My Custom 1980 W116 300SD Project - Page 12 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Squiggle Dog · #**166** 09-03-2011, 12:41 AM

Oh, goody--these rotors are genuine Mercedes parts!

Naked spindles! The backing plates sure were rusty.

Much better! I wet sanded the backing plates with 220 grit sandpaper, then brushed on Rust Doctor. It converts the rust to black magnetite, which will no longer rust. It even coats the bare metal and makes it turn black, while not disturbing any remaining paint and factory marks. I bought Rust Doctor at a swap meet years ago and it has been very useful at times.

Squiggle Dog · #**167** 09-03-2011, 12:43 AM

I made sure to not use too much grease. I used Mobil1 synthetic bearing grease. It doesn't stink and it cleans up easily. To set the bearings I first tightened up the hubs, then backed off, then tightened the hubs in increments while grabbing the rotors from each side to see if there was still side-to-side play. I was satisfied once the side-to-side play was just gone and there was no noticeable drag. I'm not sure if this proper, but it seemed to work for my last car.

Here are my glorious, brand new calipers! I like the Arabic writing on the boxes. It reminds me of the middle east where I grew up.

When I was at Pick-N-Pull I was rooting through a 450SLC and found a box of brand new front and rear genuine Mercedes brake pads inside! It was a great $5 find.

When I was replacing the brakes on my 200D last year I bought a tube of ATE Plastilube. I still had plenty left for applying to the moving parts of the brake system (sides and backside of brake pads, etc.).

Squiggle Dog · #**168** 09-03-2011, 12:44 AM

Here are the front brakes completed. I wet sanded the rotors with 220 grit sandpaper before installing them.

The rear brakes were every bit as bad as the front. In fact, the rotors were rusted to the hub and it took penetrating oil and smacks with a sledge hammer to free them.

As I was working on the rear brakes I noticed that I have a scary rust problem to tend to.

The parking brake shoes were down to the metal. That must be why the parking brake didn't hold.

Squiggle Dog · #**169** 09-03-2011, 12:45 AM

I know I don't usually install aftermarket parts, but this entire Meyle parking brake kit was only $27 and it included the springs! It's also Italian-made, so it must be decent.

I sanded the backing plates and coated them with Rust Doctor, then let the rusty adjuster assembly soak in vinegar for a while. ATE Plastilube was used on all sliding surfaces.

I did end up regretting buying an aftermarket part, afterall. Though the Meyle parking brake kit appeared to be of decent quality and a great value, I had to take the brakes apart again to file the lower contact points, because the rotors would not fit over the shoes.

I had to file the shoes down quite a bit. After installing them again I discovered that I needed to file them even more. I ended up filing away the indented area completely. This was barely adequate for the shoes to not scrape with the adjusters all the way in and no tension on the parking brake cable.

Here are the rear brakes, completed and looking pretty.

Squiggle Dog · #**170** 09-03-2011, 12:46 AM

Bleeding the brakes was a bit of a problem because I was using tubing that was a loose fit and was letting in air bubbles.

I bought one of those $7 Powerbuilt bleeder kits, which was a disaster. The magnetic bottle would not stick anywhere and the magnet fell out and shattered. The plastic tubing was way too small for the bleeder screws, yet would keep popping off the bottle and causing me to lose brake fluid.

I gave up on that and resorted to a one-man bleeder valve I had. It didn't work because the threads of the bleeder screws were letting air bubbles in.

I found a proper size piece of tubing and when my roommate got home I had him pump the pedal while I bled the brakes. I think I have 98% of the air bubbles out, but might do one last round.

I used Castrol GT LMA DOT 4 synthetic brake fluid that I found at the auto parts store. Guess what? It's made in Germany, just like my car!

So now my brakes have been completely redone with a mix of genuine Mercedes and OEM parts (minus the Meyle parking brake shoes), all for a cost of just over $400. That's hard to beat!

Squiggle Dog · #**171** 09-09-2011, 07:41 PM

Today was payday, so I purchased five new Hankook whitewall tires from eBay. The total was $440 with free shipping. Of course, I won't be able to have them installed until after I receive my vacation check on the 15th--but at least they should be here by then.

I've heard mixed reviews about Hankook tires. They are a budget tire, so I can't expect a whole lot of performance out of them and I'll just have to see how they handle. They are slightly lower profile than what's supposed to be on there, but unless I'm willing to pay at least twice what I just spent, sizes are very limited.

