Tuesday, August 30, 2011

That's Gangsta





OK PPL, here's the correct way to do a brown Mercedes. Two tone white on brown green metallic, little Euro bumpers and ... Daytons?
Edit:
I'm red-green color blind, which provides some entertainment to others. 
William (http://graphemica.com/) has been so kind as to provide an image of what I actually see, so you can see what it's like to be color blind.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Turret Lathe for < 1k

I'm always looking for an engine lathe or turret lathe or a lathe that can do engine sized work. A turret lathe has a rotating turret with any number of tools to swing into position. This is mostly for manufacturing where tooling changes would slow down the production line. So a turret could be set up to drill, bore, face and part a piece without a single change. One-off parts don't really require that kind of efficiency, but nobody would complain about not having to change tools all the time.

http://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/tls/2537936010.html


Thursday, August 18, 2011

A site after my heart

It's just a list of old rusty trucks for sale. Nothing local, but some really nice stuff that you don't see often. Or I don't see often anyhow.
How purty is that.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Good example of 280SE AMG

Here's a nice but slightly rusty example of a W116 280SE with some AMG modifications. The trunk lid gets a flush mounted wing, and the front air dam is replaced with a larger one that reaches much lower and has a lip kind of like a splitter. There's no AMG badge on the trunk, and I don't think AMG did anything with the 280SE. These parts are probably from the AMG 6.9 program. Lorinser also had W116 parts, but also only did work on 6.9s I think. Hopefully we can restore the euro bumpers to their former glory. Also for reference here is the rear lower quarter panel and areas around the rear which are being repaired.
Nice rear wing
With AMG air dam
Factory air dam
nice


I don't think AMG had an engine tuning program for the M110. It doesn't make much sense to add power to that engine without changing the transmission.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Gyrocam + ZX10R + Nordschleife


Annoying music stops shortly after things get going.  The gyrocam works really well.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

C126 Mercedes Resto






















I just pulled this one off the street. It's a 1985 500 SEC, euro spec with the M117 V8 engine, aluminum hood and trunk. It looks pretty bad, but there actually wasn't much wrong with it until I got it home and broke the driver's side window. The door dent put too much pressure on the window, which got stuck, then exploded spectacularly. That will be expensive. Also expensive is the grille, which can't be found for less than $400 anywhere. There are a few mechanical problems: high idle, a transmission mount is worn out or broken, it needs new brakes and shocks all around, the lower radiator hose fitting is leaking. God knows what else. It will have to wait until the W116 mentioned before is finished and prepped for paint. For the meantime it's sitting as far away from other moving vehicles as possible, because I find these are magnets for uninsured drivers, and insurance companies won't fix them anyway. Nothing like rarity to make it a target for morons. Kind of like the time I ran into our 300E. It just appeared in the rear-view as I was backing up. Just kind of jumped up behind me. That's the only time I've ever hit a parked car. So, never park these on the street.

Singer Porsche


London riots: Fiery happy Miata


Friday, August 5, 2011

Mercedes Benz C126 Coupé Development

On Wednesday, I became the owner of a 1985 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEC.  It is another European grey-market vehicle like the W116 I picked up last fall. I may take before/after pictures, but the after could take a while.





Rowan Atkinson's UK Top Gear lap

I've been waiting patiently to see this episode, but really just want to see Rowan's antics on the track.



 Unfortunately today he shunted his rare McLaren F1 just outside of Cambridge and suffered a minor shoulder injury.
http://www.eveningstar.co.uk/news/update_tv_star_rowan_atkinson_in_hospital_following_cambridgeshire_crash_1_985153

July Coffee & Classics photos