Engine rebuild 280 SL

[Pinder]

Hi everyone. This is my first post. I am in the process of restoring a 1970 280SL. Original color is Ivory (its painted red now). I purchased it in Rye NY in April. Its been a roller coaster rid as I live in NJ and it had no NY title as prior owner had lost the paperwork and nobody in the DMV in NY had any records of it. Anyway It had been parked for 30+ yearrs in a garage owned by former owners Mother who passed away.  Here is a pic of the block I had rebpored to next size  oer 87mm and I have just painted it.

[ja17]

Looking good!  Lots of work left.

Keep us up to date.

[Pinder]

Had a busy day today cleaning up the crank. I installed the rear main seal as specified in the Haynes manual. I have a question about the rear seal. it says to leave the seal protruding aroun 0.6 mm.  do i need to do this on both halves? i.e on the pan side and the engine side? or just one side. Also i sued a razor blade to cut it using a feeler gauge of 0.7mm thickness as that what the instructuons woth the seal specified. (Victor Reinz seal).

Any input would help.

[ja17]

Sounds correct.  Yes leave the excess on each half.  Make sure the seal is all the way down in the groove before cutting it.

[Pinder]

Ok great. thank you.

[tel76]

To obtain the correct flat surface when you make the cut you can easily make the special tool that is required.
Obtain some flat steel of the correct thickness, there is a drawing of this tool in the tech: section, someone will point you in the right direction if you want to do this.

[Benz Dr.]

Good advice, it's what I use.

[Pinder]

ok i used two feeler gauges.

I have another question.  Do i need to use new head Bolts when i install the head or will my old ones?

Regards

Pinder

[johnk]

Ponder
Did you resolve the title problem?  I had a similar situation and the seller recommended one of theses title companies that promise a clean title for 300 bucks. Turns out their operation was a scam and they were being investigated by several states. I ended up waking  away from the car fearing that even if I got a title now, I would run a serious risk of having the title pulled after investing significant
Bucks in its restoration.

John k

[Pinder]

Yes,

 I have a clear NJ title. If you live in NJ you can apply for a title sending all paperwork to NJ Special Titles Division, Its took around 4 months but it worked. All instructions can be downloaded from the NJDMV. I dont know what state you live in but if its NJ and you have a car with lost paperwokr it will work. I think total cost is around $200 for placing an add in the paper and having to do 5 certified title searches in the sourounding states you live in. I had to do a search in NJ , NY, PA, Delaware, CT, if all those come back wirh no records found and you place an add in your local newpaper with vin and make and you get 3 people to notiorize a letter stating they have seen you with the car and you have a notorized bill of sale also a copy of a bank check you paid will help. then it is legal and no middle man involved. NY only keeps paper workd for around 5 years which is where I bought my car. I would think other states must have a similar process. I do know that NJ is one of the hardest to get a title in. I also looked into getting the car registered in Main. But the legal NJ way worked out as the car was not stolen. It just happend to sit for over 30 years and all recrods were lost except for one that NJ did not accept as proof which was because the the NY registration on the one providied to me did not state Transferible. Howver it also did not say NON TRANSferible. anyway the local NJDMV folks didnt accept it so I used the special devision mail in option and those guys sorted it out. I actually had two NJ investigators show up at my house making sure I did not mess with the VIN number as being the lucky guy i am when at the DMV the receptionist claimed i tampered with the registration as she thinks it looked smudged. Well it was a almost 40 year old document.

[Pinder]

So this weekend I was able to install the Crankshaft, Front and rear seal ( bottom half of rear) and install the new Pistons  87mm. I also installed the oil pump.
I used the Harbor Freght piston spring compressor. Its not an easy tool to use but I have never done this before. It does the job but i suggest wearing some thick gloves. Has some sharp edges on the tool.
i used Permatext assembly lube and oil to put it all together. I posted a pic of the final stage i am at.

So at this point the block has been re-bored, new pistons, timing chain (also fresh semi gloss paint, and pump installed plus engine mount arms. I have also been painting and cleaning all the accessories like the oil pan etc. I find that so far for aluminum Mothers Mag wheel cleaner works.

what does NOTwork is : Oven cleaner or Napa Aluminum brighter. It jusr makes it all go black.

I did have a problem with the piston rod end in #5. For whatever reason, if I tighted the rod cap end to spec the engine would not turn. I then swamped the cap end for another and it worked fine. i,e engine would rotate. I then cleaned and sand papered the ends for the Piston rod cap and then it worked out fine.  there seemed  to be some black deposits on it. Maybe carbon?

Installing the piston retaining clips for the rods was a pain and took several attempts, in between fighting off NJ mosquitoes.

Regards

Pinder

[tel76]

You appear to have the latest type block assembly, if you are going to purchase new head retaining bolts (which I would do automatically) make sure you obtain the correct ones for this block.
It is not a good idea nor is it accepted practice to change con-rod caps, you should send your suspect con-rod to a reputable machine shop and have it re-worked, in fact it would have been better if you had sent all of your con-rods for re-sizing.

