PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - Where do you get European harmonic balancer dowel pins and center bolt for 1983 300D

layback40 · #14 05-01-2011, 05:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by palehorse13

Did you ever hear the VERY BAD joke about the guy who was trying to repair his Dad's old Mercedes and after getting a LOT of very good and much appreciated, experienced advice/counsel/and observations bought about $500.00 worth of parts and went to work to put the car back together.

Because of this experience he was able to install a new front seal using a cut up yogurt cup.

Because of this good advice he was able to deal with the slight burring on the idents on the crank.

Because of the sage counsel he was able to grind off the balancer alignment pins so they were flush.

Because of reading about other people's experiences he was able to determine that getting at least 220 foot pounds on the balancer bolt is critical.

Unfortunately when this guy got about 135 foot pounds on the balancer bolt the bolt pulled out of the crankshaft threads!

"Wrecked him, hell! Damn near killed him!"

Where do I go from here? Can the crank be tapped out? In the car?

Do I now need to try and find a Euro crank/crank kit?

If I want to swap motors can I install a US motor?

Additional sage advice warmly solicited

Yes you can. Just put an over sized high tensile bolt with similar thread pitch in there after you tap it.
No big deal. But then I guess its easy for me to say that.
The hardest part will be cleaning the hole before tapping.
Make sure you use a tap for a blind hole & tap it in as far as you can. Dont break the tap off in the hole. Soap is one of the best tapping lubricants.