weekend Wrenching

[alabbasi]

Originally Posted by Graham

Is there any difference between the 500SL and the 450SLs?

Everything would have been straight forward except the hex bolt that goes on the other side of the mount. You had very little space up or down and left / right to turn the bolt

So it took forever to mess around with it before the mount went on.

[alabbasi]

Today I went out and bought some interior paint from the paint jobber and prepped and painted the 560SL seats that Wodnek bought down from Wisconsin.

The paint went on very easily and required very little prep. It's supposed to bond with the leather and not fade. I think my black 500SLC has had the same treatment and this method was also recommended to me by a 280SL owner at the Centerville gathering.

I must say the results are quite pleasing. The paint is high build so it fills in the small cracks that come with age.

I don't have before and after pics of both seats so I have taken a picture of the drivers seat before painting and the passenger seat after painting to show off the results.





Other then this, i replaced a nusance bulb on my E420 and tried to get to the blower regulator, i could not find it so i signed up to alldataDIY which showed me how to get to it. It's quite involved.

[alabbasi]

The 500SLC has been acting up recently, whenever the tank is nearing towards empty, it would die on a right turn. For a while i could not figure out what it was it dawned on me that there may be a pile or rust on bottom of the tank around the fuel strainer.

With a lot of effort i pulled the strainer out using an easy out. There was a pile of rust caked up around tank. I spent the next couple of days with a hose pipe down the fuel tank in an effort to flush the system and I think i got most of the crud out of the tank. I put the new strainer back in and 4 gallons of gas. I barely made it to the gas station as I suspect that there was still some water in the tank (even though I put some effort in syphoning the water out with an external fuel pump attached to a hose that i ran into the tank.

I put another 19 gallons into the tank and the car ran much better. It is noticeably more powerful (as if i gained another 30hp or so).

Also spent some time helping a new friend who just purchased an 85 500SL. We got oil, coolant and transmission flushed out and replaced and also replaced the passenger window which was busted in and some nick nacks. All in all , he was quite happy with the results so it was a productive weekend.

[alabbasi]

This weekend was all over the place. I replaced the fifth air cell on my 6.9 which was a pain in the rear. I kinked the line going to the hydraulic system sending unit so I bought a line to replace it. The car seems to sit high on the front and this may be the reason why. Any thoughts?

The height control arm was missing on the back so I installed a new one from the dealer.

On Saturday, i stopped by a friends house who had a 500SEL that he was parting out. It had SLS suspension and he was kind enough to let me have the hight control valves. I'll try to find a place to rebuild them and keep them on the bench in case I ever need a set.

The rest of the weekend was spent on my 500SL. The interior was trashed by a racoon getting in and not being able to get out, so I bought a set of 560SL seats and dyed them the right color. Installation was a giant pain in the rear. I also had to put a new hood release cable in which a buddy helped me with (by doing it). The rest of the day was spent chasing down electrical problems and pulling the wheels of my 500SLC as I have to take the tires back to Costco for a refund. They are 3 month old Michelins that are showing signs of dry rot. I switched them for a set of Lorensers which look bloody fantastic! It still seems like the 500SLC has a lot of water in the tank.

I think i'll have to drain the tank again.

[mercmad6.3]

G'day Al,if your 6.9 is sitting high in the front,check that the sway bar rubbers are Good,not just OK but in good non shrunken condition. If there is any gap around the bar or they look cracked etc,you need to change them. You no doubt no how to check the both of the height valve rod lengths,make sure someone hasn't just wound the link rod out to compensate for lower system pressure.
Free height valves?! how lucky is that!

[alabbasi]

Ron

Thanks, sway bar bushings are easy so i'll just replace them. Can you help me understand how they would effect height?

I don't think anyone has touch the height conrol rod. It's in there behind the acc servo. You have to take that and the auxiliary water pump out in order to get to it.

[mercmad6.3]

Hi Al,when the bushes are worn the bar sits at the wrong height( making the valve think that car is low) and is a common cause of the car riding high in front and low in the rear when the rear bar bushes have worn. Generally they need changing after 10 years anyway.

