My Custom 1980 W116 300SD Project Part 2 - Page 8 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Squiggle Dog · #**106** 07-21-2018, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colorado220

Way awesome bud! I bet your car loves you! Will be following this!

Thank you!

I brushed etching primer on the cowl and painted it with leftover POR-15 Hardnose paint that I bought twelve years ago for my 1965 International Travelall.

I covered the cowl partition with lots of 3M Dynatron seam sealer, and primed and painted it. It shouldn't rust ever again!

Here's the wire harness that will control the blower motor for the climate control, removed from my parts car. The firewall grommet that used to hold all the vacuum lines for the climate control got the holes plugged with black 1/4" pull-through plugs ordered from McMaster-Carr.

I fed the wire harness through the tubing where the original wire harness was. I had to hook a wire hanger section onto the connector on each wire and pull them through one at a time. It was tricky and I was very worried about damaging the wires.

Finishing up the custom wire harness.

Squiggle Dog · #**107** 07-21-2018, 02:15 PM

Fortunately, the sheet metal under the insulation wasn't rusty.

I installed new rubber grommets for the climate control case drains.

Don't use Rubber Renue! I had four rubber drains that fit on the bottom of the climate control case that were in good condition, other than being a little hardened at the bottom. I decided I would soak them in Rubber Renue, which is supposed to make rubber soft and supple again. It destroyed them, so now I have to buy new ones.

The climate control case is in, which is a big milestone. I should be on track to getting the air conditioning working and the car put back together so I can drive it to the Helper Arts Festival in Utah next month.

Squiggle Dog · #**108** 07-21-2018, 02:16 PM

The blower motor resistor was rusty, so I soaked it in Evapo-Rust, but unfortunately when I was hosing it off, a piece of insulation that goes on the bimetallic strip/contact points got damaged. I carefully removed one from a spare, and unfortunately it peeled apart, so I glued the layers back together with clear POR-Patch seam sealer.

Here is the blower motor cleaned up and lubricated with Zoom Spout Oil, something of which I had not before heard, but it's supposed to be the proper oil for lubricating electric motors. The rubber bumper on the wire harness was dry rotted, so I painted on a few coats of Leak Seal to hold it together. I painted the outside of the resistor housing with silver paint.

Carefully sliding on the bimetallic strip insulation. I don't know how necessary the insulation is, but on the later production resistors, the bimetallic strip is very close to one one of the coils. Apparently, the purpose of the bimetallic strip is that if one of the coils overheats from something such as an aged blower motor drawing too much current, it will bend in one direction, being that one side is brass, and the other side is steel (which expand at different rates), and the contact points will touch, which will cause the blower motor to momentarily run on high speed, giving time for the coil to cool.

I found that a point file actually fit in from behind to access the lower half of the points, and the upper half was able to be accessed from the front.

Squiggle Dog · #**109** 07-21-2018, 02:17 PM

I used butyl windshield installation tape to seal between the blower motor and case.

The automatic blower motor that came out of my car is on the left, and the customized manual one I'm putting in the car is on the right--much simpler!

I added 1/8" thick high temperature resilient silicone foam with adhesive back to the top of the case where it contacts the cowl.

The blower motor is installed and works on all four speeds with the dial switch.

WhiteShadow · #**110** 07-21-2018, 02:28 PM

I've thoroughly enjoyed this thread as well as your older write-up on your '68 Heckflosse that I read awhile back. Your work and effort is top-notch and I've gleaned a lot of new knowledge on the inner workings of these cars from your posts. Thank you for taking the time to document and then post such detailed write-ups. I see you didn't have success with that Rubber Renue, consider an Avon product called Skin So Soft which works wonders on any material that is porous. I use it on rubber, vinyl, leather and also on Bakelite radio cabinets and antique telephones, really seems to re-hydrate well. Look forward to your continued progress on this car.

