300SDL Resurrection - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Hit Man X · #16 01-20-2009, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mplafleur

I remember!

Did you enjoy the bottle?

I did good sir.

mplafleur · #17 01-24-2009, 10:38 PM

Good news and bad news.

Good news: I received my reconditioned connecting rods today

The bad news: A couple of wrist pin bushings are a little tight. I'll have to take those in.

The really bad news: I have one piston with a broken oil ring. I don't know if I got it this way, or if I did it at some point in my handling.

How can I get one oil ring?

sixto · #18 01-25-2009, 12:12 AM

Metric might oblige you.

Sixto
87 300D

mplafleur · #19 01-25-2009, 09:09 AM

I'm hoping so. I sent Mike at Metric an e-mail yesterday.

Bill Ladd · #20 01-25-2009, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mplafleur

How can I get one oil ring?

Quiet a few years back I was rebuilding an old Ducati engine and was able to source the unobtanium rings directly from TRW. Just gave 'em the dimensions and type needed (fer instance, oil seal rings have a few different spring layouts, so TRW would need to know what style. The 603 engine manual lays that out in excellent detail).

Not sure if they're still even in business as it's been quite a few years since I built that bike.

Also, Phil at MercedesShop has sourced a number of single items for me which are not listed in his catalog. Might wanna call him first.

OH WAIT, WAIT!! I just remembered -- I have a complete ring set for a 603 piston, brand new.

You can have it for what I paid, plus a bit for shipping (not much, as it should fit in a padded envelope nicely).

Bill Ladd · #21 01-25-2009, 02:22 PM

To be clear -- it is a complete set for one piston.

It was Hastings where I got those Ducati rings. They make piston rings of all shapes and sizes. You need rings for your tug boat? They got 'em. Rings for your 1938 lawnmower? They got 'em. Rings for your MAN diesel truck? They got 'em.

http://www.hastingsmfg.com/

vwnate1 · #22 01-25-2009, 03:40 PM

Micheal ;

Firstly , any Mechanic will tell you , the engine pic you posted shows a vastly cleaner engine than usualy comes into the shop under it's own power....

The Dealer sells individual piston ring sets .

Deves Piston Rings in So. Cal. (? El Segundo ?) alsop makes and sells rings for anything ~ anything at all .

Cheaply too .

The carpets look nice and unworn , only dirty , why not clean 'em ? .

You're doing a good thing here and will LOVE this car when finished .

Keep up on the detailed notes with pix as it'll encourage others to follow suit , too many perfectly good Mercedes are being sent to the crusher these days for under $500.00 .

mplafleur · #23 01-25-2009, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lux

To be clear -- it is a complete set for one piston.

It was Hastings where I got those Ducati rings. They make piston rings of all shapes and sizes. You need rings for your tug boat? They got 'em. Rings for your 1938 lawnmower? They got 'em. Rings for your MAN diesel truck? They got 'em.

http://www.hastingsmfg.com/

I'll call them tomorrow. They are just a hundred or so miles away.

mplafleur · #24 01-30-2009, 11:39 PM

I began the engine build today. I picked up the connecting rods and pistons yesterday from the machine shop. I bought 6 reconditioned connecting rods from Metric Motors. I had them in a couple of days. The rods had new bushings pressed in, but were a little tight on some of the wrist pins so I had to take them in to the shop to get them honed out a little. Plus, some of the wrist pins were too tight as well. According to the FSM, you were supposed to be able to insert them in by hand.

First, I cleaned the surfaces for the lower crank bearings. Notice that the tang of the bearing is in the recess and that the slot in the bearing is over the oiling hole.

The 5th crank bearing has he thrust washers. Note that there are oiling grooves on these. They must be installed so that the grooves face the surface of the crank.

You can also install the thrust washers after you set the crank in place. Just push the crank toward one end to make room. Oil the thrust washer and slip it into place.
Push the crank up against the washer you just inserted and slide the next one in place. Make sure again the the oiling grooves are on the correct side.

Here are all the of the bearings installed.

mplafleur · #25 01-30-2009, 11:54 PM

Oil the new bearings or the surface or the crank and set it in place.
Insert the other half the the bearing shells into the bearing caps and place them onto the crank. The bearing shell tangs should be on the same side, top and bottom.
Note that each main cap has a number stamped into it from 1 to 7. Make sure they stay in that order with number 1 at the front of the block and 7 at the rear. Number 5 should have the other halves of the thrush washers installed. Again the oiling grooves to the outside.

Here we are ready to put the bolts in. Tighten all the bolts to 55 nm and then tighten them again another 90 degrees.

mplafleur · #26 01-31-2009, 12:14 AM

I want to check end play now to see if the thrust bearings are the correct size. Push the crank in toward the rear of the block.

I put a dial indicator on the block and set the gauge against the end of the crank and set the dial to zero.

Now force the crank toward the fron of the block and read the gauge.

Note that this gauge is in thousandths of an inch. It reads about 0.0034 inches or about 3.4 thousandths.

The spec for new end play is 0.100 - 0.256mm. This is about 4 - 10 thousandths. I am just under spec. I'm ok with that.

mplafleur · #27 01-31-2009, 12:21 AM

Flip the block over and we are ready to install pistons and connecting rods.

The connecting rods should already be installed on the pistons. Oil the inside cylinder walls and put the piston strap on the piston (make sure the gaps in the piston rings are evenly aranged and not over one another) and insert the assembly into the cylinder hole with the arrow in the piston crown pointing toward the front of the block. Tap the piston into place with the end of a hammer.

Now here's my problem.

This is TDC.

I'm about 3mm short of being where I should be. When I rotate the crank, the piston skirt hits the piston oiler. I take apart one of the piston assemblies and measure the center to center distance of the two bores. I measure 145.0mm

It should be 148mm.

This is a rod for one of those rod bending 3.5 liters.

Metric Motors sent me the wrong connecting rods. I will contact them tomorrow (I hope they are in) and see if they can send me the correct ones pronto.

compu_85 · #28 01-31-2009, 12:25 AM

Man that's a bummer! Hopefully they get it sorted out ASAP!

DeliveryValve · #29 01-31-2009, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mplafleur

....
I'm about 3mm short of being where I should be. When I rotate the crank, the piston skirt hits the piston oiler. I take apart one of the piston assemblies and measure the center to center distance of the two bores. I measure 145.0mm

It should be 148mm.

This is a rod for a rod bender 3.5 liter.

Metric Motors sent me the wrong connecting rods. I will contact them tomorrow (I hope they are in) and see if they can send me the correct ones pronto.

Oh man, you've been to ringer on this rod issue! I feel bad!

I was tempted to get the rods from the short block I found in my local yard for you, as noted in my "ticked off junkyard thread", but when I saw you got some Metric Rods. I thought that is the better way to go! Evidently not so far. Damn!

mplafleur · #30 01-31-2009, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by compu_85

Man that's a bummer! Hopefully they get it sorted out ASAP!

So do I. I wanted to be driving this in a month.

Well, tomorrow I can put a new window regulator in the back, and maybe install those Bilsteins I bought 4 years ago. And those Bosch Euro lights too.