'51 Mercedes-Benz 170S

When halogen bulbs for headlamps first came to market in the early 1970s there were halogen replacements for BA20d lamps. I wish I knew where to find them now, but I don't

In reply to TurnerX19 :

I'm sure that stock got used up ages ago. I'll come up with something!

If I can come up with a secure way to affix H4 bulbs to these housings, I can accomplish it.

The original bulb holder is a press-fit, so I'm thinking I can make my own press-fit H4 holder, with the shield up front.

I'm going to order a wire harness with relays and some bulbs and get to work. I've already formulated a plan in my head.

In reply to Azryael :

You are going to need an adjustable holder for the first try with H4s to figure out the correct location of the bulb fore + aft. It is critical. Forward shield may not be necessary, try it without first. So long as you get the flat cut off on low beam you are OK. On the other hand, the reflector shape may not work well at all, but you won't know until you try it. I am interested in your result! I have recent experience with the halogen upgrade in BA20d lamps, it worked really well, but I do not know how long ago the bulbs were made. Installed after 1991 for sure.

Yes, it's going to be interesting to say the least.

I had plans to bypass the foot dimmer switch, but now I may actually choose to retain and use it. Judging by the way the glass is patterned, it won't have your typical flat cut off as you might expect from the ECE spec headlights on my other two MBs.

I'll snap a photo of the lens later when I get home.

So here's what the lens looks like:

You can see it's not a traditional light pattern.

Not much has been done since I was working on the 190E's radiator project, and now the head gaskets in my 1998 Durango decided to give up the ghost after my dad was driving with a radiator cap that failed allowing coolant to boil off and the truck to overheat!

Once the D is back together, I will continue my search for a donor W123 to donate its drivetrain to the 170 and receive a V8 in return.

Ask him for the engine

yupididit said:

Ask him for the engine

I want the whole car. He had a blue 240, but the motor's long gone. The M110 is too big for this thing without major firewall work.

Matter of fact, he's been trying to get rid of that wagon for quite some time. I remember seeing the ad a year or two ago.

So it's been some time since I've been able to do anything with this car; the parts car deal never happened, and I was busy fixing the Durango.

We're moving shops, so I've gotta make a roller out of my car. I mentioned previously about tossing in a solid rear axle from an S10, as the wheelbase is nearly identical, however, I find myself stumped on best adapting a leaf sprung axle given the shape of the frame in the rear. Before I over complicate matters, I'd like to get the opinions of the experienced champions here as to what the best approach is.

Here are some photos of the rear:

You can see the original diff mount, and the fuel tank sits in that space just behind it; I'd like to keep it there.

I should have snagged some more photos of how the original springs mounted in as well... I'll do that tomorrow. I'm going to look through the manuals I have to see if I can find a diagram of how the stock rear suspension looked, and then perhaps another alternative can be recommended.

So the 170S used an interesting dual-spring setup on the rear axle, and omitted the use of shocks, while the 170V, Va, D, and Da used a single spring with a shock.

Here's a shot from the workshop manual:

All of those parts, including the top spring retainers are gone.

Here's a variation of the same axle, but from a pre-war 170V built in 1936:

The diff itself has one loop for that rear mount in my photos above, and there are two more mounts at the front of the diff. I need to crawl under there and see if mine are even still there... Wouldn't surprise me if they were just cut off.

I need to turn this into a roller ASAP, or risk some buffoon moving it with a forklift and damaging it.

Shop is moving locations, so I need to get it able to roll onto a trailer. I'm still scratching my head at what would be best to hang under there.

In reply to Azryael :

Where's it moving to? 

In reply to yupididit :

East side of 281, off 46 in Spring Branch. It's moving about 6.5 miles. Will be even less convenient to work on now.

Still looking for that house + property... we'll have a shop warming party if that ever actually happens.

What about  Kompressor motor?

I thought about the M111K for a while, but finding an entire manual donor vehicle locally for a reasonable price seems impossible.

My biggest issue is getting the rear suspension sorted. It was a real downer to come to the shop one day and see my car sitting on cinders in the rear, to be informed the rear end had been sold out of my vehicle. Never even had a chance to "buy" it back off the buyer. I mean, who sells someone a car without telling them that parts on it have been sold and are pending removal? I still haven't gotten over it to this day.

My experience with coming up with a rear suspension solution is limited, so that's the biggest hang up at the moment.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I envy those of you who can do as you wish on your properties (erecting shop buildings, spur of the moment home improvements, etc.) as well as live around like-minded members who are always down to work on a project.

If you just want to move it get an old Boat trailer axle and chain it to the frame rails.....

I do that with VW  bugs that do not have a transmission  , 

EDIT , a Dodge front wheel drive Minivan has a n axle in the back and probably a lot of junkyard  FWD cars.....

Azryael said:

In reply to yupididit :

East side of 281, off 46 in Spring Branch. It's moving about 6.5 miles. Will be even less convenient to work on now.

Still looking for that house + property... we'll have a shop warming party if that ever actually happens.

A lot more space? 

In reply to yupididit :

Less, but there will technically be more space as there will be less in it.

I took those Ronals I had and they bolted on up front. They actually don't look half bad on the car. Also pulled my old M117 out and stripped off anything still useful.

I could always weld on a diff case, or fabricate a cradle to bolt a diff up to those three mounting locations, something that's ideally coil sprung, but the original spring perches will likely need some reworking:

Not for the immediate move, but for the finished car, how about a Miata final drive assembly and an Alfetta DeDion tube with coil springs? The original swing axle set was not up to modern cornering speeds, and the car is too light for a good ride with a live axle.

We have plenty of Miata diffs around. Literally plenty... I was looking at trying to bolt up the whole subframe, but it just woulnd't work. Separating the diff from the subframe should be simple enough. Assuming things stay on track over the next few days, I'll head up to the shop and do some figuring.

+1 to strapping it to a boat trailer

We may have a straight trailer axle somewhere too. I kinda wish I had this thing here at the house, as it seems the next few weeks will be perfect to work on it...

Azryael said:

We may have a straight trailer axle somewhere too. I kinda wish I had this thing here at the house, as it seems the next few weeks will be perfect to work on it...

I made sure that the axle was the same width as the front tires so it would be easier to push up the trailer ramps

if all you wanted to do was move it around the shop the VW guys just mounted a giant caster in the center and made it a 3 wheeler !

I mean, if I can rig up the final setup, that would be best.

I also need to find the original key, as what I've discovered since it was last able to be moved, there's a steering lock that's become engaged.

The caster idea isn't a bad one either, though it may pose a problem getting it up on a trailer. That would work best if it was staying in the same building.

Having it rolling around again will hopefully re-energize my efforts to make some real progress.