[Fonzi]

A BMW guy and BW forum member offered me this self described mess of a 450sl that another guy brought me from NC today. Altogether, I’ve got parts car investment in this, but with a euro 4.5, I will certainly want to make this run before doing anything. The hood is garbage, and the car was apparently brown before. I guess brown was just so cool in the 70’s.

Only missing carpets and windshield wipers, the car seems otherwise complete, but also a complete mess. The rear driver floor is basically gone I think. The fronts have holes, but not that bad. The car just has a lot of rust. It also doesn’t run (yet).

I’m going to have to grab a good from another car and scrap this one. Maybe my first car to get a matte black hood.

Anyway, it’s got a cast iron fuel distributor. So I don’t know how it will be as far as bringing it back from the dead. I seem to have used up all the spare k-jet pumps and have ordered 4 that haven’t shown up yet. Time for Amazon prime I guess.

The thread is started. That’s all I can say.

Knowing the seller, I didn’t have to ask questions. I knew he wouldn’t want to answer a million. Above is all I got, and bought based on those alone.

And there is is on the way to my house. Seeing the odometer was pleasing.

I disconnected the fuel supply to the distributor and see that it cranks. Enough for today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[oncebitter]

Always a pleasure to watch you resurrect these finds and possibly give them a second chance.

 

[miko1aj]

That specimen ought to keep you busy for a while Fonzi

 

[Fonzi]

I have two 1972/1973 450sl cars that have similar color interiors that could possibly provide seats, but I guess after the mold stank gets out of this one, maybe I will just put some of the nasty sheep skins I’ve got from something like the “varnished” 380slc on top of this driver seat for now. I’ve got to get my hands on a fuel pump rig to see if I can get this thing running, after I verify it has spark of course.

1) verify it has spark
2) setup fuel pump rig in engine bay and hope the distributor lets fuel through it.

I don’t think it’s worth considering steps beyond those right now, but others I may do:

3) remove the pump rig from this car to maybe help with step 2 above as I’m out of pumps right now.
4) figure out how to get the locking gas cap off the tank. Can’t remove it from the car with it in place I don’t think. Pliers, vice grip, drill out lock?
5) just curious to see the condition of the soft top. ... There was a bunch of folded fabric in the trunk, and one part shredded by a rodent and one wad of rodent nest, bunches of rodent crap in there all over. The trunk mat had fortunately been folded up and put in the main cabin and saved it from being soaked in rodent urine. Really hoping the soft top isn’t a nasty mouse nest as the so commonly are. It’s a little cold right now to do my typical hosing out of the entire interior.

Oh, why do I do this over and over again? We put a 1000 piece puzzle on the dining room table maybe a week ago. I think I got it 95% finished in 24 hours and worked on the last 5% with the kids. OCD of some sort I guess. Maybe someone here can help me diagnose and medicate it. Or at least figure out what type of doctor I need to see.

 

[Nate Y]

Nice set of bumpers and wheels. Is that a 116 part number on the speedo?

 

[Fonzi]

Nice set of bumpers and wheels. Is that a 116 part number on the speedo?

I believe 107 and 116 use the same cluster and speedo.

Front left wheel is bent. :-(

Here’s how it sits after a wash which I realized was needed after seeing the biggest cockroach I’ve ever seen in the trunk. I honestly thought it was a mouse. It was in the battery tray (not used for battery on this euro) where there was wet carpet. Maybe it was living off nuts and mouse feces. It crawled forward to the gas tank area. I think I’ve got to get the top off and see what the soft top looks like. I can’t have a cockroach infestation this close to my house.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JN74SL]

Hey Fonz, I have been trying to reach you, call me when you get a chance...Joe N

 

[Fonzi]

Hey Fonz, I have been trying to reach you, call me when you get a chance...Joe N

I sent you a text.

So I decided with the cockroach that I better not waste time getting to the soft top, and sure enough there was a mouse nest in there. It makes me think that I need to store all my r107’s more like this:

That’s how I will be storing this one at least until I can dry out this soft top after spraying and blowing it inside and out.

Here’s how it started:

After getting glove to throw directly in the garbage and tossing the nest, I hit it with the leaf blower to try and get mouse turds as far away as possible. But first I tarped off the interior.

Too many pics so phone getting slow. Need to finish in next post.

