If that car is at the Sikorsky show I'm so their!

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

If I go to the Sikorsky car show. There will most likely be a different set of plates. But thats a surprise.

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

Milford CT. I probably drove by you a dosen or so times on the way to work. You can come to Wallingford and see it any time.

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

This is a first class operation.

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

This weekend has been a fix everything I didn't get right the first time weekend. It almost ended in disaster as my lift just started to go up by itself until the switch just shorted out smoked and popped.

First were temporary wheel spacers for the SL600 wheels that rub on the tie rod ends. I made a set of 5.6mm spacers from a set of old rotors. Still not enough the 34ET wheels still rub slightly and the lug bolts are only holding by 2 threads. Can only use a maximum of about 24 ET with 16" X 8" wheels.

Then 3/8" shim plates to raise the engine the distance it seemed to have miraculously sunk on me for some unknown reason. I still have no idea how I lost engine to subframe clearance and it still continues to decrease with time. In fact I started out thinking I would use 1/4" shims and since have gone to 3/8". This was allot of work because believe me removing engine mounts on this car is not easy. A few mods will have to be done here to facilitate this when I redesign the permanent subframe.

Then I had to reseal the power steering gearbox because the input seal I put in a while back must have gotten damage and it was leaking all over.

I got a more reasonable quote from Cooled By Ice radiators http://www.cooledbyice.com/. for $680 with my hair brain water inlet. I just waiting for them so send me a drawing so I can confirm.

Hopefully my timing wheel deal from China will be a go. I seam to be having difficulty paying them via wire transfer.

Obviously I will have to find a better solution for front wheels or loose the big brakes.

Tomorrow I hopefully will get this all back together to essentially the same point it was. Hopefully it will hold PS fluid and possibly I can drive it off the lift for the first time under power. However without wheel speed sensors I will be risking the transmission going into limp home mode. but that may be inevitable.

Attached Thumbnails

         

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

Looks/ sounds great John.

Good luck getting all the smaller things done. Cant wait to see it at the plant!!!

I should have my car there too i hope.

MS is busting my stones but getting closer every day or two. Initial start up is proving to be semi intangible...

The devil is in the details, isn't it John? Looks like it is pretty close though, can't wait to see some updates/pics/video once you get it back on the ground and moving under it's own power!

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1999 C43 AMG ~~~ 744 on black, mostly stock
1991 190e 2.6 ~~~ m117 5.6 project car

It really is. Last weekend I just spent just fixing things that dident work right the first time. I feel kind of ripped off because I spent countless hours checking and adjusting engine to subframe clearance using both used and new engine mounts and used and new subframe mounts only to have it settle out to something else later. Now the 3/8" spacers I put in may be too much I may have to take them out. It was just one of those times when you try very hard to make things corrects and in the end it doesn't work. And to this day I still cant explain where the clearance went and why if I lost clearance at the subframe I didn't gain it at the hood. I can only assume that it was a combination of engine mounts settling which reduces engine to subframe clearance and subframe mounts settling to reduce engine to hood clearance. It all sounds like a great theory except that was precisely the reason I checked everything with used mounts as well as new mounts???

Now there is only the possibility of one more adjustment to the subframe as far as any reworks are concerned, and that can wait until after its driving.

The goals for this weekend will be to make the chassis wire harness look like it was made and installed by MB. I had to search all over for that special black cloth tape used on the wire harnesses. I found only one company that would sell me just 5 rolls. Generally its only sold to the automotive industry by the truck load. With the wiring complete its time to reassemble the interior. It will be nice not having to work in the astronaut position on 98°F days.

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

FYI you can buy that cloth tape from the MB dealer by the roll, its pretty cheap. I bought a roll to make my wire repairs look factory.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Magic tape:


http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G14926

http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G14925


I've been thinking of getting some for myself.

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86 560SL
With homebrew first gear start!
85 380SL
Daily Driver Project

http://juliepalooza.8m.com/sl/mercedes.htm

I kind of figured that. But I didn't think I could find anyone who knew how to look it up. But come to think of it, with all the wire harness repairs MB is known for they probably have it right in stock and the parts guys know the part number by heart. I should have checked the obvious.

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To see my 129 parts for sale visit:
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John Roncallo

Thanks Strife

I found it at a place called Prime Electronics $2.70 per roll.

1 in. X 100 Foot Black Cloth Automotive Electrical Tape PN: 79900-2026

__________________
To see my 129 parts for sale visit:
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John Roncallo

I hate that cloth tape... It makes your fingers sooo stickey when you try to fix whatever is wrapped in it.

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Maybe a dumb question (you have probably thought of this already), but did the angle your drivetrain sits at (as viewed from the side...like pitch in an aircraft) change at all? That would explain clearances shrinking at both "ends", at least at the front top of the motor and rear of the subframe.

No kidding about the wiring. I spent sooooo long and spent so much money (for what it was) on factory looking connectors and all the other goodies, and it still isn't nearly as clean as I want it. I figure I can always go back later and clean things up, since when that all was installed I knew things would likely get torn out again if we needed to troubleshoot electrical gripes. It's just annoying because I never really got the lengths and routing of a couple sections of the harness quite right. Great link Strife for that tape though, as that is one of the few things I had trouble finding.

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1999 C43 AMG ~~~ 744 on black, mostly stock
1991 190e 2.6 ~~~ m117 5.6 project car

I dont think that happened because there is really not much pressure on the trans mount. What I really belive may have happened is that the front subframe mounts are urithane and there design will almost make them like solid incompressible mounts. The rear subframe mounts are stock MB can compress. This would have allowed the rear of the subframe to rise and effectively cause the same problem your thinking of. I have no way to verify this because I didn't measure the compression when I installed them. The good news is they are a used pair of subframe mounts so new ones should fix the problem. However they are a good used pair so the car needs to be designed to work with them. Some of the more compressed specimens I have will make the clearance worse.

One of my goals is to redesign this subframe from the ground up using 4130. When I do that all 4 mounts will be similar urethane.

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