The 5 litre SLC Rally Cars

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Tue 01 Mar, 2011 12:13 am

Also posted at viewtopic.php?f=75&t=12921 with different replies and additional posts

Back in 2005, I researched and wrote an article for the NSW Mercedes-Benz Club's magazine about the SLCs entered in rally competition from 1977 to 1980. I subsequently posted the article on the now defunct MBC NSW forum where it received something like 13,000 hits. It has also been lifted in part and in full and posted at numerous websites around the world.

Having just posted about meeting Andrew Cowan, one of the drivers of the factory SLC rally cars at viewtopic.php?f=45&t=12300 , I considered I should post my original article about the rally cars on OzBenz.

The 5 litre SLC Rally Cars - researched by Greg Yates - 2005

From the mid 1950s to the mid 1960s Mercedes-Benz cars were seen in rally competition, initially as the legendary 300SL, then the 220SE, the 230SL and finally the 300SE. A period of around twelve years then elapsed before Mercedes-Benz cars were again seen in rallies.

In 1977 a crew comprising Andrew Cowan, Colin Malkin and Mike Broad were victorious in a W123 series 280E in the 18,000km London to Sydney Rally and a similar 280E of Fowkes and O'Gorman came in second. The following year the 280E of Zasada and Krupa finished sixth in the African Safari Rally.

Daimler-Benz realised that their cars had the necessary durability for rallies and that with more power they could achieve further success. While other manufacturers were rallying small to medium sized cars, Daimler-Benz decided that following their experiences with the 280E, the coupe version of their 107 series was the car to use. The "SL" in SLC was supposed to stand for "sports-light" but this was not an accurate description of the long and heavy SLC coupe, at the time the flagship of the Mercedes-Benz range aimed at the upper end of the luxury market. With V8 engines it was however a fast tourer. The fixed roof of the SLC added to the body rigidity of the SL and the superb handling, together with the comfort of the long wheelbase coupe, meant that crews would suffer the minimum of fatigue over long rallies.

The 107 series had been released in 1971 with the 200 horsepower (147kW) 3.5-litre M116 V8 initially as the 350SL 2-seat roadster and then as the 350SLC 5-seat coupe. Subsequently the 225hp (165kW) 4.5-litre M117 V8 was added to the range in the 450SL and 450SLC with the 185hp (136kW) 2.8-litre twin-cam M110 six-cylinder from the 280E added later still. In 1978 a new all-alloy 240 horsepower (177kW) V8 engine of 5,025cc was developed specifically for the rally version of the SLC. Previously all 107 models used engines with alloy cylinder heads on cast iron cylinder blocks. Together with a lightweight aluminium bonnet and boot lid, the new engine also assisted in reducing the substantial weight of the big coupe and the resulting car became known as the 450SLC-5.0. Despite the light alloy block, the 5-litre engine retained the M117 designation and the remainder of the rally version of the 450SLC-5.0 differed little from the standard 450SLC, including the 3-speed torque converter automatic transmission.

The month-long 30,000km 1978 Vuelta America del Sud (Tour of South America) was chosen as the debut event for the SLC as a rally car. A 450SLC crewed by Andrew Cowan and Colin Malkin won the rally with second place going to Zasada and Zembruski also in an SLC, third to Fowkes and Kaiser in a 280E and fourth to Makinen and Todt in the remaining SLC. Only about one third of all the entered cars survived the gruelling rally, however all four SLC and three of the four 280E Mercedes entered completed the event.

For 1979 the 450SLC-5.0 was homologated as a Group 4 rally car with power being increased to around 300hp (220kW) and further weight reductions resulted from stripped-out interiors. Three-speed automatic transmission was retained as it was considered the only Daimler-Benz unit capable of withstanding the torque of the V8. Massive factory support under the leadership of Eric Waxenberger backed the effort behind several entries in the 1979 World Rally Championship. Three each 450SLCs and 280Es were entered in the African Safari Rally and SLCs driven by Bjorn Waldegard and Hannu Mikkola led for much of the event. Mikkola and Hertz finished a close second with Cowan and Syer in a 280E in fourth and Waldegard sixth. Greater success was achieved with a clean sweep of the 5,500km Bandama (Ivory Coast) Rally with four 450SLC-5.0s driven by Mikkola, Waldegard, Cowan and Preston taking positions 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively.

