Awaiting pick up .
After many months of reassembly and repair work the 280SE 4.5 ute was finally able to driven and delivered back to her owner for minor finish work
280SE Ute project
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Tag Archives: Mercedes Benz W109-018
Mercedes Benz 280SE 3.5 ute
25/06/16 Well…. here is a problem that no one foresaw , the drivers side chassis rail is rusted clear through ….and wait ,there is more.:-(
Front ends of Sill boxes are rusted out
Passenger side rusted out , all will have to repaired .
Front cross member behind bumper has been replaced at sometime in the past but never welded to secure it in place ….Not a good idea as it is just floating there.
New exhausts installed to replace the rusted out originals which had lasted since 1972!.
Drive shaft has new flex disc and trans has new shift rod bushes.
Mercedes 300SEL 6.3 garden find.
6.3 #2206 has been removed from my neighbours front yard to go off to her new owner to get the restoration she deserves.
Mercedes Benz 300SEL 6.3 restoration Project
This is RHD 6,3 #2206 . The engine is incomplete and the drivers side sill/rocker is rotten but the rest of the car is surprisingly sound but in need of a full restoration .RHD 6.3’s are too rare to part out and i would rather restore this car anyway….. or build a historic racer for weekend fun.
A great score!
For my own 6.3 I needed a new radiator and had thought of eitherr making a newer one out of alloy but then i found this on ebay..
A brand new old stock 6.3 radiator for . Not $5000 AUD , Not $2500 USD as demanded for a new one but …………. $275. Still in it’s original box.
300 SEL 6.3 up and running
A short video showing the 6.3 up and running to check it’as C/O level at hot idle .
Mercedes Benz 300 SEL 6.3 cylinder Head swap.
A new fuel line has been fitted using the original brackets etc which were in good condition after 40 years…!
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The engine bay needed a clean and after a wash it was revealed to have a few places where the paint had disappeared because of engine heat . 
With the heads off ,a few little things became apparent such as this feed wire for one of the thermal time Switches. A couple of the firewall grommets needed replacing .Missing grommets allow noise,fumes etc into the cabin .
The Steering box was leaking through that round part on the top part of the
Steering box . A new seal had to made for this and the two copper washers were missing. the cover nut and lock nut were both loose. The oil return pipe on the steering box has also been damaged in the past when some one bent it.
With the heads off and the engine due for a repaint ,the booster was removed and rust removed . it was then etch primed and primed. The other objects in the picture belong to the 280SE 3.5 ute project..
The car was completely masked up and the engine bay resprayed in the black satin as before.
BUT before the black could be applied and the engine bay was still in primer one or two other jobs need doing.
The firewall brace on the left hand side was cracked almost right around and had to be welded up.
With the engine bay now painted the heads were fitted ,along with newly plated relay brackets . There is a lot less wiring now the original loom has been cleaned up and things such as a mobile phone loom removed .
Mercedes Benz 300SEL 6.3 repairs
OK, ,more progress on the 6.3. The fuel is being replace and this pic shows why. Many years ago someone has crushed it by lifting the car incorrectly with a hoist ,jack or….forklift. In fact it was squashed in many places.
next pic shows one of the other crush points.
Next job is the Fuel lift pump.
As can be seen in the pic,the pump was mounted solidly and is 150mm too high,meaning that once the fuel level drops to 1/3rd tank level the pump was starting to starve for fuel . These pumps are not a suction pump,but a pressure pump.
6.3 300SEL Service
Little details..
This is the conduit where the vacuum lines for the central locking pass on the 280SE 3.5 Project… pretty neat and an example of the over engineering on Mercedes of the past.
The 6.3 was misfiring badly under acceleration. a big disappointment for the owner ,who had spent a lot of money getting the injection pump rebuilt and the ignition converted to electronic . So, when working under thecar replacing worn rubber joints and worn drive shaft parts I spotted the squashed fuel line .The picture on the right shows a really bad dent in the main fuel line . The entire line will have to be replaced ,and i am thinking this is probably the cause of the misfire
The Drive shaft with it’s new staked unijoints and rubber center support bracket .
Chistmas 2014
Nothing beats driving a vintage Benz on a long trip.
This year was no exception and I took my 300SEL 6.3 to Gladstone to stay at a relatives and enjoy a bit of seasonal cheer. The car ran great ( except for a blown fuel line which wasted $100 worth of fuel on the road) but I suspect the injection pump ,which I had rebuilt some years ago at great expense ,is running far too lean. how long since exhaust pipes were this color? or are they slipping lead back into high octane fuel?
That’s my 6.3 at Rockhampton where we spent a few hours looking for an RV for a relative.
benzkraft 