Thanks Vaughn and Paul

One thought on holding the motor. It sounds like a lot of work. We place the engine to power stroke by watching the cam (add air slowly to see direction engine will spin) and let the engine turn til it stops. The air still holds the valves up even if the piston is down.

I worry a little about the act of holding the crank bolt. I would hate to loosen it as that is what the direction of rotation would do. Its a real mess when the balancer falls off.

Steve,

I thought about that, but with the plugs out, I figured that it wouldn't stop turning over until the piston was at the bottom and the exhaust valve would probably be opening by then.

With the piston very close to TDC, the effective lever arm of the crank is very short, maybe a quarter of an inch. The torque applied to the crank nut is very little. I did the math to make sure I wasn't going to loosen the crank nut and have the engine turn over. It was an extra step to hold the crank in place, but I thought it worked great.

Thanks for the pro perspective though!

Dennis

Per Dennis' request, here's a pic of his valve springs:

Dennis said:

http://www.members.aol.com/buckweeat/m103.jpg

Thanks Steve,

I've done this on small block chevys and I didn't remember being concerned with the position of the piston once the rocker was off.

Paul your engine is clean.... wow... what your secret

Newton who?
 

I asked that very question myself a while back, here's the link:

[URL=http://http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?threadid=9137&highlight=newton]

What is your oil consumption now? I just rebuilt the M103 in my 2.6 and it still consumes about a quart every 1000 miles or less. (I've put in 3 quarts in a little under 3000 miles since the rebuild)

Just about the same. how many miles om your motor? did you replace the valve guides, rings, getting any blow-by

PA_Joe,

That's actually my engine. Paul helped me re-size and post the picture. Thanks Paul!

I don't think it's especially clean right now, but I do clean it once a year or so. I use a Craftsman 5 hp pressure washer with a Honda engine. I LOVE that pressure washer. I turn the pressure way down. I spray the whole engine with degreaser and let it soak a while. After blasting it off it looks new again - these MBZ engine bays clean up nicely. I know all the pros and cons, but I like it clean.

mplafleur, it has only been about 2 1/2 weeks since I did the work, and maybe 500-600 miles. I checked the oil a couple of days ago and it hadn't used any. I have about 2,300 miles on that oil, so I will be changing it in a couple of weeks. In a 3,000 mile interval, it tends to use a quart in the first 2,000 and another quart in the last 1,000. I attribute this to the oil breaking down and thinning. I'll report back after the next 3,000 mile run and let everybody know if my oil usage was reduced. Since the sealing lips on the inside of the seals were worn flat, I have high hopes that the consumption will be history.

PA_Joe,

I may be out your way next week. I have to go out to our electronics plant in Lansdale for the week. The plant is actually between Lansdale and Norristown.

Mike,

I have a client in Norristown so I'm there often. Let me know...

A picture is worth a thousand words
 

I was worrying if my valve spring compressor would work on the m103 springs but it looks like there is plenty of space. Thanks!

Oil Consumption
 

I've replaced the valve seals on my '88 300E too. The oil consumption stopped for ...say 20K miles, then slowly creeped up to the usual 1 quart/2000 miles.
nice post.

Joel

Joel, did you check your valve guides when you did the seal job?

I didn't check mine either. I told the machine shop to check them and they said they were OK. I didn't verify them though.