Following the 1978 and 1979 successes, an even greater effort went into the 1980 season. The Portugal Rally resulted in a best of only fourth place for Waldegard and Thorszelius and it was becoming obvious the big SLC was not so suited to the shorter and tighter European rallies. In the 5,300km Safari Rally where success was expected, rear suspension failures saw a best of third place to Vic Preston Junior in a 450SLC-5.0 using the newly introduced four-speed automatic transmission. In the Acropolis Rally the power of the 5 litre SLCs resulted in shredded tyres on the rocky roads with the highest placing again going to Preston this time down in fourteenth place.

For the Rally of Argentina engine output increased to 340hp (250kW) despite a slight reduction in displacement to 4,975cc. The cars became known as a 500SLC and were now homologated as Group 2. Mikkola and Hertz managed second place however two other 500SLCs suffered broken drive shafts. In the Rally of New Zealand Mikkola finished third and Waldegard fifth. In the same event Cowan suffered rear brake problems. Following a call over the radio, a helicopter was soon seen flying with an entire replacement rear axle assembly slung underneath, such was the level of factory support. The final event contested for 1980 was the Ivory Coast Rally better suited to the big fast SLC. The rate of attrition across all entrants was huge including Cowan who crashed. A total of just eleven cars finished with first to Bjorn Waldegard, second to Jorge Recalde and fifth to Vic Preston, all in 500SLCs.

Not entering every event for the 1980 season resulted in Mercedes finishing fourth overall in the championship. Mercedes recruited winning driver Walter Rohl who had been driving for Fiat in preparation for the following year. With the realisation that the SLC was just too big for the European rallies, plans were to use the similar but shorter 500SL for 1981. This was never to eventuate and the 1980 champion was left without a drive for 1981. Daimler-Benz again had a break from motor sport for a few years until the introduction of the W201 series 190E 2.3-16 destined for circuit racing, but that is another story.

The 350 and 450SLC (like the 350 and 450SL) had been discontinued in 1980 with the introduction of the 380 and 500SLC. The 280, 380 and 500SLC were discontinued in 1981 with the introduction of the 126 series 380 and 500SEC coupes. A total of 62,888 SLCs had been manufactured over a ten year period of which just 1,636 were the 450SLC-5.0 and 1,133 were the 500SLC. Both these models are sought by collectors today. Unfortunately they were not sold in Australia. The SLC remains the only fixed roof Mercedes-Benz coupe based on a roadster rather than a sedan. Even today, an SLC in good mechanical condition still gives a mix of good performance, superb handling, comfort and safety, making it is easy to realise why they were a successful rally car. Following the discontinuation of the SLC, the 107 series continued initially as the 280, 380 and 500SL and then finally as the 300, 420, 500 and 560SL until 1989. This eighteen-year run makes the 107 series the longest running series produced by Daimler-Benz.

Post by **Giles** » Tue 01 Mar, 2011 12:27 am

Sensational Greg, your passion is due respect. Keep up the good work.
Regards,
Giles

Post by **AndrewsSL/SEL** » Tue 01 Mar, 2011 6:15 pm

Thanks for the time and effort compiling and writing this article Greg. It makes me want a copy of the SLC rally car rather than the AMG track car.

Cheers

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Tue 01 Mar, 2011 10:15 pm

Thanks Giles and Andrew. I'm pleased you enjoyed reading it.

I found some more photos too.

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Tue 01 Mar, 2011 10:37 pm

Here are some photos supplied by "Oz coz" from his visit to the MB Museum and Classic Centre in Germany. They feature Zasada's SLC which finished 2nd (behind Cowan) in the 1978 Rally of South America, Mikkola's 1979 Ivory Coast winning 450SLC 5.0, and Waldegaard' 1980 Ivory Coast winning 500SLC, the last SLC ever rallied by the factory backed team. This 500SLC is displayed (along with Cowan's London to Sydney winning 280E) in the museum.

