i was asked recently if i could overhaul this Solex twin down draft carb. It’s a 32 PIAATA the same as found on Mercedes 220Sb W111 models of the early 1960’s. This one was making the car hard to start. Everything appeared normal on strip down but it’s missing a vital part,a valve in the accelerator pump.I’ve given the housings a clean while waiting for the gaskets to be delivered.
There is also a special adapter for the Borgward manifold .
I made my own bead rolling machine a while back using a Kohler chimney pipe cutter frame ..used for cutting chimney pipeand crimping the ends so it can be slid together. most of the machine was missing which made it ideal for it’s new purpose. I made the dies from B1 steel for long life. I made a bunch of different dies before when i made a boot floor for a 1960 Buick electra 225.
Here’s a set i made this week for dong Mercedes Floor panels.
Roughed out on my Arad Romanian monster lathe…
Semi finished with a radius to match the original mercedes grooves.
mounted on the Kohler frame with a grub screw to lock it on the shaft. The reason the rollers are different sizes are because the Kohler gears were two different sizes….
A new Job into the shed is this lovely 220SE cabrio with 71,000 miles on the clock. As with a lot of these low mileage injected Mercedes , lack of use is a killer and this one is a prime example . The car has been hard to start with plug fouling and blowing smoke. The valve guide seals were replaced last but what is actually happening is that the injection pump oil seals have failed.
Symkptoms were very typical, hard starting from cold, and sluggish running especially when cold. Sluggish aceleration was another red flag > Did the usal check by disconnecting the throttle and opened it up from idle, it stalled almost imeediately which,although the plugs indicated a rich mixture,the engine cut out. This meant it was running lean.
A quick easy check!.
Next,I unscrewed the cam box dipstick to reveal this black substance oozing from the dip stick port….
The oil seals in the pump have failed, sending oil into the cam box which slows down the governor leading to sluggish acceleration ,and this oil also gets into the fuel being injected leading to the plug fouling and intermittent exhaust smoke problems.
Next job is to examine the engines thermostat to make sure it is working correctly. A cold running engine with MFi will always run rich because the MFi’s own thermo control thinks it’s cold and keeps the pump delivering extra fuel. This rich running do0es and will cause bore wear,and very rapidly too.
Yestyerday I sent one of the dead 450’s off to it’s new home….
BYEEEEEEE!
The interior of this 928 is pretty good for a 32 year old motor vehicle, Mainly because the seats were fitted with sheepskins which helped to protect the leather from Australia’s Harsh sunlight.
unfortunately the sheepskins also kept moisture in while the car was stored from 2004 until resurrected in 2014. lots of mould was present .This was cleaned off with vinegar on a cloth .
The leather was hard and has a few character lines… I have used Dubbin to feed the leather and coming days will see if it softens up.
Crazy Colours are the result from Light coming from the mercury vapour lamps in the roof.
Next Project will be to polish the paint and see how it comes up.
This is being prepared for sale,With only 103,000 miles it has spent a lot time simply parked . Unfortunately this has not been good for this magnificent car as the engine has already been replaced once with a rebuilt unit. Who ever serviced the original engine changed the oil but never changed the filter… The filter disintegrated sending pieces of filter paper through the engine and destroyed the cam bearings,this in turn caused the cams to seize and thus bending the valves. The new engine runs beautifully but again someone in the past had made a very simple mistake,leaving off one of the crankshaft spacers . This sat the flex disc a bit too close to the rear of the engine block and fouled the starter motor. Eventually the ring gear was chewed out . It wasn’t until i removed the trans two days ago that i finally found what happened to the starter and noticed the lack of clearance for the flex plate…. 
in the foreground is my homemade trans jack,basically an adjustable plate fitted to a spare engine crane . I’m not a fan of these Chinese made cranes as the design is too weak and the material is not really suited for the load of most engines.
Here is the trans strapped to the mount ,a very easy way to remove a trans com-ared to what i have done for far too long… lift it out with a trolley jack. I fitted a new flex disc,as the one in the picture looks to be the original ,full of cracks and as hard as rock.
The lack of clearance for the flex plate is very obvious here . The plate on the hub is also seen here too. But there is supposed to two of them,one on the inside against the crankshaft hub @4.4 mm thick. A set of new bolts and a plate and it’s time to reinstall the trans.
Old ring rear with missing teeth… ouch!!
CLS
500SL 
Ford powered Finny 
Champagne Gold pagoda
300 24 V
Class winning W114
interior of W114
500SL
Class winning 190SL
1971 350SL
‘made in western Germany ‘
Pagoda engine 
220S coupe 
Rob and Sonias class winning 3.5
3.5 coupe 
W116 cloth interior 
W100 600
SLK 55 AMG
W124 cab…
500SL 
Cosworth 
W140
6.9 riding a little high.
450SLC
220S Coupe 
Robs 1959 300D 
280SE 3.5
Slowly the Porkers V8 is coming together ,a full days work to assemble the Kjet and install it . 
and finally bolted into place …soon i will fire it up……
Lots of photos of a 1956 mercedes 220a ponton restoration in Progress..
This’s a nice 450SL which had headlight wash wipe when new. Someone had removed most of the parts but the two 107’s I’m wrecking at the moment are yielding plenty of bits . one or two small jobs have to be done to it so it can be used as a display car in the Mercedes Club Concours on the 14/8/14 ,to be held at ormiston house. ormiston house in Queensland.
450SL with DJet engine
benzkraft 