[Shvegel]

Each rod and cap is machined together as a unit. DO NOT swap one cap for another.  Not sure what you meant when you said you "Sanded the ends" but if you sanded the area where the rod and cap touch each other or where the rod bearing shell touches the rod you will have to have your rods re-machined.  bearing clearances or gaps are very tight at around 1.5 thousandths of an inch and any material removed could have disastrous results. 

See thread entitled "Catastrophic Engine Failure."

[Pinder]

Sorry my description was a bit miss leading. I did not swap the rod ends during the final installation. I used the correct rod end in in the correct location. the swap was to see if it was the rod end that was binding or the bearing or something wrong with the crank.   I did not sand the machined area that mates to the rod end bolts.

[johnk]

Pinder,

Sounds like you took the right steps on the title. I live in Ohio which does not have any such unit to help locate good titles. I believe the third party company I used was trying to get the title through main which has since changed its laws. Its unfortunate because the seller had a rare 1958 thunderbird convertible (there is less than 200 in the country) that now will probably never be restored because it has been in storage wit lost paperwork for over 40 years. The happy ending to my story though is I bought my Pagoda when I gave up on the 58 T-bird.

[Pinder]

Some more pics to do with emulating Cadmium coating.  Ive just done the sump bolts and dip stick tube. I have also installed the rear main seal to the pan. Will bolt it all down on saturday.

[Jonny B]

Very curious on the "emulating Cadmium coating" what did you do or use? The bolts and dip stick look very nice.

[Pinder]

Jonny,

 I ordered a kit from Eastwood. Basically it is paint. Comes with 4 cans of Clear top coat, Gold, Green and Red paint in spray cans. you  clean the part spray 2 light coats of the base color which is like Goldish but its very thin paint and you want to put it on thin. the base metal should show through a bit. then hit it with the Red and green from a around 12 inches away very lightly and do it only in spots. then go over it all with the clear coat. I think you can vary the look byhow much paint you use. I found that if you first clean your parts very well and then maybe sand them to a shine and go very light on the paint coat so you still see the metal shine through with a hint of gold .i was very impressed with how close to real cadmium it looked. Im going to do this on the injection pipes too and wherever else i find i need cadmium. the paint is rated for 300 degrees . the kit costs around $50 and will be enough to do all the bits and bobs for the car.  Obviously its not real cadmium but it will protect the metal and looks very close to the real stuff.

[Jonny B]

Ah yes, I am familiar with that set-up. A good friend of mine in Ohio has used this, and after a bit of practice came up with decent results. One of the pieces that this really helps with is the constant speed solenoid on the automatic cars. This is dang difficult to plate (as in hard to immerse an electrical part) and the Eastwood paint approach gets it looking pretty good.

[Pinder]

About to install the lower oil Pan. (just finished installing the middle pan to the block using high temp RTV.   for the lower Pan I have a gasket from elring. Should I also use RTV on it or install it dry?

[Benz Dr.]

Before you do that, I have a couple of questions.
 1) did you install a new oil pump?
 2) did you use a new crank gear?

Both of these items end up getting a lot of wear during normal use. While either part should last 100K miles, they won't last 200K miles. If any shards went through your engine ( and really, how can anyone know this for sure ) then it's an automatic replacement. Peace of mind and money well spent.

[stickandrudderman]

I concur with Dan, make sure you fit a new gear and pump, and make sure you have cleared out all of the oil ways.

[Pinder]

Yes to Crank gear.
No to pump.
Yes ive  pumped all sorts of fluids down the oil galleries blown air through it carb cleaner. did this several times and them pured oil into it to furth flush out. I dont think I can flush it any more. But there is always that one grain of something.

the car had 52,000 miles on it when it was parked 30 years ago. Should I still replace oil pump?

[Benz Dr.]

Good question. Any engine builder worth their salt won't warranty a rebuild unless it has a new oil pump and quite a few places want a new water pump as well. A fresh engine will make more power and power creates more heat. Your engine will run at the same temp as before but that heat will be created very quickly and the three cooling mediums; air, coolant, and oil need to be able to do their job. Good oil pressure and a good volume, clean block not covered in rust or grease, ( not saying yours is ) and a good volume of coolant circulating through the block and rad unimpeded by any blockages are all very important for optimum performance.

 In short, I would install a new oil pump.

[tel76]

(just finished installing the middle pan to the block using high temp RTV.
  
I may be too late with this question but it may help someone in the future.
When you fitted the Ally: pan did you do a trial fit first (no sealant)?
It is always good practice that after fitting and trimming  both the top and bottom rear oil seals that you fit the middle pan (no sealant), fit and tighten up all the bolts, turn the crankshaft over several revolutions.
Remove the bolts and the pan, inspect the area at the rear where the oil seal is located, you will find (most of the time) that there will be remnants of the fibre seal sandwiched between the ally: pan and the steel block.
Carefully trim this excess material away and reinstall the pan, tighten up the bolts.
You may have to do this exercise several times until you can add the sealant and bolt everything up to complete the job.
Some re-builders do not bother with the above and rely on the sealant, somewhere down the line an oil leak will develop, it never is there fault.