New Car - Mercedes W115

74merc

Hello

I've been looking for a W115 for a while and found this one locally.

http://belfast.gumtree.com/belfast/73/33722573.html

It hasn't been driven much recently and needs a bit of a clean but otherwise no issues. It comes with about £10K of receipts from England, mostly main dealers and John Haynes. I just bought it and am looking forward to getting her ship-shape. The colour is Havana Brown (I think there are 2 shades but this one is aubergine/brown) with cream interior. It makes a nice change from white with a tan interior. I'll post some photos once clean.

Martin

Borgman100

Great looking car and a good buy with the current exchange rate euro v sterling..

Look forward to seeing more pics!

Borgman100

MercMad

Nice car mate, and a very good price for a rust free example.

Have you actually got the car yet, is it rust free ?

tc20

Congrats!

that car looks particularly clean and straight, and hopefully has plenty of life left in it yet. I previously had a W114, and i loved that car - solid, simple, and comfortable cruiser. I love the lines of those, and the colour combo is cool man :cool:

Happy motoring!

74merc

Thanks, I live in the North so was paying for it with sterling anyway. I'd say if it had been put on ebay, it would have been snapped up by one of you boys! There doesn't seem to be the same interest in old Mercs up here compared to the south.
There is a little bit of rust in the boot but only on the surface. There's a recent bill for £3000 from a main dealer for work to the sills and general bodywork so I think all the problem areas have been attended to.
It's got an aerial mounted on the corner of the rear quarter panel beside the rear lights which I've never seen before. Does anyone know if that's original?
The spot lamps will be removed as they are hideous. The only problem is that they're mounted on the bumper so will leave a hole, I might have a bumper which will fit though.
The car is sitting outside work right now and is attracting a lot of interest.
Oh, by the way I paid £3100! A bargain methinks.

MercMad

Deffinitely a steal at that price.

You could get chrome grommets that just bolt in, have seen it lots of times.

The aerial should be on the right hand side front if its a factory job but lots of these came from the factory with the "radio delete" option and dealers just placed the aerial in the most accesseable position, which is the rear 1/4 panel.

Dades

MercMad wrote: »

You could get chrome grommets that just bolt in, have seen it lots of times.

I would also be interested in a couple of chrome grommets if you knew where to get em' !

Blue850

Nice car, the aerial on mine is on the right wing near the windscreen, its electric with its own switch under the dash but the motor just makes a noise and the aerial doesn't move.....mind you thats the least of my problems with my one.

74merc

tc20 wrote: »

Congrats!

that car looks particularly clean and straight, and hopefully has plenty of life left in it yet. I previously had a W114, and i loved that car - solid, simple, and comfortable cruiser. I love the lines of those, and the colour combo is cool man :cool:

Happy motoring!

Thanks, I think the shape is very 'pure' for want of a better word. I prefer the pre-facelift models with flat rear lens, dinky door mirrors and slender steering wheel. Having said that, I bought on condition and would have been happy enough with a later model. I'm not sure about the white stripe tyres but they may grow on me.

Ben,

where do you get chrome grommets from?

Martin

MercMad

I'll check my links for the chrome grommets and get back to you lads later !

MercMad

Chrome Coach Bolts are apparantly what you need.

Try these,

http://www.screwfix.com/cats/100043/Bolts/Coach-Bolts

..........and a lot of plumming shops keep them to as do Lenehans

http://www.lenehans.ie/lenehans/main/Subcategory2.asp?CatID=125&SubID=371

.............I expect you may have to do some cutting with either of the above.

alpina

Congrats...& nice buy!:cool:

Happy cleaning/waxing/looking/staring & more looking....:o

3ps

very nice. Damn I think I will buy one of these again!

2cv

Jealous, very jealous indeed!!!

74merc

I managed to get some time to work on the car and am very pleased with the general condition of it. Here's what I've done so far:
Washed, T-cut and polished the paintwork.
The paint was pretty clean but a bit oxidised so a lot of dead paint came off on the cloth. The colour is actually Dark Red (DB542) not Havana Brown like I first thought. It's a lovely colour and a lot of people have complemented it. Unfortunately it didn't come out too well in the photos.
Took off the spotlights and covered the holes in the bumper with shiny coachbolts.
Replaced the black steering wheel with an ivory one from my coupe.
Replaced the 80s Becker tape player/radio with a correct Motorola one from the coupe too.
Cleaned all the vinyl inside.
I really need to take the seats out to give the interior a proper clean. The carpet isn't great though, it's aftermarket, doesn't fit too well and is a bit threadbare in places. I'd like to replace it with the proper factory stuff but it's hard to justify the cost right now.
One of the wheel trims needs to be painted.
I've got another one which has been masked and primed. It's hard to get the paint as it has been obsolete for so long but I managed to get Halfords to make some up for me. One of the component paints in it is not available for retail outlets so they are mixing it up at HQ then sending the can out.
The car is a bit floaty at the front end so I think the shocks need to be replaced. I can get some Monroe ones for £57 each which I'll probably go for unless someone knows any better alternatives.
There is a bit of rust around the car which will need attention within the next few years. I might try some POR-15 on the boot floor once I get the bootseal seated properly.
The car drives very well. I took it up to the in-laws last weekend which is a 150 mile round trip. The car averaged high 20s MPG and kept up with the traffic no problem.
One other thing, it's an automatic and when reverse or drive is selected it 'jolts' before taking off. The idle speed is normal so I'm guessing the one of the propshaft couplings is shot. Anybody come across this before.
Cheers.

74merc

Uploading photos again, didn't work the last time.

tc20

wow - the car looks great, very clean interior too, the ivory steering wheel is a nice touch.
When i replaced the shocks in my W114, i went for (standard) Bilsteins all round (there is a heavy duty version available too, but didnt see the need for them. Iirc they set me back a similar amount - around €70 a corner.
Some handy links for parts etc-

http://lichtenberg-classics.ie

http://dbdepot.de

74merc

Thanks tc20, Bilsteins would be my first preference so if I can get them for that price, I'll go for it.

tc20

I've just had a look on DB Depots pricelist, and Bilsteins for the front would set you back €105 each, the rears €100 each :eek: now i know its 2 or 3 years since i got them, but im sure i only paid around €70-80 per shock
I have to say they did transform the ride, the car just floated over any imperfections in the road surface.
They (DB Depot) do have a set of 4 Kuyaba shocks for €209 - i haven't heard of them, but others may have..
As is the norm, shopping around is the answer, but it maybe worth getting in touch with Ben at Lichtenberg Classics

74merc

I'd be paying for them with sterling which makes them very pricey for me. I might see if I can get a pair in the UK where they might be a bit more reasonable. Main dealer prices were something like £170 each!

MercMad

Lovely car, lovely colour and with the white stripe tyres and correct hubcaps it really looks well. I have them too on my Coupe.

The jolt when selecting gear IS usually caused by incorrectly set idle speed or linkages. Are you sure your idle IS correct and does it fluctuate/drop when gear is selected?

I would check the doughnut and also the transmission mounting.