Restoration Difficulty Level

[andyburns]

I just noticed today that the replacement thermostat is 87 degrees where the one I took out is 79.  Can anyone tell me if I am going to run into trouble with the 87.  I really really hate overheating problems.  My brand spanking new W108 engine has an issue I still havn't sorted.  Possibly just an incorrect thermostat.

[andyburns]

Trying to give the back some time to recoup.  Doing some of the more mundane stuff today.  Decided to sort out the battery.  The Bosch which came with the car had the terminals around the wrong way with the terminals close to the front of the car.  With the clamp on there was almost no clearance to the front structures of the car.  When I took possession there was a large amount of cardboard wedged between the battery and the front structural members.  So I have upgraded the battery so the terminal are on the opposite side and also have gone for a S3+.  Its now color coordinated with the car

Also stripped and repainted the stainless water pipes that I cut and rewelded a few days ago.

My Pagoda World E15 arrived in the mail today.  Spent this afternoon reading the stories.  Loved the Polish and Auz Boys story!  Great read. 

[tel76]

Hello Andy,
Have another look at your wiring connections on the starter motor,  the battery cable connection to the starter motor should be located 180 degrees from the position that you have them,
this will position the cables further away from the exhaust manifold, the cables should them route down to the block/ally: sump joint and be held in position with special brackets (4 off, two on the rhs and two at each front corner) that incorporate rubber grommets, the brackets are NLS but you can replace the rubber part with MB grommets, Alfred will supply you with the part #.

[andyburns]

Cheers Eric,

I will take another look tomorrow.  I actually pulled that part of the loom out for about the third time yesterday and now think I have all the brackets in the right place.  Its obvious once the manifolds are on. 

The reason I decided to  wire the starter wires toward the right hand side of the car was that if they positioned toward the engine then they could potentially snag the throttle rod that run along the engine under the exhaust manifold.    I will take another hard look at it tomorrow.  I never took any photos of the started when I pulled it apart.  Thanks for pointing it out.

[tel76]

As you say not a very clear picture, the brackets do not appear correct, have look at thelews pictures there is one that shows you the type.
There is ample room to route the cables to the inside and not interfere with the throttle assembly.

[andyburns]

Still flat on my back in bed with this ridiculous pain in L5.  MRI results came back confirming disc herniation late last week.   Tried to get out of bed yesterday and rejig my wiring as per Eric suggestion.  Big mistake as I am now paying the price.  Not sure now about how much progress I will be making this week.  Big kick in the guts.

Got bored at 3am this morning (couldn't sleep) and went searching some photos of cars with the same color scheme as mine and came across this interesting specimen.  Really sexy from 100 foot until you look under the hood and get a real surprise...  kinda like a Thai Lady Boy  

I dont think I have ever seen so much polished ali.  Not to sure about the interior mods either.  Just gotta love those racing alloy foot pedals.  But the rest of it looks top notch.   Not my cuppa tea but I do appreciate the craftsmanship, time and effort that went into all that nipping and tucking.

I think we should start up a new thread with interesting non factory mods

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Hi Andy,

Sorry to (read) hear about your medical issues (disc herniation), must be painful. I can feel for you somewhat, my wife is in a wheelchair now since mid April and I am her full caregiver. So getting up in the middle of the night to help her is almost standard procedure, getting back to sleep is often very difficult and I too end up on the computer.

Get plenty of rest and get well soon!

Back to topic ... yes it is a good idea to start a thread with non factory mods. Why not start one and ask that each post MUST be accompanied with a photo (should not be too hard to find a photo), As they say one photo is worth a 1000 words

PS. As to all the polish under the hood I don't like it either, then to each his own, he must be polishing it after each outing LOL ... he could be spending the time driving and enjoying himself

[andyburns]

Thank Rolf.  Sorry to here about your wife.  That must be a really difficult thing to deal with.  I dare say that is where I am heading.  Just have to look at my grandparents who suffered terribly from arthritis.  Both sets had hip operations and the like by the time they were 60.  No escaping that little genetic smorgasbord unfortunately.   Have suffered from AS (ankylosing spondylitis) since my 20's.  It debilitating and makes working on the car very very hard from time to time.  Only in the last two weeks however I have thought that its now too much.  I think i am at a point now where its safe to say that this is my last every foray into car refurbishment!

