all the shorter VINS were grandfathered in their databases.
So now the issue is: Will California DMV be willing to correct their grandfathered 11 digit VIN record to reflect the correct 14 digit DB VIN and issue a corrected title?
So now the issue is: Will California DMV be willing to correct their grandfathered 11 digit VIN record to reflect the correct 14 digit DB VIN and issue a corrected title?
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General Discussion / MB Dealerships Across the Years
« Last post by Pawel66 on February 23, 2019, 21:00:43 »I think it is quite interesting, I am sure many of you saw that:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2180691765324752&set=gm.2290297231248562&type=3&theater
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2180691765324752&set=gm.2290297231248562&type=3&theater
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Body, interior, paint, chrome, and cosmetic items / Re: Removing deep scratches in steering wheel?
« Last post by Pawel66 on February 23, 2019, 20:44:31 »This leather skin may, actually, work as a protection...
Could you post a link or picture...
Could you post a link or picture...