1969 Mercedes 200. Because they said it couldn't be done

mazdeuce - Seth said:

I'm not sure how I missed the huge family arriving update, but I caught it this time and I have to say, it's one of my favorite thread updates of all time. Not just this thread, but any thread.

And tell Mrs. Hungary that her wagon is dope. I may be old but I still know my superlatives.

(I miss the old "Laugh" emojis)

Thanks man!  I've been following your COE build.  I'm about 10-pages behind the latest and greatest,  but Ferdinand is looking great!  (well,like you said:  the paint photographs well)

Cotton said:

Great thread,  I’ve been following since the beginning and really enjoy it.  Cute kitten!  We have four dogs and six cats,  so have you beat.  

Good god man, how do you do it?

Give us some time.  We'll catch up to ya   I saw this guy on the way to get my hair cut, but Mrs. Hungary put her foot down





 

In reply to java230 :

Thanks man.  You know, one of these days I'm going to have to remember to un-follow Northwest Overland on the book of faces.  That Stampede Pass rescue call a while back had me a bit homesick

That and we've been having some washington-ish weather lately.  It rained a couple times last week, which is great until it dries and your car is mud






That last picture really doesn't do it justice.  I rolled down Mrs. Hungary's window and there was a little wall of dirt on the seal about 2-fingers high

Good times
 

Rain? Nutty!! 

We will be here when you want ot come back and play in the snow and rain :D

In reply to java230 :

It gets crazier than that!  This morning, I actually moved my heater levers to the hot side...

Remember that second fan I was looking for all those months ago?  Now might be a good time to find it again and maybe figure out how to work it.  It's getting cold and the current fan only blows cold air.

Ah good times.

Drift day!

Weeeeeeeeeellllll, I say "day" but it was really just a couple hours and a LOT of waiting. 

To start, we got there super early.  The event was supposed to start at two, and we got there at one (on purpose) they introduced the drivers around 2:30 and the actual driving started sometime after that.  We watched 4 runs and the eldest asked if we could go home.  Meh, no problem.  We got to see some sideways car action, hear the anti-lag cannon fire, and there was even a V8 powered 350Z on the course.  Most importantly, it was free!!!  We were all pretty happy though.  Especially the youngest who is now driving his hotwheels cars sideways and making screeching sounds on our obligatory Ikea, city-play rugs.  You know the type:

The eldest did say he would have preferred to see all the cars go at once.  Cant argue there

Looking at the event roster online, I decided I was going to vote for this guy named "Ali Makhseed" who was driving a 2jz powered Toyota GT86.  I like the GT86, the 2JZ would be a cool swap.  Why not?


https://www.youtube.com/embed/SuHiwubMf7w

But when we arrived, the roster list included a "female wild card"  (this is where I get excited )

A few years back I was looking for entertainment on a long flight and one of the video options was a documentary about a female Palestinian racing team.  It was pretty good, and overall I remember being impressed with all they had to go through in order to practice, race, and be competitive (I think one of the girls got shot in the leg by a rubber bullet at one of the practice areas... another's family decided not to move out of a dilapidated house, choosing to buy an E46 BMW for the girl instead...)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/UpVsgeuPNjQ


anyhoo, it turns out that the "Female Wild Card" was one of the girls featured in that documentary!  "Mrs. Noor Daoud". 

So yeah, that gave me someone to root for that I was actually interested in!   I have no idea how she did overall (the results page doesn't have her name listed) but it was cool to see her run. 

So yeah.  Enough of that, here's a few pictures:

In all honesty, I was glad to leave early.  The parking lot was nothing more than a dirt lot with a few paths for cars to drive down.  I did NOT want to be anywhere near that place when this thing let out.     I really wish they had a CCTV recording uploaded to youtube or something.  I bet that lot was a sight to see after an event like this

Good times.
 

Very Cool! I think I have seen that documentary (or maybe a Vice episode?) on those ladies.

Oh no, not a vice episode!  Isn't that a show about drug lords in Central America? 

On the automotive side, I swear I'm still doing things.  They just haven't been very post/picture worthy

- I've managed to change the language in the wife's car from Japanese to English (hey, no easy task!).  After that I was able to remove the limiter from her cargo hatch (the hatch would only open half way).  However the voice in the car is still in japanese and says "Cargo-net sonyu seretimasen" every time we turn the car on.

- The headlight in my car has been replaced.  It turns out that NO other stores carry automotive light bulbs and I had to travel to that "automotive mecca" place in Shuwaikh (about 40 minutes north) to get a headlight.  it was a whoppin $6.60 and traffic was so bad that I was able to park in the right lane, buy the light bulb, and get back in the car before traffic moved again.

