Well last week I said the only thing keeping me from starting the car was that I was scared. One of the things I was scared of was starting it without a completed exhaust system. I tend to have a phobia of flames under cars. So this weekend I got the last parts of the exhaust completely tack welded together and ready for final weld. I will have someone else weld this as my skills are not yet up to par on this. And this is an area where it will show somewhat. So for the most part exhaust is out of the way. Thats good because so far that has been the most difficult task. Th final exhaust work consisted of the cat to pipe transitions, O2 bungs and straightening one section I dident like. The whole system now fits and looks excellent.

The next and last thing that keeps me from starting it is wires are all over the place and until I make some permanent installations the wiring is too difficult to screw up and make mistakes. So I will be taking my time with that. The SL600 is the only car I ever saw that uses 6 gage wire for stuff not related to the starter.

Unfortunately my Truck is now taking up the shop for 100% brake line replacement so I need to get that done first. At the moment It is my daughters only car available until I find her a new one. It also means I'm spending alot of time looking at cars. I've been very surprised at the number of cars I have been finding with speedo roll backs.

John Roncallo

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Hey John,

Looks great! Whos doing the welding? Another guy to ask might be Jon Volk of 666fab.com Hes the man and might be better priced than where your looking. I cant be sure on that though. I know he is an AWESOME tig welder and he specializes in BMW turbo manifolds. Hes in Milford too.

Lookin' good, John. Is that a stainless exhaust system?

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Yeah thats stainless. I just totaled up the cost of all the parts to make those pipes and I almost heaved. The material was $1000.00 Plus $200 to have Pypesmith make me the two 2 into 1 pieces. Plus whatever its going to cost to weld.

John Roncallo

It's probably best not to be talllying up your costs, just enjoy the results.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

I haven't been on this board for awhile. Not that I haven't been doing anything but I have no computer at the moment. Motherboard died, new one is on back order. So unfortunately I'm unable to upload pictures.

In any case progress over the last several weeks is as follows.

Exhaust up to cats are 100% complete. I had to take off Friday to take care of my son who was out of school so I had a 3 day weekend of nothing but wiring hell. That included:
1) Making a box to hold the twin engine computers.
2) Mounting electrical components under dash.
3) Figuring out how to run the wire harness (hardest part)
4) Running the under dash wire harness. Including drilling and installation of tie down clamps.

I never figured that the wiring harness would require great strength and be so painful a job. When I got done Sunday my arms were sore from my finger tips to elbows from cutting myself on sharp objects under the dash. I took a slice out of the tip of my finger closing a computer connector on it.

Then of course without my computer I have lost all of my pictures and wiring references for the moment. The stuff is safe but it does remind one of the need for backups.

Stuff left in under dash wiring is:
1) Finish mount computer box.
2) Finish wire routing on passenger side.
3) Mount relay
4) Mount terminal strip on driver side.
5) Wire driver side.

The public library is shutting me down so
Until next weekend, hopefully with pictures.

John Roncallo

awesome,

As promised, I got my computer back up and running with a new mother board. So here are some pictures of the last few weeks. These are pictures of the box that holds the computers. I still need to plumb cooling fans to it.

In this box are the two main engine computers. The ESP module makes up the lower face of the box and the Trans control module is on the left side.

John Roncallo

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More pictures of the computer box. I also had to put the Basic module, Fuel Pump Relay and a giant capacitor that was in the SL600 onto the footplate where the original CIS computer was. The construction of the Basic module leads me to believe cooling is not necessary for this component.

So far it appears all fits in place with only modifications to the heater duct required.

Since I fried my home computers motherboard last week I decided to get serious about cooling. Thats the last photo.

John Roncallo

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Pretty snazzy little box John.

Keep it up!

Well I haven't been sitting on my ass but I'm at a point where someone has to pay for all this good time. So I have been busy stripping the SL600 and putting parts up on e-bay. Hopefully at this point I can at least get enough money to get it on the road. I also had one good piece of news this week in that I found out that a 450SL or 380SL radiator may slip right in place and both have the upper hose on the driver side where I need it.

In any case I did get some stuff done this week. I fabricated an oil sender fitting to keep the sender from hitting the sub frame. I spent a whole day making a custom banjo bolt and aluminum fitting. This was one of those jobs that came out jewelry like and fit like a glove on the spare filter housing I have but it wouldn't fit in the car. So it's back to the drawing board with that. The clearance is so tight that I'm going to have to go with a cantilevered solution which means I will have to make it out of steel. Steel is in order.

As I put the computer box together is was getting heavier and heavier. I realized that the 2 little tack welded in mounting screws in the 107 that originally hold the relay cluster were not going to do the job. So I installed two more nut serts into the chassis and remade the mounting plate.

It's getting close but unfortunately I have other things to do. Next week I have to do something for mothers day and pretend I like it. Then I have to pretend I like fathers day. I could enjoy fathers day but my wife already told me I'm not getting the Dream Car Tour I asked for.

Attached are pictures of the useless oil sender fitting and the new computer box mount.

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__________________
To see my 129 parts for sale visit:
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Mercedes-SL-Store
John Roncallo

You're a certified Magician, awesome, awesome work

Thank You

So far I call it a craftsman. Magician will be when I get it to run.

__________________
To see my 129 parts for sale visit:
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Mercedes-SL-Store
John Roncallo

Last week I made a oil sensor fitting out of aluminum that did not fit in the car. This week I redesigned the fitting and remade it out of 4140 steel. I hate working with this material and perhaps it was a bit overkill. It took me 5 times to get it right. I'm lucky I had enough steel.

From Left to Right in the first picture

#1) Everything was going good until I drilled the oil passage and the drill bit broke inside the piece just as it had broken through into the oil sender cavity.

#2) On this specimen I ASS U ME d that I new the dimensions in my head and I took too much material off.

#3) See number 1

#4) Learned what not to do on a Bridgeport on this one. Specimen slipped in vice due to J head not locked down.

#5) Running out of material at this point. I actually made 2 simultainusly with the last 2 pieces of material I had. I figured since the drill keeps breaking as I bust into the sensor threaded cavity than I wont drill into the sensor cavity. I drilled the oil passage first then the sensor cavity. That worked and I now have 2 parts complete.

The rest of the pictures are of the second good specimen installed on my spare filter housing.

So whats left to do.

1 A 450SL radiator is on order. I believe that will get me running at least for the moment.

2 Two more wiring components need to be installed and then I can finish final routing of the wiring.

3 Before first start, I need to bypass heater hoses and transmission lines.

4 Put gas in it

5 The key

Of course its Mothers day tomarow and next week I want to go to Carlisle.

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__________________
To see my 129 parts for sale visit:
http://stores.ebay.com/The-Mercedes-SL-Store
John Roncallo

Well, John, I read the whole thing.
I envy the project, I envy your drive to succeed and most importantly, I envy your shop!

I look forward to a youtube burnout.

__________________
http://www.benzypalooza.com/index.htm