Car Restoration-1985 380SL R107 Restoration- Part 9- Completion?!

[@ronalddean3630]

What a great story! Congrats...it looks really good. Your wife must be ecstatic over it. Please keep the updates coming.

[@FLManGarage]

Thank you! She loves it and drives it all the time 😃

[@lisac4225]

Oh my gosh, she put so much work into it. It’s a beauty and exactly same color as mine except I have the Palomino color interior congratulations labor of love for sure.

[@FLManGarage]

I totally agree!

[@lilibethdoherty295]

My 85 380 SL is doing the same thing , this is the first cold start problem with the car in 39 years. the only things I have relpaced in that time is the Fuel pump , Muffler and Radiator and have never Broken Down.

[@FLManGarage]

Did you replace the fuel accumulator and filter when you did the fuel pump? That solved my cold start issue Thats the only issue in 39 years?? Thats amazing!! I hope to have this r107 for 39 years to come 🙏

[@lilibethdoherty295]

Researching my problem it is most likely a Vacuum leak , I am able to get the car running while pushing the throttles air plate down about 2 MM just to get it running for about three minutes until it idles on its own and warm starts are no problem at all , only cold starts are a issue. But it is idling at only 600 RPM this is not good.

[@FLManGarage]

@@lilibethdoherty295 yes that does sound like a vacuum leak! I have a suspicion mine might also have a leak. I bought a smoke machine but never used it yet. Let me know if you discover your problem!

[@lilibethdoherty295]

WUR is suspect as well the vacuum line going from the top of WUR to Idle Control motor was not sealed to connector so repaired the seal on line with a small zip tie and that helped a lot. I just ordered new Breather tubes for the intake manifold that routes to fuel injectors today.@@FLManGarage

[@matthewstephenbrown]

At least you don't have the random high idle hell I had with my 81. Just restored an 87 560 sl that I daily drive. Rebuilt the heads at Clearwater cylinder.

[@FLManGarage]

How does the 87 drive now??

[@matthewstephenbrown]

@@FLManGarage like new. Have some suspicion stuff left to fix

[@wraithman1870]

When starting a cold car, the cold start injector gives a rich mixture to enable starting. When warmed AND hard to start, the fuel accumulator comes into play. If that is shot, starting can be difficult.

[@FLManGarage]

Yes that is correct! A big problem for me was that a fuel line from the accumulator to the engine bay was leaking. Therefore no pressure would build up

[@matthewstephenbrown]

Idle speed and idle air mix is adjusted with a 3mm Allen in the vertical port coming out of the fuel distributor. Tiny turns. Adjust it until it feels right but remember your starting position just in case.

[@FLManGarage]

I messed with this slightly but was scared to do too much. I honestly dont know if its running rich or lean, so I dont know which way to turn it

[@matthewstephenbrown]

Shift timing - two contributors. 1 change your trans fluid and use Dexcron VI (it's backwards compatible to 3). 2 inspect the vacuum line going to the transmission. 3 linkage behind the fuel distributor if you spread it out also affects when it shifts. Fluid you will see a noticeable difference they are very finicky.

[@FLManGarage]

It does have new fluid and filter, i think its the linkage. When i first got the car, i messed with some linkage to take away excessive slop in the pedal. I didnt know i was messing with the shift points at the same time

[@matthewstephenbrown]

703-868-6149 feel free to ping me I've had four r107's

[@enriquelopez9124]

Awesome job,😊😊😊😊😊

[@FLManGarage]

Thank you! 🙏

[@matthewstephenbrown]

There is a flat washer that acts as a check valve in the fuel distributor that when it goes bad just dumps fuel back into the tank. Had that problem on my 81 380. You can't buy a replacement but you can make one out of flat rubber gasket material. It is NOT an o-ring it is a flat seal.

[@matthewstephenbrown]

Cold start in Florida should not come on

[@FLManGarage]

Thank you! Ill have to check on that!

[@FLManGarage]

Right? Okay I thought the same thing!

[@sophiathe380sl]

Nice work!!

[@FLManGarage]

Thanks fred! How is sophia treating you?

[@sophiathe380sl]

@@FLManGarage Ohh man, loving it. Just came back from a drive with my 9-year old. Wish you lived here so you can join our meetups. We usually get about 25 cars monthly. It's cool to see. Do you have any other projects coming soon?

[@FLManGarage]

@@sophiathe380sl i wish there was some community here for the r107! Yup! My next project involves taking the body from my 1966 chevy c10 truck and putting it on a 2001 tahoe frame!

[@sophiathe380sl]

@@FLManGarage I think there are a good amount of R107s in Florida. I wonder if there are some by you. Put out a feeler. Good luck on that project. You know so much more than I do. I'm barely getting by. haha.

[@FLManGarage]

@@sophiathe380sl ill tell you what! These r107 are a different animal! You would prosper with an old american car! So much easier to work on and parts are 1/10 of the price literally 😂