new developments about my 1969 250!

[bachlauter]

Hey all!!

I found out some new developments about the old Benz...quite honestly, I figured it had been lost, stolen, or impounded (ha ha), but it is actually ALIVE...sort of..

Here's what is going on..it RUNS....for a maximum of 3 miles or so, then it dies...the guys figured out why....they said the camshaft is fried and after a few miles, the timing becomes so outta wack that the car dies...so...in that regard, I need a new/used camshaft! MAYBE.....

The BADDDDDDDDD news is that the frame is JACKED UP seriously....I guess that in the rear, if you crawl under it, the two frame pieces on either side can be moved together to touch....BUTT....can't that be WELDED?????????? TELL ME IT CAN!!!!!!!!! Because Mr. Bachlauter has actually decided that he wants to fix the old Benz up and make it our "new" second car!!!!!!! I know what you're thinking....that we should get a "new" old Benz to work on, but that's out of the question, so don't even go there!

So....is there ANY hope for repair with a busted camshaft and a defunct frame???????????????????????

Are those like the two WORST things to have wrong with a car or WHAT?!?!?!?! LOL!!

~Christy

[300SDog]

That rear sub-frame can be replaced with good/used part from junkyard... Just get spring compressors to hold the springs tight, then unbolt the lower A-frames while jacking the car up on level surface from the suspension while car is supported on jacks. Lower the supension components to rest on the ground. But be gentle with compressed springs - treat 'em as hand grenades that might explode.

Then unbolt the wishbone at subframe supports. Its bulky but not difficult to replace.

Bought a bargain car that had this problem (undisclosed) back in the mid-80's.... and did the repair job myself. Junkyard that sold me replacement sub-frame wishbone cut the part out of donor car in 15 minutes using a torch.

Regarding the camshaft - that's easy too ..... I'd recommend replacement parts include drive gear, camshaft holders and rocker arms in addition to good used camshaft from the same donor vehicle. When scavenging comparable twin-cams from junkyard myself, I used an old ice tray for keeping the rocker arms in exact order as they were pulled from the junkyard donor car.

Edit.... Have been thinkin about the camshaft diagnosis - and it might not be the cams at all. Otherwise camshaft wear is clearly visible and usually results from driving with rocker arms worn down past their nickel glaze that eat into camshaft lobes..... One car of mine that died repeatedly after going 5-10 miles ended up having a beat ignition coil.

[gmask]

>>>But be gentle with compressed springs - treat 'em as hand grenades that might explode.

It is my understanding that the rear springs are not as compressed as the front springs and don't psoe the same danger in other words it is not neccessary to clamp them. Maybe somebody else will confirm this.

I bought a good camshaft from a machine shop for $150 plus $150 for the core charge. I still need to take the shaft I salvaged back to the shop and get my $150 core charge back. I imagine that if the shaft was worn enough to cause the timing to get out of whack that several lobes would be very worn and that the rockers and and rocker shims would also be in bad shape. It would also not be surprising if many of the ballstuds were also very loose and worn out. You cam towers may also be very worn. Once you take the old shaft out look to se if there are grooves in the cam towers..if so the towers will need to be replaced. It would also be a good idea to replace the the timing chain as well.

In short it is no small chore to replace all of this stuff and not especially cheap unless you can find good used parts and some of them will have new like the chain and drive gear. A good used shaft and rockers should be taken to a machine shop for polishing.


You might very well be able to get all these parts from a donor car but honestly if you could find a running MB between $500-$1000 (not too hard to do in California) you might be better off doing that and save yourself the headache. Then strip off the good parts from this car and get rid of it. seriously..it's a heartache I know ;-)