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First Classic Car: W114

6K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  toddlamp 
#1 ·
Hello everyone, this is my first classic car (71 250 2.8 auto) and I've been told everything is origional (around 45k miles) except for the headliner, exhaust system and of course all maintenance items. It is exceptionally clean inside and out and just needs a few things to be perfect, the rest is just maintenance to make me comfortable putting 5-8k miles a yr on it.

Having a hard time finding parts or information about the car, the owners manual says almost nothing.

-Non functional odometer or clock
-Loose Speedo Glass and chrom ring
-Drivers Arm Rest a little loose fitting against door
-Air conditioning Rattling/Knocking Noise at random every minute
-The chrome could use a polish
-Paint is 90% and has swirl marks and a few chips that need corrected
-OEM Style Modern Headunit for mp3

Then all fluid changes
-Engine Oil & Filter 10w40 mobil 1
-Transmission Fluid & Filter dont know?
-Diff Fluid dont know?
-Brake Fluid Flush will motul rbf600 work?
-Radiator Fluid Flush

Then she will be show quality and hopefully run very well.

Here are a few iphone pics..

*Also have the origional floor mats in mint condition but I like these a lot








 
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#2 ·
Congrats on a great find, YoungC! This is a great color and the cocoa mats are period correct - I would leave them in the car and the originals in a nice box in the garage.

Agree, owner's manuals are not that helpful but you should pick up a lot of info here - suggest finding a good "indy" or independent shop that works on older MB in your area, that contact will likely pay off big time. Glad you are planning on a freshening all fluids and other PM, it will also pay off in big dividends. Super nice, original car. Enjoy it!
 
#4 ·
:thumbsup: Congrats.

Nice find, enjoy it well and give it another 40-odd years of life. They are built to run forever.*

You can get a vintage Becker that has an Aux In jack on the face plate, or remotely mounted.

==========

*A video for you to share with your friends who might look puzzled at your new ride... ;)

 
#9 ·
Congrats on your first classic car, great pick IMO! I picked the same model, but couldn't save my barn find, one of the valves had rust(!) inside and the engine wouldn't turn over even after a month of trying all kinds of tricks.
Yeah I wouldn't worry too much about the fluids either, when the manual was written the ATF # III or IV was not invented yet, I'm using the SuperTech brand (Walmart) and my old girl likes it just fine. I'm using Shell Rotella 10-45, which is a ordinary oil, but yeah mine is diesel unlike yours. Same with antifreeze, I bought the generic liquid at advance auto parts (the one already diluted with water). Definitely do the fluids exchange ASAP, charge your A/C and there's a great chance that that would be all you need to do mechanically (based only on your pics, the car looks to be well taken care of). I would strongly recommend use of Lucas additives if there's a need. Good luck and I wish you thousands of happy miles. W114 are build like tanks, surely yours can take more than 5-8 thousand miles. Mind is a bucket of rust and in the last year and half she made about 15 thousand miles.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Thanks for the kind words gentlemen!
I took it to a shop that does vintage euro cars this morning and noticed a small puddle of red fluid under the car so unfortunately it is leaking ATF. Also noticed the windshield washer sprayers arent spraying even tho everything looks new.

I would really like some info on getting a modern functioning but OEM styled radio unit. The car is all wired up and has speakers and everything else ready to go as i'm told just has no head unit anymore. I know less than nothing about radio units but would like it to connect wirelessly thru the blue tooth on my iphone to stream music to but not talk hands free. Any info would be appreciated.

Also hoping when it hits 50yrs old it will appreciate a significant amount being in show condition
 
#11 ·
Hi, great car and colors. Love the coco mats. The chrome can be easily polished without damage using #0000 steel wool. This is a very fine grade and is softer than the chrome on the car so it is safe to use. I would avoid it on the grille, I have seen it scratch some grilles. Metal polish is best here and on everything else once you've knocked down the grime a bit.
The clock may just need cleaned, a clock shop can do this for you or (if it is a mechanical clock like mine) you can soak to free it up and re-oil with clock oil. Check this before rebuilding it due to a fuse, etc. as this isn't as common a cause of failure as many people think it is.
Wiper could simple be wax in the nozzle heads, take a small thin wire and ream the holes to be sure they are clear.
 
