W140

[Tan]

Congratulations, a great classic you have there, must take mine for a drive this week.

Am envious of the sunroof, its one of the options that I really wish I had.

 

[A-AvantGarde]

Am envious of the sunroof, its one of the options that I really wish I had.

The sunroof on the W140s is great. Dad had a glass roof on his I remember it having quite a large opening, felt prettty great with the roof slid back!

 

[219]

I swapped the fitted wheels over to the 8 holes yesterday. The tyres the car came with were OK tread wise but were cheap makes ( two were ‘Runway’ the other two equally ‘budget’ makes , and the spare , probably original, was a part worn Conti .

The 8 holes had 3 decent looking Falkens , 1 Conti with good tread , and 1 Michelin worn at outside edge . I put the Michelin in the boot as a spare and fitted the others .

Think I’ll dispose of the 5 other wheels as they look scabby and are taking up space ; I’ll stick them on Gumtree at £100 and see what happens.

 

[219]

Oh , while I had the wheels off yesterday , I noticed that most brake pipes looked pretty crusty - so all pipes will be replaced , along with flexible hoses , discs , pads , shoes = full brake overhaul ; if callipers appear at all suspect they will be changed too , even if this pushes return to road back a bit .

Brakes are one thing I don't compromise on . ATE all round . At least i can make brake pipes up myself , so will keep cost down . Need to order in some CuNiFer pipe .

 

[Tan]

Any pics of the car with its new shoes on?

 

[219]

Any pics of the car with its new shoes on?

Not yet , but watch this space .

 

[219]

I got home early from work today ; just love this car , already .

Anyway , stripped away the covers and the filter to expose the heater motor , saw the resistor module , however on turning the motor by hand , it was very stiff . Gave it a quick squirt of 3 in one lubricant spray , turned easier . On starting the car - it ran . With it running I gave it repeated squirts of lubricant , apart from smell of oil through vents , seems to be now working fine . Result . I'll let it sit for a few days then try it again , but for the removal of half a dozen screws to access , it's no bother to do it a few times a year .

The only things of consequence are to replace all the brake pipes ( a weekend's work ) and the discs/pads/shoes , which will probably wait till payday at end of month . At the same time I'll do engine and gearbox oil and filter changes .

In a couple of months I'll treat her to a new set of tyres .
My pal has Bose speakers and electronics out of S500 , the existing Blaupunkt kit seems decent enough but could be a good upgrade if I decide to put my Sony ES kit in .

Oh , and my S124 Oris detachable towbar that I bought from eBay.de looks to line up and fit perfectly . What more could I ask ?

 

[Tan]

I upgraded the Mercedes APS30 (i think) headhunt with an Alpine unit and the sound was vastly improved. From everything that I have read you can get a better sound than that of the Bose, using quality aftermarket speakers and amps fitted into the existing mounts, so would look OEM.

Great news regards the towbar.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I got home early from work today ; just love this car , already .

Anyway , stripped away the covers and the filter to expose the heater motor , saw the resistor module , however on turning the motor by hand , it was very stiff . Gave it a quick squirt of 3 in one lubricant spray , turned easier . On starting the car - it ran . With it running I gave it repeated squirts of lubricant , apart from smell of oil through vents , seems to be now working fine . Result . I'll let it sit for a few days then try it again , but for the removal of half a dozen screws to access , it's no bother to do it a few times a year .

The only things of consequence are to replace all the brake pipes ( a weekend's work ) and the discs/pads/shoes , which will probably wait till payday at end of month . At the same time I'll do engine and gearbox oil and filter changes .

In a couple of months I'll treat her to a new set of tyres .
My pal has Bose speakers and electronics out of S500 , the existing Blaupunkt kit seems decent enough but could be a good upgrade if I decide to put my Sony ES kit in .

Oh , and my S124 Oris detachable towbar that I bought from eBay.de looks to line up and fit perfectly . What more could I ask ?

An S Class with a tow bar?

How agricultural!

 

[219]

I upgraded the Mercedes APS30 (i think) headhunt with an Alpine unit and the sound was vastly improved. From everything that I have read you can get a better sound than that of the Bose, using quality aftermarket speakers and amps fitted into the existing mounts, so would look OEM.

Great news regards the towbar.