[alabbasi]

Last week a buddy helped me by painting the hard top on my 500SL. The hard top was taken from a 450SL parts car which was silver and we painted it with 5 coats of base and 3 coats of clear in Signal Red.

It has a little dirt in it and will need to be buffed out.

This weekend , I replaced the front and rear seal on the hard top and then mounted it on the car so that it can be buffed without fear of damage.

A buddy of mine who worked for an aviation company refinished the center console that I bought from a forum member of a 560SL that he was parting. It turned out magnificent but unfortunately. the console was different to the one on the 500SL as the shifter hole was too small. A dremil tool fixed that problem and with all the accessories in place, it looks great.

Finally, I replaced a kinked hydraulic line on going from the hydraulic oil tank to the sending unit on my 6.9 and adjusted the front height adjustment lever on the front of the car so that it would sit lower as it was sitting too high once I replaced the air cells. The car not sits like it should and rises and lowers as it should.

I also discovered a leak from the power steering hose on the 6.9 which I will need to replace.

[tonkovich]

welcome back al, thot you maybe had sold the herd and bought a "sensible" and safe new car... maybe... a new ford.

p.s. whatever happened to the "rough around the edges" 280sl project? seemed to have a lot of potential?

[alabbasi]

No, I have been working on them, but not posting. Mostly boring stuff like A/C and interior work.

I am selling some of the herd but the 280SL is not going anywhere. It's a mammoth project so i'll need to clear some space for it.

My 280CE got picked up finally from a very patient PO after a year of owning it. It should arrive at the end of the week.

I'd like to see two of the SLC's sold and a bunch of parts. I also bought a Euro 280SLC parts car which I will be parting out.

[Mike D]

Finally getting back to work on my project car. '74 W114 280C.

I had to source a used cylinder head for it back in April. Joe (ja17 on the board), located one from his parts shed and shipped it out. It took me an entire weekend to get it cleaned, dis-assembled and inspected. It also took two spring compressors. I bent mine so I had to borrow a friend's to use. The reason I bent mine was because the #2 intake valve was bent and wouldn't allow the spring to compress. I had to cut the valve stem with a Sawzall. What a hoot that was! Holding pressure on the spring, keeping the head in position and cutting through the harder than nails valve stem was an exercise in patience and a test of nerves. I was waiting to hear the "ping" of the stem separating and then the launch of the spring compressor and valve pieces across the workshop floor. Never happened and in fact it was pretty much anti-climatic when it did cut through.

Got it all apart and inspected. The head was flat according to my straight edge, the coolant passages weren't corroded away and it appeared to be original thickness. I lapped a few of the valves to check for seating patterns, didn't like what I saw and sent it out to a machine shop for inspection and correction.

Finally got it back last Friday and figured I'd spend this weekend (at last getting into the spirit of this thread) putting it back into place.

Sorted the valves by doing a quick lap, inspecting patterns and matching the valves to corresponding seats. Installed the seals and springs, changed over the manifold studs from my original head and slipped the head on the engine. Just a light tightening of the 5 bolts to hold it in place. Put the exhaust manifold into place (grunt, groan, pry, curse, "How the *&^% did I get this off?") connected the water pump bleed line, tightened the bolt and "SNAP"! Ah fratzenjammerhammer! That stinkin' hollow bolt broke, and of course it was jagged and no way to get an eazee-out into the hole at the angle required. Pissed about with it for an hour and bowed to the inevitable.

Back off with the head (sounds like a routine from "Alice in Wonderland" ehh?), grind the bolt flush and give it a try with the extractor. No go, it's going to have to be drilled and heli-coiled. Got that done, head back in place, verplunkt manifold back on and now it's on to cam tower replacement.



The trouble maker is at the very center lower bit of the picture on the water pump housing.

