As I assemble the S-10 I've been in contact with the safety guy at the ECTA and he reminded me that cast iron or aluminum flywheels are NOT allowed. I'm sure my 240D flywheel definitely is NOT aluminum (must weigh 40 lbs +/-) but I'm not sure if it's cast iron. I think it's steel but I don't know how to be sure.

There's a pic of the flywheel in project thread (I'm Back.......). The system won't let me repost it!

Does anyone know?

Thanks
Dan

I REALLY need this info. Even a clue on where to look or who to contact would help a lot.

Thanks

Dan

take a pic. cast iron will have sand markings on it somewhere... unless it's TOTALLY machined...

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Does it look something like this?

This is from my '75 240d 4sp.

__________________
1975 Mercedes 240d (Daily driver, town)
1980 Toyota HJ45 (diesel) (Daily Driver, Farm Implement)

Stock are cast iron....I believe.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Wish the system would let me repost my pic. It'm here on the orum, however.

Anyhow - It's pretty much fully machined as I recall. Seems unlikely it would be cast but I'm not sure how to know this for sure. If need be I can pull the trans back off (won't be the first time - it now has Velcro fasteners) and take a further look.

Do we have a factory connection we can call on? Sure would be nice to answer this for sure.

Again, thanks guys

Dan

it's easy to repost the pics...

just open them on the forum, and right click, and copy image location, then...
click on the yellow box in the message area, and paste the location in the field...

Voila!

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Cast iron is brittle and has grain. Chip a piece off, if it's grainy and gray, it's cast iron.

__________________
85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I went through a lot of your posts, but did not find any with pics of the back side of the flywheel...

__________________
John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread
"as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do!

My drivers:
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5Turbo
1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!!

1987 300TD
1987 300TD
1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere!

Dan:

Based on experience of machining one a few years ago to lighten it, I would venture that it is a cast steel or nodular (ductile) iron. The chip was definitely not that of grey cast iron. Ford supplied an aftermarket nodular iron flywheel for up-rating the RPM limit of the 4.6 and 5.4 engines.

That's what I think too.

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I would expect cast steel or nodular iron. Cast iron tends to be brittle and it doesn't like vibrations. Striking cast iron with a hammer often results in a fracture while steel will tend to dent or dimple first. Hard to believe MB's engineers would risk destroying an expensive vehicle with a cast iron flywheel on a part subject to high amounts of vibration.

Unfortunately the only sure-fire home test I know is to hit the part with a sanding, grinding, or cutting disk and watch the sparks fly. Generally, cast iron throws dull reddish-orange sparks that lose their glow after a short distance and don't burst at the end. As a rule steel usually throws orange to white sparks, many more of them, and they travel much further before they stop glowing.

Metal ID - Spark Testing - YouTube
Mild steel at 3:00 and cast iron at 5:21

__________________
When life gives you lemmings... make lemmingade.

Frank -
THANKS for this info. You have provided the most informed reply as you've actually cut on one. I didn't think to ask the shop that resurfaced mine but that's a great idea. They are racers and pretty sharp hombres and likely have experience with identifying metals.

I thought of spark testing mine but there goes the balance! At least potentially.

Again, thanks all - I really appreciate your input.

Dan

The unmilled portions of the flywheel have the texture of cast iron IIRC. I don't think all cast iron is created equal. This may be nodular.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

I just called the guy who machined mine and he agrees Frank - for sure NOT cast iron. Probably nodular iron or cast steel perhaps. Milt (the machinist) pointed out that cast iron tends to burn and/or chatter in a clutch installation and Mercedes therefore would not select that for clutch contact material.

EDIT: What is this "right click" thing you speak of? One button mouse here (hard-core MAC guy). When I get my new Mini (soonish to happen) I'll get a mouse with a scroll button - THAT would be handy.

Thanks all

Dan