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Hi guys!
Long time reader, first time poster!
My name's Luke, I'm 27, from Australia, and I work throughout Australia on fuel and gas pipelines, In my late teens and early 20s I was right into modifying cars and what not, have been an active participant on many Australian based forums then had a bit of a hiatus while I lived over in New Zealand for a year, and mainly had company cars, so the time came where by I needed a car for daily use, and here I am.
I've been reading the site for a while and finally decided to bite the bullet and settle in, to be honest a lot of the Australian forums turned to shit with 8year old kids apparently evolving into online critics so it was a hard task to find a forum that I actually liked, but as my dad is fond of saying 'yous cunts seem like some good cunts.' So let's get into the cars.
First let me introduce Gregory, he does most of the heavy lifting.. and by that I mean he picks up any bolt nut or screw I put down and carries it off into some secret treasure chamber I have yet to uncover:
Prior to my company car time, I owned my fair of cars, some old some new, some turbo some v8, some bagged and some static. But all where low!
Enter my love affair with the Mercedes w114/115 body, when I started looking for a car again, I wanted something cheap that I wouldn't care if I dinged up a bit, I wanted it to be relatively clean and a cruiser, nothing performance wise was needed, after looking around and pricing up cars a w114 looked like the best bet, they were pretty cheap, wreckers seemed to be full of them so parts wouldn't be an immediate problem, and I loved the shape, so I started hunting.
I found my First white 4 door 1974 280e about an hour from me, I dont have any pics of when I first got it so I will try and describe it.. open your minds eye!
the young bloke had bought it off an old guy a year earlier, apparently decided to jam as much dirt and dust as he could into any crevace in or around the car, then refused to let it see so much as a bird shit in terms of a wash, so when I came to look at it she was FILTHY! The shocks were shot, and it was a bit newer than what I wanted, I like the pre 72 models that still have a front quarter window but one plus side (kinda) is that this model had the 2.8l 6cyl Bosch d djetronic injected motor, do mildly better fuel economy for a cruiser.
So under all that filth it seemed to have very little to no rust, which was a plus, it was currently registered too which was another plus, so I took it for a bouncy ride and it seemed to drive and shift pretty smoothly, the kid was going on an overseas holiday so needed cash, So I offered a significantly low price and he accepted, a day later I was bouncing down the highway in my new dirty merc!
You guys are pretty pic hungry I have learnt. So here's a fast track! I got it home, gave it a bath, cut the springs and fitted some white wall inserts:
After that I just drove it for a bit, replaced some bits that needed doing, gave her a full service, and tried to find some better shock options- at the moment it bottoms out on the shock in the rear before hitting the body mounted bimpstops, which is a pain in the rectum.
Started stripping paint form the hubcaps
Then 8 months later the whitewall inserts grew wings and started migratingn down the highway at intermittent times, so I started looking for some wheel options, I wanted to try and recreate the orginal steel hubcal look but in a 16" not a 14" so i changed upon some steelies off a newer model merc that had a workable offset, had them stripped and finished in a Shadow chrome, then got some tyres and mounted them up:
Was pretty disappointed, but this was a process so I got whitewallas applied to the tyres, paint this time and loved the improvement
I''ve been playing around getting to make up some center caps for them too, should finish them off nicely, and the rears need some 2" spacers to pull them out into the guard nicely.. I then added a double bumper front, and have a short bumper rear to go on, along with a current negotiation for dome older style flush taillights.
But then a few things happened
Greg had a Michael Jackson moment
And I bought another merc
So by this time I have owned my white 4 door for about a year, I'm happy with it buuuut I have a real soft spot for 2 door hardtop coupes, especially ones with pillarlss rear quarter Windows, so I started keep in my eyes peeled..
One day while I was a few hundred miles from home out at work, I found a bloke selling a black 72 coupe near my house for a good price, I rang him and we negotiated a deal over the phones, conversation went like this
Q
oes it have rust? A: none
Q: does it rub? A: yes but a little rough
Q: could I drive it home A: sure
So despite the God awful fake amg back 18" wheels and the fiberglass "hood scoop" that replaced the bonnet vowel- I bought it, 2 weeks later I was home and driving over to pick up this beast, my thoughts were that I'd buy it, sell my white sedan and use the black coupe as my daily... Boy how that turned to shit in the palm of my hand..
So I rocked up to pick up the merc... At a trailer park..
