UGU takes on more gravity

I have been meaning to write this blog post for almost a year, and finally got the motivation to do it when a fellow W114 enthusiast asked what I have done to UGU with regards to her ride height.

As those of you who have been following my posts will know, I am keen to keep UGU looking as original as possible, but there was one thing that had really bothered me which made me stray from that ethos. That issue was how much higher her nose sat relative to the rear.  This first came to my attention when UGU was lined up at a Mercedes Club display day.  Sitting between a W113 Pagoda and a W108, her nose was notably higher than her neighbours.

UGU with her nose in the air (5th car in line from the foreground)

I asked a few other owners if their coupes had the same issue; the general consensus was that they all sat lower at the back, perhaps to give that sportier look, but UGU's nose did seem to be excessively high with almost 90mm clearance between the top of the tyre to the wheel arch, while the back was almost flush.

Front wheel clearance, looking very high!

Front tyre clearance almost 90mm....

...whilst the back was almost flush.

After displaying UGU at another classic car meet where the following photo was taken, I  decided enough was enough - it was time to do something!

Professional photograph of UGU at Custom Cars & Coffee meeting

After checking that the rear shock absorbers were not worn causing the rear end to sag, I set about sourcing a spare set of front springs which could be reset to bring the front of the car down.  I find it amusing that I have kept the original even though I am positive I will never fit them again!

Sourced from a fellow enthusiast, spare set of front springs

Now, I know this is going to cause some purists to get their knickers in a knot, but this is what I did; it is not a recommendation for others.

Rather than taking a hack saw and cutting a few lengths of the springs I took them to a suspension specialist who heated the springs and reset them, reducing the overall length by 45mm.  Mercedes-Benz springs are cold wound, which is why heating them will cause some people to get upset; but this is what I did after much discussion with other car folk.

The picture below still confuses me, and I have no explanation for it. The freshly painted spring on top is the replacement spring.  You can see the coils on the left side are closer together than the ones on the right; these are the ones that were reset.  The confusing bit is that even after the replacement spring was reset, it is still longer than the original! Like I said, I can't explain it, maybe someone reading this will be able to shed some light on the matter.  

Replacement and original spring.  

Confusingly the reset replacement is longer than the original

With the help of a friend who has built one of the most unique classic Benz show cars I have ever seen, we spent the afternoon fitting the new springs to UGU.

I have heard some horror stories about trying to replace the front springs on a W114 due to restrictions on spring clamp locations. As it turns out we didn't even use spring clamps, just three trolley jacks, two axle stands and a few spanners.

UGU gets new springs with the help of a friend

With UGU up on stands and the front wheels removed, we tackled one side at a time. The  lower control arm was raised to remove the tension of the shock absorber so the bottom two retaining nuts could be removed.  The jack was then lowered and repositioned with another alongside, each one on the hinge points of the the control arm.  We then removed the two cam bolts (a fantastic fixing meaning that we didn't need to worry about alignment as they can only be fitted one way), the two jacks were carefully lowered at the same time allowing the spring to extend to its full length.  The spring will take on a scary bend when doing this so please be careful.  As I said this is what I did, it is not a recommendation to others, and I take no responsibility for harm caused to others by doing it.

With all compression removed from the spring it was removed and the new one seated in the lower control arm before the two jacks were used once again to lift the arm back into position.  I will admit that this was a very fiddly job as the shock absorber needs to be located at the same time the cam bolts are being fitted, all of which happens while the spring is under compression.  Careful adjustments with the trolley jacks finally allowed the bolts to slide home.

One side done, repeat for the other, job done! All that was needed next was to get the wheel alignment checked at the local tyre shop.

After taking UGU for a drive, the front began to settle down and by the time I got home the 45mm resetting of the replacement springs, directly translated to the height reduction in UGU's nose.  For the first time she sat level, and I love the look!

I have now been driving UGU for about a year since she was lowered and I have not had a single issue, no rubbing, bottoming out, and if anything I find she tackles speed bumps much better.  

So there you have an inexpensive exercise thanks to the help of a few friends with some knowhow, making one very happy me.

One month in one post.

Gosh, where has the time gone! It has been over a month since I found time to write my last post, but hopefully you will have been entertained by the active flow of photos on my Instagram and Facebook Page, many of which will reappear in this post.

So, what have I been up to? Well, sadly UGU has not been getting much use due to her lack of rear seat belts, prohibiting my little girl from her first blissful experience cruising in a classic Benz. I have, however, made sure to get her out of the garage (UGU that is, not my daughter) and blow the cobwebs off and keep the battery topped up.

UGU waiting patiently in the garage but in need of a wash

Dusk drive to Perth City - aaah bliss

In the world of Leif, things have been much more active.  I have joined a few WA based Land Rover  Facebook groups and met some amazing, amazing people, with whom I have been buying, selling and trading parts. I must say it is very addictive.

