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Jan 24, 2016 10:57:20 GMT
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Thank you, gentlemen!  I'm also scared of my lathe - I guess it helps avoiding danger. I approach it like playing an instrument, with mental preparation. It's nothing I like to do "out of the moment" like having a cup of coffee. I once flung a piece of 30mm POM round bar through the room which almost hit me in the face - lesson well learned!! They are heartless machines which try to kill you when you make the slightest misstake. Like a tamed grizzly bear. You can order it, but it's still a wild beast that will kill you in a moment of distraction... Cheers, Jan |
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Jan 24, 2016 11:33:35 GMT
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Oh, and whilst talking about usefull tools; I was able to acquire this:  It was rather expensive, but it's at least a remotely usefull tool that might save me money after only a few uses! This is a MB castor gauge! It just hooks into the front uprights and gives you a more-or-less acurate measurement of the castor angle! Very handy tool to own if you need to replace/remove the a-arms. And now I finally know why the factory-fitted bolts for the ball joints have a machined dimple in them!  Not sure when I'm going to use this. But I had to buy it, it's the first time ever I saw one of them for sale - well, actually I didn't even know about these before I saw the for sale advert  Cheers, Jan |
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Jan 24, 2016 11:59:02 GMT
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Soon you'll be able to start up your own obscure Mercedes specialty tool rental business.
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Jan 24, 2016 14:37:01 GMT
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Yeah, I could probably. But... I don't like to send away my tools for violent destruction ----------------------------- Thought I should do at least one usefull thing today, so I tried out my cheap set of adjustable hand reamers. Made in Ukraine and allready rusted. But they work. I ran the reamer through the sticky valve guides, cleared out a lot of carbon buildup. Polished the valve stems a bit and cleaned them.  And what to say? No more sticky valve! Fingers crossed they stay like this, should the engine ever run again... I hope I don't need it anytime soon. Cheers, Jan |
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Jan 25, 2016 19:52:43 GMT
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Status update: aux heater has been runing for nearly 2.5h now without smoke or irregularities. That's a new record. lol. Milage: 944.100km. Consumption: Idon'tCare. That's all. Cheers, Jan |
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So, having put 50.000 on the counter, it was time to do something about the increasingly bad brakes. I knew that one dust seal was bad, but lately it got worse and the piston started to stick (maybe due to the salty water?). Time to do something about it. I actually had planed to rebuild the calipers - but... They'r 74€ a piece. That's just so blöödy cheap, it's not worth the while to rebuild the old ones. And should I find out that the pistons are damaged (which I assume they are), it would mean having to buy new ones - and have a non functional car untill they arrive. and then you'r alos pretty close to those 74€...  ^That's just shy over 200€ - just how blöödy cheap are those cars to rebuild!? Amazing! But as you may or may not know, the hard part is opening up the hard lines. And I don't know how many times they've been cracked open on this car, but they were TIGHT. Fortunately, I have this little special vise-grip thingy:  No rounded nuts, all good. I didn't rplace the discs, they'r only 20-30.000km old. And still have PLENTY of live left.  Other side looking the same. Now I coul have also replaced the carriers, but they'r expensive (90€/piece) and not realy bad. I only replaced the guides & guide boots, should do. Then bled the brakes with one of those cheap eBay bleeders - they work realy well for what they are! Not very handy, but for the occasional use they'r perfectly fine.  Then went for a quick test drive - wow! Quite a difference!! Brakes are now very smooth and much more powerfull, I guess the old ones were realy past they'r best. Doesn't feel "under-braked" any more. Well worth the money. Next on the list as fixing an incredibly annoying rattling from the door card. Someone's had fixed if before and used thick screws which were touching the door panel and rattled. It's a common issue on W124s, though usually it's the driver's side that breaks, not the passenger side #onlytaxithings  I put on flatter & more screws and glued some foam padding on the back and put it back on.  So far the rattling is gone - let's see how long it lasts. I have a spare door card in good condition, but this is till the original from '89 (as you can see by the stamping on the back) and the handle is so nicely patinated from thousands of people using it. So idrealy, I want to keep it. That's all for now. Maybe I give it a wash tomorrow, it's REALY dirty.  Cheers, Jan |
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Gave it a good wash, then a hand polsih and a finish with carnauba wax, also by hand.   It's a very rewarding colour as far as cleaning goes - but it's actually very hard to keep it clean. and as soon as you hit a rubber part with the polishing cloth, you've got a dark shaddow on the paint. Anyway, the next couple of washes should be easy as long as the wax is on. Maybe I'll give it another coat of wax in a couple of days. Cheers, Jan |