Post by **Giles** » Tue 01 Mar, 2011 10:58 pm

So many great pictures, this one for me is a stand out. For a DYI guy I can relate to it.

on the job.jpg

Regards,

Giles

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Wed 02 Mar, 2011 8:01 am

AndrewsSL/SEL wrote:Thanks for the time and effort compiling and writing this article Greg. It makes me want a copy of the SLC rally car rather than the AMG track car.

Cheers

For a some more inspiration, I can highly recommend "The Evolution of Rallying - 50 Years Sideways" by Helmut Deimel (see http://www.dukevideo.com/Cars/DVD/Rally ... g-DVD.aspx ). This must have DVD for any rally enthusiast shows great footage going right back to the early days of rallying and includes finnies, pagodas and SLCs being rallied. It has good commentary accompanied by a great soundtrack.

I found a couple of clips on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1aSu6yvBWs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76SasCz2-KA although you really need to watch the whole film from the beginning to get the whole atmosphere of it. I can watch it over and over again and it gives some idea of just how tough the conditions were in those days particularly in the marathon events.

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Mon 13 Jun, 2011 4:35 pm

Greg in Oz wrote:...I found a couple of clips on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1aSu6yvBWs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76SasCz2-KA although you really need to watch the whole film from the beginning to get the whole atmosphere of it. I can watch it over and over again and it gives some idea of just how tough the conditions were in those days particularly in the marathon events.

Whilst searching for these video clips for discussion in another topic, I noticed they have been removed from YouTube. There is a replacement currently available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w75ag2nhQnM&NR=1

Post by **AMG** » Mon 13 Jun, 2011 6:11 pm

regarding the other post about the rear assembly...
in this vid you can see easily.
The Heli was flying in a subframe assembly with the 350 swingarms - you can also see the one being dragged out

Post by **230Rocket** » Sat 25 Jun, 2011 7:15 pm

Great article, enjoy reading it on a regular basis. Have to say there's nothing more evocative than seeing such fabulous cars being utterly thrashed!

regds
Dean

Post by **T-Modell** » Tue 19 Jul, 2011 5:09 pm

Hi Greg,

to add something to your story ... last week we had a visitor from Oz here and - of course ;-) - we went to the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart. The officially displayed car you've got plenty of photos. But what surprised me, was a glass box in the park house of the museum ... that's what I found there and I remembered your special interest and took some photos:

2011-07-13 - 6709 - Stuttgart Mercedes Museum.jpg

2011-07-13 - 6710 - Stuttgart Mercedes Museum.jpg

2011-07-13 - 6711 - Stuttgart Mercedes Museum.jpg

Best regards
Thomas

P. S.: If you want the photos in the original size (around 4,5 MB each, taken with a Nikon D700), just send me your email.

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Tue 19 Jul, 2011 6:02 pm

Hi Thomas,

Thanks for posting those photos! The description of Andrew Cowan's South American rally winning car has answered a long standing question for me. I had never been able to determine whether this car was a 450SLC 5.0 or a 450SLC (with 4.5 litre engine). Not even Andrew Cowan (who I had the pleasure of meeting when he visited Australia earlier this year - see viewtopic.php?f=45&t=12300 ) could give me a definite answer to this question.

At the time when I wrote my original article about the SLC rally cars, I was of the belief that the SLCs rallied in that 30,000km South American Rally had the new 5 litre engine. Since that time, my discussions with other enthusiasts raised the uncertainty of which engines were used. You have now removed all uncertainty with your photo. Presumably, it was only for the events following the South American event that the 5 litre cars became homologated for competition.