If you are a Landy Lover in Western Australia check out these groups:

West Oz Series Go to page

AULRO Go to page

One of Leif's new friends came to visit, and brought parts of course :)

Nearly all of the parts that have been acquired are now waiting in a garage as patiently as UGU, ready to be installed and see the light of day, some day. Who knows when!

The addition to the parts stock pile this month include:

- 2x replacement chassis dumb irons, (new but dusty)

- A Series 2 Gearbox which is currently being refurbished.

This came up for sale and after my expensive rebuild of UGU's, this seemed like a steal. Leif currently has a non-original Series 3 Gearbox so it would be nice to go back to original, or so I told myself haha.  I will need to brush up on my driving skills as the S2 is a crash box with no synchromesh, could be a lot of grinding of gears 'til I get that right.

- I bought, and then sold a refurbished bulkhead as seen in this photo, as well as the seatbox which I still have but may actually on sell, opting to repair my original one

- and finally, but most significantly was Leif's change of footwear.  Hanging up his party boots and slipping on more comfortable original wheels, his transformation is a move in the right direction and I am really excited.

Party Boots have danced their last dance

Comfy shoes more suited to Leif's age

The return of the original, larger 16" wheels has slightly increased the ground clearance, but has also made it more noticeable that the front bumper is missing; fear not, I have negotiated a galvanised bumper that is yet to be delivered, but will be fitted once the new dumb irons have been installed.

To allow all this buying of parts, in the background I have been selling many of the items I bought several months ago on my multiple trips to Landy Restorers heaven, investing every dollar straight back into this project.

Multiple trips to parts Utopia

I have even spent hours trolling the UK parts suppliers building my "wish lists" ready for that special day when I can "add to cart' followed by "proceed to checkout".

In the mean time, my excitement is further supported by words of reassurance from the previous owner and original Leif.  I wanted to give him an update on what I was doing and what is planned, so I sent him some photos.  He responded telling me that he was "...very happy to see it getting some love."

Vacuum Seat Lock: Video

Further to my previous TyroBenz blog post relating to the repair of the vacuum driven seat locks on UGU's front seats; to which I received a lot of interest, I decided to take the opportunity to make a short video explaining the system as I began to uncover it as the interior dis-assembly of Jade continues.

I really hope that this is of help to someone else:

Apologies the video is not full screen, I will get it right for the next one!

Jade's weight loss begins

This morning in response to a parts request, I went out to check a few of Jade's interior parts which I had been storing safely in the boot as I have nowhere else to keep them.  You can imagine my annoyance when I was unable to unlock the boot!

After 5 minutes of fiddling with the lock and key my patience was wearing thin so I decided the best thing to do was walk away and come back to it later.

Later in the afternoon with a clearer head I went back to have another go, a further 20 minutes of fiddling n' twiddling with the key and a few swear words the key finally turned in the lock and I was able to open the boot; hurray! I was very relieved as there is no other way into the boot in these cars.

With the boot opened and an rare hour to spare, I decided to have a go at removing the back bumper which has been requested by a fellow MBCCWA member.

After a quick examination I located the four bolts that hold the bumper in place, two on the back and one on either side.  It is worth me mentioning that this is the long sided bumper which I understand was only fitted to W114's, that is 250 and 280 variants.  The smaller engined W115's had shorter / no side returns, and I would hazard a guess that they only have two bolts holding their bumpers on.

Note the length of the bumper returns on UGU....

.... compared to these shorter bumpers on this 220 (W115)

With the fixings location I sprayed them with a heavy dose of penetrating oil and set to work.  It is not possible to get a socket onto any of the fixings so a ring spanner was my weapon of choice, and a successful one at that.  The back fixings have a threaded bolt that is fixed to the car so it is just a nut that needs to be undone, on the sides it is the opposite, a bolt goes through the quarter panel into a nut that is an integral part of the side bracket.

Looking up at the bumper, back bracket of which there are two.  

The nut is what needs to be undone

Passenger side bumper fixing is located inside the boot once the boot side trim is removed.  I found the bolt to be too close to the bracket to use a socket and ratchet, so again a ring spanner was the best option

The drivers side was a little harder to spot initially as it is tucked in behind the jack cradle, petrol tank vent filter and on this car, behind the electric ariel  

I have to admit I was also a little distracted by Jade's internal water feature!  This channel was full of water, and of course rust!!

With the bolts undone, the bumper can be slipped off, however if you are dong this on a car that you are precious about, I would call a friend as it could be very easy to scratch the paintwork.

