reconditioning a car that hasn't been used for 18 years

A friend of mine is asking me to help recondition her 1974 Mercedes 450SL. The car has been in the garage for approximately 18 years and has not moved or been started since it was parked there. It was driven in and parked. No preparations were done to the car for storage. It appears to be in excellent shape and only has 97,000 miles. There was a rats nest under the hood, but it doesn't look like any wires have been bitten.

I know that ALL of the fluids will need to be flushed, it will need plugs, wires, dist. cap and rotor, hoses, tires, and various other items. I want to know what else it will need. Will it need injectors? A new radiator? Brake pads? shocks? Etc...

The reason I posted this in the socal section is that I know I won't be able to do everything that it will probably need. I was wondering if anyone knows of a person who specializes in these cars that does good work at a reasonable price. Also, If anyone knows of specific things about these cars that I should know before working on it, that would be great.

Here are a few pictures. The paint is in excellent condition, the car is just dirty, but a lot of the chrome is in bad shape.

You may need to also pull the fuel tank/lines/pump. More than likely they are either gummed up/rusted/corroded and need cleaning or replaced.

I have seen some that had no fuel in them for years and were fine, and others full of fuel for 6 mos and in bad shape.

Good luck.
Leep

Replace the fuel filter when you flush the gas tank - it's probably dissolved and ready to clog your lines if the pump is turned on.

Inspect anything that's made of plastic or rubber. Inspect everything that had fluid inside it. Drain and flush cooling system, brakes, fuel system. Inspect suspension bushings. It wouldn't hurt to remove the seats and carpets to look for critter nests and any rust that may have occurred.

P.S. I wouldn't trust that cooling system pressure bottle.

Spray some good lubricant in the cylinders and turn the engine by hand.

Do the brakes too..Nice car..

Where was it stored? There'd be a big difference between, say right near the coast on PV to inland at RPV to Lomita...

Here is what I would do...

PB blaster soak in the cylinders, drop oil, fill with sacrificial oil, manually spin oil pump (not sure how it is on a Benz, on American iron it's driven by the distributor so you pul that and chuck something to drive it in your drill) for awhile, drop oil into a clean container noting what's in it, if it's clean-ish put it back in otherwise put new cheap oil in.

After that start busting the engine loose by hand, once it turns freely start putting stuff back together.

If the fuel tank has a drain then drain it, if not pop the fuel sending unit and take a look. If the tank is rusty pull it to get flushed at a shop (you could do it yourself but it's a lot of work). If the car has a mechanical fuel pump or a pump that is not built into the tank you can run it off a jerry can in place of the tank.

Remove fuel lines from carb/FI, fuel filter(s), and fuel pump, when lines are clear of everything spray them out with carb cleaner than air, watch what comes out.

Replace all rubber hoses and lines, spark plugs, wires and if it has a carb. rebuild it.

Repack the wheel bearings and check brakes, if it has drums replace all wheel cylinders. Drain and fill transmission and axle, this fluid will stink a lot.

Note the condition of all fluids coming out, thsi will tell you fi there si more work to be done. After this process I'd expect the car to run fairly well as long as there weren't any issues eighteen years ago and it wasn't messed up in storage.

Bug bomb.

in addition to what Geoff posted, I'll add that you are pretty likely to have some valve clatter once (if) you get it to fire up. Every motor I've gotten to start after sitting for more than 3 or 4 years has it, usually due to flattening of the valve springs.

be gentle when you are turning the engine over and go slow. listen for scraping noises as this could be rust or corrosion on moving parts, and that could possibly score things like cylinder walls and cam lobes.

If you are planning on hopping in it and tooling around town as a daily driver, I would pull the engine and rebuild it. If you just want to fire it up and drive it occasionally, or someone who knows what to listen/look for while driving it (to prevent doing serious damage to the engine should the warning signs start showing up), just oil it up, clean it out, and fire it up.

Where is it? I'm not a benz guy but I am a motor guy. I'd be glad to come help you look it over (free time permitting). An older benz is a two sided coin. on one hand it can be a cool ride and worth a good deal of money if you clean it up and take good care of it. on the other, it can be quite expensive to get there, parts are sometimes impossible to find in the US, and anyone who hears the name "mercedes" will tack at least $100 onto whatever you are asking about having done.

good luck! sounds like fun

TIRES.. those tires are toast. dont even add air, just jack it up and replace them where it sits.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. The car is in a garage on the coast of Palos Verdes right across from the Donald Trump golf course. Fortunately, I dont think that there are any bad rust issues. Some of the chrome has corrosion, but other than that, there wasnt a lot of rust. I will tell my friend everything that has been said. What I am most worried about is anything internal to the engine. I know that it would be best to rebuild the whole thing, but I dont think the budget will permit that for the time being. I would assume that the valve seals are bad as well and am worried about how the head gasket will do. Most likely, I will just flush EVERYTHING, do a major tune up, brakes, tires, and the other suggestions. Once it gets running, then we will see what else should be done. It will probably burn oil, but we will see.

It didnt have any issues when it was parked, so Im hoping for the best. I know that these mercedes were built very well and am hoping that makes it easier. From looking at the car, it looks relatively simple to work on. There were tons of these things made over the years and I believe that they continued building them through the late 80s, so hopefully parts wont be too difficult to find.

The fuel system is completely different than anything you have ever seen, unless you work on 60's-80's German cars, it is more related to old diesel systems than anything USDM.

This is what you are working with:


CIS(pressure based) injection systems do not like to sit dormant, I would pull the 8 Injectors, the CIS distribution box (mounted under the air cleaner),the fuel pump/pickup, and possibly the tank.

Have the injectors cleaned and pop tested(similar to a diesel injector), but replacement might be similar in cost.

Remove the DFPR(differential fuel pressure regulator[Identified as "Control Pressure Regulator" in diagram) from the CIS distributor(2 flat head screws on 1"x2x3/4" box w/ a 2 wire connector) and soak in carb cleaner/gas

Float the entire CIS distributor in carb cleaner and flush with pressurized air, repeatedly, DO NOT DISASSEMBLE THE DISTRIBUTOR!!! DO NOT ADJUST THE AIR PLATE!!

After floating the distributor in carb cleaner, pressurize the fuel intake line while moving the air plate.

There are a few other fuel related items I would clean/refurbish but that should get you started.

Google "Bosch CIS" or "Constant Injection System" for more info.

Try to find this book
http://www.bentleypublishers.com/fuelinjection/Bosch-TI-K-Jetronic-Fuel-Inj.html

Or contact MBUSA tech pubs in Montvale, NJ
The phone # is 1-800-367-6372...

QL-6510-1271-02

$29.99

Click to expand...

Everything else is generic auto tech, MB does however guarantee parts for every model they have ever sold, It might cost more than you want to pay but they will make it

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/#/servPrtsGenuine/classicCenter/

Your chassis/engine codes are:
Chassis107.044Engine117.982

Good Luck!! old Benzs are bad ass!!

Oh and the Ronal R31 wheels are nice and have been discontinued for a while now.

I'm sorry, but if my friend came to me with that big of a problem I would stand up and:









lol...joking. But for real, good luck! Lots of work ahead of you.

Thanks for the info gambit. Are there any good forums for the 450 SL that I should be looking at?

MBworld.org

mercedesforum.com

Benzworld.org seems decent
MBWorld.org has some good info