My 1989 Mercedes 560 SEC

[Jupix]

Had a little 300k maintenance visit to the shop today.

New spark plugs, oil (Valvoline 10W-40) + filter, and fuel filter. Really rubbish weather outside, so I'm unable to test whether any of this had any impact on the high-rpm misfire I'm having, but we'll see.

Changing the fuel filter was a bitch. I'm glad I was only observing. The nuts were basically welded shut with rust, but eventually they let go.

The old oil (LiquiMoly 5W-30) looked terrible. It was black as you would expect after 11k on them but it was really really thin, like water. I'd decided in advance to switch to a heavier oil and now I'm really glad I did. A slightly heavier oil should work better with particularly Mercedes hydraulic lifters.

 

[Jupix]

It appears I got featured in the MB Club magazine

 

[Jupix]

Since day one my single biggest woe with the car's external condition was the mask. It was horribly broken in a lot of ways; some of the chrome was chipping and falling off, the upper "lip" was hanging, no longer attached to its plastic support clips, and some of the plastic grilles had broken. All the plastic parts were starting to fade pretty bad. It's the principal eye catcher in the car's nose so I wanted it perfect.

So yesterday I received, from Stuttgart with love,

a complete Mercedes-original mask. It is the single most expensive part I've bought for this car.

Here you can see the old front. Not too shabby from a couple meters away, right?

Almost all of plastic clips holding the upper lip in place have broken, so the lip is hanging free.

Chrome in the passenger side "wing" was basically falling off

No idea how this can have happened?! Anyway, it was like this when I bought the car.

Only the outermost plastic supports for the upper lip remain.

First, the mask came out. It is held in place by 5 evenly placed bolts and 1 screw. Remove those and the mask lifts off towards the front of the car.

The bolts had rusted a bit, leaving quite a sizeable amount of rust on the hood-side clips.

A previous owner had "repaired" the broken clips by just gluing the hanging lip in place with silicone.

Removed the adhesive to the best of my ability

Ready to receive a new nose

Old, dirty mask
New, pristine mask!

Here you can see how the plastic clips are just sheered off. Also, two kinds of adhesive here, so I would guess two previous "repairs"

Missing clip

You wouldn't believe the new mask. It is absolutely beautiful. The chrome is just unbelievable. It's pristine, and so gleaming nice. However, the mask is suprisingly light, and seems quite fragile. Had to handle it with real care.

Wax on

Soaking the fasteners in WD40 to remove dirt and rust

"Clean" old fasteners, bolts

New mask installed! You have to be surprisingly violent to get it in place. It actually has a sort of rubber around it that forms a seal. I didn't quite get it 100% centered, so it's a bit tighter on the driver side than the opposite. However, because it's still 0 celsius outside, I dare not uninstall and reinstall over and over again until it's perfect, in fear of breaking its plastic parts.

Complete front update!

 

[Jupix]

Today I popped down to a derestricted autobahn to test the effects of Monday's "tuneup". Even though I accelerated on full throttle to probably about 180kph I was unable to reproduce the high-rpm misfire which I had been experiencing. I'm also glad to report that the engine pulls very strong on high rpm's. There is a noticeable surge in power after a midrange point, in a similar vein as in the M104 straight six.

However, only on our traditional strip day in May will I be able to decisively tell if the misfire problem is indeed fixed.

 

[leviathan]

That's one nice-looking car. I especially like the way the "big star" grille works on it; in my opinion, Mercedes are wrong slapping it on almost all their cars now, it only belongs on the supercars like the SLS and the large coup?s - which is why my C-class has the "classic" Elegance grille. Also glad to see that you're taking proper care of it, and using it as it belongs Do carry on!

 

[Jupix]

I kinda agree, that it's sad, that the big star has been reduced from a symbol of exclusivity to a mere badge, that goes on anything from an A-class to an SLS.

Not that there aren't good reasons for doing away with a fragile emblem on a stick (having had mine almost torn off).

Since cars are getting back to the upright front design, it might have been cool to have the star featured in the "traditional way", completely upright too, like in the 60s cars. But maybe that wouldn't have looked modern enough.

 

[The GFP]

wow my 2 fav mercs, ive often thought about getting the SEC v8

i was watching the vid about the windows on page 1 and every time you slammed the car door i shuddered, i shout at people (dont f***ing slam the f***ing door)

love the AMG alloys too

 

[Jupix]

thx! 8)


Here's how you listen to your mp3s in the 1980s:

I love this. 8)

The cassette deck is my dad's original Nakamichi 480. This Japanese vintage audio company made the best of the best; it's the Nikon of cassette decks. The MSRP of the 480 in 1979-1982 was $495; adjusted for inflation, that is about $1350 today. The device features, among other things, dual heads, a silenced mechanism and Dolby noise reduction. Which the texts on the front panel make pretty clear :lol:
http://www.vintagecassette.com/Nakamichi/480

 

[Jupix]

Now for some true, old-fashioned botching.