As I got there to look at the car old mate says to me "ah you won't be able to drive it due to a leaking nipple on one of the brake calipers, so it'll need to be towed"
Ok, no biggy, so I start inspecting the car, it has power Windows all round, none if which worked, it has a sunroof, which works, and as a bonus, has rust starting around the edge, the rear floors had rusted through, Been hacked out, and some fiberglass panels installed, the paint was a black backyard job, the interior looked like a borthel that had been under a flood and when he fired it up it was only running on 3 cylinders..
So I was furious at this bloke, I had laid a deposit and could tell I would lose it if I backed out, so I slammed the offer right down to a ridiculous price, he tried to negotiate and I stayed firm, and he bent and I took the car. Not an entirely happy customer.
So I got it home and started stripping her down in the shed,
It came to be that the rust isn't THAT bad, it's just not in nearly as good a condition as my white sedan, so in got to work on a Photoshop render to give me some inspiration and a bit of direction :
This has changes a bit now but it's still my motivation to get down into my shed and work on the 2 door fuck. Im leaning more towards a ratrod look now, mainlye because the paint just isn't that good, I need to redo the roof anyway and the original color of the car was a dark red, I'm pretty sure old mate just sprayed over the top of it so its a perfect color to rub through the black for a rat look..
So I got to work on getting the car running, the coupe like my sedan is a 280e as well, so she comes with the same m110 djectronic 6cylinder, man has this been a learning curve, but I have mostly enjoyed it along thebesy, I haven't got any more pictures of old blacky so I'll just list what I have fixed so far:
Replaced fuel pump
Replaced injector sealls and cleaned/ tested injectors
Rebuilt fuel lines and reinstalled fuel pressure regulator
Bypassed cold start valve
Bypassed aux air controller
This was just to get it running, and now shes got an overheating problem I'll need to trouble shoot, the mastercylider needs replacing and the electric Windows will need something done about them too.
So this is where I'm at, I fight a day to day battle on just fucking off the black coupe and keeping old faithful 4 door but I just love the coupe shape so much! Plus there aren't that many of them getting that much love,
Anyway hope you guys like the cars and hopefully I'll get some updates for you soon!
Long time reader, first time poster!
My name's Luke, I'm 27, from Australia, and I work throughout Australia on fuel and gas pipelines, In my late teens and early 20s I was right into modifying cars and what not, have been an active participant on many Australian based forums then had a bit of a hiatus while I lived over in New Zealand for a year, and mainly had company cars, so the time came where by I needed a car for daily use, and here I am.
I've been reading the site for a while and finally decided to bite the bullet and settle in, to be honest a lot of the Australian forums turned to shit with 8year old kids apparently evolving into online critics so it was a hard task to find a forum that I actually liked, but as my dad is fond of saying 'yous cunts seem like some good cunts.' So let's get into the cars.
First let me introduce Gregory, he does most of the heavy lifting.. and by that I mean he picks up any bolt nut or screw I put down and carries it off into some secret treasure chamber I have yet to uncover:
Prior to my company car time, I owned my fair of cars, some old some new, some turbo some v8, some bagged and some static. But all where low!
Enter my love affair with the Mercedes w114/115 body, when I started looking for a car again, I wanted something cheap that I wouldn't care if I dinged up a bit, I wanted it to be relatively clean and a cruiser, nothing performance wise was needed, after looking around and pricing up cars a w114 looked like the best bet, they were pretty cheap, wreckers seemed to be full of them so parts wouldn't be an immediate problem, and I loved the shape, so I started hunting.
I found my First white 4 door 1974 280e about an hour from me, I dont have any pics of when I first got it so I will try and describe it.. open your minds eye!
the young bloke had bought it off an old guy a year earlier, apparently decided to jam as much dirt and dust as he could into any crevace in or around the car, then refused to let it see so much as a bird shit in terms of a wash, so when I came to look at it she was FILTHY! The shocks were shot, and it was a bit newer than what I wanted, I like the pre 72 models that still have a front quarter window but one plus side (kinda) is that this model had the 2.8l 6cyl Bosch d djetronic injected motor, do mildly better fuel economy for a cruiser.
So under all that filth it seemed to have very little to no rust, which was a plus, it was currently registered too which was another plus, so I took it for a bouncy ride and it seemed to drive and shift pretty smoothly, the kid was going on an overseas holiday so needed cash, So I offered a significantly low price and he accepted, a day later I was bouncing down the highway in my new dirty merc!
