380SL Diesel Conversion Project - Page 15 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

charmalu · #**211** 02-10-2012, 09:48 AM

It does have a rubber hose attached to each side of it where it is connected.
so It is not a solid mount.

Charlie

mach4 · #**212** 02-10-2012, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

If that brass colored elbow is actually brass, I would be concerned about its longivity.

The elbows on the oil cooler are steel and the hose ends are 6061 T6 aluminum. I have the option of using the original MB fittings... In fact I'll try those today just to see how they look.

mach4 · #**213** 02-10-2012, 01:06 PM

I'm not sure which is best. If I go with the MB fittings with the brazed on -10AN fittings I'll need to shorten the hose... but no problem, since the hose ends are by design reusable.

The oil cooler on the left is stock and the one on the right has been drilled and tapped to accept NPT fittings.

One consideration might be that by using the elbow fitting with the modified oil cooler there is a lot less leverage on the radiator connection and less potential for fatigue or breakage.

unkl300d · #**214** 02-10-2012, 01:33 PM

Looks like the 90 degree elbow is cleaner with respect to your stated deductions.
Space-wise also.

ca_tallguy · #**215** 02-10-2012, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROLLGUY

The site I am using to find part #s is:Index to Mercedes EPC Parts Info and Diagrams | Everything Benz
It has been very helpful in some cases, but in others not. Sometimes the entire list of part #s does not show past the first page of parts. The tail cone ("transmission case-rear" as it is called) is on the 8th page, but the parts list is for the first page.

Interesting project you've got here! Thanks for using my Everything Benz site. Just a tip -- I realize that the russian sites I link to sometimes have issues, so I've provided an "alt" link to a different russian site that you might find works better in those cases. I don't know why sometimes one or the other has a problem and this is the best solution I could think of.

sixto · #**216** 02-10-2012, 02:41 PM

Another question of visual perspective - how far is the lower cooler hose from the PS pulley?

Sixto
87 300D

mach4 · #**217** 02-10-2012, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sixto

Another question of visual perspective - how far is the lower cooler hose from the PS pulley?

It's another one of those perspective issues. I've got plenty of clearance.

and

ROLLGUY · #**218** 02-10-2012, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ca_tallguy

Thanks for using my Everything Benz site.

You are welcome, and thank you for providing a great resource. It is a lot easier for my parts guy when I give him the part#, so he does not have to take the time to look them up for me.....Rich

Roncallo · #**219** 02-12-2012, 10:46 PM

Coming along nicely

mach4 · #**220** 02-13-2012, 02:46 PM

I've been struggling with how to maintain the electric speedometer in the 380SL and none of the early solutions involving swapping tailcones panned out.

But I figured out how to move the internal VR trigger wheel to the driveshaft and keep the tailcone with the manual speedo on the 722.4. Here's a diagram of the strategy. (The full thread on this topic, including images of the proof-of-concept test is here - Mechanical to Electronic Speedometer Conversion )

Essentially the driveshaft is turned into a trigger wheel by permanently affixing properly shaped and balanced "teeth" to the end nearest the transmission. An excellent mounting point for the sensor bracket is the rear transmission mount. Everything else remains stock. In the graphic above, the purple is the stock sensor, the green are the "teeth" and the red is the custom mounting bracket.

This strategy will likely be a good solution for others doing manual transmission conversions in cars with electronic speedometers.

mach4 · #**221** 02-24-2012, 09:45 PM

Finished up the VR bracket for the electronic speedometer and got the trigger wheel teeth fabbed up and welded to the driveshaft.

Now I don't have to try to find a tailcone to swap.

mach4 · #**222** 02-24-2012, 10:29 PM

A lot of my time recently has been focused on wiring - one of the things I enjoy the least, by the way. One of the biggest projects was getting all the components for the EGR controller installed and hooked up. This is a lot of work but necessary because I need all the smog stuff hooked up when I go get the car inspected for the title swap. Oh, and the tach is driven from the EGR controller as well so either way I needed the controller.

First I mounted the vacuum convertor and switchover valve.

