Zel's Fleet Blog - BX, Jag XJ-S, Sinclair C5, Mercedes 208D & 230TE, AC Model 70.

[Zelandeth]

The Transporter is a good deal smaller, and a good deal slower.

While all the parts are *available* off the shelf - they're ten times the price of those from Merc it seems, and many are made of chocolate it seems like despite coming in nice glossy boxes.

Service items like brake pads are actually cheaper than the majority of eBay listings at the Merc dealer...so why bother fitting Chineseium from the Bay? Just doesn't make sense.

I've no idea how they do it either. The T1 was retired from production in 1995...yet they've still got things even down to little bits of plastic for the dashboard. Um...PSA, take note please!

The list has remained relatively static, as I'm going through stuff in a reasonably methodical manner. Biggest barrier to progress really is being the weather.

Haven't actually got as far as looking properly into the owner's club...might have a poke at that this evening if I have time.

[Hell Razor5543]

I think Mercedes have a very simple (and effective) strategy. The longer you can supply your customers' needs the more money you will get from them (and, because you have earned their goodwill, you are likely to either sell them a new Mercedes or they will buy a second-hand one and continue to buy spare parts from Mercedes).

[Zelandeth]

Well all I can say is that the two trips into the dealer so far have left me with a smile on my face and having achieved my goal. Usually I walk out of a dealership virtually with steam coming out of my ears, normally giving up and resorting to finding what I need on the internet and sorting it myself.

I can certainly say that as long as this service continues, I'll be going back there for spares.

My task for this evening is to figure out why the onboard charger doesn't appear to actually be connected to anything on the DC side.

I have a sneaking suspicion this is going to result in me rewiring half of the above diagram!

Apparently there should be a split charging relay somewhere too... haven't found that yet.

[Hell Razor5543]

Then it looks like Mercedes' customer service has done its' job properly.

[bobins]

It's not just the Mercedes cars that have an excellent parts back-up, I was always told the same applied to the Mercedes Unimog - if you needed it, they'd get it ! A chap I know damaged the front of his late 70s / early 80s 'mog, he got all the Genuine new body panels from his Mercedes Unimog dealer.

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

impressive!!
...and a shame that stories of this sort of service are now the exception rather than the rule.

Maybe we'll be seeing that you've bought yourself a nice Merc W123 Estate in the future..... cor, salivating at the thought!

[Zelandeth]

impressive!!
...and a shame that stories of this sort of service are now the exception rather than the rule.

Maybe we'll be seeing that you've bought yourself a nice Merc W123 Estate in the future..... cor, salivating at the thought!

I've long wanted a 70s/80s Merc. Especially an Estate...however have always baulked at the prices they change hands for. Beyond that era I lose interest. Within that era though, I'm not even too fussed about which exact model.

Having this sort of backup...the manufacturer actually seeming to give a damn about their older models...may well explain a bit of why they hold their value so well, and it's not just about badge snobbery.

To be honest, the last couple of days have definitely bumped it a few positions up the "maybe I'll have in the future" list. It was previously below the early Volvo 240 and Rover P6...think the order has flipped now.

If I could find some dash indicators for a Unimog that would be great...the PTO one would look ideal for my "vehicle is plugged in" light, and the one for the roof beacon for "AC systems turned on" I think...Sadly the Merc dealer themselves don't have access to stuff for the heavy commercials - that has to be handled through another company (apparently they got their knuckles rapped recently for doing that). Wasn't an issue for me as "light vans" are fine. Plus as both me and the parts guy said almost in stereo "this stuff was used on the old G-Wagon too."

Do definitely need to start thinking about what to do about the rust under the windscreen though. I know it's going to be awkward, time consuming and expensive...but I should at the least start looking and seeing if anyone is interested in even giving me a quote.

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

Thumbs Up for an early Volvo 240 for sure. Did you see the recent story about the late one (F plate in blue IIRC) that made 9 Grand?!

Not a big fan of the P6, but what a looker the SD1 Estate could've been (prototypes at Haynes and Gaydon).

That windscreen rust is a real head-scratcher. Get the quotes and see how you feel. I guess its not just about hard sums of what it does / will owe you in this case.....

....any more than I 'cost' for my labour on my motor, there's a scary thought!

Your upcoming trip in it must be soon now?

[Zelandeth]

If it was a 240, it would have to be an early one. Back with the old style instruments and the huge orange rocker switch for the fog lights.

The facelifted interior lost a lot of the character of the older car I think.

I'd not say no to an SD1 either, not even fussy whether it's a Mk I or II. At least a lot of the survivors now have been pretty well sorted by now!

The windscreen rust is going to be "fun" no matter what we do. It will be massively easier if repair panels are about or if we can find a scrapper to cut bits out of. That's unlikely as it's a spot where they always go. It's not a massively difficult repair...the tricky bit is making it look like it left the factory that way, especially as Merc decided to run the ridges the full width of the windscreen in line with the bars over the vents.

