June 1999 

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I've finally finished polishing the body today.  I got some help from two friends who volunteered to help me bring out the shine from the paint.  These friends run a small auto paint/body repair shop, so I trust that they know what they're doing.

We start by sanding a few remaining brown overspray (note:  the PO had her garage painted and the car was covered with brown mist because of that).

After all the overspray was removed, we continued with 3M Medium Cut Rubbing compound.  This was applied using a foam pad and an orbital.  The rubbing compound allowed to dry to a haze before it was buffed out using some old cotton underwear.

When the rubbing compound was buffed out, a coat of 3M Imperial Hand Glaze was then applied and buffed  by hand.

The finish was then sealed with regular Turtle Wax one-step wax.  It would have been better if we used straight Carnauba wax, but I didn't have any at hand, so we'll do this again soon.

With the whole car clean and shiny, the bad cracked paint of the trunk lid is now more evident that ever.  I guess a paint job will be in order before this restoration is completed.

I also polished out the chome bumpers using Turtle Wax Chrome Polish.  With everything nice and shiny, I should have taken a picture... but I don't have film.

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Any car will not be safe to drive without rear view mirrors.  This particular 280S is missing its inside rear view mirror.  All that is left is the bracket that holds the mirror to the roof.

I could not locate a store that carries an inside rear-view mirror for a W108, so I figured I'll get something to work in the meantime.  I found a cheap generic Taiwanese inside rear-view mirror at Ace Hardware, it looked like it would work, so for a few pesos I bought it.

I planned to use the original MB bracket and pop the bracket's 'ball' into the mirror's 'socket'.  The problem was the MB's ball was too large for the mirror's socket -- after some hacking and filing (on the generic mirror, not the bracket), I was able to get the mirror to attach to the MB bracket.  Although its a little loose, but its adjustable and it does hold.  That'll do for now.

I also used a clip-on rear view mirror 'extender' so I get a better field of view.

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My objective today was to get the car roadworthy today so I can get it to pass inspection and get it registered.   I had a short list of things remaining:  Headlight, Horn, Turn-signals.

Headlight
I already bought headlight bulbs but it was 90/110 watts and was too much for the stock wiring.  Roads here in Manila is very bad and street lights do not do a good job of illuminating the road.  In order to use the high-wattage bulbs withough burning up old wires, I used an aftermarket relay-kit.

This kit has four relays, fuses, all the necessary plugs and sockets, and an adequate length of wire.  Installation was straightforward.  It required the removal of the headlight clusters, unplugging the headlight socket, fishing the wiring through the headlight 'bucket' , finding a suitable mounting spot for the relays (I mounted them on the radiator support), and hooking it up directly to the battery.

It was suggested that the power supply be taken from the alternator's output connection.  However, I didn't do this.

Horn
The stock MB horn was missing, so I bought a pair of  Bosch Europa Supertone horns.  These were mounted on a verical bar in front of the radiator.  Care was taken so the grill does not hit the horns when the hood was closed.  I used a relay and tapped the power directly from the battery.

Note:  MB horns are switched to ground, meaning when you press the horn ring, it actually closes the circuit by connecting the horn lead to ground.

Turnsignals
The turnsignals on my car would not stay on unless you hold the turn switch.  This was pretty annoying since you'd have to turn with one hand while holding the turn switch.   I was able to fix this by removing the rubber cover and removing two screws.  With the screws removed, I was able to pull the combination turn signal switch away from the steering column.

I fixed the switch by using a small round file and removing some material on the switch.  There's a groove where two guide pins go and over time, these wear down.  Eventually, the groove would flatten out and the switch will not hold.  All I did was to remove enough material so that the pin would 'catch' on the groove.

At this point, the only things not functioning on the car is the fog lamps, the radio, and the air-conditioning.  These are not required for the car to pass inspection, so I should be ok -- fingers crossed.

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I dropped off the car at the shop today to get the airconditioning fixed.  They told me to come back after a few days.

The car now has air conditining!  They had to vacuum and clean the AC lines, replace the Compressor's magnetic clutch, replace the dryer and the expansion valve.  An electric fan was added to the front of the radiator.  The fan would automatically turn on together with the air-conditioner.

I took the car today to the Land Transportation Office (LTO) to get it inspected and registered.  The car passed the technical inspection however I still have problems with the registration papers.  The latest registration certificate that I have for the car was for 1972.  The LTO here is not fully computerized and they have to rely on paper records.  The LTO office in Manila does not have the records, so I have to go to San Fernando, Pampanga to look for the papers.

On the way home the airconditioning conked out.  On a very hot day, it was just terribly unpleasant.  I drove straight to the shop that worked on the airconditioner and left it there for the day.

They had to replace the blower switch.

The speedometer cable is broken.  This was replaced with a new one and everything is working again.  The needle is steady and the odometer/trip meter works well.

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