NW Get together...August 9th and 10th
 

The 2008 Northwest MB shop get together will be Aug 9th and 10th in the Seattle area. The 9th we will be having a drive, and possibly tech session and BBQ (feel free to suggest locations, topics and destinations). The 10th we will be descending on the Seattle MBCA chapter’s annual Show and Shine with our cloud of diesel fumes. http://www.mbcaseattle.org/MBCA-Seattle_Section/Events/Entries/2008/2/26_Annual_Show_and_Shine.html

Hope to see you there.

EDIT: Final Locations and times:

Saturday, August 9th 12:00 to 5:00 at Shorline Community College: MB Shop tech sessions and meet.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Shoreline+community+college&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=32.66491,83.671875&ie=UTF8&ll=47.74814,-122.355723&spn=0.006767,0.020428&z=16

Sunday, August 10th 10:00 to 2:00 at The Nile Golf and Country club: Seattle MBCA show and shine.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Nile+Golf+and+Country+Club+Mountlake+Terrace,+WA&ie=UTF8&ll=47.780203,-122.323108&spn=0.013525,0.040855&t=h&z=15


It looks like you need to pre-register before August 3rd for lunch or entering your car in the MBCA show.

Tech Sessions for the MB Shop meet are as follows:

Rust: What to Look for and How to Kill it
61X Tune up
Front End Rebuild Overview (W123 and similar models)
Diesel Performance Tuning
Seat/Interior Refurbishing

If somebody with some 60X wants to volunteer to teach a tech session or two that would be great. ;)

I'll be there!
 

OMG! (or should I say, AMG?) I am excited! That location is about 10 minutes from where I live. I *will* be there!

There are some beaches not far away that have picnic facilities to hold a barbeque at (if the crowd turns out to be small, I would consider hosting it at my place too).

Shoreline Community College nearby has an auto tech program and a nice facility - I go to the VW club gathering there every year so I know car groups have used the parking lots etc for tech & show sessions, but I'm not sure how it's arranged....I'm willing to check into this if it is of interest.

I'm not sure what would be the best route for a drive....traffic is pretty bad in that immediate area of North Seattle but there are some twisty backgrounds and a good hill for Italian tune-ups, plus a few biodiesel pumps in the area. I'd suggest maybe heading East to the Cascade foothills which has some great roads (might even be late enough in the year to start seeing some fall colours), or North-West past Everett toward Bellingham to Chuckanut Drive (www.chuckanutdrive.com).

I think I might be in Seattle at that time (nothing firm yet), is another Kia Benz welcomed?

You bet. There won't be any door prizes from schuman's this year though. :rolleyes:

I've been to that VW show too. Please look into the beach BBQ facilities and parking lot for a tech session if you get a chance.

Sounds good I`ll be there. I`m in Tacoma but let me know if you need any help . Rick

Thanks for the sticky :hat:

Nice...a little closer this time. I believe that's just before I leave for my cousin's wedding in Ohio. Sounds like a great plan.

I'm actually going to have to clean out my engine compartment this summer! Maybe I'll polish the valve cover when I have it off for the lifters...:rolleyes:

I hope to have my VNT up and running by then. :D

I hope to be working again by then so I can go :rolleyes: On the brighter side I may have time to get my intercooler installed.

I'm in!

That's a great time to have a nice get together. I should have all my mods done to my car in plenty of time. It will be nice to talk to other MB diesel owners! I'm stoked!

Awesome!! I will be there with a fresh detail.

What modifications are you planning?

Where is this Thing?
 

Where is this Thing? Or am I not supposed to know?

The show and shine on Sunday is in Mountlake Terrace WA. The location for the MB Shop gathering on Saturday is TBD. Feel free to suggest a location. If we can find room I would like to do some sort of tech session.

Excellent, that's only an hour south for me. If I'm not in New England and I still on a MB, I'll be there.

I think I could be counted in for this...I'll drive the $100 Hooptie up there!

mods
 

I have a garage corner of parts awaiting my arrival from this deployment to install on my car. The main mods are as follows:

Flex-a-Lite Syclone 14" electric fan

Painless Wiring adjustable thermostat w/relay

Painless Wiring Circuit Boss fuse block w/relay (1 hot, 2 switched)

Green LED indicator to show the fan is operating

Engineautolube oil pre-luber

Factory auxillery fan

Bosio Nozzles

Synthetic fluids all the way around

I think that about covers it. The rest of the stuff is pretty much maintenance that comes with buying a used W123 like valve adjustment and diesel purge. I have to fix the odometer and fuel gauge, but other than that.... pretty much it. I'm going to be posting pics every step of the way so others can see. :D

Oh and one more thing I forgot.. install a Fitch Fuel Catalyst. I'll do a before average mileage and then an after to test the efficiency of it. The website has a lot of testimonials on their product. For 175 bucks it seems well worth it to me.

I don't think it will work. The each link in the molecular chain of each fuel molecule contains energy. This catalyst claims to break the molecules down to a smaller size thus releasing some of that energy before it even enters the engine where this energy can be recovered. That said however PowerService displaces some of the fuel with a lower btu content fuel and it does improve fuel economy so its not impossible for it to make an improvement.

Note that its not that hard to rig a test to show an improvement. Just bumping up the tire pressure before putting a car on a dyno or doing one test with the engine cold and one with the engine warmed up will effect the outcome in a measurable manner. Also keep in mind all those testimonials of people who said acetone improved the mileage of their gasoline powered cars (on a diesel it may serve as an aromatic but it will not deliver the miracle in mileage people claimed).

I'll be there! I'm putting it on my calendar right now....

Assuming work doesn't do something screwy to me, I'm in as well.