Once the fixings are all undo, it's time to phone a friend

This is what the back fixing point looks like

Job done.  Just needs a polish and then it's off to a new home

And just to confirm to myself that I am doing the right thing dismantling Jade, some more rust!

The diagnosis is not good

After giving Jade a good wash I turned my attention to looking for rust.

I already knew the boot floor was very rusty as the accident damage to the rear end meant that the boot lid was no longer able to close correctly, allowing water to leak in.

Accident damage allows water into boot and the boot floor begins to rust

I next lifted out the interior carpets. The floors in the back were solid and in good condition put as I started to look towards the front things took a nasty turn.  In the passenger floor there was a large hole and as I pulled back the frayed carpet on the sill more daylight could be seen.  I had a look under the car and saw huge patches of rust spreading towards the rear.

Rear driver-side floor section is solid and rust free, but does have cobwebs

 Passenger floor and footwell is full of rust allowing daylight to be seen

As I moved to the drivers side the story got a whole lot worse.  I find it amusing that I was able to get into the car and drive it and not notice that there was no accelerator pedal!  The lack of pedal is an excellent clue to the dreadful repair that had been done previously to the drivers footwell.  The repair is crude to say the least, and the fact they did nothing to address the rust issues as that repair was being executed, just made things worse.

Special edition light weight accelerator!  You can see the floor is wet following me washing the car, so water must be leaking through the firewall somewhere. Not good.

Drivers side floor.  I don't know if you could call this is repair, but what ever you call it, it is a disaster!!

It is enough to make you sick!

At this stage things are looking very bleak, but I had to keep looking.  The harder I looked the worse things got.  

These next photos are not for the weak hearted, and will potentially upset fellow lovers of not only the stroke 8, but all classic cars out there.

The boot is very rusty and is thinner than paper at the back edge and around the fuel filler

Holes through the body work where the boot closes

Rust bubbles around back window

More bubbles starting to come through in the rear quarter panel, a common stroke 8 rust spot

Rear wheelarch, passenger side.... 

which after a bit of poking with my finger became this, then....

THIS!!!!!  I stopped at this point.

Driver side footwell.  Again I am not sure why water would be seeping in here, but it cannot be a good thing.

Game over!

No doubt by this time, like me you will all be feeling sick to the stomach.  The rust is horrendous, and I sure, like an iceberg, there is a lot more that I cannot see at this stage.

It breaks my heart to do it, but I have decided that there is no hope for Jade.  There is no way I could commit to the investment it would take to fix her.  It would take a full bare metal restoration to cut out all this rust. I hope to salvage as many parts as I can to help save some other series 1 C114's; UGU included, before sending Jade for a permanent vacation. 

A busy weekend in photos

UGU and I had a very busy weekend together and we managed to take some interesting photos we thought we would share.

Saturday night sunset, following collection of my in-laws from the airport, and also the night before meeting Jade,

Sunday morning, the meeting...

Sunday afternoon, on our way home from an MBCCWA event we spotted this very sorry looking W111 sitting by the side of the road looking more than a little unloved!

Sunday afternoon, photo shoot with friends at Parliament House for the upcoming MBCCWA club calendar

Looks can be deceiving

I decided to name my new C114 Jade, not only because of her colour, but also because that was the name of the street on which I found her.

Not long after the tow truck delivered Jade to my house, I couldn't stop myself from giving her a wash. I was excited to see what she looked like with her wheel trims on, and the years of dirt and grime removed.

 These are the tools I am confident with

WOW!  What a difference a wash makes

Knowing the wealth of knowledge that is held within the Facebook Group W(A)114/115, I had remembered to take a picture of the chassis plates the first time I went to see Jade.  I wanted to share the information with the group and see what anyone could tell me about the car.

I had already noticed the engine bay was a different colour (grey rather than green), so I was suspicious that green was not the original colour.  

What we determined was that the original colour was 124G Arabian Grey, and also that the car was not originally built for Australia, instead it was imported at a later stage.  I have no idea when this would have been, but the number plates on the car are from 1997, so perhaps that is a clue.

In addition to the original colour, we also determined that the car was an import.  All Australian delivered cars have the number 625 stamped on the plate.  As you can see that number does not appear.

Here you can see evidence of the original colour 124G Arabian Grey

I actually really like the grey, and would have loved for the car to have remained that colour, but the previous owner must have really disliked it.  The level of cover up of the grey is incredible, there is literally no trace of it anywhere other than in the engine bay. Take the door reveals for example, there were so clean you could eat of them!

Door reveals are in amazing condition, with no trace of the original colour

This stunning /8 is an example of what the original colour would have looked like. In my opinion this has got to be one of the best colour options available.  I cannot understand why you would want to cover it up!

Image reference: David Saffioti via Mercedes-Benz W114/W115 Appreciation Group