I suspect a sensible compromise might be to do away with the "bars" over the vents and to fit a separate plastic cover over them. Obviously I'd do a bit of research to make sure it was sympathetic visually.

It's not uncommon for quite a few of these vans to have some additional bits of trim and things added...so with a bit of paint to make it match the bumpers etc it wouldn't necessarily look out of place.

...and given the poor design of the heater intakes, anything I can do to keep water *out* of them has to be a good thing.

I'm going to see if I can make contact with the gent currently doing work on a certain Dodge 50 on another forum to see whether they would be interested in helping out here.

This is the sort of vehicle that's about much more than hard numbers, so I want to see what the options are.

A week tomorrow till our first trip away. There will be facilities on site though, so it won't be necessary to have everything up and running (gas in particular looks to be largely redundant with restaurants on site and a mains hookup), but will be nice to get a feel for how it works.

Also will be interested to see how our idiot dog reacts to seeing the sea for the first time. My guess: shout at it and try to chase it, then run away from it.

The one bit of metalwork that may be done in the next week though is the exhaust. The rattle at idle, godawful clatter on start/stopping the engine and resonating boom from the hole in the silencer are conspiring to drive me insane. With a four-five hour drive coming up I'd rather it was sorted before that.

...also I'd feel bad taking it into a camp site right now with how loud the idle buzz is.

Given how much pressure is coming out of the hole Vs what is getting nearly four metres further back to the tailpipe makes me wonder how choked up it is too...

Have tracked down three garages that do custom stainless work that seem to have decent reviews, so will look into that. Given the simplicity and compact nature I'm after I'm hoping it won't be too expensive compared to the same setup for a car where there's a lot more stuff in the way.

[Zelandeth]

Just for the sake of clarity, here's the area beneath the windscreen that's in need of sorting.

If it was just flat it wouldn't be too hard...sadly the ridges make that more problematic.

[Gibbo2286]

Talking Mercedes exhausts, I had a retired army WO1 who had acquired a big old Merc previously owned by King Hussein of Jordan, he wanted a complete exhaust fitted, brought in his own parts,

Unlike most exhausts this one didn't have slide in joints, all the parts were butt jointed and had to be welded together, a very interesting job making that all fit correctly.

[Michel]

My dad bought a 1982 Merc 230 in 1992. He kept it for 14 years. Always bought parts cheap from Mercedes direct for it. He bought his next Merc direct from the factory new in 2010. Reckoned it wasn't as well built as the old one.

[myglaren]

That was around the time that Chrysler was mixed up with Mercedes.
Something that Mercedes bitterly regretted and were very eager to be rid of.

[Zelandeth]

That was around the time that Chrysler was mixed up with Mercedes.
Something that Mercedes bitterly regretted and were very eager to be rid of.

Hence the complete bafflement on my part when I spotted a Sprinter in the US wearing a Dodge badge!

The later ones are definitely more built down to a cost (and weight), though I can't necessarily level too much flak at Merc for that. The world and the market has changed over time and folks have demanded more for less as time has moved on.

It's easy to forget that the T1 was launched in 1977 given how recently they were still a pretty common sight (and how much better to drive they were than many other offerings that were still about at that time)...but it does show in some aspects of you start looking deeper.

The one thing which has surprised me a lot is how well it rides given it's on leaf springs all round - apparently that can actually work fine with a decent amount of weight on board.

[Pug_XUD_KeenAmateur]

Good to have pics of those windscreen vents with the rust issue.

Couple of thoughts from looking at them
1: don't let the rust travel vertically 'up' any further: as it stands, you might get away with leaving the windscreen in. Clean it up, KuRust it and brush on some white Hammerite temporarily.

2a: just delete the vents altogether and then, like you say, it should be reasonably simple.

2b: do they serve any cooling or similar purpose? How much heat's coming out of there in the course of a slow Urban run, traffic lights and constantly going up & down the box.

3: the highest point of rust I see is by the NS wiper mount, there appears to be a rusty tell-tale there, but that might be all there is.

4: how many panels does it meet at the base, ie the rear channel of the engine bay and how far does the rot go at that point? If its spread far enough, might you need to have the lump out?

5: it'd be interesting to take an angle-grinder to another T1, rotten or otherwise, to see how that area is constructed if the rot's spread far enough to merit that sort of investigation

6: the contours for the Drain Channel and/or Windscreen will be the problem, but if you only need the former (at the top of the engine bay), maybe you might be able to use something like the side channel from from a bolt on wing allied to a flat section of steel, in much the same way as I did my bit of sub-structure

I once visited this place, many moons ago, and it seemed really well run, albeit they had very little space given over to stripped or partially stripped vehicles; most of it was inside on the shelves. Give em a shout, see if they've got anything suitable or if they're expecting a T1 in anytime soon. https://www.vanspares.co.uk/