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1986 560SL and it's mine!

2K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  nobby 
#1 ·
Hello Everybody!
I am finally ready to post. I have been lurking here for the better part of a year. Last winter (2016) I started to lust after a 560SL. I had made the decision to finally sell my Citroen 2CV after 10 years of owning it. I thought it was time for something slightly more complicated...... I had also owned a 71 Pagoda 30 years ago and still kinda miss it, but as you all know, they are "slightly" more money now. So a 107 would have to be found. And a 560 at that. After selling the 2cv to a guy in Santa Fe, New Mexico I started looking for real, last fall. R107's are fairly common in Toronto and Montreal, but in Ottawa (in between the two) not so much. So I ended up going in both directions looking at about a dozen cars in both cities, all of which were supposed to be in "top-notch" condition, well, they were not. "Are there any cracks in the dash?", "No, the dash is perfect ", so when you get there after a few hours drive, there is a crack on the dash. "You told me there was no crack on the dash", "Oh that, that's been there for years, I don't even notice it anymore." Same goes of course for "no rust, great tires, perfect soft-top, great leather, everything works, etc, etc, as we all know if we ever bought a car second hand, or more likely third or fourth or fifth hand.
But he who waits will find! I finally found a 1986 560SL blue-black with palomino leather being sold by a man downsizing to a condo. 82,500 km (51000 miles) Near Perfect. He bought it in 2001 with, get this, 74,500 km, so 8000 km or 5000 miles in 15 years! I asked him what he had used the car for, and he said, "well, sometimes we went to Tim Horton's" (Canadian donut chain for all you non-Canadians) and then I bought the new T-bird convertible 7 or 8 years ago and my wife thought it was more comfortable" So, I asked what work he had done to the car in 15 years and he said, "nothing, nothing at all", a deal was struck and I drove the car home and parked it. (Mid November)
Then came the long dark winter months when much planning was done.
So when May came around I was ready.
The shelves were stocked! Water-pump, timing-chain, guides, sprockets, oiler-tubes, front lower ball-joints, new tires, a new rear muffler, shift-bushings, distributor-cap, rotor, done, done and done. The chain and guides were original, two of the guides, badly worn, and discoloured. This is where I had a little misshap, I dropped the center-plate of the chain-lock down the abyss, never to be seen again. So I'm picturing it on the bottom of the oilpan doing nothing, not moving ever. Luckily I had bought an extra chain-lock just in case. There are also new bilsteins, motor mounts and sub-frame mounts still on the shelf, but I think I'll leave them for next years tinkering. I replaced the ugly blingy cd-player with a Mercedes branded Becker player from an early 2000 European Mercedes on eBay, new speakers and a plexiglass wind-blocker from Germany. I had the dash out and replaced all the tiny light-bulbs and in the center consol as well. And, I almost forgot, new hood-pad, and I did the front licence-plate holder delete and replaced with a rear rubber strip. Puuh!
The soft-top is original and is a 7 out of 10, perfect front euro headlights and I also got the original rims with tires.
What's left to do, for now, is to find a parcel shelf as it came with a kinder seat without seat belts which is not OK with the safety inspection people in Canada, so as I don't have grand kids yet, (With a wind blocker they would have to be newborn) I simply took out the seat for the inspection, but I'd rather just have the tray. A guy in Montreal has one.
Also on the list is to have the A/C checked out and to see if I can get the central locks to actually, you know, lock.

For those of you whose advise I did not follow, THANK YOU for the reading material.

To all of you whose advise I did follow, a big, big THANK YOU!! Couldn't have done half of it without you.
CANSWEDE

Sorry about the sideways views, haven't figured out how to turn the pics.:frown
 

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#2 ·
Dialing it in.
Nice car, nice work.

Where did you purchase that plexiglass wind blocker? I might want one too.

You removed the Dash ... that is a job that I don't have the courage to do ... yet.

Your car looks like its in #1 condition. Very well done.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Congratulations and welcome to the board.
Nice car!
A coulple of comments:
- You can add seat belts to the kinder seat, using the tapped bolt holes that exist in the body for that purpose.
- You are in jeopardy of getting a $115 ticket for driving with no front license plate in Ontario. I discovered this the hard way.
 
#5 ·
Hrm, clarification. I actually live in Gatineau, on the Québec side of the Ottawa river, so no front plate needed.
The rims were the only thing the previous owner "did" to the car. They are SL600 knock-offs. I realize they are not everybody's tea-cup but I like them. 225/45-17.
Same size bolts but much shorter. No rubbing. I hadn't found a manufacturer name on them.
The wind blocker I found by googling windschott (German for wind blocker) but the site is all German. auto-centro.de , it cost €286 (euros) with the storage cover.
It's funny, most of the 107's are in north-America but no one seems to make stuff like this over here. In Germany there are at least a dozen manufacturers of them.
There is an onother plexiglass version from Holland but it does not fold down.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Welcome and congrats

I rather oddly have a 380sl that was originally imported to Canada (Toronto) and then brought to the US. Good luck for me as my Dad was from Toronto.

You should find a Canada Day parade for that car ����

What you need to do now is start to drive it and see how it breaks in for you. The car has a few years on it so you will likely have a thing or two needing attention as you get to know it better.

One inexpensive thing to do is replace the fuses and hit the leads with some scotch rite pads to clean off old oxidation. I got a collection of fuss off eBay and keep the rest in my kit in the trunk.

If you will be driving in the rain at all, check the seals and the drains.

New wiper blades are also a good idea if you have not replaced them

Have fun. Love driving mine.

When I got mine I asked here what extra part I should carry in the car. Most responded that the fuel pump relay. It's a 50 part accessible through the glovebox. If it fails and you have one it's basically a tool free repair. A lot of the old MB mechanics say that's the first thing they test when a 107 comes in on a flatbed and suddenly won't start. Hope I don't need one but it's in the kit in the trunk.

You can make a rear tray with some plywood and carpet. Used are insanely expensive. One can be made in an afternoon with a bandsaw. You can also put speakers in flush and cover with the carpet it you want. Just get a baffle behind them
 
#11 ·
FOrgot to add that I found you drive at night you will notice the headlights suck. Consider getting some halogen headlights. $100. Literally a night and day difference for me. I only swapped the low lights and it was a direct fit without relays. Massive improvement IMHO. a little searching here and you can get model numbers etc.

LED tail bulbs were also a great addition for me. Brighter and faster to light. Turn signals require a capacitor if you swap them as well
 
#12 ·
Congratulations on your new car and a job well done so far!

Be aware that 225 tires on the R107 does not exactly increase handling to the better, IMO. 205 is a better choice. I just changed and it was a big improvement. The bigger wheels also puts extra strain on the suspension components, but with low mileage that is not a big issue. New shocks will definitely have a positive impact when you do the change.
 
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