Dear Forum Readers,
I have recently acquired a LHD Mercedes 230/6 (late 72 or early 73, I await a reply from Mercedes on this). The vehicle has covered about 109k miles and is is fine overall condition. I am hoping to run this vehicle as a cheap second car. The vehicle has been beautifully maintained by mainly 1 owner over its life and appears to be very solid. I am not yet familiar with older Mercedes although I have wanted one since visiting Germany in the sixties and seventies and riding in some beautiful early examples. I am initially concerned about what sort of petrol it requires. It appears to run quite nicely on super unleaded but will this damage the head? Although the manual transmission works well, there is minor whine on gears 1, 2 and 3. It is by no means excessive and easily tolerated - is this normal? At very low speeds in traffic when the engine transfers from drive to overrun there is a little noise from the transmission - is this normal?
The other problems relate to the availability of spares.
There are 4 urgent/impending problems.
The first is most urgent of all, the inoperative windscreen washer system. The system is operated by a footswitch which provides a burst of air (through a tube) to the engine compartment. In the engine compartment there is a reservoir with a single access point through the lid. What is missing is a device which must consist of an air operated pump and non-return valve. I can upgrade to a modern electrical system but would prefer to retain the original where possible, as all the rest of the vehicle is original. Does anyone know where I may access such a part - new or used?
I also require points, condenser, distributor cap and rotor arm for this vehicle. The points are non standard in their mounting and electrical connection. Most dealers can supply from 73 onwards but this vehicle appears to have more in common with earlier models.
The instrument lights worked originally but as soon as I touched the brilliance control they gave up completely. Removing the dash is quite a job so I would like to have a spare brilliance control to hand before initiating. Is there any way of fusing the instrument lights on full without removing the dash (a long shot I know)? If not, can I use a standard modern component for this?
The exhaust will soon require a section of pipe. Is there anyone out there who provides reasonably priced exhaust components for this model?
I appreciate any help you can offer me with these little problems.
Nick Butler
I have recently acquired a LHD Mercedes 230/6 (late 72 or early 73, I await a reply from Mercedes on this). The vehicle has covered about 109k miles and is is fine overall condition. I am hoping to run this vehicle as a cheap second car. The vehicle has been beautifully maintained by mainly 1 owner over its life and appears to be very solid. I am not yet familiar with older Mercedes although I have wanted one since visiting Germany in the sixties and seventies and riding in some beautiful early examples. I am initially concerned about what sort of petrol it requires. It appears to run quite nicely on super unleaded but will this damage the head? Although the manual transmission works well, there is minor whine on gears 1, 2 and 3. It is by no means excessive and easily tolerated - is this normal? At very low speeds in traffic when the engine transfers from drive to overrun there is a little noise from the transmission - is this normal?
The other problems relate to the availability of spares.
There are 4 urgent/impending problems.
The first is most urgent of all, the inoperative windscreen washer system. The system is operated by a footswitch which provides a burst of air (through a tube) to the engine compartment. In the engine compartment there is a reservoir with a single access point through the lid. What is missing is a device which must consist of an air operated pump and non-return valve. I can upgrade to a modern electrical system but would prefer to retain the original where possible, as all the rest of the vehicle is original. Does anyone know where I may access such a part - new or used?
I also require points, condenser, distributor cap and rotor arm for this vehicle. The points are non standard in their mounting and electrical connection. Most dealers can supply from 73 onwards but this vehicle appears to have more in common with earlier models.
The instrument lights worked originally but as soon as I touched the brilliance control they gave up completely. Removing the dash is quite a job so I would like to have a spare brilliance control to hand before initiating. Is there any way of fusing the instrument lights on full without removing the dash (a long shot I know)? If not, can I use a standard modern component for this?
The exhaust will soon require a section of pipe. Is there anyone out there who provides reasonably priced exhaust components for this model?
I appreciate any help you can offer me with these little problems.
Nick Butler