Then I started running wires and hooking them up to the pigtail. This was my "map" to the hookup of all the components leading to the EGR Controller plug. I pulled power from the plug for the fuel injection controller because that comes from the overvoltage controller which will protect the controller. I snagged a tach pigtail at the JY last time so I've got a clean tach hookup.

Here is the EGR controller happily occupying the place of the old Lambda Control Module with the plug installed but the wires not yet wrapped and tied.

The I started hooking up my manual glow plugs. I got a nice momentary switch with a LED lighted ring that comes on when the glow plugs are operating. It was a little tricky because I couldn't find out whether the switch was capable of driving the Ford solenoid I'm using to drive the glow plugs, so I hooked up a standard Bosch 30amp relay to drive the solenoid. I mounted it on the dash below the light switch. I think it turned out very nice. The picture doesn't show much brightness for the LED but it is really brighter than it appears. (Also the solenoid is mounted on the firewall, so there is positive audio confirmation that the solenoid has activated!)

I'm going with a manual shutoff as well, and I've ordered a matching switch with a red LED which will drive a switchover valve to activate the vacuum shutoff on the injector pump.

Here's the solenoid installation, but the wire to the glow plugs hasn't been hooked up yet.

My plan for glow plugs is to use a cut down glow plug relay box and strip out all the electronics and solenoid. I'll keep the stock 80 amp fuse and the connector so it will look almost factory to a casual observer and mount in the same relative position on the fender well.

mach4 · #**223** 02-25-2012, 08:30 PM

Today's project was finishing the manual glow plug system. At the last half price sale at the junk yard, I snagged a glow plug relay for next to nothing.

I opened it up and charted my course of action to gut everything except the fuse and plug. All the pins except one, connect to a copper plate and it is connected to a wire with some circuitry attached.

When I was done "cleaning" I was left with this

After cutting down the case, but leaving the mounting ears I was ready to pour urethane to seal everything up.

Here's the finished product ready to install.

The 380SL has a spark control module mounted in the same general vicinity as the glow relay on the 300D, and amazingly it has the same bolt spacing as the glow plug relay so it's literally a bolt in proposition.

Had lunch at the EAA hangar today which is right next to the junk yards so popped in just to see what new cars were there and found an SLC. I've been patiently waiting for some lower valance inserts to show up and there they were. Someone had removed the bumper and left them laying there....no pulling involved.

mach4 · #**224** 03-04-2012, 01:15 AM

Things are getting pretty close to being ready for a first start. The engine is back in the car and I'm getting everything buttoned back up. The vacuum hoses are a nightmare... just stiff and not bending where they need to in the new configuration. I lucked out with the speedometer sensor - another 1/4 inch and I would have had to splice in an extension.

Got the heater hoses figured out. Cut down a part of the one on the car and the one on the engine and added a steel 90 degree tube and it worked out really nice. Going to use flex line for the other side.

I had picked up a nice Volvo expansion tank that I thought would be perfect. Failed to note the the MB overflow tank has three connections whereas the Volvo had only two. I've figured out how I'm going to mount the stock tank... just need to fab up a small bracket.

Put the hood back on and pulled the car off the cribs and got my first look at the stance. Using the following diagram as a reference, the factory stance should be equidistant front and back to the same relative point on the bumpers. I measured mine and I've got 1/2" difference front to back (back higher) That's with no fluids, so the weight of oil, coolant, trans etc should roughly equal fuel so things should stay pretty much right where they are.

Had one scare. I'd never actually bolted up the engine mounts so when it came time to do so today, it wouldn't work. I couldn't get the bolts through the hole. (I'm using the engine arms that are drilled all the way through and fasten with a nut). It looked like there was a little slop with the arms in the mounts and that might be the problem, so I pulled out the engine hoist and lifted the front of the engine about 1/2". Then tried again and with just a light tap from a rubber mallet they both went right through and bolted up perfectly.

A little more electrical, hoses, installing the exhaust, cleaning up the vacuum, adding filters and fluids and some other little odds and ends and it should be ready to fire up.

t walgamuth · #**225** 03-04-2012, 07:10 AM

More excellent work on your part. There are a bunch of us out here eager to hear about your first drive.