Ever since I bought the car, the storage compartments in the back have been mutilated by some PO. Both of them had their bottoms carved off with a knife or something. The port side box had most of the storage space intact, only the bottom was missing. From the starboard side the whole box is missing under the lid.

Started by cleaning the box

It was pretty repairable

Looked like the the bottom had been carved off with a knife. Why anyone would do this is beyond me. Thankfully the edges were reasonably straight.

Just grabbed any plastic I could find and measured twice

Cut once

Sanded and painted with some cheap matte black spray paint

Glued it on with dual component epoxy and filled remaining holes with bostik glue

Upholstered with some black matte

Here's how it looks like in place.


I don't have the storage compartments in place atm, though - first I need to source a rattle that's coming from the trunk.

 

[Jupix]

Other pics:

Here's a daylight pic of my car's "cockpit". I noticed I hadn't really posted one before, where all the changes since day 1 are visible.

Some wheel advice from Miami Vice. Looks rather familiar 8)

 

[Jupix]

Today was a fantastic, warm and sunny day so it was time for a little spring cleaning!

Tried to do a bit more detailed wash than the first one of 2012, a few weeks ago.

Pretty dull shine, then again the paint isn't exactly prime material for polishing, it's already got some dents and sloppy prepwork.

Hardly any beading... Need to wax it soon!

First doorstep cleanup of 2012, with water, Autoglym rubber protector and Turtlewax metal polish

Next up is a more detailed interior cleanup, methinks

 

[TC]

Beautiful car. Glad to see you doing things to clean it up without carbage-ing it up.

 

[gt1750]

Looking sharp

 

[ChuckMoritz]

Today was a fantastic, warm and sunny day so it was time for a little spring cleaning!

[snip]

Next up is a more detailed interior cleanup, methinks

pictures don't seem to be working anymore...

 

[Jupix]

Thanks for the compliments! Pics are fixed now! It seems iCloud doesn't like hotlinking

Today I drove down to Helsinki on business. Paid a visit to Matyas who gave me the bottom half of his old passenger seat. I shall now find out whether its metal structure is compatible with my drivers seat. I also received a nice 80s first-aid kit from Matyas, so thank you very much!

I contemplated for a long time whether to drive straight home or go see what downtown Helsinki looks like today. As I was leaving I went ahead and set a route for home. Missed a turn, went "oh ffs" and turned the nav off. Followed the signs as far south as I could. Eventually I ran out of country. :lol:

Just had to check out Kaivopuisto.

Helsinki is an awesome city, every time I'm down there I'm a bit envious of those who get to live there. It's also great for car spotters. Just today, only in traffic I oogled at a Ferrari 458 Italia, CLS (the new one) 63 AMG, and half a dozen Porsches among other things. Good stuff.

Total mileage today: 540 km. Fuel consumption: 11,66 l/100km.

 

[ChuckMoritz]

Wow. That looks sooo nice

Especially the new grille, that shine is unbelievable...

 

[Jupix]

Look what I found!

It's a complete Webasto set, ripped out of a 1989 W124. It looks like a retrofit unit, because the control panel features the Webasto logo in the upper left corner. One installed in the Merc factory will not have that logo. This should be a working set. What I need to do first is put it all together in the car, and then, take out just the heater, and have it serviced.

I now have plenty of parts, I would think it's possible I will now have a working Webasto next winter.

Not much else going on with the 560. Lately I've been driving and pampering my mom's 1985 190E. Since it's an 80s Mercedes I might just as well post a few pics.

Bought an original Becker Europa Cassette. It has a blown bulb and the right side "track" (frequency trimmer) is non-functional. Other than that, it's great. Great reception, nice sound quality, cassette works, display is perfect, all the buttons feel solid, etc.

When the car was new you had the option of a couple radios, or no radio at all, in which case you had the wiring and an antenna, but the dealership would be the one to install a radio. Usually in these it would be something like a Blaupunkt or Sony. When I was 18 and had just learned to drive, me & a buddy removed the broken and rubbish Blaupunkt that was on the car, and installed a Pioneer christmas tree. It makes me happy that I'm now able to restore the dash to its former glory, and do the wiring etc myself.

The W201 has been driven on steelies for the last decade. The guy whose garage I found the Webasto in sold me a set of 15x6,5" Kanaldeckels after I had mentioned I'd be interested in a set, last winter. On the alloys were 6 year old Nokian Nordmans with plenty of tread.

The wheels were in a pretty sorry state, they looked like they'd been in use last autumn and just thrown in storage without even washing them.

After I washed them thoroughly they appeared to be in a pretty good condition, but by no means perfect. Very very minor curb rash and some scratches. Some of the dirt on them is rock hard and since the wheels are not perfect, and are going on a DDer, I didn't bother to lick them completely clean.

