When I last replaced the battery in my W111, I was unable to fit the correct sized battery.   In the end I fitted one smaller than I would have liked, but it was the only one that fit into the Mounting Frame I had.    I knew the mounting frame was not original to the car as the previous owner purchased it on eBay.    When he purchased the car, the battery was held down with ocky straps.    At the recent German car day, one of the other members suggested my mounting frame might be from a W113 SL, rather than the correct W111 Battery Mounting Frame.

On closer inspection I think he is right.   the lower tray was clearly longer than the frame.    In addition, the frame is not in good shape.   There are sections where some of the metal has been cut away.   This was probably to fit an incorrect battery.   I therefore started looking for a replacement frame.

I was lucky enough to find one labelled to fit the W108, W109, W111 etc for bigger batteries.  A new reproduction out of Germany and in the picture it looked great!   Included with the rods to attach the W111 battery mounting frame to the tray (minus the wing nuts).

I tried the fit the frame last night, and it is huge.   I can only assume that there was a special order option for a very large sized battery, or maybe from a W100 where everything is super sized.   The photo below shows just how much longer the new frame is compared to the previous one.

This thing is gargantuan – hugely bigger than the tray it is supposed to fit onto.       The comparison is even funnier when you lay the two frames on top of each other.   The new one is about 50% larger than my current frame, which is only slightly too small.

I don’t have the specs for them, but I also need to try and research if the W111 battery mounting frame is a different size to the W108 or W109 unit, and if the one I have is for a W113.   Nevertheless, it is clear that what I thought would be a simple part comes in a variety of different sizes.

My next step is to look at its construction more carefully, as perhaps about 10cm can be cut from it and it re-welded up.   Since it’s a reproduction, i’m not ruining an original part.   Otherwise back to the drawing board to find the correct frame.   Perhaps my battery will have reached its 5 year life span by then.

The post W111 battery mounting frame appeared first on Classic Jalopy.