HMC- Return of the Cheeky 500

[Semi-C]

Best of luck with the seaworthiness inspection, may it...sail through.

[dome]

Fingers crossed this passes🤞

[High Jetter]

4 minutes ago, dome said:

Fingers crossed this passes🤞

Or you'll have to buy it?

[dome]

 

1 minute ago, High Jetter said:

Or you'll have to buy it?

An S Class is on the bucket list but this one has too small an engine, is a million miles from Fife and is a bit on the rough characterful side 

So maybe 🙈

[HMC]

It failed, not disasterously, and i knew about the brake pads.

Im wondering about the gas analyser and if it can be adjuated in settings if a vehicle is running on lpg? they didnt seem too alarmed by any of it.

[wesacosa]

Did they test it on LPG or petrol? I thought it only had to pass on one. How's the exhaust look.  Multiple emissions fails can sometimes be exhaust leaks

[Schaefft]

It failed pretty regularly on emissions in the past, however always made it through in the end, which means there might be an easy solution.

The rest can be handled very easily, not sure what suspension rod is supposed to be on the lower rear suspension though, other than another drop link maybe?

[cort16]

I've seen the garage local to me use snake oil like this before the test and it's got the car through. It depends how far out it is though. Obviously doesn't work on LPG.

[dome]

Does it still have the original cats fitted? And if so is there anything inside them🙈

LPG cars usually have super low emissions in my experience, hopefully this can be coaxed through.

[Yoss]

That doesn't look too bad at all. What looks like a fairly long list can be be boiled down to a set of brake pads (cleaning up around the rear whilst doing the pads should fix the service brake), a dust cover, a mystery rear suspension component (I don't think any of my cars have one of those) and some messing with the emmisions. 

To buy an S Class sight unseen off the internet from yo drift wide boy slammers with a short MOT sounds like a recipe for disaster. So that MOT looks like a win to me. 

[Broadsword]

They should be testing it on petrol. I had an issue with failing emissions on a LPG Jag V8 once and the advice was to have a look at the spark plugs because they are going to wear out much faster on LPG. Sure enough they were very worn down and a new set of plugs sorted everything out.

[HMC]

The big benz lives…. 

I had a look online today, and they managed to sort it. I will call and collect tomorrow. 

[HMC]

Collected DOY earlier with 12m ticket. Still looks dodgy by the roadside, mind.

[gadgetgricey]

Glad its passed. Hopefully not too much of a wallet haemorrhage.

[sierraman]

A shagged out black leather jacket and some really strong continental high tar cigarettes looks like essential for the Mercedes. That and a rumour locally that you have killed people but to the passing eye you work in a scotch egg factory. 

[grogee]

Welcome back to the road, DOY. 

To add to the Equalizer mystique, @HMC lives quite near Edward Woodward's estate. 

Also, Tavistock is as close as I've come to a Wicker Man community. 

[Marm Toastsmith]

25 minutes ago, sierraman said:

A shagged out black leather jacket and some really strong continental high tar cigarettes 

Ah, life before children, when I still had (most of) my hair.

I like to think I still manage to appear fairly dodgy though. Maybe this would suit me as a tip run beast when HMC gets bored. I imagine the boot is fairly huge.

[mitsisigma01]

The way it's sitting arse end down looks like it's already full with a couple of bodies in concrete boots ready to launch into a deep river 

[Schaefft]

Congrats on the pass. Hopefully the money spent on the MOT can partially be recouped by added value to the car.

[HMC]

DOY news.

The fuel gauge has never worked. Something else the vendor didnt say, besides it being salvaged.

Anyway its extra confusing as the lpg kicks in and so simply looking at miles  covered on the trip meter on the tank isnt an option. Plus I didnt fancy driving to shitefest like this and ending up stranded somewhere.

So. I figured the sender in the tank had power. Then to e bay. This part varies between w140 models and is not easy to get hold of; which went some way to explaining the daft prices asked. No thanks.

I rang the local MB dealer who confirmed the part number, and the fact that its no longer available. I think this is the first time ever in tinkering and fettling over 50 mercs that this has happened; and explains the silly prices. Usually MB are solid when it comes to supplying older model parts. Maybe a sign that they don't rate the w140.

In the end i bit the bullet on e bay as this is my only car and needs to be fully functional.

The next step was removing the nut that secures the unit in the tank and seals the tank. The nut is ally, and the tank steel. I presume there was some electrolytic corrosion going on as it defeated all attempts. the nut is something like 45mm. I lost my shit a bit with it half lying down in the boot, adjustable wrench on the nut and it would slide off and id bash my hand on the tank. In the end I bought something old school from screwfix which sorted it, and will be a useful tool in the future.

 

And put it back together

The bashed up edges tell a story, but in the end it was satisfying to sort.

And now i can see how much fuel the 2.8 is using as it struggles to move this big beast.

