Not good news today. Yes I did some sliding in the rain and the car is outright dangerous in the rain without ESP.

Bad news is the transmission has problems. Shifts from second to neutral. I think the K2 clutch or its controls are not working. I have no idea if it was like this when I got the original 1996 SL600 or not. It drives up and down the driveway fine as a 560SL and it did fine as and SL600. However I never had it out on the road as the SL600 so I don't know if the problem is preexisting.

The good news is the it does not yet get a limp home mode command.

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To see my 129 parts for sale visit:
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John Roncallo

How is the trans fluid?

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

I fixed my trans problem. I left the wheel speed sensors disconnected at the pass through. Hooked them up and all was well at least through third gear. Today will be a day of testing. unfortunately it will be a day of testing in the rain. So the big smokey has to wait.

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To see my 129 parts for sale visit:
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John Roncallo

The trans fluid is just perfect. I expect to do more testing today and ten put the seal on the stick.

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

Oh man, I wannahear that thing do a flyby.




I am still amazed its done.( Well for the most part.)

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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.

The car is now on the road transmission running excellent. No limp home problems ect. The only problem is the driver. I'm not sure if old age makes one wiser or just afraid of ones own shadow. I took it out today and got all the smells of the freshly wrapped and painted exhaust and smoke coming from under the hood all as expected and found it a bit unnerving. That coupled with open exhaust a totally un-aligned front end made me decide not to push it. I'm just going to open up the envelope one day at a time. 20 years ago I would have would have had the front end up in the air at Lebanon Valley Dragway by now.

I have gotten it to a point where all the initial start smells are gone. I was able to borrow some turn tables and I am right now doing the alignment. I hope to find someone else to complete the exhaust to the muffler and get that done in the next day or two. I will be trying to get more video but getting help around here is impossible.

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

So you can drive the car and it will shift into all the gears without having ESP problems or going into limp mode?

Do you have the "final version" radiator in the car, and it doesn't overheat?

Have you taken it up to freeway speeds and cruised?

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

I thought it sounded sweet with an open exhuast! I'd keep it that way for awhile.

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

Yes, how I don't know.

The radiator I have will not allow me to put AC in the car. I spoke to the builder and he said he can take my 560SL core and weld the custom tanks that are currently installed. That will be the plan. For right now this radiator will be used for all testing. So far it does not overheat or even come close to overheating, but it hasent exactly been hot out with AC on.

[/QUOTE]

I have taken it up to freeway speeds for short periods of time. Not long enough for under hood temps to stabilize but long enough to feel confident that all is under control. Its been raining all week so driving is limited. I don't think I'm going to push that any more until I have the exhaust complete. I like to hear if things are going to hell.

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

Weird - this does not seem like a very good "failure mode", as installed in the original car...you would think that MB would come up with a more elegant mode in firmware.

I'm all in favor of more efficiency, gears, electronics, etc., but jeez, a Turbo 400 wouldn't do that...

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

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

Yes that was my thought exactly. However there are two wheel speed sensors. I bet if you disconnect just one you maybe just get an error code or go into transmission limp mode. If that is not the case than MB is totally incompetent. I also cant figure out why they are using wheel speed when the transmission has an output speed built it. Whats up with that.

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

Holy moly Roncallo! Huge congrats on getting her on the road for real!!!! Thats so awesome man. I cant wait to see it sometime.

There is no output speed sensor in this transmission.

I like the way you think.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

There are 2 speed sensors in this transmission n2 and n3. I assumed one was input and one was output. However I cant find that explicitly stated in my available literature.

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