- I've officially searched the world over for a "heat mass" (as I've learned it's called in Europe) for my carb.  We'd call it a choke coil, or a bimetalic strip, but short story long I decided to try my luck with SU carb parts and there's a guy names "Dana" who runs the SUCarbs.com site.  He also works on Zenith Stromberg carbs and is trying to help me out.  Apparently 90% of the carb problems people have with the ZS carbs is because of the cold start circuit.  So fingers crossed (Mezzanine, this is all for you by the way.  I spent more than a little time trying to work out how I was going to make that injection swap happen, and....  Well...  fixing the carb is the more reasonable way.).  It's been getting a bit colder in the mornings (like 50deg maybe?) and I'm worried about cold starting becoming an issue.

(Below is photographic proof that I at least looked at my FI stuff )

The Megasquirt is a MS3, the ITB's are from a GSXR 750.  both were destined for the Alfa in the days before I found cheap eatons.  The TBI is from an Iron Duke I think (Pontiac 2-liter?).  I don't think it'll work in sidedraft config as it was originally mounted in a downdraft config.  It's the air filter mounting I'm worried about...  Might be a non issue.

Either way.  If it turns out to be a possibility, a $60 heat mass is cheaper than a $150 TBI fuel pump

Good times

Lets knock the dust off this thread, shall we?

The car's been great.  A few problems here and there but with the new position in the office, there isn't a lot of time to post about them.  I'm going to try to play catchup (not all at once).

First though:

Free Kuwait???

I'll take it!



Hello Saddam?  I think I have something you might be interested in.
 

This school bus is proof that Starfleet academy exists, and I've wasted my life...

A while back my brake master cylinder gave up the ghost.  It worked 10% of the time which was enough to get me home.  Good thing too because that trip started with a screw driver (no really!  I had to jump my starter with a screw driver).  Got her home and parked her for a couple weeks until the master cylinder I ordered online arrived.

The old one looks like this (with the reservoir removed)

The new one looks like this (with the old reservoir on it)

Together they look like this:


The new one didn't even have the same foot print as the new one...




I tried to make the guts from one work in the other, but that didn't work:





So I shelved the whole thing.

It wasnt too much of a big deal, but it definitely made life difficult.  Especially since Mrs Hugary's car decided to do this:

 

A coil you say?  Why would that drive you crazy?

Apparently my screen shot of the fault list has been lost to time.  Off the top of my head I remember reports of every cylinder BUT #4 misfiring.  MAF sensor fault, both pre-cat o2 sensors faulting, cat efficiency faults, thermostat fault, the works. 

Since I was in there, I threw in the new cabin air filter and K&N filters I had:


 

Wait.  That's not a "cabin air filter"...

Of course, I had my helpers:


Mrs. Hungary even joined in:


 

In the end it was just the #2 coil that was dead, and a bad MAF.  The coil has been changed, the MAF is on the "to do" list.  Our budget needs to recover a bit after all these parts orders that only half work

Eventually though, we DID get the right cabin filter!



And I was able to figure out why nothing master cylinder related fit my Mercedes.  I took the part numbers I could find on the booster and the master cylinder and was able to track things down to a "Chevrolet Epica"

That led to a lot of laughter from shop owners as I walked all over this place:






The GM dealership didn't have anything, none of the GM parts guys had anything, I really went door to door through a place the size of a small (automotive) city only to strike completely out.  In the end I went to a tire guy Zsolt uses and asked him if he could chase things down.  2-days and 20-kuwaiti dinar later I was back in business.   I kicked him 5kd for his work and promised to be back next time I needed anything

Good times

(the new master cylinder I got had all it's lines cut.  I didn't ask questions.  The starter was nothing more than a corroded wire wrapped around a terminal.  I crimped on a new terminal lug)

We're still unpacking...

And playing with moving boxes

eh, I'll pass.

Kuwait National day today!  

Going for a cruise, wish me luck eh!

Well the cruise was a bust...

I was warned not to go out in the car by almost everybody I know.  The Kuwaitis celebrate their independence and liberation by loading up with squirt guns and water balloons and duke it out in the streets.  Open windows are a target for pedestrians, and pedestrians are a target for passengers driving by.  The only rules are, there are no rules!  I saw people loading up ALL DAY with BOXES upon BOXES of water balloons and super soakers.  I had high hopes for some serious water based carnage!!!!

aaaaaaaand I got squirted by exactly two people   and it wasnt even enough to necessitate the use of my windshield wipers.

Ah well, more decorations and another attempt next year then :)

Also, I have so many questions for this guy...

I mean that hoist...  Did you put it in there for camels or did it just come in handy for that one?

^That may be one of the greatest photos in Kuwaiti history.

Hungary Bill said:

Also, I have so many questions for this guy...

 

I mean that hoist...  Did you put it in there for camels or did it just come in handy for that one?

