88 560SL Cam Timing with hydraulic lifters
 

Gentelmen

I was reading the proceedure for cam timing on the 560SL. It calls for removing 2 off the hydraulic lifters and replacing them with solids for the timing proceedure. While this makes sense I thought if I did the job quickly, I might get away without this step. The solid lifters apear to cost more than the hydraulic lifters. Any thoughts or suggestions.

John Roncallo

Maybe there's something different with the SL than the SEL that I'm unaware of, but on my '88 560SEL I didn't go through any of that. All I had to do was line up the crankshaft to 0-degrees, and line up the camshaft notches with the respective line on the forward cam tower.

Now, in my case I had done a valve job and had the hydrolic lifters removed as well as the rocker arms. These weren't placed back on until the cams were back on and timed with a new timing chain (just for preventative measures)

Good Luck!

In my CD manual, Mercedes gives the timing proceedure by checking the amount of rotation required to get 2mm of valve lift. They do say that during assembly jobs, it is sufficient to have the cam timing marks lined up with the crank at TDC. I am lead to belive by that statment and the elaborate proceedure they give that using the cam timing marks is the less desirable procedure but acceptable.

Comments anyone.
John Roncallo

The timing marks are for assembly (to get close) and the procedure with a dial indicator is to get the exact timing by adding offset keyways. Where do you get the solid lifter?

The solid lifter or ball stud assembly is part number 116 050 11 20 available from Fast Lane at $48.06 each. It probably comes out of an earlier 3.8L V8.

John Roncallo