I have a 1958 220S with hydrack transmission. It needs a new clutch and I'm considering converting the car to a standard manual transmission. I'm looking for information on what this might do to the value of the car.

Hi,
does anyone have a paper insert labelled 220S for the tyre pressure gauge? I would be interested in a copy.
Regards
Ingemar Berndtsson

After a lot of chasing dead end theories my lack of power turned out to be exhaust gas leaking into the intake manifold. The alloy casting had numerous leaks which were impossible to get at. My solution was to blank off the intake with an aluminum plate. In addition I filled the void in the intake with epoxy. I admit this is all crude and non origonal but the car really runs like a 100hp rocket and ticks over at idle like a watch.

Is this a common problem?

I have a 1960 Mercedes-Benz 220 SE Ponton Convertible that was damaged in the rear. A tree crushed the driver's rear quarter panel and trunk lid. I am having a hard time finding parts to repair the damage. I was wondering if a 220 SE coupe ponton rear clip would work if I could find one . If anyone knows where I could find these parts please contact me at chuckmarter@cox.net.

(337)233-5593
(337)852-1660

Hello Chuck- Sorry to hear about your misfortune- it's always particularly tragic when one of our beloved (and rare!) old M-B's suffers such a fate. Yes, the coupe rear clip can be modified to fit on a cabrio. It takes a bit of sheet metal work at the top of the fenders and rear valence panel where the rear window of the coupe was originally located, but it is doable. Your problem will be finding a suitable donor car that is not totally rusted beyond sensible restoration. Any 1955-60 220S or SE will work. The trunk lid from any ponton 220S or SE will fit- the coupe and carrio used the same deck lid as the sedans. Good luck.

On a related subject- I need a Hella foglamp lens for my ponton 220SE. Also need an owners manual, a WORKING horn, and the metal shield that covers the electric fuel pump. Anyone got these?

I need to repair wiring to the glow plug switch on 1962 ponton. does anyone have this information?

I am looking for a cyl head for my car. It is a 186 010 10 20. Anyone know where I can get a good used one? Thanks

HELLO SIRS!!
I am replacing the steering tie rods on my 61 190db. Some rogue Tow Truck driver pulled the car with hooks to the tie rods. They were bent beyond repair.
So I was wondering if anyone has experience with this? Do I have to use ones off of a Ponton or could I use tie rods off of a different car? I saw some late model Mercedes tie rods that look exactly the same as the Pontons
Thanks, Angus

Pontons have a very long tie rod unique to that car. You need to get another,Because they are also thin wall tube,consider buying a new set as an assembly from the classic center .
Mine also had one damaged the same way,so the tow truck driver ran a wire rope around the ponton unit and destroyed the front bumper and front splash panel too.

Terry Ryker,go to Mercedessource.com They have quick glow plug kits which include new wiring and the latrer style glow plugs which fit your car. All mercedes Diesels up until 1990 use the same set up in one way or another,including the Ssang Yong Diesels built in korea( Merecedes 601 made as a 611 )

Evening, I'm in the process of dismantling a complete '57 220S. I want to sell the complete intake and exhaust with carburetors to someone who needs them to convert a 220se over from injection. What else do I need to include for the customer. I was already going to include the fuel pump but is the exhaust header the same? And will they need the distributor or is the injected distributor the same? Thank you for your time ... Frank

you really need the complete engine.A M180 manifold will not flow correctly on a M127 head,It makes them very sluggish.(been there ,done that and learned from my mistake)
.Theres no provison for a block mounted fuel pump ,so you need to fit a facet pump on the rear where the injection pump would fit. You also need thye complete linkage for the acelerator from the firewall arm forward. if the SE car is automatic ( W111) you need to reorganise the idle speed increaser too.
If it's a ponton 220SE it's far too rare to swap in carbs (1700 produced roughly) .Why not just fix the injection and take advantage of the 30%extra horsepower?

OK GUYS, HERE IS A DEAL FOR YOU, I JUST SPOTTED IT ON EBAY, IF I DIDN'T ALREADY HAVE SO MANY PROJECTS SITTING AROUND I WOULD JUMP ON IT, I JUST HOPE ONE OF MY FELLOW PON TON FANS CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS CAR, GUY OBVIOUSLY DOESN'T KNOW WHAT HE HAS!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...m&item=330337862629

Gents,
My 190SL restoration progresses slowly. I have the chassis and floor boards reassembled and am painting the rear axle and front suspension assembly. I have read that the bottom of the 190SL was originally just primed with a gray, the suspension is semigloss black as is the engine compartment. My question is where to meet the engine compartment black with the bottom grey? I assume the firewall is black as are the frame assembly members that run through the firewall. Does anybody know what the original paint looked like?

Rocky

Are you sure they were primer underneath?. Daimler used Red oxide a lot in those days and I suspect it may have been grey enamel under the cars( sedans had grey inside under the carpet/mats and in areas not seen) . Looking at workshop manual pictures it appears the color difference is about the point where the firewall panel attaches to the sloping part of the foot board. ponton sedans seem to body color all over and it would be strange to do the roadsters differently .

The 190SL group sells a book that says the bottom was grey primer, but you make a good point in that it probably varied between 55 and 63. Mine is a 57. I hope others will chime in here, but I guess the silver lining is that a wide variance could make my best WAG close to authentic.