Diseasel300 · #**111** 07-21-2018, 02:28 PM

Zoom spout oil is fantastic stuff for motor bearings. I've used it for years without any incident. It resists gumming or varnishing and I find it lasts significantly longer than 3-in-1 does. Any time I overhaul a motor, I always clean the bearing and shaft and lube with Zoom. Make sure you saturate the wicks in the bearings and it'll go a very long time before you ever have to touch it again.

dude99 · #**112** 07-21-2018, 05:21 PM

You do beautiful work

Squiggle Dog · #**113** 07-25-2018, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteShadow

I've thoroughly enjoyed this thread as well as your older write-up on your '68 Heckflosse that I read awhile back. Your work and effort is top-notch and I've gleaned a lot of new knowledge on the inner workings of these cars from your posts. Thank you for taking the time to document and then post such detailed write-ups. I see you didn't have success with that Rubber Renue, consider an Avon product called Skin So Soft which works wonders on any material that is porous. I use it on rubber, vinyl, leather and also on Bakelite radio cabinets and antique telephones, really seems to re-hydrate well. Look forward to your continued progress on this car.

Thanks! I'll look into Skin So Soft. I've been happy with 303 Aerospace Protectant, but have been looking for something heavy duty to revitalize hardened rubber.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diseasel300

Zoom spout oil is fantastic stuff for motor bearings. I've used it for years without any incident. It resists gumming or varnishing and I find it lasts significantly longer than 3-in-1 does. Any time I overhaul a motor, I always clean the bearing and shaft and lube with Zoom. Make sure you saturate the wicks in the bearings and it'll go a very long time before you ever have to touch it again.

Yeah, I'm glad that I did some research and didn't just put some drops of transmission fluid in there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dude99

You do beautiful work

Thank you! I do what I can with what I have.

Squiggle Dog · #**114** 07-25-2018, 01:37 PM

I'm starting to work on my car at night because it's been about 115F during the day. Even the nights are in the 90s. Staying up all night working on my car destroyed me the first time, and I did hardly anything but sleep for the next two days. Last night I got some more things done.

I cleaned out the cowl the best I could by hand and hosed it out with water. There were a lot of pine needles in the cowl between the blower motor opening and the right side door. I blew that out with compressed air and reached up inside to touch up some small rust spots with Corroseal. Then the inside of the cowl got waxed.

The drip rail that goes inside the cowl got cleaned up and butyl windshield installation tape applied to it since the foam had deteriorated.

The drip rail and the windshield washer nozzle holders are installed. I removed a bunch more unneeded wires.

The new climate control case drains arrived from The Classic Center. If you'll remember, I've been trying to get the firewall grommet for the high pressure air conditioning hose for a few months now. The last place I ordered one (MBOEMParts.com) never sent me the parts I paid for and is completely ignoring me. I ordered one from The Classic Center and they said it would take 3-4 days because it had to come from Germany, so I said it was fine to wait until the grommet arrived before they shipped my order. 4 days later they shipped my order, and the grommet wasn't shipped with it. So, what was the point of that? Now they are sending the grommet by itself so I have to pay $9 shipping on a $1 part.

The new drains are installed.

Squiggle Dog · #**115** 07-25-2018, 01:38 PM

I've never had success soldering wires before. I read up on it and decided a torch would work best for small automotive bullet connectors. This Bernzomatic unit works very well. It was worth every penny I don't have.

The climate control illumination wiring is interesting; on my car the power from the lighting potentiometer exits at spot 15 on the connector through a grey wire with a violet stripe and makes its way down to the emergency flasher switch. I guess it's supposed to come on with the lights, but the bulb inside must be burnt out. Interestingly, the shift plate illumination is full power and doesn't dim with the potentiometer. Then a grey wire with a blue stripe branches off of the lighting wire for the emergency flasher switch and lights the four climate control bulbs.

On a car with manual climate control, the wire exiting the instrument panel is grey with a green and a violet stripe and it goes straight to the climate control lighting (which also has four bulbs plus one inside each dial switch). Then a grey wire with a violet stripe goes from it and lights the emergency flasher switch.

Removing the automatic climate control illumination wiring from my car and then adding the wiring from the manual climate control would have been simple were it not for a few inches of the wire where it connects to the emergency flasher switch being cut off, and even if it was intact, feeding it with the connector attached would have probably been impossible due to how tight the wires are squeezed into the sheathing.

