To truely respect the complexity and technological sophistication of these engines, you have to actually service them yourself. People often write these vehicles off because "they are 30 years old". They couldn't be more wrong. Take one bolt out and 10 more come out of the wood work. You get the picture.

Anyway, this engine smoked rather badly when we picked her up. We decided to put new valve seals on hoping that the fix would be as simple as that. When fitting the seals onto cylinder four, it turns out that the valve guide was broken and that's why it was burning oil. Another thing - cake is delicious, but not the type that was on the valves!

Head is off, and the pain of keeping the timing chain from falling begins. The head has gone to a special shop to get totally rebuit. It took one week and set me back $500 Canadian. By domestic standards, that is outrageous, by Mercedes-Benz standards, a real deal.

No cake for you! A gorgeous shot of the rebuilt head. We are getting ready to add on all the goods and get it ready for the car.

Bruce carefully injecting oil into all of the parts to prevent scarring. Head is a beauty and so is the camshaft. The cams cost $700 a piece incase any of you were interested. We are lucky that there is no marring on the original camshaft.

Head all ready to go back into the car. Again, they did an awesome job on it, looks like the day it drove out of the factory. It should be noted that this car is now officially a non-smoker now. While we were down there, we also did the head gasket. It was intact and had no problems, but as I was saying, while we were down there...

Before.

After. Big improvement, but some cleaning still needs to be done.

Keeping a car like this original is an excellent idea, but some things are best upgraded. We have a 1974 Mercedes-Benz 280 (W114) parts car in our back yard. One thing I really found ironic about this car was the fact that it had an excellent three-point seat belt system for the back passengers, but no head rests. It seems like such a consolation prize. Great! We'll keep you in place during an accident, but your neck is on it's own!

Irony two was the fact that the 200 had head rests for the back passengers, but had the old lap belts only. Another consolation prize. You may break your pelvis during an accident, but your neck will be a-okay!

Anyway, going back to keeping a car original. We kept wondering if we were going to ruin the 200 if the shoulder belts were installed. The conclusion? No. These sedans may have come with lap belts, but they were ALL pre-wired for this belt system upgrade. It made us feel better. Also the fact that we were making it safer if and when we carry a back passenger in the 200.

The 1974 280's back. Juicy seat belts just waiting to be switched!

I hate the clutter of the old lap belts. They have to go for that reason and also the fact that they're unsafe. At least Mercedes-Benz had belts in the back seats, considering a lot of other makers weren't including that in their cars.

There we go! Safe and it looks GREAT! Headrests + shoulder belts = winning combo!

Here are some updated images. We have found some nice hub caps for the car and got a new hood star.

Table of Contents

Page One: Car Story and Preliminary Images
Page Two: Engine Head, Head Gasket, Rear Seatbelt Upgrade and Newer Images -You Are Here-
Page Three: Car Images During Complete Restoration

Please go see our other restoration project, a 1972 Mercedes-Benz 280SE 4.5.