Come hell or high water I am determined to finish.  Might just mean you have another 5 years of my incessant ramblings rather than 4 months 

 

[Peter van Es]

I hope Andy, that your back problem becomes manageable. And RD, I can understand that this has affected your retirement plans quite a lot.

Anyway, on to the topic of non-original mods… please post those in the Research & Development forum, the correct place for these… Discuss Research and Development, including modifications that are not original or correct for the W113 series cars.

Peter

[andyburns]

Codeine is a wonderful thing.  Doc has given me some new pills which have given me a new lease on life.  Probably only temporary but any reprieve is a beautiful thing.  Off course I have taken the opportunity to make some more progress.

Decided to finish off the hot water hard pipes that sit under the inlet manifold.  I painted them up last week and after the minor surgery to make them fit.  Replaced all the rubber piping with new gates hose. 

Also after studying drmb's engine bay photo I decided to copy his setup with the pipes having rubber around them to keep any rattles at bay.  Used closed cell dense foam rubber.  Sealed it off with insulation tape. 

Also tackled the brake booster vacuum hose.  Quite a tricky fiddly job to get it right.  The original clamps/bands are a bit of a mongrel to get right.  Probably ok when new but I have refurbished the old ones and they were a bit out of shape and need some TLC to get them right.  Also took the opportunity to replace the vacuum pipe with the original braided pipe.

[andyburns]

While things were going well decided to fit up the manifold and fuel lines.  Surprisingly this all happened very quickly.  The pile of parts yet to be installed is diminishing by the minute.  Exciting stuff.  Sore but happy!

[andyburns]

Early Christmas

With the sale of the body of the parts car last week I put an order in with George at Authentic Classics ( http://www.authenticclassics.com/ ).  He was great to deal with and my shipment arrived from the other side of the world in four days.  Arrived this morning.  I saw the postman putting the parcel in the letter box and both the kids raced down to see who could get to it first.

This drop cost about 700 dollars and was quite a hard one to shell out for as it contained several items that in my opinion are just a ridiculous price.   50USD for the handbrake nut for example.  Another 50 for the small black bakerlite knob that goes on the end of the seat adjustment lever.

Needless to say it was nice to get it all and it did lighten my spirits.  I have of course started fitting all the parts with the help of my friend codeine.

[Tomnistuff]

Hi Andy,

Back on page 20, your reply #484 on February 1, 2014 (that's so no one can say I don't pay attention), you sort of complained that you received a bunch of wiper parts from Bud's Benz and didn't know how to assemble them.  You even kindly asked the membership to give you some advice.  Apparently (according to my search), you received no replies to your plea for help.  Did you determine how to put the seals on the wiper spindles?  You showed them partially assembled, but commented that they didn't look right.  In the end, how did you assemble the wiper spindles and their seals?  And did you use the plain aluminum caps or did you use the fancy nut cover/seals that George sells at Authentic Classics.

My wiper system, when I finally pulled it off the shelf to clean and reinstall, was almost seized with rusty spindles and bores.  Apparently my spindle seals weren't working either, since everything was so rusty.  I'm making it as good as I can but I'm not about to buy an "apparatus panel" for Euro 845 plus shipping from Germany.  I'm going to use lots of heavy grease on the spindles, but would like to know your experience with sealing the two wiper spindles.

I'm still following along behind you and pretending I know what I'm doing.  I think I'm dropping back a little.  Your are moving too fast.  I'm ok with the powertrain stuff but body ancillary systems are not a part of my knowledge base.  Keep up the excellent work and reporting.

Tom Kizer
Quebec, Canada

[andyburns]

Hi Tom,

The spindle washers that Buds sent me need to be modified slightly to get them to fit.  Then I still wasn't happy and used sikaflex 11FC sealant on either side of the washer and also smeared it on the outer shaft for good measure.  There is a large steel washer that then fits over the shaft on top of the rubber washer that gets clamped with the nut.  After the rubber washer was squashed down I trimmed the bellowing rubber that was squashed out the side with a very fine and sharp scalpel.  Left it for a day to cure and then tested but tipping water over it.  Dry as a bone and good for the next 50 years.

My wiper setup was in fairly good condition.  The only part that had suffered was the spindles which were leaking and very rusted.  I wire brushed them and then linished them with 3000 grit sand paper until the shafts were perfectly smooth. 