I cut the grey wire with violet stripe on my car up by where it plugs into the instrument panel. I decided that I would remove the wire which had been cut on the manual harness, and solder the wire from my car in its place, since it was the same color and already inside the sheathing going to the emergency flasher switch. I heated up the bullet connector with the torch so the solder would melt and then pulled out the wire I didn't need, and then inserted the wire coming from the emergency flasher switch.

I drilled a hole in a piece of wood and that did a good job of holding the connector still while I heated it up and swapped the wires. The end result was the harness ending up exactly as it should have been, and with the added benefit of not having to thread the wire through the sheathing on the way to the emergency flasher switch.

My first attempt using the torch was successful, and it looks just as good as it did before. A bad situation has been corrected! I am very happy that I didn't take the easy way out and use a butt connector.

The plastic covering installed over the connectors.

The feed wire going from the instrument panel to the climate control illumination wiring replaced the wire that I cut and soldered between the illumination wiring and the emergency flasher switch. It is wired correctly and now there is a grey wire with a blue stripe left over branching out of the emergency flasher switch. I was going to remove it but then had an idea--I can run it up to the instrument panel and use it to light a temperature display which I can install from a W124.

As of right now, the climate control wiring is functional. The blower motor works on all speeds, the dial and faceplate illumination work, and the compressor gets power when the air conditioning dial is turned on. I still have some parts of the wire harness to remove, but electrically the car is about ready to have the air conditioning charged with R-12. I still have to install the hoses, though.

funola · #**116** 07-25-2018, 05:03 PM

How much did that torch cost you? It was money you could have saved. That soldering iron in the background has too small a tip for heavy duty soldering. What you need is an old 100 watt iron from the 50's and 60's with a fat copper tip that holds the heat. Next time you see one at a garage sale, snap it up! Soldering flux also helps a lot in getting a good soldering joint.

Nice work you're doing! I am surprised you are not doing the evac / charge the R12 your self. It is well within your capability. Do your research and go for it! It's not difficult. I evac and charged my 85 myself using a $40 manifold gauge from HF and borrowed a vacuum pump from Autozone. Getting 40 F vent temp on a 90 F ambient day on a stock system.

vwnate1 · #**117** 07-25-2018, 07:26 PM

How about and old Weller pistol grip soldering gun ? will that have enough heat to solder these pins ? .

TIA,

Diseasel300 · #**118** 07-25-2018, 07:41 PM

A quality 40W pencil iron is more than adequate to desolder and resolder those pins. Between the SL and the SDL I've done so many I've lost track and never once had an issue. The key is a decent tip. A 1/8" "screwdriver" tip is my go-to for anything heavy.

vwnate1 · #**119** 07-25-2018, 07:56 PM

Thanx ~ I don't have any pencil iron , I do have a good old Weller.....

Squiggle Dog · #**120** 07-25-2018, 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by funola

How much did that torch cost you? It was money you could have saved. That soldering iron in the background has too small a tip for heavy duty soldering. What you need is an old 100 watt iron from the 50's and 60's with a fat copper tip that holds the heat. Next time you see one at a garage sale, snap it up! Soldering flux also helps a lot in getting a good soldering joint.

Nice work you're doing! I am surprised you are not doing the evac / charge the R12 your self. It is well within your capability. Do your research and go for it! It's not difficult. I evac and charged my 85 myself using a $40 manifold gauge from HF and borrowed a vacuum pump from Autozone. Getting 40 F vent temp on a 90 F ambient day on a stock system.

The torch was $30. It also has a heat shield which works great for heat shrink tubing. I think it's awesome, but seems to go though butane quickly. I used Oatey No. 5 Lead-Free Flux and a little bit of Bernzomatic 60/40 Lead Silver Solder.

Doing the air conditioning charging myself just seemed like such a hassle on top of what I'm already doing. The new expansion valve is set up for R-134a, so it will need to be adjusted to the proper superheat values. I was hoping to be able to just take it somewhere, having them pressure test, vacuum, charge it, adjust the expansion valve, and then hopefully I could forget about it for many years.

I don't know what material the diaphragm in the expansion valve is made of, but even if it's metal, I suspect it could probably wear out eventually, and then the spring inside can wear and affect the superheat values anyway.