I briefly had the Merc out after dark yesterday and it was very obvious that something was far amiss with the headlight aim.
Didn't take long to find out why today.
As with many things on the Mercedes W123/S123 the headlamp beam height adjustment control is operated by vacuum...and that hose you see there should be attached to the nearside headlight height adjuster. I'm guessing I knocked it off when I pulled the cover off a couple of weeks ago. With it reattached the beam adjusters did their thing and the beam height looks more or less right now.
I did make another discovery of something on this car today which again made me go "hey, that's a really smart idea..." which seems to be something of a running theme.
Normally the bonnet opens this far. Which is better than on a lot of cars. Plus sprung hinges mean there's no faffing about with bonnet props.
I also appreciate that the latch is buried up behind the grill as well so it's near impossible to catch your head on it. The bonnet sits high enough that even the grill hanging down doesn't get in the way.
However if you press this one little catch down on the offside hinge...
The bonnet then swings all the way back to vertical (and equally importantly, latches there).
This takes it completely out of the way and I'm pretty sure would even give you ample room to get in with an engine hoist if you needed to.
It's a feature that on 98% of the cars probably never got used even once after they left the showroom, yet the design and engineering team saw it as helpful enough for maintenance that they included it. On behalf of mechanics and hobbiests the world over, if you were one of the folks on that team, we thank you.
While doing a lighting check I did notice for the first time something that this car *doesn't* have which surprised me though.
Indicator side repeaters. If memory serves it was 1986 that they became mandatory on new cars, so being a 1986 car this must be one of the last not to have them fitted - though it's worth mentioning there that this was the last year this model was made (with the saloon having been discontinued a year earlier in 1985) so they likely never got them.
I had TPA out for a run down Dunstable way today, mainly because I remembered there being a set of roadworks down there which tends to cause quite a queue and the Merc gets warmer than I really like in traffic...so was an obvious choice.
Ever since I changed the dynastart belts they have been quite noisy. Originally I'd just put this down to them needing to bed in...but after a few hundred miles they're still making a din.
Looking closer I think I can see why. The inboard one isn't sitting properly.
Same story on the lower pulley.
My theory is that it's a bit too tight so is getting pulled down too far into the valley on the pulley. Now I've spotted that should be quick enough to resolve. Hopefully once I've shuffled shims around a bit the belts will quiet down a bit.
In other news the 3/8" to 1/4" adaptors turned up so I could finish the air line installation work.
Doesn't really look much different to the last picture, but this is actually now all hooked up and working properly.
We did initially have one small leak at this join. This is why I use leak detector spray as I'd never have found it otherwise.
I had just been a bit too stingy with the PTFE tape it seemed as on take two it sealed perfectly without any issues. I've left the system charged and will see if we've lost all the air by morning. I need to do a test to see how far I can reach with this and my existing extension (the yellow hose you've seen previously). I'm hoping that I will be able to get to the whole driveway and can just ditch the annoying plastic coily one which seems to exist for the sole purpose of getting itself tangled around everything and smacking me in the face when it comes free.
Only task left on the air system until I call it good will be wiring in the power switch.
The socket this is connected to is basically inaccessible (it's behind the tank) so is a pain to get to, but I obviously wanted a way to shut it off. I went for an industrial style switch as it was cheaper than an equivalent IP rated double pole rocker switch, which I wanted because I've had issues with dust and grime getting into none IP rated switches before. Plus I can just wipe this down if I get it covered in oily gunk, which will no doubt happen at some point.
Once that's wired up I'm calling it done for now. Few little bits and pieces to do to optimise things (like replacing that flexible line from the receiver to the regulator with rigid line) but it will be absolutely usable then.