One thing to definitely check is that the spindles dont have too much slop in the bush/tube they run in.  Its easy enough to get an engineering firm to sort out this problem fairly cheaply.   Certainly much better than several hundred Euro for the replacement.  Am sure you can get yours back into 'as new' condition without much effort.

[andyburns]

Needed to get the inner face of my gearbox support plate painted in MB180 before I finish off the gearbox install.  Had a few other bits and pieces that I missed first time around.

Thought I might have an issues with the 18 month base coat going a bit stale but after a quick stir it looked good as gold.  Needed to clean my detail gun with paint stripper as I have abused it so badly over the past year painting epoxy primer and black satin.  Took a good hour of hard work to get it back to a point that it would spray a nice consistent spray pattern.

Three nice thin coats of the base and then the same with the clear coat and I am now in a strong position to get the gearbox finished off.   Just need to organize a crane to winch me off the floor after I am finished

[andyburns]

Spent this afternoon working on the throttle body.  Its bearing felt a bit 'gritty' after being in the bead blaster even after I went to the ends of the earth to tape off the spindle.  So I spit it apart and flushed the bearing and repacked with fresh grease.  Silky smooth now.  Fitted it up and moved on to finishing off the linkage setup.  Discovered quickly that I stuffed up one of the arms on the overhead transfer shaft.  Will deal with it tomorrow.

[andyburns]

Wondering if someone can help me here.  I have been researching the assembly procedure of the gearbox mount this morning and have hit a bit of a snag.  Reviewing my dis-assembly photos I have come across a mystery steel plate that I vaguely remember during the tear down process.  I photographed it on top of the transmission chassis plate so it probably has something to do with it.  I would have had no other reason to take the photo otherwise.

I am wondering if its some sort of packer to slightly raise the height of the gearbox that slots in between the mount and the chassis plate.  Perhaps to overcome some sort of drive shaft alignment issue? 

I cant find the part in the parts breakdown so its probably some sort of bespoke fix courtesy of a previous owner.  I thought I would just run this past you guys to see if it rings any bells.  Perhaps its a replacement for part 26 in the parts breakdown which lists as an adjusting washer?  Can someone educate us all on what this 'adjusting washer' is for.

Any help much appreciated.

[Tomnistuff]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for the windshield wiper response.  I think I'll be able to work out the repairs and reassembly without buying new stuff.

Regarding your current problem with the rectangular spacer thing.  Although I don't know the answer to your question, take a look at the drive train alignment drawings from the SLS site.  They are from the engine mount section.  I did a Google translate on their notes and added them to the drawings.  I suspect that the piece you photographed might be, as you suggested, a spacer to align the drivetrain.  Because of your extensive restoration, you might have to check alignment again, not just reassemble everything.  I don't know how to align the drive train, even though SLS makes it sound simple.

Tom Kizer

[andyburns]

Thanks Tom,  appreciate your time and effort 

I have no idea on how to do this alignment.  I agree with you that I need to consider it especially as I have changed all the drive train mounting rubber which may now be sitting at different heights.

I cant see how you can get in to measure the thing as the drive shaft runs completely encased  inside the floor pan.  I can imagine a string line might be of some use but not very accurate.  The spacer I have is only about 3mm thick so measuring to this type of tolerance might be difficult without specialized gear.  Also I can imagine that the measurment would need to be made with the car loaded and sitting on its wheels.  Not easy without a hoist.

Anyone else struck this before?  Will go and do some research.

[Tomnistuff]

Andy, it seems to me that the primary adjustment is at the rear of the transmission, where you suspect that the spacer goes.  Therefore, it might be possible to attach the flex joint to the transmission output shaft, then move the propeller shaft close to, but not in contact with, the flex joint.  If the transmission and the propeller shaft are in alignment, than the gap between them at the three-eared flange should be constant (they should be parallel).  If not, the trans needs to be tilted up or down.  Once the eared flanges are parallel then the shafts will also be parallel.  Then just advance the propeller shaft to close the gap and put the remaining bolts in the flex joint.

It seems to me that it will work.  I agree that there does not seem to be anything else on the various drive train parts that can be used to align the system.  But then again, I've been wrong before - often !

