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Showcase cover image for RLT61's 1986 Mercedes-Benz 560sl

General Information

Year
1986
Make
Mercedes-Benz
Model
560sl
Color
Smoke silver / burgundy
History
The SL was in the same family since purchased new. The original owner passed away and left the vehicle to his son who ended up selling it to me. It came with most of the paperwork/manuals but I am missing the original window sticker. I do have the original sales receipt.
I bought the car with 40,350 miles on the odometer in January 2016. The SL was originally bought from a dealership in Decatur, Ga and spend its entire life in the greater Atlanta area. Overall the car was in good condition. Some of the required repairs were related to improper storage and age of the vehicle. The car does have some paint issues.
1986 Mercedes-Benz 560sl (Smoke silver / burgundy)

Modifications

Drivetrain
New oil pressure sender, belts, fuel pumps, fuel filter, fuel injectors and shifter bushings.
The engine had a miss that would get worse the longer I drove it. I finally tracked it down to the spark plug wires but not before ending up replacing the distributor cap, rotor, ignition coil and spark plugs trying to solve the problem.
Bought R12 freon and had my local mechanic charge the AC.
New fuel pump relay. Fixed the old one (cold solder joint) and keep it as a spare in the glove compartment.
New timing chain guides and new camshaft oilers. The picture shows the old guides. The second picture shoes how brittle the plastic has become. A little wack with a hammer and the guide shattered into numerous pieces. The car only had 47k miles when I did this. Replaced motor mounts, engine torque dampers, brake rotors/lines/pads and repacked wheel bearings.
Interior
Interior is perfect after I had the little wear spot on the driver seat outside side bolster fixed.
Replaced the shift lever with a burled walnut one.
Replaced all the interior courtesy lights and light bulbs.
Got the seats moving forward and backwards again. Just needed to clean the old grease out of the seat rails.
Made my own windblocker.
Replaced the old MB floor mats with cocomats.
Seatbelt guides.
Installed the smaller steering wheel from an early R129.
Exterior
3rd brake light. Used one from an early 90's Jaguar XJS convertible.
Removed the pin stripes and bought original windshield wiper blades.
Euro bumpers.
Euro Headlights.
Made a couple filler brackets to hide the mounting hardware of the fog lights.
Audio
Replaced the front speakers with Rockford Fosgate speakers. Perfect fit on the passenger side but had to enlarge the hole on the driver side a little.
Had the original Becker radio refurbished and a 3.5 mm AUX input added. Mounted the input jack in the ashtray.
Fixed the power antenna by replacing the broken mast. New mast from MB - $35.
Suspension
New drag link, tie rods, steering damper and lower ball joints. “Refreshed” the upper ball joints (new rubber boots).
Installed an idler arm rebuild kit.
New front sub-frame bushings.
Tightened up the steering box (3/4 turn).
Replaced the shocks with new Bilstein HD units on all 4 corners.
Wheel and Tire
Bought a set of early R129 wheels. Look pretty much like the original wheels the car came with but are 16”. Tires are 215/55-16 Michelin Pilot Sport A/S.

Gallery

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