I guess that's who you call when your camel breaks down on the side of the road?

would that make it a "camel tow"? 

Hungary Bill said:

would that make it a "camel tow"? 

Well played, sir.  Slow clap for you.

Hungary Bill said:

would that make it a "camel tow"? 

bravo.  

Well, my radiator sprung a leak.  I first noticed some dripp-age at a car show (more on that later) and then noticed my coolant temperature needle rising and falling on the way home from work the next day.  There's a store not too far from the base entrance so I was able to make it to a parking spot about the same time my needle was rising towards the 100-deg C mark.

Only the best bottled water for a mercedes ;)

The bottled water got me home where I had a spare radiator, but it wasn't until I got my old radiator out that I noticed the spare one didn't have a provision for the transmission cooler lines.  (then I remembered that this radiator was probably associated with the spare engine I declined, that had a clutch...  dag gum manual transmissions anyways)

Ordering a replacement was my first idea, but there's the time it takes that stuff to get here.  I decided try my luck again with the guy who helped me with my brake master cylinder and wouldnt you know?  For 20kd ($66) he found and repaired three leaks!  (two in the core where the water was coming from, one at the overflow port)

Win!

So that went back in, and out came the fan!  (finally)

One thing we learned from our time in Hungary, is BRING EVERYTHING WITH YOU!!!

Financial and storage reasons aside, there were countless times we needed something super simple but had it turn super difficult because we were out of our element.  Pipe thread adapters, nuts, bolts, nails, you name it.  They all would have been in our junk drawer, but that was half a world away...

In hungary a trip to a big name hardware store was 45 minutes away, and it never failed that whatever you bought wouldnt work/fit/etc.  Same thing with ordering from the US via amazon, etc.  no matter how many times I put my thread pitch gauge on something, or how many times I measured it, it'd STILL take me three tries to get it right.  One time we were trying to buy a hose to make a diaper sprayer and it took us (no joke) 6-months and about $100 for a $7.99 thread adapter...

Learning from that last time, I brought my coffee can this time.

(the coffee can makes all things possible)

And Volvoclearinghouse was right.  This thing runs remarkably cooler with that fan gone.  the AC temps dropped, the car's water temp is staying lower, the engine spins easier...

But my butt dyno isn't reporting any changes, though.  I guess freeing up a couple horses on a 80hp engine is hard to notice :P

Good times.

And the award for the most over-engineered alternator belt tension adjuster is...

(that's it.  Just above where the belts cross)

That is the coolest tensioner I've ever seen, and it makes the whole purchase of this car worth it

So the car show  (it was a couple weeks ago at this point)...

So, there I am.  I got half the day off to go do a "math-ternoon" with the eldest Hungarling at his school so I tossed his car seat in the car and had a nice cruise back home. 

It's starts off simple enough.  There's an old man in the passenger seat of a volvo SUV shouting at me in arabic and I cant tell if he's asking me if the car is for sale, or if he's asking what year the car is.... (this all happens on the highway at highway speeds)

His driver (I later find out this is his son) speaks perfect english and shouts to clarify.  Well I tell him it's not for sale,  he continues with the  "nice car, very beautiful, etc", and we're now slowing all the traffic behind us.  So I say thanks, smile big, and wave and accelerate back up to highway speeds.

Next time he catches up to me on my passenger side and says "take my number, you might change your mind".  (It's a good thing I have electric windows)

So breaking all my rules about cell phones and driving I unlock my phone and try to type in his number and navigate traffic (we're impeding flow again, and surprisingly no one really seems to care).  I get his number wrong the first time.  Traffic is forcing us to split (me ahead of him) but I get it right the second time.

Short story long, he tells me to meet him and some other merc enthusiasts at the Kuwait towers for a car show next saturday.  I'm in

We were the first 7 cars there.  It was neat to watch.  About 4 rich old gentlemen own most of the cars and they have their drivers park them.  One of the rich old gentleman was the guy who owned the dealership that sold us Mrs. Hungary's car (we spotted each other right away).

It wasn't so much of a "car show" as it was "people showing their cars" but some guy from a newspaper came by and interviewed me, that was neat.  the kids were playing all over my car and the photographer thought that was neat, but I can't remember what paper it was or find the pictures online anywhere.  Oh well.

The guy that flagged me down is named "Salaman".  He spent most of his life in Germany and the states (new Jersey?).  He's Kuwaiti and has an AMG SUV of some sort.  We hung out, the kids played, and by the end of the day the place was JAMMIN!  Cars of all sorts pulled up.  Old Skylines (like Kenmeri-ish sort of skylines), American muscle, Z cars, Roadsters, Cobras, a V8 Sand buggy... you name it and there was a group of them.

It was good times.