Also nice to see that Andrew Cowan's winning car still exists. That is significant in that the first and last factory-entered SLCs which each won their event, still exist (the last one is Waldegaard's Ivory Coast Rally winning 500SLC on display in the museum). I knew Andrew owned a collection of many of the cars he rallied, however when I spoke to him he confirmed he didn't have any of the Mercedes rally cars (either the numerous SLCs or the London to Sydney winning 280E) in his private collection.

Interesting to read that the SLC driven by Timo Makinen which finished 4th in the South American Rally was navigated by Jean Todt. From photographs, I knew Todt was a member of the SLC rally car team, however I didn't know he was the navigator in Makinen's car for this initial event.

With all this new information, I have slightly edited my original article.

Regards,
Greg

PS. I would appreciate full size files of your photos. I will send you a PM with my email address. Thanks, Greg.

Post by **Mercmad** » Thu 01 Aug, 2013 5:59 pm

rally schmally ,here is my old SLC getting a run around a race track. Sounds good considering all i ever did to it was change the oil once,never even took the plugs out and it's still running great.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgVDeLtsPtA

Post by **tony66au** » Thu 31 Oct, 2013 10:05 pm

As someone who prefers Dirt to Tarmac I have to say that the SLC is such a well balanced car I can now appreciate why they rallied them and having recently put a few miles on the 350SLC in the wet im still grinning like a loon at the memory of the late night shakedown runs this week.

An incredible chassis

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Thu 31 Oct, 2013 11:55 pm

tony66au wrote:As someone who prefers Dirt to Tarmac I have to say that the SLC is such a well balanced car I can now appreciate why they rallied them and having recently put a few miles on the 350SLC in the wet im still grinning like a loon at the memory of the late night shakedown runs this week.

An incredible chassis

I'd have to agree with you Tony, and especially so regarding the 350SLC. My old 350SLC was just so well balanced and forgiving. At the limits of adhesion on any surface it could be progressively transistioned between understeer and oversteer just by using the throttle. Whilst my 500SLC has more power and less weight (especially in the nose due to the use of aluminium in the body and engine block), it feels more nervous and will catch you off-guard with sudden oversteer. I suspect this has a lot to do with the limited slip diff (my 350 had an open diff) and the anti-squat rear suspension that was fitted to all those with the M117 engine. Those such as the 350 with the M116 engine had rear suspension without the anti-squat feature and I believe the resulting squat and negative camber actually aided their rear traction. Presumably MB felt the same as I have noticed the factory 5 litre SLC rally cars had their anti-squat rear axle assemblies replaced with the standard version as fitted to the 350.

In previous posts in this topic I mentioned links to YouTube where some had posted the rally video "The Evolution of Rallying - 50 Years Sideways". Due to copyright issues these have been removed however a search reveals it is currently available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjILuvJ6OQ4 . For any rally fans who have not seen this video, it is a definite must see. Turn up the volume and watch the whole lot if you can. If you are pressed for time, Mercs can be seen throughout with the Fintails featuring regularly and less than 1 minute in you will see the first of them. More Merc action appears at around 9 and a half minutes, several in-car glimpses between about 13:50 and 15:00, and then airborne at around 17:50. The Finnies make several appearances in the minute from 19:00 and a Pagoda also appears in that segment. The 5 litre SLCs described in my above article appear in a chapter starting a little after 49 minutes in.

Post by **tony66au** » Fri 01 Nov, 2013 12:37 am

Thanks for the heads up on the Video, Snatched it from Youtube in MP4 and just bought the DVD so I can enjoy it in the lounge in surround lol

As for the handling on the 350SLC?

The car feels much larger than it actually is and this initially made me cautious but after a hurried U turn with a tad too much loud pedal the resulting drift instantly told me that she was a good girl and far more gracious sideways than expected, I felt that more rather than less throttle was fine and that the car was well capable of some power play and yes I fully agree the open diff makes a big difference in as much as I always felt in control in what is an unfamiliar chassis to me.

