Driveshaft and Diff mount replaced and all is well. Smooth as silk all the way up to 90mph (as fast as I took it on the Interstate) and so quiet.

Comparing the U-Joints to each other, it was very obvious that the original one was toast. Stiff, slightly gritty, and just a barely perceptible "notch" if you went slow enough and were really feeling for it. New U-Joint is very smooth and quite "loose" in comparison to the old.

Just need to fix the seat springs and it's weekend roadtrip time.

Purists look away now...
 

Had yet ANOTHER window regulator glide break on me today. Right rear window glide broke on the way to work. Started to drizzle and went to roll the windows up and hear traffic noise still. Looked back to see the damn window still down.

Got tired of dealing with such a lousy crap design, so I decided to redneck-repair it permanently. Did both rear windows the same way since they seem to be the ones to break.

Original glides were broken when I got the car. Got some OEM glides and caught one of them with a hammer when flattening the rivet in place. Replaced with some solid ones from a certain "Source" (don't waste your time or money). Such a simple design and such a colossal engineering oversight.

This time around I made my own out of solid UHMW plastic (aka Teflon). Self-lubricating, extremely durable stuff. Pretty sure these glides will be in place when the car has rusted away in the scrap yard. Some future archaeologist will be wondering what these blue squares were used for!

Turned down a 3/8 shouldered bolt on the lathe to be my pivot spacer. Machined the lower end down to 5/16 and tapped to 5/16-18. Punched out a UHMW spacer to go behind the shoulder and locked in place with a self-locking nut. No interference with anything in the window mechanism and works perfectly!

I made 2 extra sets for when (not if) the front ones go.

Today's task was tackling the broken springs in front seats. I used repair kits from a certain "source" for my project. Driver's seat had 2 broken springs, passenger seat didn't have anything broken, but sagged to the right. Repaired them both and have a nice height and comfortable feel. No more sitting on the floor and leaning to the left!

Seriously though, what a NIGHTMARE of an ordeal. Zero room to work, stupidly complicated seat mechanism, fiddly bits everywhere. If the seats ever break again, I think a bottle of Kerosene and a Zippo will go a long way towards solving the issue...

(Now looking away! => post 32)

LOL! Sometimes you just get sick of doing the same job more than once and want it done permanently. May not be gorgeous, but who's looking inside the doors anyway? Function over Form matters on occasion :D

...hey you told me to look away - I'm saying nothing - and looking away

I've been participating in a variety of threads on this forum started by various members relating to tracking down and solving (or at least quieting) injector nailing. A good example is this thread:

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/363700-delivery-valve-internal-leak-cause-nailing-yes-no-maybe.html

My car has had a VERY loud nailing injector ever since I got it back on the road. Injector service doesn't seem to help, fuel quality DOES affect it, and compression is not the issue. Servicing the delivery valves in the IP helped a little bit, but didn't do much to quieten the noise. The noisy cylinder was tracked down to Cylinder 4 (cracking the injector line would silence it immediately). Tried various things including a rebuilt injector with a Monark nozzle, which made the knock MUCH louder than the Bosch India nozzles currently installed.

Flash forward to today and I changed out the entire delivery valve and holder for Cylinder 4 with a spare from the original IP. The DV that got swapped in has a nice clean face and freely moves in its bore. Testing the engine afterwards seems to be MUCH quieter than it has ever been and the idle shake that's been driving me up the wall seems to be gone. The diesel "knock" is still slightly louder in Cylinder 4, but it's no longer the "man banging on an anvil with a hammer" noise that it has been otherwise.

In fact, the car is so smooth and quiet now that with the windows up earlier, I thought it stalled at an intersection! Now that's a tangible difference...

Depending on weather, it might be taking its first short road-trip to San Antonio on Saturday.

Well ye olde Diseasel went on its first road trip in 10+ years this evening. Drove it to San Antonio and back without incident. So smooth and quiet! Total trip duration was 204 miles. Used just a hair over 1/4 tank of fuel doing 75-80 the whole way there and back. Temp never went over 85, and hovered between 80-85 the entire trip.

Trip seems to have done the car a lot of good. Idle is quieter than it's ever been, and the oil consumption is finally to a point that the difference in oil level before and after the trip isn't measurable. The fantastic side effect of that is no more haze in the headlights at night!

Car had no problem on the highway, even with the steep hills and carting around 3 full grown guys and 112 pounds of bowling balls in the trunk. I was frankly surprised how good the car drove on the highway. Effortless. Definitely need to fix the A/C though...

It's hard to believe that the last time that car was on the road was over 10 years ago. With the way it runs and drives, you'd think it was parked yesterday. Obviously it's had quite a lot of work done to it, but it's rewarding to finally give it a good test on the road and be successful! One of my friends pointed out that with the car being in San Antonio and with the disabled turbo and extremely impacted soot in the intake manifold, it could have been years before it was parked that it was last on the highway. We know for sure the most recent trip it could have taken was March 2007 (registration expired).

What a great car!

Great stuff

Thanks for posting this. My left rear bushing broke some years ago. I used a clevis pin and new OEM bushing. On another forum I read about a couple of successful mods using 3/8 binding post. Will also consider the shoulder bolt as my right rear has now broken.

The rears seem to be the most likely to break. Because of how the track works on them, they have a lot of force in various directions as the window goes up and down and the design of the slider is relatively fragile. I appreciate that the engineers were trying to make something quiet, but the UHMW glides I made certainly don't seem to make any noise, so not sure why they didn't do the same thing.

If you have access to it, the UHMW plastic is exceptionally durable stuff. Self-lubricating, wear-resistant, and tough as nails.

This car continues to surprise me with the fuel economy. Refilled this evening and put 423 miles on 15.6 gallons of diesel. 27.12mpg average economy for that tank. 121 miles of that was highway, the rest was all stop/go driving in town.

Good reading here, -not- too wordy ! .

The devil is always in the details and you're clearly on top of them .

Like you, I tend to buy discarded vehicles and nurse them back to life, learning as I go .

My Brother bought a 1987 300SDL and loves it dearly, we've driven it across America and back again with a cracked original cylinder head, all fixed now .

I get a great sense of pride and accomplishment taking something that's been cast off and turning it into something that has value. In addition, since the car is already rough and has multiple problems I'm not afraid to tear into it and have some fun with it. I don't understand the people who spend a small fortune on a "garage perfect" low miles car, then only take it out on weekends in August and spend the rest of the year dusting it with diaper cloths. I prefer my rolling project to be out there on the road getting some use and enjoying my time with it.

Luckily this car doesn't have a cracked head, despite having the original #14 casting. When it came off last year it was still flat, free of corrosion, and no cracks located anywhere. No coolant pressurizing, no coolant usage, and surprisingly low blowby.

The devil is always in the details. Evil devil...

Yes ~

That sense of accomplishment at doing things with my own two hands is what led me into being a Mechanic, to the horror of my Family :rolleyes: .

In the 1970's I began restoring old VW's, long before it was a high dollar hobby, ran an indie VW Shop in a College Town, still the most fun and satisfying job I've ever had .

Your car looks great to me, scuff and re spray the hood and it's good to go .

I rarely keep anything once it's really shiny, too much worry .

I drive my vehicles, hard like they were made to be and I try to take after them in maintenance .