 

[Fonzi]

Lots of rotting pine needles in the hard top. This is the kind of stuff that will rot and hold water and then rot the top. It’s too bad this top has dents in the top because I did save this one just in time, with no real rot.

The car looks decent from afar, but this is a bad paint job on a rusty car. And the soft top is hideous on the inside and has a rodent-chewed-hole too. It would be better to store cars with the top up, but nobody wants to go to the trouble. The first car I parted out was stored with the soft top up like this, and it was a good top as a result. Maybe we should all just throw out our hard tops. Well, if you did top is already trashed, then they serve a good purpose. Anyway, here’s the rest of the pics:

That flake came off while washing the car.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fonzi]

That specimen ought to keep you busy for a while Fonzi

So it’s got spark. If only the fuel distributor works, then I could be in business. The weird thing is though that this car like the 380slc has a hard sensor plate. I have not yet dissembled the 380slc aluminum fuel distributor to rebuild it, but maybe I should do that if I can’t get fuel flowing through this one.

Good thing is that the fuel line to the distributor has liquid fuel in it, not separated varnish goo. But nothing looks pretty under that hood.

“Stuck plunger”. That’s what I need to research for k-jets.

 

[Fonzi]

With a new fuel pump on a rig, I got the fuel distributor flowing fuel at ~80 psi. The sensor plate pushed down smoothly with no injector scream. So I think I’ve now just got a gummed up plunger. I think I will disassemble the aluminum one from the “varnished” 380slc euro to try and learn how these plungers work.

 

[Fonzi]

Got lucky and the piston freed itself up with fuel and I get nice up and down action on the sensor plate now, but don’t get any injector screaming. I assume the injectors are full of garbage, and I’m going to need to find some working injectors to get this running. However, something must be leaking a bit of fuel through because I can get the car to fire briefly after a little bit of time. Maybe they all leak. Maybe just a few leak. In any case, perhaps with some injector cleaner in my 1/2 gallon of fuel mix I could get those injectors to flow without having to pull them all out. Maybe I could just find some around Jason’s shop that would work for me too.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fonzi]

No injector cleaner yet, but at least one (and probably only one) injector is squealing now. Not enough for the car to run yet, but this is progress!

 

[alabbasi]

Good to see that you bought a real truck instead of that front wheel drive contraption

 

[Fonzi]

Good to see that you bought a real truck instead of that front wheel drive contraption

View attachment 2660245

That’s not my truck. That’s the truck of the guy that picked up and delivered the truck to me. My Honda Ridgeline is still going strong with virtually no maintenance after 15 years now.

I got the 450sl running late this afternoon, and forgot to put a bottle on the lines from the tank at the rear of the car. The supply line started dripping onto the exhaust manifold while it was running. So I have this video of me acting scared and foolishly continuing to record. Thank goodness there was no fire. Shwew!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fonzi]

I got the 1985 280se 4-speed fuel lines replaced last night and drove that out of the garage thankfully. An even better, I drove the 450sl euro into the garage under its own power and braking system. The brake reservoir was nearly empty. The brakes seem to hold the car still when pressed all the way down.

Now that the car is in the garage, I’m thinking of these tasks.

• drain whatever might be in the tank
• pull fuel pump cluster down
• remove the screen to inspect it
• if needed or to check the screen, pull the tank for cleaning or replacement.
• reinstall all the above and see if I can get it running on its own tank.
• replace the rotted hood
• work on the brakes
• grind and rust treat where it makes sense

That should keep me busy a while, but hopefully not too long since r/c107 aren’t a big part of my focus (of what I need to get out of). R/c107 will always be an interest of mine, but I could see getting out of the w126 cars. So I kind of want to focus on them and crap or get off the pot with respect to them.

 

[1783pictures]

You are a glutton for punishment.

 

[Fonzi]

You are a glutton for punishment.

I enjoy it.

Paying mechanics to do this stuff is what I would call punishment, in which case, I’d call YOU a glutton for punishment.

 

[1783pictures]

I enjoy it.

Paying mechanics to do this stuff is what I would call punishment, in which case, I’d call YOU a glutton for punishment.

I guess one could say I am an economic masochist.

 

[CousinMB]

I guess one could say I am an economic masochist.

Or a money launderer (that's what I call the lovely missus 😂)