PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt 2 + 5-speed build thread

w123fanman · #10 12-24-2016, 02:08 AM

Hit a couple snags on getting parts. I put in an order earlier in the week at the dealer but they emailed me wanting credit card verification. My email service didn't actually send it and I found out last night, so I sent it again. Within an hour, I had $3000 charged to the card for an online order at a Minnesota Best Buy. Pretty sure that was on the end of my email service Yahoo though I'm completely up to date with their security protocals so I am in the process of changing over to another email service. I don't think Yahoo has done enough to update their security since the hacks from a few years ago that we just found out about in the past two months.

So I finally did get the order in today and they said it may be the first week of January before everything comes in from Germany. That order mostly contains the engine seals so at least the engine work besides degreasing it and getting stuff painted is sidelined until that comes in. I started degreasing a lot of the parts last night in my new parts washer and though I wore latex gloves, I should have worn chemical gloves as the degreaser wasn't too kind to my skin. I got the Harbor Freight 6.5 gallon washer, it's great for most everything except the valve cover which is way too big to fit inside. I also picked up the well-rated Harbor Freight powdercoating gun, I have access to a source of high quality powder coat paint so I'll be using that to paint the valve cover and pulleys.

On Monday, I hope to talk to a shop that welded my exhaust for me (which by my own fault is a poorly designed system that drones, but the welds were great) and see if he can weld in my rust-free radiator crossmember. The best hope would be if he would allow us to drive the car over then remove the radiator and condenser (I'll have already evacuated the AC) behind his shop, other option would be to go ahead and get the engine out and rent a trailer to get it over there.

I also ordered the AC compressor from a 1993-1995 e320 that has the rpm sensor in the back of the compressor to check if it will mount to my late M104 bracket. I think it should given that the bolt pattern on it is much wider than the M103 AC compressor and the late M104 bracket has two unused holes that look like they'll line up with the early bracket. I'm determined to get this updated bracket to work. Thankfully I have an Amazon Prime pickup/dropoff location near my house so I can make returns without paying shipping. That should arrive tomorrow.

I finally got the flywheel lock today, so maybe tomorrow but more likely Monday I will pull the crank bolt so I can get the lower timing/crank cover off. I pulled the upper timing cover off last night and found that the seal was still pliable so it seems it was probably replaced fairly recently. The timing chain guides and rails looked like they are fairly new but I'll know for sure when I get that lower timing cover off.