Up until my drive that night id only done some figure 8 power slides (In my house paddock) on dirt to keep the old girl's cobwebs cleared and even on wet grass she showed an ability to change direction smoothly and evenly under pressure, I had run the same course in the 116's and held no high hopes on the behavior and attitude front for the SLC so I was really surprised when the hoonery (Basic Rally School exercise) on the fig8 went so smoothly.

Sacrilege I know but she seemed to be very at home doing the circle work and even some J turns once I sorted the hand brake out.

Jen said that next time I set up in the paddock I should Video my fun as I did with the 116's and im inclined to do so.

Tony

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Fri 01 Nov, 2013 12:58 am

tony66au wrote:...Jen said that next time I set up in the paddock I should Video my fun as I did with the 116's and im inclined to do so.

Tony

Looking forward to seeing that video when it happens!

As for circle work in the paddock, the motorkhana that usually happens during the Saturday lunch break in the Classic Rally Club's annual Alpine Classic Rally (see photos at viewtopic.php?f=13&t=15989#p128791 ) is held on a Club member's farm near Bathurst NSW. I have seen the paddock so dug up by the cars that on one occasion the motorkhana course was visible in the Google satellite view of the property.

Post by **tony66au** » Fri 01 Nov, 2013 9:33 am

Greg in Oz wrote:
tony66au wrote:...Jen said that next time I set up in the paddock I should Video my fun as I did with the 116's and im inclined to do so.

Tony
Looking forward to seeing that video when it happens!

As for circle work in the paddock, the motorkhana that usually happens during the Saturday lunch break in the Classic Rally Club's annual Alpine Classic Rally (see photos at viewtopic.php?f=13&t=15989#p128791 ) is held on a Club member's farm near Bathurst NSW. I have seen the paddock so dug up by the cars that on one occasion the motorkhana course was visible in the Google satellite view of the property.

The state of the paddock is pretty sad here too, 10 cubic meters of packing sand for track repair and 20 of red clay have taken up a bit too much room along with the remains of a Garlic crop but she should be level again in a month or so, not to mention some 116's will need to go to their new spot on the property lol but this time im measuring the Fig 8 out properly as I need to teach 2 of my boys about car control (Hendon).

We are also looking for a bigger place where I can set 5 or 10 acres aside for a Khana course "Coz Rally"

Post by **Mercmad** » Sun 10 Nov, 2013 12:11 pm

Greg in Oz wrote:
tony66au wrote:As someone who prefers Dirt to Tarmac I have to say that the SLC is such a well balanced car I can now appreciate why they rallied them and having recently put a few miles on the 350SLC in the wet im still grinning like a loon at the memory of the late night shakedown runs this week.

An incredible chassis

In previous posts in this topic I mentioned links to YouTube where some had posted the rally video "The Evolution of Rallying - 50 Years Sideways". Due to copyright issues these have been removed however a search reveals it is currently available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjILuvJ6OQ4 . For any rally fans who have not seen this video, it is a definite must see. Turn up the volume and watch the whole lot if you can. If you are pressed for time, Mercs can be seen throughout with the Fintails featuring regularly and less than 1 minute in you will see the first of them. More Merc action appears at around 9 and a half minutes, several in-car glimpses between about 13:50 and 15:00, and then airborne at around 17:50. The Finnies make several appearances in the minute from 19:00 and a Pagoda also appears in that segment. The 5 litre SLCs described in my above article appear in a chapter starting a little after 49 minutes in.

That is none other than Eric Waxenberger in SLC camp issuing orders . The woman driving the W112 and winning the Rally of Argentina was Baroness Ewa Marie Rosqvist Von Korf!.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PSJVSxJW2A

Post by **John Green** » Sun 24 Nov, 2013 9:06 pm

A mid engine 500SL, that would have been a handful...

http://benz-books.com/blog/523/the-forg ... rally-car/

Post by **AMG** » Tue 26 Nov, 2013 10:40 pm

tony66au wrote:As someone who prefers Dirt to Tarmac I have to say that the SLC is such a well balanced car I can now appreciate why they rallied them and having recently put a few miles on the 350SLC in the wet im still grinning like a loon at the memory of the late night shakedown runs this week.

