W123 – Mercedes W123 230 Restoration

A start to the bodywork repairs

There are more than a few spots of rust on this car that need to be fixed, but by far the worst panel on the whole car is the passenger side front wing with rust holes big enough to get a fist through and mostly held together by the paint. There are a few optionsContinue reading “A start to the bodywork repairs”

Sprung a leak!

Another catch-up post from last year… I didn’t plan to do any work on the car over Christmas, yet I still found myself in the back of it trying to secure an 8 foot tall inflatable reindeer, because where else would you put one other than on the roof of a somewhat sorry looking W123?Continue reading “Sprung a leak!”

Rear Brakes Rebuild

This update is a little late, it should have been up some time before Christmas but it is a busy time of year and I am only just playing catch-up. Sorry about that, but finally the braking system overhaul is complete! So having completed the front brakes (some time ago now), it was finally timeContinue reading “Rear Brakes Rebuild”

Front Brakes Rebuild

With the engine now running and the car able to move under it’s own steam it is time to make sure it can also stop again. So I have turned my attention to overhauling the braking system, starting with the front calipers. Under first inspection the calipers were rather dry and crusty and full ofContinue reading “Front Brakes Rebuild”

Engine Cooling System Overhaul – Part 2

At the end of my last update – Engine Cooling System Overhaul – Part 1 – you may remember that all my hard work had been thwarted by a tiny little pinhole in the radiator. Finally it is time to address that and finally tick off this part of the restoration as complete. But firstContinue reading “Engine Cooling System Overhaul – Part 2”

Engine Cooling System Overhaul – Part 1

It has been a long time since my last blog post, nearly three months! Back in December last year I got the engine running, briefly, until a burning drive belt highlighted a seized water pump! Fast forward a few weeks and I set about removing the water pump. Removing the radiator to thermostat hose andContinue reading “Engine Cooling System Overhaul – Part 1”

It’s alive!

I must definitely have been on the nice list this year because Santa has been very good to me! Being one of those “I have no idea what is going on” kind of days between Christmas and New Year it was an ideal time for a bit of tinkering. Spud wanted to help, or atContinue reading “It’s alive!”

A few interesting adornments

During my last poke around the car (aka Pass the Jenolite!), I came across a few original accessories, namely the original owners manual and service record, the original first aid kit and the tool kit. Sure they may be of little use now, but I was surprised to see everything intact in a 40 yearContinue reading “A few interesting adornments”

Pass the Jenolite!

(Other rust treatment products are available…..) Today I spent a bit of time poking around the car in more depth than I had up until now, looking for as many areas of rust as I can find to try and get an idea of how much work there is to do. First job was toContinue reading “Pass the Jenolite!”

Scrub-a-dub-dub

So the car has been sitting on my drive for a week now and this weekend to force a bit of initial progress I decided to give it a quick wash down with the pressure washer, mainly to try and get the moss out of any crevices that would hold water and lead to furtherContinue reading “Scrub-a-dub-dub”