Articles

  • Out with the old: Bye-bye blue BenzSome thoughts on the old beast

    Out with the old: Bye-bye blue Benz
    Some thoughts on the old beast

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    Time, she is a flying. I bought my 1974 Mercedes-Benz 280 sedan back in the spring of 2017. The plan was to replace my 1965 Ford F100 with a machine that would accept a car seat. And still be old. Since Benz built tanks back in the day, the 280 sedan got the green light…

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  • The Benz: Fixed a fuel leak… by doing nothing?

    The Benz: Fixed a fuel leak… by doing nothing?

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    Yesterday, I asked you what your best non-fix car fix was? My favorite two, out of the many great answers, were one about simply putting ones hands on the hood, and the other is to acquire an additional car. I’m working on that second one at the moment, but that’s another story. With regards to…

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  • Breaking Benz: Redemption by the dashboard lights?

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    It wasn’t all good just a week ago. But today is a new day, and with it we have light… dash lights, to be exact. The fix is simple. The results are exactly what I wanted. https://hooniverse.com/2018/11/20/breaking-benz-its-not-always-a-wrenching-win/ Let’s call this one a wrenching win.

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  • Project Car SOTU: The Benz

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    I just call it The Benz, but really my 1974 Mercedes-Benz 280 sedan is often referred to as Sunday Morning. This is a car that I bought to shuttle my daughter around in, which I could not do in my 1965 Ford F100. And so it serves as a great daily driver and daycare express…

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  • How A Car Works – A topic that continues to not make sense to me…

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    My 1974 Mercedes-Benz is a mystery machine to me. Working under the hood of my 1965 Ford F100 I learned a lot. But I didn’t learn enough to prepare me for the Benz. It has a much smaller engine, less barrels of carburetor, and yet it’s far more complex. My problem today, however, isn’t a…

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  • Sometimes it's the dumb things that break…

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    My audio system is 98% finished. We’re having an issue with one part, which is slated to be swapped out. I was on my way to have that done when I pressed the switches to slide down all of my side windows. They now move freely and it’s nice to have fresh air flowing in,…

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  • Can I fix the headlight switch on my W114 Mercedes-Benz?

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    Short answer: yes I can… this isn’t clickbait, broski and bro-ette-ski. In the last Shift Happens, I left off attempting to get my 1974 Mercedes-Benz 280 sedan sorted. The W114 four-door suffered a crapped out headlight switch (technical term) and it needed replacing. In the process of removing it, I found it was quite necessary to…

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  • An update on my 1974 W114 Mercedes-Benz 280

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    The new car stuff has been fun lately, but now it’s time for a brief update on my old Benz. This is my 1974 W114 Mercedes-Benz 280 sedan that serves as my daily driver. It’s in decent shape for a car that’s 43 years old. Still, it has some issues that need to be worked…

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  • Project Car SOTU: The Benz

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    This year I added a new machine to my stable. I use the term stable loosely, because there’s not that much in there, and also I don’t own any horses. This is my 1974 Mercedes-Benz 280. It’s a w114 Benz, and it’s thankfully not saddled with a diesel engine. Instead, it gets the delightful inline-six…

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  • An easy style upgrade for the BenzWith a little help from eBay Motors

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    My 1974 Mercedes-Benz 280 sedan is already dripping with style straight from the factory. It’s a car designed by Bordeaux-born Paul Bracq. He penned automotive lines for BMW, Citroen, and Peugeot in addition to his work at Mercedes. Besides cars, Bracq also had a helping hand in the design work on the then-new TGV high-speed…

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