An incredible chassis

Of course. But even on hard old 205/65R15's and needing subframe bushes, the SLC is not a bad thing on the bitumen.

Italian tune-up #1
Italian tune-up #2
Italian tune-up #3

Post by **tony66au** » Fri 29 Nov, 2013 6:27 pm

LOL Naughty Joe...

2 and 3 for me, im not quite happy to go near redline yet but the roads here are made for a good throat clearing session especially the Halston road.

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Fri 29 Nov, 2013 10:59 pm

tony66au wrote:LOL Naughty Joe...

2 and 3 for me, im not quite happy to go near redline yet but the roads here are made for a good throat clearing session especially the Halston road.

Tony,

If you haven't explored the region around the redline, you haven't experienced the best that very oversquare 3.5 has to offer. From around 4k to 6.5k (and maybe a little beyond) they are just the sweetest little V8. That is the one thing I miss when comparing my current 500SLC to my old 350SLC. The 5 litre is a very typical V8. Oodles of low and mid range torque but becomes a bit short of breath high in the rev range. The 3.5 on the other hand with its short stroke lacked torque down low but just came alive and sounded great at high RPM.

Post by **AMG** » Sun 01 Dec, 2013 1:26 am

The car doesn't get really really good music until about 500rpm before the valve bounce kicks in at about 8300rpm. It will actually just get past a harmonic at about 7000-7200 where it goes flat and sounds a little bit 'wrong' (it's the exhaust, not the engine) then takes off again, only it sings a very very sweet note until it just runs out of puff round 8000. after that it's just theoretical. Probably not something you'd want to do every day though. Good for keeping the combustion chambers clean though.

BTW, you need to check your tacho readout with a high res digital multimeter or an oscilloscope for accuracy - I found that Lurchs was optimistic by a fair degree the first few times I hit the sound barrier - the needle spun past the redline to where 10,000 should have been (and there is no way it would have made it that far)

Once the tacho is adjusted correctly, then things are a little more realistic / sedate / less ambitious. Actually it's a bit of a letdown. It was fun seeing 9 & 10 even though they are not printed on the dial.

The 3.46:1 LSD rear end helps you easily find the big revs on the highway in 2nd gear a LOT. If you do it in 3rd then you best be looking for pretty lights in your mirrors :whistle:

Post by **John Green** » Sun 01 Dec, 2013 8:01 am

http://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/mer ... 975/199108

Post by **Mercmad** » Sun 01 Dec, 2013 8:22 am

ha ha beat me to it!! you poop the bed or something?

Post by **Mercmad** » Tue 03 Dec, 2013 9:56 pm

http://youtu.be/dnuRk6RXuSk

Post by **tony66au** » Thu 12 Dec, 2013 12:29 pm

Greg in Oz wrote:
tony66au wrote:LOL Naughty Joe...

2 and 3 for me, im not quite happy to go near redline yet but the roads here are made for a good throat clearing session especially the Halston road.
Tony,

If you haven't explored the region around the redline, you haven't experienced the best that very oversquare 3.5 has to offer. From around 4k to 6.5k (and maybe a little beyond) they are just the sweetest little V8. That is the one thing I miss when comparing my current 500SLC to my old 350SLC. The 5 litre is a very typical V8. Oodles of low and mid range torque but becomes a bit short of breath high in the rev range. The 3.5 on the other hand with its short stroke lacked torque down low but just came alive and sounded great at high RPM.

I got close to redline on an uphill pull in 2nd sorting a bit of a cough in the engine and it was that very act that gave me the first poo eating grin behind the wheel of the car as the HP kicked in at revs, I have a few favorite roads around here I can test the car on that are 100 kmh rated, nicely cambered and relatively open and when I do these shakedown runs I "Row the boat" manually holding the car in gear a bit.

I want to do a brake fluid flush before I really give the old girl a nudge and unlike last time Id like to do it in daylight and without rain as I dont fully trust the car and really havent quite come to grips with her handling which has changed with the swap to 14" Bundts and Toyo tyres.

