charlottesbutler
New Member
Wrecking yards and sheep paddocks may not be fully approved sources of parts for a W116, but may I offer this? The cars I mentioned in my first post, on joining this forum, have yielded numerous small parts as well as intimate glimpses under their skins. Without harming my own car through inexperience, or cluttering my yard with junk, I have seen how handles, locks, dash, seats, seatbelts, vacuum systems, etc., are fitted and removed, and how they work. Logical, predictable Benz engineering is a pleasure, after some makes I have owned.
The various on-line manuals are very helpfully provided by generous enthusiasts, and much has been learned from them; but I still think better in 3D. A comparison would be the use of cadavers in anatomy lessons. Carving up a badly dinged or corroded, no longer serviceable part teaches a lot, and spares the owner pain and expense during what will be, at least for me, a fairly long learning curve.
The donor car was a W116 280S, and my first target was the lights at each corner. Always at risk from other parkers, these items offered some easy, cheap replacements for the sake of 2 hours interesting labour. It would have been less, but the boot was locked and keyless. The lid was badly perforated by salt and leaf mould, so no harm done by breaking in. Let's say it was a real battle, and draw a veil over how I did it; but our favourite marque builds a really tough car!
At length, I had access to the tail lights, which came out surprisingly quickly, each possessing its own flora and fauna after 3 years standing under a tree. Front lights were not hard to get at, and the indicators were a simple finger and thumb process, no force, just a lip to ease past and out. One lens had a small hole punched through, letting water in to corrode the reflector and bulb holder. Otherwise, all was worth taking home to play with. My own lights are in fine condition, but now I have spares, to keep the car roadworthy while new old, or replica parts are ordered. Handy, that, but let's by all means support those who still bother to supply the new stuff.
For the fun of it, I did a photo essay on a simple repair to the damaged lens, Why bother? Well, my generation remembers food rationing and, although mostly quite comfortably off, still saves string and wrapping paper. See these links if you are interested:
http://s1080.photobucket.com/albums...ens Recycle/?action=view¤t=lensfix1.jpg
and 4 further pics.
The idea was to improvise an amber plug to seal up the lens, make it waterproof and, at a casual glance, roadworthy. Concourse? Not hardly, and it would pay me to read all the instructions on a tube of glue, for starters! Still, I hope this may entertain and help someone out there. Feedback is very welcome.
Cheerio,
Rod.
The various on-line manuals are very helpfully provided by generous enthusiasts, and much has been learned from them; but I still think better in 3D. A comparison would be the use of cadavers in anatomy lessons. Carving up a badly dinged or corroded, no longer serviceable part teaches a lot, and spares the owner pain and expense during what will be, at least for me, a fairly long learning curve.
The donor car was a W116 280S, and my first target was the lights at each corner. Always at risk from other parkers, these items offered some easy, cheap replacements for the sake of 2 hours interesting labour. It would have been less, but the boot was locked and keyless. The lid was badly perforated by salt and leaf mould, so no harm done by breaking in. Let's say it was a real battle, and draw a veil over how I did it; but our favourite marque builds a really tough car!
At length, I had access to the tail lights, which came out surprisingly quickly, each possessing its own flora and fauna after 3 years standing under a tree. Front lights were not hard to get at, and the indicators were a simple finger and thumb process, no force, just a lip to ease past and out. One lens had a small hole punched through, letting water in to corrode the reflector and bulb holder. Otherwise, all was worth taking home to play with. My own lights are in fine condition, but now I have spares, to keep the car roadworthy while new old, or replica parts are ordered. Handy, that, but let's by all means support those who still bother to supply the new stuff.
For the fun of it, I did a photo essay on a simple repair to the damaged lens, Why bother? Well, my generation remembers food rationing and, although mostly quite comfortably off, still saves string and wrapping paper. See these links if you are interested:
http://s1080.photobucket.com/albums...ens Recycle/?action=view¤t=lensfix1.jpg
and 4 further pics.
The idea was to improvise an amber plug to seal up the lens, make it waterproof and, at a casual glance, roadworthy. Concourse? Not hardly, and it would pay me to read all the instructions on a tube of glue, for starters! Still, I hope this may entertain and help someone out there. Feedback is very welcome.
Cheerio,
Rod.