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Feb 13, 2016 20:10:03 GMT
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Took the car to an rather unplaned 500+km trip to colletc some tyres - short story short: eBay messed up the coordinates, so my trip got 3x longer than I had planed. But - it took me to the Mosel area, which is quite a nice place. Just not this time of the year Though is't probably as the world imagines Joymoney; full of grapes, vine yrads, old castles and forrests and smal fields. Maybe I go back there in summer or autumn.   Must be lovely if it's all green Cheers, Jan |
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Feb 21, 2016 13:58:38 GMT
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After 36 years, it still sticks.  Mercedes sponsored the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow - and they made those stickers for that event. It's not strictly contemporary for a 124, but who cares. I just had to have a Mercedes sticker in russian language |
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Feb 24, 2016 11:05:20 GMT
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After 36 years, it still sticks. Mercedes sponsored the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow - and they made those stickers for that event. It's not strictly contemporary for a 124, but who cares. I just had to have a Mercedes sticker in russian language Thats pretty cool. |
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Feb 24, 2016 16:23:31 GMT
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I just read this from start to finish. Great work and a great read!
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Mar 10, 2016 18:04:57 GMT
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Oooooh this is exciting!! I was looking for one of these ever since I got the car... Pictured on the left is the new period correct floor mat, to the right the later series 2 / post-facelift floor mat.  Of course my car needs the correct rubber floor mat! So I was over the moon when I - by pure chance - stumbled over an advertisment for one. New old stock, never been used before. I payed the guy 70€ - a stupid amount of money for a floor mat. But - you know me. The difference is quite obvious - and the series 1 mats are also fixed to the sill with push-buttons. The rear ones are still present - my car was only missing the front ones. And now I'm only needing a passenger floor mat - but these are way easyer to find. It's usually the driver's mat that's in poor condition. Spent a lot of money on something unimportant - but I'm totaly happy about it Apart from that - the 950.000km mark is approaching fast. The auxilliary heater had been working flawless ever since the last repair and keeps on doing so for 1-1.5h every day. The engine's had 3-4 cold starts since I got it working. And with current climate conditions - I do enjoy it a LOT  ^this was tueday, today we had +10°C and sun. I think - I might possibly maybe even think about thinking about fixing the air conditioning... Cheers, Jan |
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Mar 10, 2016 23:04:45 GMT
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Holy curse word! $100 on a single car mat. Well, I'll say one thing. You're dedicated.  God I miss the snow already.  |
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Mar 11, 2016 16:40:30 GMT
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What a good post.And a good read . Thank you ..
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Mar 23, 2016 21:48:21 GMT
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 Noticed this on tuesday morning... Have now put 55.000km on it since I got it. |
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Mar 27, 2016 10:49:56 GMT
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Time for an oil change. It's difficult though without a lift to remove the plug without having hot oil spill either on the floor or on your arm. Hmm. That steel sump guard is not service friendly. But I sort of knew this...  And I realised that I've allready reached the service interval of the air filter... I just replaced that last year!  And then BBQ & beer was called in, enough work for that day...  Cheers, Jan |
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In case you wonmdered how many tyres you can fit in the back of a W124 estate; the awnser is eight  Brought them in this morning and mounted them this evening after work... I  my Steinbock  Roll on, summer! Cheers, Jan |
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So I joined the crowd of GoPro whores...
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Apr 15, 2016 13:18:00 GMT
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Hi! On wednesday, we took the Taxi for a drive through the deepest Black Forrest. After I was finished with work. Our destination was something that needs rescuing and reviving to it's old glory. Which has spent far too much time being neglected and left alone. If you are interested in what that might be - watch this place! There will be a video out soon, hopefully followed by many more. I can't tell you what it is yet, but you'll soon see. It's not my personal project, but I'm sort of participating.  Cheers, Jan |
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