You guys are pretty pic hungry I have learnt. So here's a fast track! I got it home, gave it a bath, cut the springs and fitted some white wall inserts:
After that I just drove it for a bit, replaced some bits that needed doing, gave her a full service, and tried to find some better shock options- at the moment it bottoms out on the shock in the rear before hitting the body mounted bimpstops, which is a pain in the rectum.
Started stripping paint form the hubcaps
Then 8 months later the whitewall inserts grew wings and started migratingn down the highway at intermittent times, so I started looking for some wheel options, I wanted to try and recreate the orginal steel hubcal look but in a 16" not a 14" so i changed upon some steelies off a newer model merc that had a workable offset, had them stripped and finished in a Shadow chrome, then got some tyres and mounted them up:
Was pretty disappointed, but this was a process so I got whitewallas applied to the tyres, paint this time and loved the improvement
I''ve been playing around getting to make up some center caps for them too, should finish them off nicely, and the rears need some 2" spacers to pull them out into the guard nicely.. I then added a double bumper front, and have a short bumper rear to go on, along with a current negotiation for dome older style flush taillights.
But then a few things happened
Greg had a Michael Jackson moment
And I bought another merc
So by this time I have owned my white 4 door for about a year, I'm happy with it buuuut I have a real soft spot for 2 door hardtop coupes, especially ones with pillarlss rear quarter Windows, so I started keep in my eyes peeled..
One day while I was a few hundred miles from home out at work, I found a bloke selling a black 72 coupe near my house for a good price, I rang him and we negotiated a deal over the phones, conversation went like this
Q
oes it have rust? A: noneQ: does it rub? A: yes but a little rough
Q: could I drive it home A: sure
So despite the God awful fake amg back 18" wheels and the fiberglass "hood scoop" that replaced the bonnet vowel- I bought it, 2 weeks later I was home and driving over to pick up this beast, my thoughts were that I'd buy it, sell my white sedan and use the black coupe as my daily... Boy how that turned to shit in the palm of my hand..
So I rocked up to pick up the merc... At a trailer park..
As I got there to look at the car old mate says to me "ah you won't be able to drive it due to a leaking nipple on one of the brake calipers, so it'll need to be towed"
Ok, no biggy, so I start inspecting the car, it has power Windows all round, none if which worked, it has a sunroof, which works, and as a bonus, has rust starting around the edge, the rear floors had rusted through, Been hacked out, and some fiberglass panels installed, the paint was a black backyard job, the interior looked like a borthel that had been under a flood and when he fired it up it was only running on 3 cylinders..
So I was furious at this bloke, I had laid a deposit and could tell I would lose it if I backed out, so I slammed the offer right down to a ridiculous price, he tried to negotiate and I stayed firm, and he bent and I took the car. Not an entirely happy customer.
So I got it home and started stripping her down in the shed,
It came to be that the rust isn't THAT bad, it's just not in nearly as good a condition as my white sedan, so in got to work on a Photoshop render to give me some inspiration and a bit of direction :
This has changes a bit now but it's still my motivation to get down into my shed and work on the 2 door fuck. Im leaning more towards a ratrod look now, mainlye because the paint just isn't that good, I need to redo the roof anyway and the original color of the car was a dark red, I'm pretty sure old mate just sprayed over the top of it so its a perfect color to rub through the black for a rat look..
So I got to work on getting the car running, the coupe like my sedan is a 280e as well, so she comes with the same m110 djectronic 6cylinder, man has this been a learning curve, but I have mostly enjoyed it along thebesy, I haven't got any more pictures of old blacky so I'll just list what I have fixed so far:
Replaced fuel pump
Replaced injector sealls and cleaned/ tested injectors
Rebuilt fuel lines and reinstalled fuel pressure regulator
Bypassed cold start valve
Bypassed aux air controller
This was just to get it running, and now shes got an overheating problem I'll need to trouble shoot, the mastercylider needs replacing and the electric Windows will need something done about them too.
So this is where I'm at, I fight a day to day battle on just fucking off the black coupe and keeping old faithful 4 door but I just love the coupe shape so much! Plus there aren't that many of them getting that much love,
Anyway hope you guys like the cars and hopefully I'll get some updates for you soon!
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