Having a sunroof is one of the greatest features in a vehicle... Until the day the drains leak and flood the entire car. Contrary to common belief, the sunroof does not make a tight seal with the roof of the car. Rather, there is a water catch pan running around the sunroof with 4 drains in each...

If your heater hoses have not been replaced in recent memory or if you acquired a classic Mercedes-Benz and have no idea when the hoses were replaced, it is a good thing to do. In the case of our 1975 450SL, the hoses are more than likely original and need attention. Most of the hoses are very...

In the last article on replacing the Mercedes-Benz heater valve I discussed two options to get this job done. One was to replace the valve with the new Mercedes “all-in-one” plastic or the option of restoring the original valve. So if your valve is serviceable this article will walk you through...

Over several articles last month entitled “Chill Out” I discussed light restoration and conversion from R12 to R134 refrigerant for on a 1975 Mercedes 450SL. In this article however, we will discuss the removal and installation process of the Mercedes 450SL A6 compressor for either repair work...

The Mercedes-Benz 450SL V8 water pump is very straight forward to remove. More than likely you will be changing your thermostat before the pump, but it is always good to be ready for what ever comes down the road. As with many jobs on our classic Mercedes, it is not difficult, but it is a bit...

If you buy good tools, you’ll likely have many years of faithful service from them. But what if you can’t (or won’t) get good tools? You may choose to fabricate your own for different reasons such as: You’re starting out with DIY repairs and you don’t have an unlimited budget You’re not sure...

The power plug for my Valentine 1 radar detector (which should be the same for an Escort) was missing the locking tab but I dealt with it for a while as it still worked. Eventually the plug itself just failed to supply power so I had to either replace the entire line by buying a replacement from...

Saab indicates a 60k mile replacement interval for the serpentine belt. Often times you can just look at the belt’s ribbed side to see if there are cracks or any missing portions: it’s a sign that it needs to be replaced. Even if it looks great and I’ve confirmed it’s been used over 60k miles I...

In the process of fixing up my Volvo V50, multiple large orders were placed to obtain the parts I needed. Most of these replacements were ordered through FCP Euro for their lifetime warranty. However, a few items were purchased elsewhere on the internet. Not only did FCP Euro have the cheapest...

Have you ever wanted to know how your engine was doing, how long it was going to hold out or what may be leading to a decline in performance?  These are the questions we ask before every endurance race we enter. A race weekend is a significant undertaking and we don’t want to go into one without...