[Tetleysmooth]

I ended up with HMC's Focus Ghia. Rave actually bought it to spin for a profit, got it back here to the London area, then decided he wanted to have a crack at my airlocking / overheating Rover 75, so we did a swap about three weeks ago. All I wanted was something compliant and would get me to work without any fuss, which it did until Tuesday this week when the battery snuffed it. Due to various reasons, it wasn't until Friday when I was able to fit a nice new Bosch battery to it.

What have I done to it, apart from the battery? It came with a new set of plugs, so I fitted those. You could have measured the gaps on the the old plugs in yards, rather than mm's. Cleaned the thing up a bit, lipstick on a pig, but it satisfied me. At some point, it seems to have sat for ages somewhere. There was moss on the wiper blades which had gone rock hard, got all that off and the blades are doing what they should now. The rear wiper arm, which is broken, but still does the job ok, was also moss encrusted.

I've bought all the stuff to do a thermostat replacement, but don't fancy the job myself, so I'm going to put it into a local mot / repair shop to have it done. Bought everything needed for an oil change, so that'll be done sooner rather than later. Other than that, not done much at all really. As said in the ad, the clutch bites high on the pedal, but doesn't slip, so that's good to go.

What I really want is a nearside rear door in Tonic blue,  I'm sure that's what the colour is. Also need a complete driver's door mirror, and a good radio antenna. Anyone who has these parts laying around, please feel free to pm me, rather than clutter up HMC's thread. 

I'd really like to know a bit about the Focus before it came into your possession HMC, If I'm correct and it did stand for a while before you bought it, it'd would be interesting to know why someone gave up on it, because it's not a bad little bus really.

[grogee]

14 hours ago, HMC said:

screwfix

Is there a Screwfix in Tavi now @HMC ? God I love Screwfix. Popped into ours a few times now for our house move, and they've always had the right tool for the job. Most times I don't even know what the right tool is, but I explain the situation and they helpfully recommend the right thing.

And they're pretty much always open. 

[HMC]

31 minutes ago, grogee said:

Is there a Screwfix in Tavi now @HMC ? God I love Screwfix. Popped into ours a few times now for our house move, and they've always had the right tool for the job. Most times I don't even know what the right tool is, but I explain the situation and they helpfully recommend the right thing.

And they're pretty much always open. 

Yes its on that little car park area beside morrisons , beside what used to be radmores ford dealers (now a small housing estate)

[outlaw118]

13 hours ago, Tetleysmooth said:

What I really want is a nearside rear door in Tonic blue,

Probably already looked but I've had luck with various ex-vehicles, both mine and the kids, down Ferry Lane. Sourced a couple of bits for Outlaw_Junior's Focus down there fairly recently. Buggered if I can remember the name of the yard though, soz.

[Tetleysmooth]

9 minutes ago, outlaw118 said:

Probably already looked but I've had luck with various ex-vehicles, both mine and the kids, down Ferry Lane. Sourced a couple of bits for Outlaw_Junior's Focus down there fairly recently. Buggered if I can remember the name of the yard though, soz.

I didn't know there were still breakers yards in Ferry Lane. I know you can't remember the name of the yard, but can you remember where it is?

[outlaw118]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:32 PM, Tetleysmooth said:

can you remember where it is?

Think it was by the roundabout going towards Tesco - I've checked it was nigh on a year ago, time flies etc

[Tetleysmooth]

16 minutes ago, outlaw118 said:

Think it was by the roundabout going towards Tesco - I've checked it was nigh on a year ago, time flies etc

That'll be gone then. New housing estate opposite Tesco now.

[outlaw118]

6 hours ago, Tetleysmooth said:

That'll be gone then. New housing estate opposite Tesco now.

Other end, by A13

[HMC]

DOY news- is that there is no news. Its big, not that quick, but it is reliable. I dont do loads of miles so i havent filled it up for ages. With the 60L lpg tank on top the range is reasonable, i havent bothered to check the MPG; not great not terrible is my verdict.

 

 

 

RHD/ kmh / l/100km- legacy of being ordered in singapore. I still dont understand if it was shipped there, or if an embassy car could come direct to the uk from germany, having been ordered in singapore, and be on diplomatic plates, and then officially be “imported” on uk plates 5 years after it was new.  Thanks to GDPR and the v888 riddle ill never know. Maybe one for @LightBulbFun ?

For the performance level its probably quite thirsty but i just cruise around in it so the economy nor performance are of any concern. Plus it remains my only car and i need it to be a bit daft or i will get bored quicker. Im loving the tired cosmetics and the carefree mindset it offers.

 

 

 

The climate control still isnt quite right; i solved the heating/ cooling thing (with a replacement duovalve) and changed the fan resistor- but it still randomly changes fan speed even in fully manual mode.

 

Cool? It depends.

On the subject of keeping cool and disobedient fans the viscous engine fan has never worked- even when properly hot it just spins passively. It has never overheated- presumably the margins built into the rad are generous enough but I’ll probably sort it myself before shitefest as id like to avoid a mushroom cloud on the way up in rural mid-Wales.

 

 

[Schaefft]

What a great beater to have. And despite the hopelessness of it, I'd love to see how much a paint correction would bring back the shine.