She will get a hard run and improves every time I drive her true to what you guys have mentioned too!

Post by **tony66au** » Thu 12 Dec, 2013 12:48 pm

JoeB wrote:The car doesn't get really really good music until about 500rpm before the valve bounce kicks in at about 8300rpm. It will actually just get past a harmonic at about 7000-7200 where it goes flat and sounds a little bit 'wrong' (it's the exhaust, not the engine) then takes off again, only it sings a very very sweet note until it just runs out of puff round 8000. after that it's just theoretical. Probably not something you'd want to do every day though. Good for keeping the combustion chambers clean though.

BTW, you need to check your tacho readout with a high res digital multimeter or an oscilloscope for accuracy - I found that Lurchs was optimistic by a fair degree the first few times I hit the sound barrier - the needle spun past the redline to where 10,000 should have been (and there is no way it would have made it that far)

Once the tacho is adjusted correctly, then things are a little more realistic / sedate / less ambitious. Actually it's a bit of a letdown. It was fun seeing 9 & 10 even though they are not printed on the dial.

The 3.46:1 LSD rear end helps you easily find the big revs on the highway in 2nd gear a LOT. If you do it in 3rd then you best be looking for pretty lights in your mirrors :whistle:

Im wary of factory Tacho's anyway and the Benz units do seem a bit scary as the revs climb, as you mentioned they do seem to spin past redline without the usual indications of impending doom and im thinking of running an aftermarket Tacho on the "A" pillar, my 350SE had a good extended throat clearing session a while ago and the lack of trust in the Tach stems from that little excursion.

My wet night session in the SLC also gave me a brown undies moment when I found the car had an LSD (I wasnt aware of it) when I did a U turn and the rear end stepped out, my reaction was to nail the throttle and although I couldn't see the RPM my ears told me it was fairly high and the engine supplied more than enough squirt to drive out of the slide (Yet another wide grin).

I have to behave though as there is a huge road blitz on until Feb

Post by **AMG** » Fri 21 Feb, 2014 12:03 pm

Tony, if you have one of the ugly dizzy rotors with the rpm cut-out counterweight, then it won't matter. If you have the early one like mine, then all you have to worry about is the vibration you get at about 7400, which tells you it's time to back off.

The tach originally seemed to be quite accurate - if somewhat bouncy at times, up until about 5000. from there though, it can / does have a tendency to shoot off into outer space just a bit when you get close to the redline. Hence the false 9 & 10,000 rpm readings, as awesomely funny as they looked.
I checked mine with a signal generator on the scope and adjusted the potentiometer screw, to get it reading accurately over a number of fixed frequency inputs - to check the error over the needles full arc swing.

not much you can do about it without a scope and a signal generator though. even though the frequency is labelled on the back, it is not always correct - (could be from a 6 cyl car for example) usually due to the 30+ years of use and the fact that they were not perfectly callibrated ex factory anyway, only being tested at the set frequency at one point.

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Fri 21 Feb, 2014 11:59 pm

In older cars with breaker points for the ignition, unrealistically high tacho readings at high RPM can occur as a result of the points bouncing at high RPM. The bounces are read by the tacho as additional ignition pulses in turn being displayed as a higher engine speed. Point bounce will usually also result in the engine going "off-song" or misfiring at high RPM. "Breakerless" ignition systems (such as that used with the K-Jet engines) and conversions avoided the issue of point bounce and of course the need for periodic replacement of the ignition points and adjustment of the dwell angle and timing.

Another issue, particularly with engines with 8 or more cylinders running a single ignition coil, is the ability of the coil to work at the high frequencies required at high engine speeds. The coil needs to effectively "charge" and "discharge" with every firing pulse and with an engine with more cylinders at high RPM the time available for each charge-discharge cycle is very short. High energy ignition systems with electronic ignition modules driving the coil helped maintain high energy spark at high RPM.

