W126 The EPIC has BEGUN... Project "Sway" is Underway! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

pawoSD · #1 11-26-2005, 01:32 AM

Yes it is true, we have finally delved into our '83 on a quest to replace the mighty sway bar. After much preparation and facilities improvement (additional lighting and HEAT) project sway commensed this evening. The "facility" is a our 1.5 stall garage, you can see how limited space is...and its still pretty cold in there even with a 1500watt radiator and the little (but powerful, also 1500watt) fan-forced heater sitting on the car in the pics......I'd guess it got up to around 40-45 degs or so, but its only 16 outside so who can complain....we're rugged. Worked 5 hours straight and I was only somewhat cold...(mainly hands/feet)....cement floors are cold!!!

Currently removed items now include:

-Battery & Tray
-Washer fluid tank
-Two sections of the firewall/bulkhead
-Monovalve/Aux Pump/all hoses involved with it (HUGE PAIN to remove, gahh)
-Entire Air cleaner & tube assembly (gave a chance to check out play in the turbo spindle, there is None whatsoever, excellent

)
-Drained all Coolant
-Removed front grill off hood for ceiling clearance issues...

it now clears the light fixture by about 2cm when fully up

And some pics (took tons more of items up close along the way), but here's some for an idea of whats taking place here:

More to come as the epic continues! Next task will likely be the remaining lower central bulkhead/firewall (not looking forward to that

) and then the brake equipment......

J. R. B. · #2 11-26-2005, 07:11 AM

Looks like no dreaded rust behind the battery box. That's a plus.

dmorrison · #3 11-26-2005, 11:39 AM

Good luck. Many pictures are required for the forum.

May I suggest one of these.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/attachments/off-topic-discussion/22765d1103862205-december-23-my-shop-heater-internet-3.jpg

Prepared the sons Mustang for painting and we used this to keep the 3 car garage warm.

December 23 in my shop.

Used 1-20# Lb tank over the 3 days of woork, well worth it.

Dave

JamesDean · #4 11-26-2005, 01:02 PM

hey! same color as mine--looks good..well the hood does..almost the same year too..so thats what that bar is i never knew.

kris

coachgeo · #5 11-26-2005, 01:17 PM

ahhhh...... why?

pawoSD · #6 11-26-2005, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coachgeo

ahhhh...... why?

Why what?

And the work will continue....in a couple hours.....

Hatterasguy · #7 11-26-2005, 06:02 PM

Looking good! It looks clean back their no rust.

Last winter the only thing I found that would heat out 2 car garage to a comfortable levels was a kerosene heater. They are cool kind of sound like a jet engine when you fire them up. I could work in long sleeves when it was 10 degrees outside!

pawoSD · #8 11-27-2005, 01:05 AM

We continued today, removing all brake items, disconnecting the A/C lines (doesn't work anyways as the compressor seized, quite a bit of freon was in there though, I vented it prior to separating the hose....

) Separating those Hoses took SO MUCH effort and lots of Deep Creep. Wshew. We broke the back "input" of the brake fluid reservoir when trying to get it out....wups. Looks like a new one of those will be needed.....yeah. Master cylinder....we're debating replacing it, it worked fine.....but it had some rust on it, and its got to be pretty old. Replace? Have a place inspect/rebuild? Booster came out ok, that pesty 4th nut up behind the cruise amp was a PAIN to get out....grrggg. Bleeding out the brake lines on a frozen floor was no fun either. It did get into the upper 50's in the garage tonight though with all our heating equipment (added another radiator....we're talking over 37,000 watts of heat being used in there between the three heaters....

We also disconnected various vacuum lines (I know which ones are which....) And removed the driver side upper firewall piece. Next procedure will be to remove the central lower firewall/bulkhead. Thaaat will be fun. But once thats out, we're nearly to actually removing the sway bar! Then the fun reinstallation can begin......

As always, here's some pics I snapped after the latest installment in the epic......

We order parts Monday,

I don't actually think this project is all that bad, mainly its just annoying....so much stuff to do....

Ralph69220d · #9 11-27-2005, 03:01 PM

put some old cardboard, as many layers as you have laying around, on the floor. helps a lot with any body parts, including feet, on the concrete floor.

#10 11-28-2005, 12:30 PM

Good thing you decided to do that sway bar. That rats nest around the blower resistor block is a fire waiting to happen!

boneheaddoctor · #11 11-28-2005, 12:33 PM

Thats is with no doubt a major project....

pawoSD · #12 11-29-2005, 09:12 PM

I spent an hour at the dealer today ordering parts and such for the car, all sway bar items, climate control hoses, and such were ordered from dealer. However, the main feed hose for the climate control is coming from fastlane...its $94!!! (stealer wanted $100++!!!)

Also the brake fluid resevoir $84, stealer wanted $115!! (we um...broke ours taking it off

) A couple gallons of coolant, and many other little trinkets....will be coming from fastlane.

I am also personally ordering a monovalve repair kit, and a new set of wiper blades (just the rubber refills, my blade assemblies are fine) for my car.

Had my tires rotated today, we're becoming a legend at that Discount tire outlet.....

pawoSD · #13 12-20-2005, 02:05 AM

So a lot of other stuff got in the way but now, one month later we're finally back at it....(christmas break now, lots of free time to finish this up finally)

First off, I bought a ReddyHeater 35,000 btu propane fan forced heater. It works GREAT, it was 75 in the garage in about 10-15 mins! And it kept it toasty the whole evening of working on it. Simply awesome. Makes the work soo much more pleasant.

Today we removed the center firewall section and the last climate hose off the engine, cleaned off some stuff, and took out the blower regulating resistor, also known as the rats nest ignition system.

ours is corroded on the bottom where the smallest coils are, so we're thinking about tossing it and getting a new one....no worth in burying one that could fail back in there....

Minor surface rust was located under there, nothing serious at all, some minor sanding and painting and it will be good as new.

We're almost ready to put it on stands/take the wheels off and begin the process of taking the sway bar out....yay!

That should happen wednesday or thursday evening or so, sometime in there.

After that its mainly just cleaning it up/painting it all nice, then reassembly begins....thaaat will be fun.

I'll add some pictures and such later....didn't have a chance to take any just yet....but they will come...

junqueyardjim · #14 12-20-2005, 11:43 AM

I plan to do mine during Christmas Break, though my sway bar isn't broken and I have a W123. I am going to replace the upper control arms and put in new bushings on the sway bar. It looks to me that the W123 is just a bit easier to work on in that same area, but I still am not looking forward to removing all that stuff. And since I am only replacing bushings, I don't have to remove as much. I do hope the weather moderates a bit. We are promised a pretty good temp increase for the weekend, and I hope it stays around. I was looking at one of those kerosene heaters at the store the other day. Didn't pop yet, but I might.