European News

I took the 6.3 to Essen last Friday.
Opportunity to try it out at the German Autobahn.
Nearly topping 120 mph and still 500 rpm left.
What a car.
Werner
Antwerp, Belgium

Great picture Werner, hope you weren't concentrating on taking it yourself[:D][:D][:D].
Art

Sure No, my father took the picture.
Question, the car runs very good at speed. The only thing which is rather "disturbing" is the wind noise.
I already put extra covers under the hood and under the carpets inside.
I think the noise is coming mostly from the doors. Can this be made better?

Werner

i've seen 118 mph in mine on the 'autobahn' on the way to Queensland...[;)]

I also found it very stable at speed. My wind noise was worn door seals i think.

Kai

1971 6.3 - #5417 -
(LPG)
1982 230E - W123 (M102)

There are so many rubbers around a W109 door it could any of them,but generally the small 1/4 light windows are sometimes either leaking air or not closing 100%.
My old 3.5 had all original rubbers and dead quiet at high speed .But all the rubbers were almost as new.
a new set of door rubbers is easily available m=but make sure you get All of them,including the pillar rubbers which close off against the inner door cards.

...There are old cars,and then there are Classics..(Mercedes Benz Ad. 1999)

having replaced my drivers door rubber i hate the fact it doesnt shut nicely anymore due to the resistance of the new rubber. (factory part used)

Did i do something wrong?

1971 6.3 - #5417 -
(LPG)
1982 230E - W123 (M102)

Kai,
What do you mean by "it doesn't shut nicely"?
Art

Art,

It now needs two attempts unless shut firmly. Prior to replacing the seal it would shut under it's own weight with the typical solid 'thunk' they are renowned for. (the other three doors shut like that.)

I have been waiting for it to bed in a bit and seat nicely but it has never improved. Could be my hinge adjustment i guess? i think it was installed right, there's no trick to it is there?





1971 6.3 - #5417 -
(LPG)
1982 230E - W123 (M102)

Kai,
If the gaps are OK and the door sits flush, your hinges and lock should be right. It is common enough when the car has good door seals to have to push it a bit because you are compressing air when you close it with the other doors closed. Is it the same when you have one of the other doors open?
Art

The seals of the doors were all replaced.
I also had to replace the quarter windows because the originals were beyond repair because of rust.
I think this is the cause for the noise.

Werner

Werner,
Concerning the new 1/4 windows, I call them "vent windows"; if you used new rubber gaskets they should be silent. If you replaced the door rubbers and you have a little wind noise; I'd quess the door latch should be slightly adjusted, just a tiny bit. This will make a tighter seal.

Kai,
If a door bounces back, even once, the latch has moved. Take a look at the latch. Look for a difference in paint fading or a slight tell tale sign of a wear mark where the latch and it's spacer / shim, moved. This happened to us once. It was caused by a tremendous 1/4 mile launch. (NO KIDDING). The engine torque, torqued the whole frame enough to move the latch. I couldn't find what was wrong. Larry, our Pro, found it and fixed it, in less than five minutes.
All of that written; if , once closed, it's quit, I wouldn't touch it. I would just get used to closing it a little more firmer.
Our untouched 6.3's doors close differently than restored 6.3s. Old / original rubber gaskets are just plain dead. You don't need as much pressure to close the door. It sounds different as well. Fresh rubber has a thunk sound. With old rubber, it sounds like a new Chevy door when closing. (Nothing against Chevs, we drive them as well.)

The quarter vents can be really annoying. You could check the source of the noise by taping them over from the outside and going for a drive.
The tension on the catch is adjustable via the ball and socket assembly inside the door panel, which may help if the seals are OK but the clearances are not perfect.

Regards

Michael Davies

I was reading this old post and came across Dan's add about closing after hard launch. After running my 109 at an auto cross (recently assembled car with doors off) I had to re-align all doors. In addition, we had also replaced all door seals/window seals/sunroof, etc. Found that the doors closed effortless if I left the sunroof, vent window or whatever open abit to allow the compression to escape. Initially we blamed the 'close it twice' on the latches/alignment. Additionally, an often over-looked item is the front and rear glass seals leaking air -common problem.

#5081

I have see this newfound issue closing trunklids when replacing the rubber seal..even after taking great pains to install the new rubber identically to the factory seal.
I always blemed it on the newness of the seal..after about 5 years things seemed better.
Mike