My 1982 300SD Project Thread

[Mölyapina]

What else? I ran a diesel purge and swapped out the clapped-out injectors for Greazzer remans with lightly-used nozzles that I got on a trade from him. I can't say that I've noticed a massive difference --perhaps my injectors were not original? -- but I'm not that used to hearing the car run yet, so if I were more used to hearing it run, I'd probably be picking up more of a difference. I did notice oil on some of the heat shields when I pulled them. Cylinder #1 was the worst, followed by #2 and then #3. #4 and #5 had no noticeable oil.



Would this be indicative of blow-by in those cylinders? That's the only thing I can think of. The car does have some blow-by, so this wouldn't shock me by any means.

I have still been noticing some stinky white smoke at idle. I'm going to adjust the valves, but what else should I try to do to address that at this point? Just wait 'til I have it on the road and punch it out a bunch to try to clear out whatever junk has collected in there?

[Mölyapina]

And finally, the topic that I really should get to... the transmission! Last week, I went in, fixed a few of my earlier mistakes (I was missing one bolt on the tail housing, another was loose, etc.), and dropped he pan again because I wanted to make sure it was clean. I spent way too much time going crazy and trying to remove every last it of dirt from it, even though there was very little to begin with. Holy Liqui Moly. I hated it, but it's clean now.

After reinstalling the pan, I started filling the tranny with fluid, and then discovered that I had forgotten to put all the bolts onto the pan. To my chagrin, I discovered that I could only find four bolt total.. so I had to get two from Sears. They are 7 mm, in case anyone ever needs to know.

So after that , I began to again fill the tranny with fluid. After getting about 6-7 quarts in, I fired up and put it in reverse... nothing. Then into drive... nothing. No problem, I decided, not enough fluid. I put more in and tried again. Still nothing.

Then, it hit me.

Something felt very, very wrong.

[Mölyapina]

What was it that was didn't feel right? The shifter. Rowing through the gears was way too easy -- there was no resistance whatsoever. I began to get worried that when I thought I had managed to get the shift lever mechanism hooked up, I had, in fact, failed. I confirmed this by having my sister row through the gears while I laid under the car and confirmed the the shift lever was not hooked up right... I'll try to post pictures and explain exactly what I mean later. I'm going to try to get under the car this afternoon to deal with it.

But it's SO close!

[Adriel]

Jooseppi, so nice to see so much progress! Got to run but wanted to congratulate and touch base...

[Mölyapina]

Originally Posted by Adriel

Jooseppi, so nice to see so much progress! Got to run but wanted to congratulate and touch base...

Thanks, man . I got a whole lot done today -- I removed the valve cover, built a planter box for my mom, then slid the cover back on. Real productive.

But Ill get something tomorrow .

[Mölyapina]

Also, I forgot to add that I am at least for now looking to just use my current electric speedo and either find the 4-point socket to borrow/rent or grab an old GPS from eBay for a speedometer until I can afford this:

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/vdo-340-786

Only problem is, it's $180. So I'll keep track of my speed with a GPS and keep a driving log so that I can keep track of my mileage in the interim.

[Adriel]

Originally Posted by Jooseppi Luna

Thanks, man . I got a whole lot done today -- I removed the valve cover, built a planter box for my mom, then slid the cover back on. Real productive.

But Ill get something tomorrow .

No problem!

Sure did! Nice you can return favor and build the planter. That in itself seems like a good day.

I ran errands this morning but finished it off by shutting my thumb in the Mercedes door... Tomorrow more errands so look forward to an update. I agree, I should look forward to every day and think it will be better.

[Mölyapina]

Originally Posted by Adriel

I ran errands this morning but finished it off by shutting my thumb in the Mercedes door... Tomorrow more errands so look forward to an update. I agree, I should look forward to every day and think it will be better.

Yeowwww . Dat's gotta hurt.

[Adriel]

Originally Posted by Jooseppi Luna

Yeowwww . Dat's gotta hurt.

Thank you for the sympathy. Think it was the worst I felt. What is weird is my palm swelled up and hurt more than my thumb! I also have pain in my wrist but has released some. I took a half of oxy I have kept for special occasions when I went to bed and one in the early morning. Man did I sleep good, better than I have in months! So hurting my thumb showed me why I have trouble getting up and staying awake during the day! I was so perky got ready in half the time! So going to do the same tonight and see if I can catch up on my sleep.

Oma suggested arnica gel and man does it work! Pain was almost instantly reduced and swelling down.

Jooseppi, you are right about keeping positive! I am having a great day!

How is it going for you? Hope it is going swell!

[Mölyapina]

It actually was pretty swell, thank you .

So here's the valve cover off. You guys will notice that I had to replace the air cleaner mount. The rubber bushings are URO -- I bought them before I saw the light -- so we'll see how they hold up. The air cleaner mount is supposed to be heavier-duty than the original, and it does appear to be about twice the thickness of the original.



As for the valve adjustment itself, the 27 mm nuts on the tops of the springs kept moving and so I have to source some sort of wrench for those. I'm going to see if someone local has a wrench that I can borrow; if not, I'll see if I can borrow/rent one. I just rested the valve cover in place for now.

I DID get the shifting linkage done up, though! Here's what it looked like at first:



So the linkage turns a round knob with two beveled sides. The reason this wasn't working is that there is a groove carved out on the "knob" that caused the linkage to just turn on it instead of turning it. I'll post a picture of the knob off of my bad tranny tomorrow morning so you guys can see exactly what I'm talking about.

Anyway.....



.....I got it on!

So now the transmission is pretty much 100% complete. I just need to either finish my valve adjustment or give in and put it off for about a week so that I can start the engine. After that, it's the axle boots, rear coils, and rear shocks.

[vstech]

You know the shift arm is supposed to have a bolt in it, right?

[Mölyapina]

Originally Posted by vstech

You know the shift arm is supposed to have a bolt in it, right?

Ohhh that's right! Thank you... I'll buy one today.

[gatorblue92]

How did I miss this thread? Some good work in here.

[Mölyapina]

So I decided to check eBay for a 27 mm to see what I could find, and, on a whim, searched in the Tools category that is under Collectibles as well as the more often used Tools category under Home & Garden. Guess what I found?



It looked close enough for me to give it a shot at $10, so I bought it.

[funola]

Originally Posted by Jooseppi Luna

So I decided to check eBay for a 27 mm to see what I could find, and, on a whim, searched in the Tools category that is under Collectibles as well as the more often used Tools category under Home & Garden. Guess what I found?



It looked close enough for me to give it a shot at $10, so I bought it.

Couldn't you get in there with an adjustable or channel locks?