Now, whether the SD is running by that point, who knows. Likely will be in the SEC instead, if a gasser doesn't keep me out in the cold with this group!

Have you tried one? I'm sure some claims are a little exaggerated. What doesn't make sense to me is that a company would put out a product that does not work at all. Even if the improvement is really small... isn't some better than none considering todays fuel prices? I'll let you know how it works out for me. Then you can decide if it works or not.;)

We had a member in a Kia last time (rental car) so you should be fine. :)

I take it you haven't heard of MicroSoft's Vista. :D

Seriously, people have been selling magnets that clip to fuel lines for ages. Do they work? No. For a more recent example look at the Turbinator and all of its knock offs

Well if it worked as great as they say it does the automakers would be including it stock or the EPA would mandate it. I am not the only one of this opinion, upon searching for the current lawsuits against the makers of the turbinator I came across this.
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles/107265/article.html

Occasionally some one does come up with something that improves things a little. One example is the Turbo air guide http://www.dieselpowerproducts.net/tag . There is some sound theory behind it and some manufacturers have worked around the patent and are including small molded rubber guide vanes in there intake hoses just before the turbo to reduce pre-compressor swirl. In all tests I have read about this device most are of the opinion that yes it did make a small improvement but it was barely measurable. The most notable thing was it shifted the torque curve peak and silenced turbo whine.

Do I think its worth the money to go out and buy one... Not really.

Its your money. If you are going to evaluate a product please have a good record of previous mileage on a common trip you make over several runs before you install and test it. A comparison between two trips isn't enough.

Just make sure you put a D somewhere on the badge :cool:

Heh.
superchargeD? (not yet, just considering the possibility!)

Hopefully the SD will be running in good form again by that point, but as it sits currently, it's hurting.

Well, I look forward to meeting some local MB'ers, whether they be diesel or gasoline addicts. :D

NW Get together...Tech Session or Diesel Drive
 

What do you prefer, a tech session that goes over something not *too* involved such as adjusting the valves or something, or a Diesel drive?

I'm for a tech session because we will probably do a drive when we crash the Seattle MBCA event on Sunday(Also I know I have to adjust my valves).

Valve adjustment? What valve adjustment? :D

I do need to replace my lifters though...:rolleyes:

I wonder if we could do two sessions, one for 61x and another for 60x engines?

I'm up for a drive too, but I too think we could do it in addition or on the way to hitting the MBCA event.

We could try two sessions or try to think of something that would apply to all of the diesels that may be in attendance.

Here are some ideas from Whunter's tech session:

* DIESEL cold weather starting issues and tips,
* Tow starting a Mercedes Benz Diesel,
* Glow plug replacement,
* Valve adjustment,
* Start of delivery diesel injection pump adjustment,
* 606, 602, 603 engines,
* 616, 617 240D, 300D, 300SD/CD/TD engines and vehicles,
* Body rust, what to look for, can it be saved, should you walk away from it, when to surrender

Might be a little to much but I'd really be up for transmission and torque converter fluid/filter change. Just a suggestion. If not, then I'd love to see other's valve adjust mojo.

That might be a bit drippy to do in a borrowed parking lot. ;)

Give me a date....Ill be there and will probably bring Zu and Xdjio with me....Keep in touch!
Dan:D:D:D:D

I voted tech session. Scenic drives are great, but can be done solo anytime. As for what to cover, whatever the majority needs I guess - but my vote would be valve adjusting.

Checking mine is on my to-do list anyway ;) and I can't think of a better way to learn how to do it the quickest, most efficient way possible than having a bunch of you guys around who have already done it before there to give us a newbies guidance.

time?
 

Have you decided on a time for the Aug 9th GTG? If I can make it, it'll have to be a Saturday up-n-back day trip for me, so when things are happening matters for me.

If I can make it, having just done a 3 hour drive to get there would predispose me to be more interested in a tech session :)

I was thinking 11:30 or noon. I have a 3 hr drive up there too. ;)

*sigh of relief* I was really hoping I wouldn't have to get up at 4am to get there early in the morning :)
Although, traffic at that time would be great...

All of us from the south should convoy. :D

Convoy Sounds good to me.

Convoy. Yes.

No matter what its a long drive for me :rolleyes:. Probably about 5 hours unless of course I do some ox cat cleaning by making a certain indicator hit triple digits. :D But I'll probably just get up early ;)

convoy sounds good. Wifes 240 and my sd are in!

OK, here are the tech sessions I think I can teach:

Rust: What to Look for and How to Kill it
61X Tune up
Front End Rebuild Overview (W123 and similar models)
Diesel Performance Tuning
Seat/Interior Refurbishing

If somebody with some 60X wants to volunteer to teach a tech session or two that would be great. ;)

I’m not sure how many we will have time for so maybe we should rank them in order of interest. Another thing to consider is if we want to have one or multiple sessions going on at once.

Let me know what you think.

I am waiting for a go-ahead from Shoreline Community College to use one of their parking lots on August 9 for the tech session(s). I've been in contact with someone who is very receptive to the idea, but it's gotta go thru a few "channels." I will keep you posted...I have a few backup ideas if that lot doesn't work out.

BTW, how about a tech session on seat repair? My back seat is literally MB-Tex over springs. :)

-Alain

I think I'm in if my car will make it that far:P (Calgary-Seattle 1087km)

Sure, I could teach one on seat/interior refurbishing too. I've added it to the list.

I hope either the tune up or performance tuning sessions will cover valve adjustments.

But can you really do that on a hot engine - or does it need to be dead cold?

It should be done dead cold. Maybe you can get there early to let your engine cool down and we can use it as the "subject". :D

I was thinking more along the lines of intercoolers and turbo upgrades in the "performance" session. ;)