It's slowly coming together - Page 11 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

KAdams4458 · #**151** 12-07-2011, 02:47 PM

You know how the general consensus on the forum says that the aftermarket windshield seals for the W123 suck? Well, I had to find that out for myself; They suck like the vacuum of space. Point taken - Listen to the collective knowledge of the forum.

After fighting the front seal last night for two hours, I tried the aftermarket back glass seal, and it installed effortlessly. I even roped it in alone, because I'm elite like that. (Or maybe it's the fact that I have glass gripping suction cups, and do all of glass work our cars need.)

Anyway, as of around 9:00 AM PST today, I am the proud new owner of a genuine MB 1236700139 windshield seal, which will arrive tomorrow at my local MB dealer. I am also $162.71 poorer. The highly trained unicorns must have renegotiated their union contract since the last time anyone mentioned what these things cost. Holy cow.

KAdams4458 · #**152** 11-19-2012, 05:37 PM

Well, it's been a while again since I updated the thread.

The car is still making progress. I coaxed the tired original engine in to daily driver status for a while for part of the year when my modern car was down for a timing belt replacement, and kept it limping along here and there as needed. Around September, my modern car decided it was going to crack something and stop holding coolant, so I once again pressed the Merc in to daily driver status, but by October the vacuum pump failed, and upon inspecting the pump, I found the drive plate behind it was done for, so it was time for the driveline swap.

At this point, I have the engine, transmission, and rear end from the '83 parts car installed, and have been driving it around while sorting out new problems associated with the swap. Whee! Boost!

The tach and '83 glow timer system have been grafted in and function well, but I'm still working on retrofitting the later cruise control system, which as near as I can tell has not been attempted by anyone on the forum.

Last night, I Finally managed to get the central locking system fully operational for time first time ever since I have owned the car, and it has held vacuum perfectly overnight. Honestly, the locks are a bit slow to operate for my tastes, but this sure beats having to reach around and lock or unlock doors manually with my messed up spine.

I also managed to get the rear passenger window functioning again with the regulator and motor from the '83 donor, despite the regulator being a bit bent up. (Man, parts cars are great.) I did have to braze the captive threaded insert on the bottom of the window run back on, but that only added a minute on to the repair process. Sadly, this was one place the parts car could not help, as the window run from it was buckled in the middle.

Anyway, I've been busy, but then so has one of my friends, as he has been doing the heavy lifting and weird bending for me, since I have difficulty with that kind of thing.

Enough already... I have some pictures to share.

Pic 1: New flex welded to down pipe. Pardon my splatter, I ran out of Lincoln wire and only had Chinese crap on hand that splatters like mad

Pic 2: Bead blasted finned cover on 2.47 differential and new annular axles installed. Yes, the bolts are torqued.

Pic 3: There, I fixed it! LOL! My assistant was having some relationship trouble that day, so I did this to try to cheer him up.

Stretch · #**153** 11-20-2012, 03:23 AM

Wow that diff looks good.

I must say 0 / 10 for the sign writing!

'Glad to hear you're making the most of the positives. Junk that modern car - at least you can fix the old ones.

KAdams4458 · #**154** 11-20-2012, 05:43 AM

Ha ha. No worries, it's pencil. Rubs right off. I have been debating whether to affix the proper turbo diesel badge to it, or just leave it with the original turbo-less badge once I paint this thing.

Those differentials are freaking heavy. The old one makes a great door stop!

Hey now, my modern car is still pretty nice. I still have to have it torn down for inspection, but if the motor is toast, I was thinking of cramming a bigger engine in it. Anyway, I have to have something to drive when the Merc is torn apart for body work and paint some day.

... No, I don't need another Mercedes!

... Unless it's convertible.

Stretch · #**155** 11-20-2012, 12:38 PM

What's your nice modern car then?

Mojoan · #**156** 11-20-2012, 12:59 PM

Nice car

Glad to see someone who is not scared away by high milage or stuff like that

KAdams4458 · #**157** 11-20-2012, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Army

What's your nice modern car then?

Well, it's no Mercedes. It's the same car briefly detailed earlier in this thread; a '00 Chrysler Sebring convertible. I'm at about 82k miles with it now. Loaned it to my ex to drive to work, and one of the block plugs failed. She kept driving it with no coolant.

Doktor Bert · #**158** 11-21-2012, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KAdams4458

AH! Well she is standing there, and using my media blast cabinet. You think a woman willing to beadblast parts for several hours isn't also willing to hit up a salvage yard with me? I knew I should have snapped a photo of her at the yard.

I love my wife. Thankfully she loves me and the 300D. In fact, she sort of picked it. I was a bit hesitant about it at first. Who am I kidding? I'm still hesitant about it!

Agreed,

My wife went to Pik-N-Pull in Fresno with me in July of 2006 and helped me pull a 722.120 for parts....

KAdams4458 · #**159** 11-21-2012, 07:39 AM

Since that's fresh in your mind, it's a good time to pick up some flowers, eh?

I no longer have a wife... Not that flowers would have helped that. Oh well. Such is life.

Doktor Bert · #**160** 11-23-2012, 11:51 AM

She prefers Quesadilla's and coffee to flowers, although I do surprise her at times....

lorenztl · #**161** 02-07-2013, 10:34 AM

What a beautiful young trooper you've married!!

KAdams4458 · #**162** 02-07-2013, 11:32 AM

Since the thread has been bumped, I may as well update it.

It took me days because of how much trouble I have bending over, but I managed to cut out the nasty spot in the trunk well that had been wrenched open like a giant tuna can by a thief that wanted access to the trunk. The donor car spare tire well was a little banged up, but solid enough to donate a chunk of steel.

I ended up with a few little pinholes in the weld here and there, but seeing as no one is ever going to spend time staring at the bottom of the spare tire well, I just brushed some seam sealer on before sealing it up with some 2K epoxy primer.

Sadly, while chasing rust in the back end of the car, I found some shoddy body work. Poor body work, as it turns out, is the only reason for the rust in the back of the car. Horrible welds everywhere. here's an example. The bad metal work back there will necessitate replacement of the tail end of both quarter panels. It's ugly.

KAdams4458 · #**163** 02-09-2013, 06:55 PM

Further update. I've bad some electrical gremlins. Namely some rediculously large voltage drops that I traced to the fuse panel. No fuse swapping or contact cleaning seems to help, and though the plastic seems fine, several of the fuse tabs have been so heat baked that they aren't as springy as they should be. The parts car panel is better condition, but I can see the same problem developing. I can't understand why there are not more threads about this.

A trip to the pick pull where panels cost $11 yielded only fuse panels in similar condition, but it did help me confirm that the voltage drop issue is due to a degrading connection between fuse terminals and the steel threaded insert that the terminal screws attach to. The terminals where they contact the fuses, and the screws, threads, and terminal eyes can be spotlessly clean, but there is still too much resistance present. I see no way to restore the connections, which leads me to think that an upgraded panel of some sort is in order.

I'm leaning heavily towards the 157300 series ATM fuse panels produced by Bussmann at this point. I know... Heresy!

Stretch · #**164** 02-10-2013, 05:37 AM

I had a few glitches with my fuse box - but after cleaning the contacts and fitting new fuses it kind of sorted itself out.

KAdams4458 · #**165** 02-10-2013, 01:15 PM

I was hoping mine would do that, too. Sadly, it has not. The heat buildup in the terminals kills fuses fast, even the sealed glass variety. I can't even run my fog lamps for more than a minute or two, and my blower motor sees maybe 10 volts on a good day. Before wiring my radio straight to the battery, it wouldn't even power on. The fuse box is just done living.