The cam housing Joe sent me didn't have cams but I am re-using the cams from the original engine anyway, so a little clean-up, some minor bracket changes, find all the bolts from wherever I managed to move them to in the 4 months this project has been on hold, slip the cams in and prepare to install. I'm just getting ready to slide the cam housing into place when this absolutely ugly thought pops into my head. "Hmmm, I wonder if the old cams had 6 internal journals as opposed to the 4 this cam has?" Back to the work bench for checking.

Sure enough, the journal oil feed passages were ALL open! That would have been a pisser! Get it all together and fry the cams due to oil pressure loss through the 4 open journals. Over to the hardware store to get a drill bit and another 6mmX1 tap (mine broke eons ago and I hadn't replaced it), a quick clean-up, pull the screws from the original head (allen head screws will do just as well but someone had machined 4 stainless steel bolts into slotted screw heads on the original housing so I re-used them), a quick coat of loc-tite and the open passages were sealed. Some people advocate the use of ball bearings to seal the passages but they are a bugger to get back out if you ever change cams over.


Open oil port.


Sealed oil port.

Clean the housing, again, and prepare to install. Biggest flash of lightning I've seen in awhile blasts over the shop, the accompanying thunder makes my knees weak and the rain commences! Discretion being the better part of valor I decide to retire for the evening and sit in the atrium to enjoy the storm whilst sipping upon a brew or two.

I'm hoping to finish it up today (ya gotta love three day weekends!) and maybe even start the beast up. Fingers are crossed.

[alabbasi]

I have a mysterious oil leak on my 6.9. Initially i thought it was from the power steering but the power steering reservoir is full. There is oil all over the pump and that side of the engine and inner fender.

I washed it down and then sat in front of the engine with the hood up for half and hour with the engine running and could not find the leak. As soon as I drove it home, I once again had oil all over the drivers side of the engine.

I also have an overheating issue on this car, the auxiliary fan does not seem to engage. I'm getting voltage to the van but the fan does not spin. I tried grounding the wire that leads to the temp sender and nothing happened so I suspect that the fan has gone bad. Does anyone know if this is the same fan as a W116?

[kmwillis1987]

NICE paint! I have a 116 that could desperately use it. If you don't mind me asking, what does MAACO charge for a paint job like that?

[alabbasi]

The Maaco that I went to charges $900 for a true base coat , clear coat paint job. This is for a scuff, mask and paint job. Mine was a little more expensive because i had to take care of some rust repair and I changed color.

In my case i also provided my own base coat because they did not have the paint code for Ikon gold (they have a Sherwin Williams Automotive paint mixer on site).

Provided that you do your own prep, and remove everything yourself. You can get a pretty decent job done at Maaco. As it's a franchise, you have to be careful of which one you go to because they are only as good as the people that work there.

[mercmad6.3]

Originally Posted by alabbasi

I have a mysterious oil leak on my 6.9. Initially i thought it was from the power steering but the power steering reservoir is full. There is oil all over the pump and that side of the engine and inner fender.

I washed it down and then sat in front of the engine with the hood up for half and hour with the engine running and could not find the leak. As soon as I drove it home, I once again had oil all over the drivers side of the engine.

I also have an overheating issue on this car, the auxiliary fan does not seem to engage. I'm getting voltage to the van but the fan does not spin. I tried grounding the wire that leads to the temp sender and nothing happened so I suspect that the fan has gone bad. Does anyone know if this is the same fan as a W116?

Same as W116 and W126,W124 with the same motor in W123&W114 too. Is the air con working? Some have a power feed through the pressure switch on the air con and if there isn't gas,you don't get the fan either. Those fans are pretty tough and can be really noisy before they fail completely . try pulling the two pin plug and hot wiring it to the basttery or your jump pack. earth on one,power on the other. if it is OK it will spin,if not get another.
Your oil leak sounds like a leaking hose for the suspension. A leaking front seal doesn't fling oil up that high on a 6.9. Check the return line,if it is OLD and wrinkly looking ,change it and have a close look at the high pressure hose on the pump and the pump itself.