"Project wedding" Mercedes W123 280 coupe

[MrTibbs]

Hi,

Thought I'd start a thread about my latest purchase. Bit of an impulse purchase at the H&H auction a couple of months ago (I intended just going for a day out but I got the insurance money from my crashed Porsche 924S the day before). I'm getting married in Feb and have convinced my partner it'd be a good idea to use this as our wedding car. Which means I have a mid-Feb deadline for the restoration. Doesn't have to be perfect by then, but does have to get us from Sheffield to Wales for the wedding, do the wedding then up to Scotland for the honeymoon and back to Sheffield. So there's a bit of pressure on me!!!

It's a 1983 Mercedes 280CE in Lapis Blue with a white velour interior (mmm, '80s). I bought it because the bodywork's in remarkably good condition really (well as far as I've found anyway) which is quite rare for these. It doesn't have any history to speak of (a few stamps in the book but nothing else) but it's fairly clean and has 97K miles on the clock.

It runs OK, but seems a bit lacking in ability to either generate or put power down; has a bit of a whine from (I think) the autobox rather than the diff. I picked up a secondhand gearbox which is said to be working fine fairly cheaply and the plan is to swap that in to see if that solves it. I did a compression test and it's a little low with the 6th cylinder a bit lower than the rest but I'm hoping not quite far enough to be a major problem. These engines need to be revved hard every now and then so I'm hoping the 'italian tune-up' might solve this.

It also has fairly vague steering so I've ordered new tie rods, drag rod, steering idler bush kit for starters and will adjust the steering box and then do the upper control arms and rear subframe bushes in time. It needs new tyres really as they're old (car's been sat around for a while) which'll probably help too.

However, the first issue is sorting the brakes out as on a quick drive on Sunday I had to put the pedal to the floor to get it to stop . Basically one of the calipers is seized and boiled the fluid. Am trying to un-seize it but might have to get a replacement. Once that's sorted I should be able to rol it into my lock up and sort the rest of it out.

I'll upload some pics when I'm finally at home when it's not pitch dark. And hopefully regular upddates (coming to a conclusion well in advance of Feb!)

Mike

[JPB]

Wishing you every success with this, but what are you doing posting here with a deadline like that hanging over you? Quit writing and get fettling that car!

(Updates eagerly awaited).

[alabbasi]

You bought a good car, the W123 was the best selling Mercedes Benz ever made and the 280CE was the nicest one out of the lot. For brakes, they should be common to many models (i.e, the early W126, W116, R/C 107 and W114). You can usually buy rebuilt calipers which is much easier then rebuilding them yourself, but rebuilt kits are readily available.

The M110 engine on a Euro 280CE makes about 185hp which should make it quite a quick little car. The engine uses Bosch CIS fuel injection which is continuous mechanical fuel injection. Poor fuel pressure can lead to poor performance.

Some times the fuel system gets bunged up which causes poor performance. I would dump a quart of ATF in the fuel tank along with a full tank of fuel and take it for a run. This should clean out the fuel system. I've also had good luck with cleaning out the injectors using brake cleaner and a straw attachment.

Timing should be at around 15 degree advance @ 1500rpm.

Good luck with it.

[MrTibbs]

THanks for the support. I've been in London all day today at a tedious conference for work, so no chance to work on it today. Hoping to get some time next week in the evenings. Got a delivery of a load of parts today to try to tighten up the steering.

I'll have a more in-depth look at the caliper to see if it can be saved, but a recon/new one is looking tempting.

I'm a bit of a fan of the W123; I've got a 230E saloon at the moment as well (planning to sell it on once I've got the coupe running) and have had a 200 saloon in the past. Also had a 230CE which was pretty rotten.

Once I'm sure it'll stop OK and hopefully once it starts steering a bit more accurately I'll give it a good run with some fuel cleaner (does ATF really work for this? I've heard of sucking some into the intake through a vacuum hose to clear it all out but not heard of putting it in fuel before).

Anyway, I'm off to stare in awe at the size of the bolts on my new parts - these cars really are adult meccano.

Mike

[alabbasi]

(does ATF really work for this? I've heard of sucking some into the intake through a vacuum hose to clear it all out but not heard of putting it in fuel before)

Yep, it works very well. ATF is a very light weight oil that is high in detergent so adding a little with a full tank will help clean your fuel system,and lubricate the upper part of your engine. From what I understand, it's also high in octane and it's a heck of a lot cheaper then buying the stuff on the shelves.

For the steering, check the steering coupler which has an internal bushing that can break down and cause a lot of steering play.

I'm also a big MB fan, I've always like the W114/W115 models and currently own 2xW114 280CE's amongst a few other MB's. They usually keep me busy on the weekends.

[bnicho]

Awaiting pics too. I am a big fan of these cars. There was a W123 280CE in blue in a local dealer tempting me for many months a few years back. Somehow I did not succumb to the temptation.

[MrTibbs]

Here's a couple of pics I took this morning as I left for work. Apologies for the poor quality.

It looks like it's sitting a bit high, but it's the angle I took the photo from.

Anyway, there it is.

Mike

[pryantcc]

Very nice! Good luck with the project!

[MrTibbs]

Finally managed to get a bit more done today (I have today and tomorrow off).

I changed the tie rod assemblies (complete, rather than just inner and outer ends), the steering drag link and the steering damper. Didn't take very long; about a couple of hours. It'll need an alignment adjustment but once it's up and running one of its first trips will be for tyres so it'll get it then.

I was hoping the spare calipers I bought from a guy on ebay would be delivered today but looks like they might turn up either tomorrow (in which case I might get a chance to fit them) or later (in which case it'll have to wait til after Christmas). So I spent the afternoon doing things that need doing but aren't quite as major as the brakes; ie refitting all the chrome to the door card I'd taken off to investigate a small leak (which I now think is because the window doesn't always slip under the seal), and trying to clean 27 years' worth of filth out of cream carpets.

No particularly interesting photos, but in case you want to see some muck-encrusted steering parts, and then some new ones, here we are:

Mike

[MrTibbs]

Made some progress over a couple of spare hours yesterday and today:

I'd managed to un-seize the left rear caliper by de-rusting it and thought I'd put it back on the car (I'm going to fully de-rust and paint the 'new' calipers I got via ebay and fit them later I think).

It took an age to get it to bleed properly - I think because I'd removed the caliper so had to fill the whole line. I nervously put it into Drive with the handbrake on, put my foot on the brake, let the handbrake off, and.... the car didn't shoot off into my neighbours, success!

So now it should stop, which is nice.

I'm wondering whether this'll become 'project anniversary' though, as it's still got a bad whine from (I think) the diff. I'd bought a spare auto box thinking it was that, but I might have to source a new diff for it. There's one on ebay the guy reckons runs fine, but he wants £100 which seems a bit steep. Realistically, I think it might be better to use the saloon for the wedding and honeymoon, and get the coupe down to my lock up to begin a thorough rebuild.

I'm planning to get the transmission sorted, get all the electrics working and interior tidied up a bit, and possibly an engine rebuild and new exhaust.
Then there's the light rust on the floorpans and subframe, bushes etc etc.

Oh, and I noticed today when I started it for the first time for a couple of weeks, as well as the plumes of white smoke (it's been raining a lot since I last started it) the rad started steaming a bit. Not sure whether this is because it's holed, or if it's water that's collected on it steaming off.

So lots more challenges to go.

Mike