Post by **Djenka018** » Mon 21 Apr, 2014 8:31 pm

There is a (potential) issue of the tacho's bandwidth.

up the revs and frequency goes past the accuracy of the instrument. The distorsion is usually progressive and could cause the sudden jumps.

Much the same like true hifi speakers vs those purchased at Jaycar.

Post by **m48pro69** » Fri 06 Jun, 2014 8:09 am

Hi Greg if you are interested in the rally program cars from Mercedes the SLC 5.0 enjoy http://www.slcracing.eu/en/ http://www.mercedesheritage.com/2011...lc-rally-cars/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIobxa8yI20
:dance:

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Sat 07 Jun, 2014 10:46 pm

I have been following the progress of SLC Racing and the Silver Arrows Racing team for some time. Would be nice to have the budget to buy, build and compete in cars like those. Hopefully SLC Racing will continue to buy up most of the other remaining 5 litre SLCs for mine to realise a substantial increase in value.

Post by **joshuthomas** » Tue 08 Jul, 2014 11:10 am

Wow Greg,

This is awesome and really admire your passion for this! Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work man!!
Cheers, Josh

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Tue 08 Jul, 2014 11:23 pm

Thanks Josh. We all have our interests. One of mine just happens to be classic cars, particularly Mercs with some motorsport history.

Post by **Mercmad** » Sat 19 Jul, 2014 10:21 pm

Sold a back screen to day to Brian ,From Melbourne who has a 5.0 SLC ,converted to RHD.

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Mon 21 Jul, 2014 11:19 pm

Mercmad wrote:Sold a back screen to day to Brian ,From Melbourne who has a 5.0 SLC ,converted to RHD.

I would be interested to know more about Brian's car (VIN, colour, condition, etc). Steve Guilford (an owner of two 5 litre SLCs) in the USA maintains a register of known surviving examples of the 107026 (450SLC-5.0 & 500SLC) of which just 2769 were manufactured (about 60% 450SLC-5.0 and 40% 500SLC). The register (at http://www.mercedesrallycars.com/regist ... yData.html ) shows there are four known to exist in Australia (1 x 5.0 and 3 x 500) including the last 107026 manufactured. Back when I purchased my 500SLC, the only other 026 was Maurice's red 5.0 in Melbourne but since then Shane's black 500 has arrived and then Maurice's brown 500 (the last one made). If there are any others in Australia (such as this RHD conversion) we would love to learn about them and have them added to Steve's register.

Post by **Mercmad** » Fri 08 May, 2015 2:50 pm

Another Vid,watch this before it too gets taken down..

https://youtu.be/YbEqyDJPHvs

Post by **Greg in Oz** » Fri 08 May, 2015 6:51 pm

At 10 minutes in I realised how you found that one Ron!

Seriously though, that has some great footage. I haven't previously seen much of that. The 1979 Bandama Ivory Coast Rally was a successful event for the Mercs with the top 4 places each going to a 450SLC 5.0

For the same event in 1980, 1st, 2nd and 5th places each went to a 500SLC. With Ron having found the video of the 1979 event, I was able to locate the 1980 event at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoRtg4ojGjA

Post by **p_mcnamara** » Sat 09 May, 2015 9:10 pm

What fantastic videos! Reminded me that I meant to post an article in UK magazine Mercedes Enthusiast December 2014 noting the passing of Bjorn Waldegard.
Herewith.
Cheers. Pat.

Post by **Mercmad** » Mon 08 Jun, 2015 6:50 pm

Post by **Mercmad** » Mon 08 Jun, 2015 6:57 pm

Post by **Mercmad** » Mon 29 Jun, 2015 8:29 am

heres a tribute car for those who like to 'row their own boat'
.http://www.leboncoin.fr/voitures/823809084.htm?ca=12_s

Post by **Mercmad** » Wed 15 Jul, 2015 10:58 pm

A belt around the Californian Desert.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR8OkZ2KurY

Post by **Mercmad** » Mon 11 Sep, 2017 8:13 pm

New Zealand 1980 Motogard Rally .