The unit currently in mine is a Blaupunkt Koln Radio/cassette player ; the audio is pleasant enough but nothing to write home about .

I have a fairly high end Sony system , CDX910 head unit , XDP-U50D DSP/crossover , 2x CDX-91 changers , JBL 5ch amplifier and JBL speakers which I had latterly in my 190 but in and out of various cars over the last 20 years . I have similar kit in my R129 , and enough components to make up a third system .

My pal was going to give me the Bose kit which he salvaged out of a W140 S500 some years ago ; will be interesting to see how it compares .

However , all of this will wait until I have the car up and running, with a new MOT .

 

[219]

My brake pipe arrived this morning, have a dozen or so ends to make up pipes . Today was a pretty sh!tty day weather wise so used the time for other stuff

 

[DITTRICH]

If I didn't live inside the ULEZ... Good Luck!

 

[poormansporsche]

Make sure you check the front drains as a rusty blower motor can be a sign of blocked drains and most 140s were killed by electrical faults

 

[ChrisCLS55]

Watching this with interest as I’m determined to get a W140 someday. Great car and good on you taking it on!

 

[MWCLS]

Lovely cars the W140. I think I would be hung if I arrived home with a project car. Good luck with it all.. following with envy and interest.

 

[DITTRICH]

Oh , while I had the wheels off yesterday , I noticed that most brake pipes looked pretty crusty - so all pipes will be replaced , along with flexible hoses , discs , pads , shoes = full brake overhaul ; if callipers appear at all suspect they will be changed too , even if this pushes return to road back a bit .

Brakes are one thing I don't compromise on . ATE all round . At least i can make brake pipes up myself , so will keep cost down . Need to order in some CuNiFer pipe .

My Russian Mechanical Engineer father in law used to say to me "why buy something if I can make it myself?". The family's take on this was that he would have been able to build a Soyuz rocket using scrap. To an engineer, functionality was everything and looks didn't enter into it. The grass mower made from a washing machine engine, home made cutting blade and the wheels from a child's pram was a tour de force, as was the washing machine casing which was used to plant garlic and dill in.

 

[Deleted member 11979]

Older s class, but I’ve got a tow bar too!

 

[219]

Older s class, but I’ve got a tow bar too!
View attachment 88995

I had one on my W126 as well .

 

[219]

My concern for a set of wheels and tyres that have sat for a while,would be that while on the surface the tyres would appear OK treadwise they may have passed their sell by date in age - i.e. greater than 5-ish years old ?? On a big heavy fast car such as a W140 this might present as a bigger problem than on a lighter and slower vehicle .

Graeme , you were quite right , the tyres must have sat ( at least in the dark and stacked on their sides ) for at leat 10 years ; they were OK when first fitted to the car , but after a bit of running there were vibrations and low speed wobbles , I knew they were on their way out .

Today , I had a set of 4 Continental Premium Contact 6's fitted ; kept the best one of the five old tyres as a spare , since I reckon it will get me home in an emergency ( may replace it with a part worn or new budget tyre next month - today's spend was a little north of £700 , more than I paid for the car , but now it's sitting on proper tyres and wafting serenely as it should .

Fitted the towbar last week , hopefully will do electrics tomorrow - for now only for cycle carrier , so I can go over to see my son and go cycling with him .

Still need to get new rear springs ( bought proper spring compressors for W126 , still have them ) , and get aircon recharged before summer . Final thing will be cosmetic jobs of new front wings , rear arches professionally repaired , and paint job - then car will be presentable . At a later date , but further down the list will be installation of decent audio system , which I still have .

 

[219]

Having topped up brake fluid yesterday, the low light is on again ; and a puddle of brake fluid under the back of the car .

Guess I’ll be making up some new pipes .

Got the horn working this morning; stripped down the nearside mirror , exterior undamaged , so will pick another up .

Oh , must have abandoned this thread some time back - brake system was completely rebuilt , making up new kunifer pipes throughout , new flexible hoses , replaced back callipers , new ATE discs all round , new ATE pads , shoes , retaining clips and sensors all round , vacuum bled - all good , brakes like new again and all proper components - although I had to order from a number of different suppliers to get the all ATE correct parts I wanted . Won't compromise on brakes or tyres though .