After waxing they were starting to look pretty presentable.

I had the option of putting on these center caps:

I pondered and pondered till me head hurt, and finally decided to not switch over to them, instead preferring to go with the originals. Don't get me wrong, the blue ones are original too. However they are about 10 years younger. Me & my dad decided that they look a bit too high class for this car. If it was silver, and was absolutely mint, these center caps would look great. However, in a beige car with some imperfections, the old caps are more fitting.

Kanaldeckels make the W201 look so classy, especially now that I washed it.

As you can see the bolts peek out just slightly. That is because I had bolts with elongated heads on. They were from the 8-hole Sportline alloys of my former red C124. I sourced a set of bolts with correct heads and switched them on just today. Now the alloys look perfect.

 

[Der Stig]

I love this thread. Every time I get on the highway, there's a gorgeous C126 in silver with AMG wheels that's for sale at an auto shop that I drool over and it reminds me of your car, although not as nice.

 

[Jupix]

Today: spring cleaning pt.2

Started using the James May kit I ordered from England last spring, to refresh your memory:

First, tested it on the hidden surfaces of the backseat middle bit which I can take with me inside the house.

Worked fine. Smells reaaaally good.

Cleaner could be more powerful, but meh. I guess it's enough for most home use. I need to get some of the abrasive magic eraser things.

How to use the kit:
1. Wipe leather with damp cloth
2. Apply cleaner to leather and gently stir with a soft brush
3. Let sit for 5 minutes
4. Stir with soft brush again and wipe cleaner off with damp cloth
5. Let dry for 1 hour
6. Apply conditioner with cloth
7. Repeat add conditioner if necessary

The conditioner leaves a "traditional" shiny and oily surface as leather conditioner chemicals often do. After all the oil is the point. However, this does not seem like snake oil leather cleaner... it actually seems to absorb into the leather, and stop being sticky quite quickly. The leather feels softer after just the first coat. I usually applied 2 coats of conditioner, so far. My interior has clearly been neglected for years, so it takes some elbow grease to renovate it as well as possible.

I was most careful with the aft section of the cabin (to continue with the nautical theme ITT)
It looks pretty much mint. It's also pretty much the only part of the vehicle that does.

I also treated the front passenger seat. I'm still thinking about what to do with the driver seat and armrest. Re-dye now, or just treat and dye later. I'll probably try the dyeing.

Since I was finally expending energy on the interior, I decided to battle all the shit that had been absorbed in the cloth all around the car ever since I bought it. This is actually the first time I'm doing a proper interior cleanup. As you've gathered so far I've been just battling mechanicals, and washing the car.

I used AutoGlym Interior Shampoo. It's easy, just apply shampoo sparingly and rub with cloth.

There's so much accumulated shit I couldn't even get it all off in one go. Need to repeat the procedure tomorrow.

The doors are the most involved place to clean on this car:

For the cloth, I used the AutoGlym Shampoo. For the leather, I used the above Gliptone set. For the hard surfaces, I used AutoGlym Leather Cleaner. Other parts I had done previously; underside with ordinary car wash shampoo, and seals/plastics with AutoGlym Bumper Care.

The doors look pretty good now.

Btw, that pic features the first-aid kit from matyas

Remember the stickers I had on my door windows? Past pic:

It was finally time for them to go!

I used a couple EURs worth of razor, highly recommended
Just remember to use lots of soap water as a lubricant, otherwise the razor would scratch the window.

Getting rid of the stickers really cleaned up the exterior of the car.

 

[Jupix]

Spring Cleaning pt.3!

I have now concluded the main cleanup effort. Altogether I spent 7 days doing it (on and off).

In addition to treating the leather, I spent some time making the headliner appear a little cleaner. It was probably the most beaten looking part of the interior.

It looked so terrible, in 2011 I took the car to a professional interior cleanup. I recall paying about 80 EUR and above is what it got me. It was probably the worst ripoff I've had done on me.

Anyway, I used Autoglym Interior Shampoo again with a clean cloth, rinsing in a bucket of water.

Note, the flash makes it look worse than it does IRL. However it does reveal that there's still work to be done. However, for a first attempt that is pretty good, and a bargain, compared to the pro.

Having cleaned up the interior somewhat it was time to move onto the outside.

For the roof, trunklid and A/C pillars I used just my usual set of Big Orange shampoo and Korrek TFX wax. For all other paint, I added claybaring (Sonax). I used Sonax' window shampoo as a lube. After washing, washing and washing the clay still picked up A LOT of dirt, so it did its job.

It's nice having a shiny car again

The hood is especially nice! It has a few stone chips but other than that, it looks great, with the new grille and emblem.

I might do a proper photoshoot since it's cleaner now if anyone's interested