#12 ·
You are welcome, I'm glad to share info that could help you.
Regarding the ATF leak, it might be a simple fix, fingers crossed that is not the gasket between the engine and transmission… my transmission was leaking a tiny bit and it progressed almost to the state of Mississippi River. I had a tiny, hair-thick crack on my transmission pan right through the flush bolt. I was lucky to find one at a junkyard (beware that many junkyards drill a hole through the pans, even if the pans are equipped with a flush bolt!!!) and my mechanic was able to weld it for me, so no more leaks. I also called a shop here that has probably the biggest MB scrapyard in Colorado and they could sell me a good pan for something around $30. Of course the first thing would be to exchange transmission filter and check if the seal there is good (if you haven't already done that yet)

The windshield washer sprayers have in many cases a build up, which can be cleaned super easy with a regular sawing needle (that worked on my MB, VW Beetle, my wife's new Honda…)

IMO your car is definitely a keeper, so if you will be patient and fix all the little stuff, you should be able to enjoy your car for many years to come (+regular maintenance of course). Good luck :)
 
#13 ·
Oh just in case:

If the mpg isn't good (upper twenties). A friend of mine's W114 250C was getting hardly 15mpg, he exchanged the Zenith carburetors for Weber's (the same ones that VW Bug uses, which are very affordable as well) and he's getting 25 miles per gallon now.
 
#14 ·
And about the radio. If you ever think about selling it, the new style of radio would certainly drop the value of the car. But if you really have to have a new one, your model is most likely wired for a mono Becker Europa, so you might want to stop at some tuning enthusiastic place and let them put some more wires into your car, with some sub and stuff. But if you haven't heard the original radio play, give it a chance, there's something very nice about the old radios IMO and it gives the car the look it should have (with my 30 years of age, I consider myself young ;-)) Electronics Electronic device Technology Boombox Vehicle audio


P.s. I just sold mine
 
#15 ·
Congratulations, YoungConnoissseur,
it looks to be in VERY good condition.
Regarding a radio, becker radio usa have a very good website, and could sell you either a suitable vintage radio or radio cassette (with iPod input), or a striped face look alike with modern internals and all the latest connectivity. All it costs is money :)

1492_1994_05

If I were you I would pull up the floor mats and boot (trunk?) mat and have a careful look for the dreaded rust. Also take off the vent grille in front of the windscreen wipers and have a look there too, in case leaves etc have blocked off the drain holes and corrosion has started.
Any transmission leak should be investigated as a matter of priority!!!
And if you want to check the engine type, you can look on the side of the engine block (driver's side) just under the cylinder head near the fire wall, and inspect the engine number. You may have to wipe or scrape a bit of gunk off to see it clearly.
A bit of looking up will tell you what the engine size is ie a 250 like the car's badge says, or a 280.

Enjoy you lovely car!
regards
David
 
#16 ·
Thanks for the replies everyone.

The shop I took it to completed the service I asked for today and i'm going to pick it up probally friday sometime and then take it to have its paint/chrome restored over the weekend.
They found the leak in the transmission and it was the small/easy one to replace or so they said.... as for the ac noise they couldn't really diagnose it so I'm assuming worst case is I use it untill something there brakes or its making so much noise I can't take it any longer. Windshield sprayer nozels were just clogged.
I need to figure out what to do about the gauge cluster issues with the speedo glass being loose and the clock and odometer not working.
Id rather just buy a very clean drop in unit and do a swap than send this one out and deal with all that.

Just need to get the radio done and looking at their site they don't list prices? I see in the one model with the aux cable it comes out the front which would look terrible. I guess i'll give them a call tomorrow.

and I did check under the spare tire area and under all the mats and under the body. I can easily believe this was around a 40k mi florida car that was super well cared for.
 
#19 ·
Try Bud's Benz in Georgia.

For the Becker, call Tom at Becker and tell him you'd like a Europa 2 (it is stereo) with a remote Aux-In jack that you can mount anywhere as it is on a 6-7' wire. It automatically overrides the radio audio via a shorting jack.

You can then take the Becker's speaker-level outputs (which are very weak/low powered) and run them to a JL Audio CL441 DSP and from there to amps, subs, etc. (that DSP accepts virtually any level audio in, as well as gives you additional aux-ins for CD, Satellite, etc.)

Just tossing some ideas out there for you, I am not an audio type by far. My 108 has the Europa 2 with two 3" speakers crammed in the dash--but they fit--which is fine for NPR and whatever I push in via that aux jack. ;)
 
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