Below are some pictures of a 300SD that was for sale locally a few years ago. This is what my car will look like with whitewall tires and the black wheel covers I have, only mine has the 6.9 bumpers, fog light guards, and chrome fender trim. Of course, the paint on this car is much better than mine.

The whitewalls I am getting aren't quite that wide, so they will probably look more like the ones on this car, which actually is a similar color brown to what mine was originally:

-=DeanstuD=- · #**172** 09-09-2011, 08:05 PM

I intended to look up this thread and forgot. I was at the Portland south PnP, and there are two 116 with the non 5mph bumpers in case you wanted to ditch the big ones... A 73 and a 74.

the other car still had rubber strips this one is missing.

Squiggle Dog · #**173** 09-09-2011, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -=DeanstuD=-

I intended to look up this thread and forgot. I was at the Portland south PnP, and there are two 116 with the non 5mph bumpers in case you wanted to ditch the big ones... A 73 and a 74. the other car still had rubber strips this one is missing.

Thanks for the info! There's actually a 1973 450SEL at the PickNPull here, too. I passed on the smaller bumpers. I like the big ones. You should save the metal coolant reservoirs if they have them. They go for crazy money. I wish it wasn't a four hour round trip!

Squiggle Dog · #**174** 09-13-2011, 10:11 PM

UPS stopped by today with my 5 new Hankook Mileage Plus II shaved whitewall tires. I know I could have bought white sidewall tires and then tried to shave them myself, but it would have cost just as much as these tires, anyway.

They're not quite the tires you see in the Coker catalog, but they are also less than half the price! The only thing that bothers me is that the whitewall rubber is rough from being ground, but I could probably use sandpaper to get the rubber smoother.

Now I have to wait for my vacation check on the 15th so I can get them installed on my black steel rims, next I'll have the dealer do an alignment. I'm really excited to see how the car looks with them on.

Squiggle Dog · #**175** 09-18-2011, 10:48 PM

I spent several hours cleaning and polishing the wheels I got for $7 each from PickNPull. They were dull, oxidized, rusty, and had lots of ancient brake dust on them. Black Magic Wheel Cleaner got the brake dust off, but not without hours of very much scrubbing. I polished them with Meguiar's Deep Crystal Polish, followed by Meguiar's Gold Class Wax, then coated with DuPont Teflon Wax. In the end they were very shiny, with only a little rust remaining.

I made sure that the insides were just as clean as the outsides.

I had Les Schwab Tires mount and balance the tires. It was $118.32 with 5 new valve stems. As I was installing the wheels I noticed that they wrote "BENT" on the inside of one of them. I'm not sure what that's about, so I'll have to call them. For now I'm using at as a spare. If the rim is bent, I think that I have another one I can polish and use.

I found some rusty wheel bolts and soaked them in Evapo Rust for a couple of hours. I then coated them with wax before adding a small amount of anti-seize paste to the threads.

Squiggle Dog · #**176** 09-18-2011, 10:50 PM

Here's what the 300SD looks like with the whitewall tires and black wheel covers. I love it! I am sticking with whitewall tires for life. At some point I might go back to the bundts after I have them and the car painted, but this works for now. The car rides smoothly; no more shaking and hopping--and I don't have to worry about the tires blowing out anymore.

Squiggle Dog · #**177** 09-18-2011, 10:52 PM

After I installed the tires I was looking at the dulled paint with peeling clearcoat, and it was bothering me. The car needs a repaint, no question--but I wanted it to at least look like someone cares about it. So, I scraped off as much flaking clearcoat as I could, washed the car, bought some rubbing compound, and started buffing the paint. I then went over it with polishing compound. By the time I got to hosing off the polishing compound it temporarily stopped raining, so I put a coat of Meguiar's Gold Class Wax on it. Then it started raining again, but it looks a lot better now. At least the water beads and the paint has some depth to it. It should stay cleaner as well.

Tomorrow I go to the dealer for an alignment, which I haven't had done after replacing the steering box because my tires were too bad. I'm bringing my centering tool with me.

Aquaticedge · #**178** 09-18-2011, 10:52 PM

Snazzy look! I like it!

bribarn · #**179** 09-18-2011, 10:56 PM

It looks great, congratulations! I'm impressed with your determination and abilities. I'm sure this car will be amazing when finished.

Stretch · #**180** 09-19-2011, 03:22 AM

I'm Impressed with the wheel cleaning - be careful with the old wheel lugs though - there is a huge difference in feel (when fitting) between new and old.