My wife's SD just broke another air cleaner mount. Just for info, it
was one of the new cheap ones. It didn't look all that bad just a little
cheap looking. Where the two pieces are spot welded together popped
apart. No wonder. The spot welds barely made it through the metal.
I very likely could have separated them with my hands right out of the
bag they were so lightly attached. So anyone thinking of using the part
should either re spot weld them properly or run a bead with a mig before
you install it. They were under 20 bucks so I purchased 2 at the time.
This one I welded first and added a 3/8 square tube brace on the underside. We'll see how that one holds up.

__________________
85 300TD FED-Daily
84 300SD-Wife's
86 XJS-Sunday
66 GMC-Work- Given to my stepson
83 BMW Airhead- Given to my stepson

Pictures of your modification?

I have a "new-and-improved" one that I bought from a place whose Products used to Perform but now belong to some guy name Eckler . It looks good, but the main difference is that the steel is at least 1.5x as thick as the OEM stock! I have a picture I've meant to upload, but once I had the two side-by-side, the difference was obvious.

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Just to be clear, this was the Mike Tango Charlie product? They are the only cheap one I am aware of, unless Unformly Ridiculous Offal has entered that market....

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

Yes it was an MTC part. Sorry for no pics. The kids took my little
camera with them and I had to do the job quickly as my wife needed
the car ASAP. All I did was run a bead around where the two sections
attached, flipped it over and welded a 3/8 piece of square tubing I had
laying around, up the middle of the channel as a bit of extra bracing.
Funny thing is we looked at the records from when we got the car in
'90 and MB had already replaced the first one way back then before
we purchased the car with 30,000 miles on it. So it seems to have been
a problem from day one. That one lasted 10 years. I welded up all the cracks and it went 5 more years. Then every couple years I braced and welded until I bought the 2 MTC ones. The first MTC lasted a couple months. The second is the one I just welded up new out of the bag.
We'll see.

__________________
85 300TD FED-Daily
84 300SD-Wife's
86 XJS-Sunday
66 GMC-Work- Given to my stepson
83 BMW Airhead- Given to my stepson

Question is, would there by a way for those without a welder to reinforce it?

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

I don't think so Zach. At a bare minimum you would have to
properly spot weld the two pieces together. Perhaps you could
drill holes and bolt the two pieces along with the poor spot welds,
but that mount takes a beating from vibration.

__________________
85 300TD FED-Daily
84 300SD-Wife's
86 XJS-Sunday
66 GMC-Work- Given to my stepson
83 BMW Airhead- Given to my stepson

I repaired my bracket quite a few years back, but didn't take any pictures. The rear arm had snapped off. I made up a new extension out of a piece of about 1/2 or 3/4 in wide stainless strip. I riveted this to the remaining part of the bracket. This has stood up well. Because the strip is springy, I think it absorbs some of the vibration.

Thinking about it, I may have used just one 3/16" stainless rivet and then used the mounting hole & bolt in the bracket for second point.

Not exactly car repair weather, so no pictures for now

Broken part was left hand arm with offset in this picture:

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5