New Arrival, '66 230SL (BLOG) - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

ctaylor738 · #1 09-20-2008, 09:12 PM

With the 350SL on it's way to a European owner, I was actually without a real project car, for over a week, so when this one came along, I couldn't resist. It's a '66 230SL (113.042, M129.981), Light Ivory/Red. ?46K, redone at least once, 4-speed. Very complete, redone interior. Last June, the PO ran it out of oil and the #1 connecting rod turned into a large lump of molten metal, and broke.

This may be a challenge, since a lot of 230 parts are NLA, but I'm glad to have a Pagoda again. Some pics attached, stay tuned, provide advice - I will blog on this thread.

Arthur Dalton · #2 09-20-2008, 10:04 PM

Love Ivory/Red in a 113...stick an Ivory SW on there and you will have a smile on your face.

Is it euro??..stick ??
It's almost an Early 250 with the 129.....

suginami · #3 09-20-2008, 10:08 PM

What a beautiful car....love the color combination.

Almost looks like a stick shift in the second pic.

cth350 · #4 09-21-2008, 01:14 PM

Chuck, Give it a reversable engine swap. An M110 should tuck in smoothly for a while. No reason to rush a motor rebuild. -CTH

ctaylor738 · #5 09-27-2008, 04:10 PM

Fluids drained, belts off, distributor out, cam sprockets out, radiator out, water pump out, most hoses disconnected, alternatior disconnected, starter out. Previous mechanic had removed transmission (thanks).

Removing the hood was a giant hassle. Someone welded the left hinge hood part to the hood and the frame part to the body. So obviously the hood was not going to come off in its usual way, which is to loosen the left side and pull it off the pin on the right. Had to do the opposite, which was not working very well. Finally Senior Management who was holding the left side, tilted it just right and it slid off the left pin.

The plan of record is to to remove the head and manifolds with the engine in the car, since that makes a more stable platform than the engine stand. So next steps are injection plumbing, camshaft, and head bolts. The lift the head, and pull the block.

suginami · #6 09-27-2008, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctaylor738

Finally Senior Management who was holding the left side, tilted it just right and it slid off the left pin.

Sounds like you should give her a raise.......and a promotion.

Bcollia · #7 09-28-2008, 02:00 PM

Beautiful car Chuck! I hope you are able to find all of the parts you need to get her back on the road.

ctaylor738 · #8 09-29-2008, 10:49 PM

Yesterday was frustrating. A long fight with the power steering pump. It is the typical arrangement, you loosen the pump in the bracket, and then remove the pump and the bracket. Only problem is, the bracket doesn't clear the balancer. So you have to siphon the fluid, disconnect both lines, and pivot the whole thing counter-clockwise to clear the balancer.

With that out of the way, the injection lines came off, the head came off, and the engine came out with minimal fuss. The only hassle was getting the bellhousing to clear the throttle linkage pivot. There is a wiring guide on the bottom of the block, secured by an oil pan screw, that needs to be unscrewed after the engine has been lifted a few inches.

Cylinders look OK, small ridge, no scoring.

Next step, get it on the stand, pull pan and lower crankcase and have a look at the bottom end.

ctaylor738 · #9 10-02-2008, 07:46 AM

The engine is on the stand, lower crankcase half removed, and the damage is apparent. It seems to be confined to the #1 crank journal and connecting rod, pictures attached. Pretty ugly stuff.

naj · #10 10-03-2008, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctaylor738

'66 230SL (113.042, M129.981)

Is the Engine # 129.981 or 127.981?

naj

ctaylor738 · #11 10-03-2008, 08:19 AM

127.981
sn 13554

Graham · #12 10-03-2008, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctaylor738

With the 350SL on it's way to a European owner,

Hi Chuck,

As a 350SL owner, I am interested to know how you found a European buyer. eBay? Was it an automatic?

Maybe I should sell mine now I have it almost 100% done!

ctaylor738 · #13 10-03-2008, 11:34 AM

All I did was advertise it in oursl.com. Yes, automatic.

Graham · #14 10-03-2008, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ctaylor738

All I did was advertise it in oursl.com. Yes, automatic.

That's great - I guess our prices must look good to the Europeans!

ctaylor738 · #15 12-03-2008, 12:06 PM

.. for which I apologize. But I would get to a point where I thought I had something to write about, but the deal would fall through or something else would happen. So here's an update.

The prevailing wisdom was that the crank could not be repaired by welding in new metal and re-grinding. The M127.981 crank has only four main bearings, and tends to break if welded. Turns out that the oil pump was clobbered and two rods were bent.

So I emabarked on a search for parts. I learned that 220 cranks would work and found one in Kentucky, but the engine had been underwater in a flood "some years ago," so that was a pass. There were a couple of options for "crank kits," such as a re-ground crank with matching flywheel and balancer for $1300 from Metric in California.

Meanwhile, I sent the engine to Allied Industrial, and they pronounced the cylinders too worn for rings, and in need of bored and new pistons. So I started looking for used 230 engines or short blocks, and quickly found that what are available are "builders." I took a chance on a short block from Fred Petroske at Mostly British, who told me the engine was a "good runner" for $1200. A couple of days later, the absolute filthiest short block imaginable arrived. We are talking a half-inch of grease and caked dirt. So it went off to Allied. This one had a good crank and rods and oil pump, but also needed to be bored.

So now I started looking for pistons. I found some "standard" size, but that wouldn't feed the bulldog, and I found four in the right oversize at a bargain price, but was warned not to mix manufacturers. So I ended up getting apparently the last six Mahle 83MM pistons on the planet from Metric at $210 apiece. They were shipped to Allied along with new wrist pin bushings and a new set of standard bearings and a crank sprocket. Allied bored the cylinders and assembled the short block, and I now have it on the stand and am proceeding with assembly.

That was going well until last Saturday when I went to put the balancer on. The giant bolt froze up barely into the crank, and then broke when I tried to turn it out. So I spent Sunday in despair thinking that I hosed the crank and where was I going to find another standard crank or a reground one and buy new bearings and how could I possibly hide the bill from Senior Management who is getting more interested by the day in how much this is costing ...

But on Sunday night I pulled the crank out and took it to Allied, who said "don't worry, we'll get it out." Sure enough, picked it up yesterday. It was diagnosed as galling, probably caused by debris in the threads. But the threads are OK where the bolt has to hold the balancer. So the current status is that the engine is back on the stand and assembly is re-starting.

Here are a couple of pictures, one of the block as it arrived back from Allied. A second of the engine compartment. Since I had some time, I bought a couple of cans of Light Ivory from Paintscratch and worked to reverse the flat black paint that some previous owner had sprayed all over the place.