It's slowly coming together - Page 12 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

cooljjay · #**166** 02-10-2013, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KAdams4458

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.

I would think there is something else wrong with your electrical system then just the fuses. If the fuses are blowing that easy perhaps there's to much voltage going to the box or the alternator diodes are bad sending to much AC voltage through. Are you using the newer ceramic body fuses?

KAdams4458 · #**167** 02-10-2013, 04:09 PM

No ceramics, but that should not have an impact here. I have the best luck with the glass fuses, but they still cook regularly. And no, the alternator is in tip top shape. As I described previously, between the fuse blades and their corresponding screw terminals there exists a great deal of resistance, presumably from some corrosion caused by dissimilar metals. That poor connection causes heat which transfers to the fuse body, eventually leading to premature failure.

The generic plastic fuses are the worst, as they just warm up and get squished. The glass and ceramic versions obviously last longer, but that really just masks a symptom.

cooljjay · #**168** 02-10-2013, 04:28 PM

There's a thread on here somewhere that shows a member that made a new fuse box and installed it on the fender well. It was very nicely done....can't find that thread now...

KAdams4458 · #**169** 11-26-2013, 11:19 PM

A little update.

I temporarily solved my fuse block issues by bead blasting the block from my parts car and soldering every terminal junction point. I'd still like to replace the block entirely at some point, but things are working for now.

I've begun to do more serious body work. There's some terrible repair work from the early 90's at the rear of the car to correct, but so far things are going alright. The driver side quarter panel no longer requires half an inch of body filler after stripping, welding in a few patches of mangled steel, and much hammer and dolly work. The thickest areas of filler are now only 1/8" deep, so that's a big improvement. I've also opted to shave the antennae and will no longer be sporting the massive belt line trim that wrapped the car. My friend/paint and body assistant and I decided to smooth and modernize the car a bit. (No, I'm not worried about door dings. After hours of hammer and dolly work, it's pretty obvious to me that these cars do not dent that easily.)

A couple of progress photos are attached. The quarters are now modified for a Euro bumper install, so the forward hole has been filled. I don't actually have Euro bumpers to bolt on yet, but if I'm welding up unneeded holes, I may as well weld up those, too.

Yes, I warped the heck out of that quarter filling in the trim holes. That's what I get for using .030 wire to do it. I've since swapped in a roll of .023 easy grind, and am having a much easier time keeping the panel straight while I work.

I'm kicking around the idea of redoing the britework in satin black powder coat. I could certainly strip and polish all of the hazy anodized aluminum, but the time and effort involved seems extreme. I'm just not sure how it would work with the milan brown. It looks amazing on white cars, but I just don't know about brown.

KAdams4458 · #**170** 11-30-2013, 02:34 PM

Insanity. You probably shouldn't try this at home. The passenger side quarter panel took a good hit up high, and was badly hacked back together. Vertical wends in the middle of a panel are something I would like to avoid, but not having an entire good quarter panel at my disposal, I just have to make do.

And here the donor chunk is fitted and welded up, with a coat of paint stripper at work. I stil have to tweak the rear panel a bit before I can weld up the chunk that bridges the top of the tail light, but for the first time since the early 90's, the tail light actually fits the hole it is supposed to fit in! The process took hours. Weld-grind-hammer-weld-grind-hammer-and so on, until everything was welded up, then another half hour of bumping metal to get everything smoothed out.

cooljjay · #**171** 11-30-2013, 03:52 PM

May have taken hours, but that is a nice repair!

KAdams4458 · #**172** 11-30-2013, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cooljjay

May have taken hours, but that is a nice repair!

Thanks. That was what I was going for. Seeing as how just a gallon of Milan Brown base coat is almost $500 without reducer, and I kinda only want to do this once, I have adopted a zero tolerance policy regarding rust and the need for body filler more than 1/8" thick.

I should have the rest of the rear end welded back together in the next few hours.

Stretch · #**173** 12-01-2013, 05:16 AM

Are you prepared to travel with that welder of yours?

KAdams4458 · #**174** 12-01-2013, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stretch

Are you prepared to travel with that welder of yours?

You cover the airfare.

Stretch · #**175** 12-03-2013, 05:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KAdams4458

You cover the airfare.

Well considering how much labour rates are over here it might actually be good to see you!

KAdams4458 · #**176** 12-03-2013, 05:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stretch

Well considering how much labour rates are over here it might actually be good to see you!

Ha! What are the labour rates over there like, anyway? Around here my skills are so under-valued, it's ridiculous. People look at me like I'm crazy for asking $50 to weld a muffler on when the muffler shop up the street charges $200 to do the same thing. The sad thing is the muffler shop won't even drop the pipe so they can weld all the way around for a leak-free joint, much less actually clean the metal up before they start making their bird crap welds all over, where as I always do it right, and still get done an hour and a half before they would. I guess I'm supposed to do it for $10? Everyone forgets about the stuff that costs me money, like electricity, wire, gas, and so on. I don't think it's out of line to make sure that I bring in at least $25 per hour that I can pocket on side jobs, but perhaps I just have an evil capitalist streak in me.

Stretch · #**177** 12-04-2013, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KAdams4458

Ha! What are the labour rates over there like, anyway? Around here my skills are so under-valued, it's ridiculous. People look at me like I'm crazy for asking $50 to weld a muffler on when the muffler shop up the street charges $200 to do the same thing. The sad thing is the muffler shop won't even drop the pipe so they can weld all the way around for a leak-free joint, much less actually clean the metal up before they start making their bird crap welds all over, where as I always do it right, and still get done an hour and a half before they would. I guess I'm supposed to do it for $10? Everyone forgets about the stuff that costs me money, like electricity, wire, gas, and so on. I don't think it's out of line to make sure that I bring in at least $25 per hour that I can pocket on side jobs, but perhaps I just have an evil capitalist streak in me.

Your rates sound better and better!

A professional body shop here would charge at least 1000 euros for one man day.

Generally speaking anything between 250 euros and 500 euros is the best starting price you can get for a job that takes a couple of hours (but could be finished in 30 minutes).

A domestic gas fitter once quoted me 800 euros excluding tax for fitting four meters of 15mm copper gas pipe under my kitchen floor so I got two more quotes from other people and they were more expensive! 'King madness.

KAdams4458 · #**178** 12-04-2013, 05:44 AM

And what does a loaf of bread cost? I'm trying to put this in perspective.

Stretch · #**179** 12-05-2013, 02:58 PM

Loaf of bread starts at about 1 euro 10 cents for something that really ought to be called "air".

Decent loaf of bread in a super market costs from about 2 euros in most super markets in this country.

Decent loaf of bread in a bakery starts at about 2 euros 80 cents

Bread I think is actually one of the items that have to be legally priced within a certain overly complicated relationship...

...today I caved in and hired someone to do a job for me. I really didn't have the time to unblock the drains. 30 minutes of someone coming to the house and sticking a waggling rod down a man hole cost me one hundred and sixty five euros. This is the first time in 5 years that I've caved in. So I hope nothing big goes wrong in the next five years!

KAdams4458 · #**180** 12-05-2013, 03:12 PM

Well, your cheap loaves of "air" bread cost just a smidge more.

Don't feel bad about caving. I cave in and pay for other people to do work sometimes, too. I've also been complete robbed a few times in the process. Imagine paying a plumber $500 to replace a $5 rubber coupler under the house. He was done in ten minutes, but apparently there was an extra fee due to the presence of spiders. Spiders? Really? What crawl space doesn't have spiders? What kind of plumber has a spider surcharge? Laying in spilled sewage to work is included, apparently, but if there are spiders you gotta charge double!