Tom Kizer

[andyburns]

Tom that's another good idea and I will take a close look when I can manage to get under the car again.   I think by your responses your probably right a dozen or so times to my one!  Obviously you have a excellent engineering oriented mind.

Second time in a day that I have had an obvious solution pointed out.  Two days ago I got myself in a bind after I lost a small locking pin for the input shaft of the throttle body.  When I pulled it all apart I was very careful not to loose it.  I came across it a few weeks ago and put it 'some where safe' as I knew I would need it soon.  That somewhere safe turned out to be needle in a haystack when I actually need it, and I drove my self crazy for hours trying to find it.  Finally I decided to make a new one and measured it up at 2.5mm.  Then drove for hours around engineering shop all over Auckland till I found a 3mm pin.  Then spent another 20 minutes reducing it to 2.5mm. 

It all worked well, in the end, but my new found pride was dampened by Rodgers (aka rutger kohler) brilliant engineering mind when he emailed me suggesting I use a 2.5mm drill bit.  Off course I have several in that exact same designation sitting slap dab under my nose.  I wish my brain worked like an engineers as it would certainly save me a whole heap of grief and worry.  As they say 'everything is easy if you know how'

I am not looking forward to undoing the flexible disc again.  Absolute prick of a job.  I haven't taken a good hard look yet but I think once the bracing plate has been bolted back the disc is almost obscured as well which may make this impossible but will keep an open mind and stay optimistic. 

[rutger kohler]

Just to qualify my suggestion to Andy, because the pin he was looking for was only about 12mm long or shorter I suggested cutting a piece off the shank end of a drill bit which is usually softer, completly round and easy to cut off.  How did you get on with the studs Andy?

[mmizesko]

Hi Andy,

I know you are laid up with a sore back, but I was wondering if you could help in a matter.

I noticed your side trim is not yet installed from the picture you posted dropping in your engine.

PJ from Canada is inquiring as to proper lower trim hole placement, and I was wondering if you, when you get around to it, could possibly create a template for the lower clip holes (3 front, 7 door, and 2 rear) with dimensions, so that those looking to redrill would have a guide so as not to drill into supporting structures.  The uppers are defined by the holes in the chromed brass, but the lower ones have no reference.

This would be awesome to post in the technical manual somehow, either as a paper template, or dimensions for each hole from a reference point, both from bottom and sides.  I don't know anyone else who has their lower clip holes open right now.  I wish I had thought of that when Joe A. and I just did mine.

Please advise, and perhaps comment on PJ's post in the body section.

BTW anyone else reading this, who might have your lower trim off, please feel free to help as well.

Thanks,

Mike Mizesko
Columbus, OH

[andyburns]

Mike I would be delighted to help if I could.  But for the time being I am totally out of action with this back which has got much worse over the past two days.  I am now struggling to even walk let alone bend over.   I don't think it would be difficult at all.  Just involve figuring out the center line of the holes from the bottom of the panel and then a few measurements along the line.  I am sure someone else must have the trim off at the moment and be able to help if its urgent.  Fingers crossed the doctors can sort this out quickly and I can resume where I left off.  Any back surgeons in the room?

[Tomnistuff]

Mike, my chrome is not yet installed so I measured the lower line of holes.  My front fender, door and rear fender hole sizes visually appear to be the same and vary between 8.63 mm diameter and 8.89 mm hole diameter after painting.  Just to verify, I installed a couple of yellow clips and white clip locks into one of the larger holes and into one of the smaller holes.  The clips went in with a nice "snap" and locked nicely in place with the little white clip lock (plug).  The yellow clip for the doors worked well for the fenders as well.  By the way, the SLS kit comes only with yellow clips for all the holes.

As far as I know, the holes are original in my doors and fenders and are located on the passenger side as shown in the sketch that I have attached.  Notice that I measured hole center locations from three different baselines so that door gaps would not interfere with the measurements.  Please excuse the fact that I measured the door holes from hole to hole, not each hole from the baseline.  On the door, the measurement of the farthest hole from the baseline only came out correct if I used 175.5 mm for hole spacing instead of rounding up or down to 176 or 175.  Visually measuring to a hole center without special equipment is not terribly accurate.  If you are adequately confused by my explanation of the how and why of my measurement technique, I'll add the attachment and shut up.

Tom Kizer