|
|
Mar 18, 2017 13:11:20 GMT
|
^this. And I prefer to have a BIG one, to lift the car up high and put it under some solid tall axle stands. So you can actually work under the car instead of being squished under it like a canned anchovy, hardly able to do anything... Shameless thread high-jack (see what I did here?); retrorides.proboards.com/thread/166281/dws-obsession-vintage-trolley-jacksYou can actually reach an axle to lift the car - and still be out of reach of the car when lifting it up or releasing it back on the ground. Bad things can happen - it's never wise to be under a car that's only supported by a pint of hydraulic oil.... For many years I worked with one of those tiny trolley jack that everyone seems to have. They'r compact, they'r cheap, they work. But... Once I got my first proper jack I entered a different world! I'm not recommending to buy a vintage working horse. But I recommend to go big. If you plan do keep doing serious work to cars in the future, this is an investment that will pay out. It's the next best thing to owning a lift. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mar 11, 2017 13:52:53 GMT
|
Today I finally continued with the engine build... I fully dismantled the engine, pulled the pistons & crank. Pistons & bores look excellent, no work needed here. Which is what I wanted from this engine. I then pulled all the plugs and gave the block a good clean inside & out, cleaned all the oil gallerys and mating surfaces. And then after some more cleaning, brushing off rust and some more cleaning & de-greasing, I gave it some coats of satin black enamel paint. Which can now cure for at least 7 days. Then re-assembly begins. Got new core & oil plugs. I briefly though about painting it maroon or dark blue - but... Black is just fine. Makes all oil leaks less obvious. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I'm doing about 90 miles per day... any yet everything considered, my former 2l petrol wagon was cheaper to run than my 3l diesel is now (same car, W124 wagon). But that's mainly due to the ridiculous tax for diesels in joymoney. That aside; what about some BMW with a 2l straight six? I wouldn't want a 4-banger as a commuter again... But that's just a personal thing really.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I love that little lathe And stuff like this is what I bought it for. Yesterday though, I felt like setting fire to that car... Filled up with coolant - started. No noises. In fact only the starter motor. Fair enough the fuel system was open. Not unusual to have to crank it a couple of times. This time, I went through almost two 100ah batterys and the booster pack... Followed by it overheating. Well, at least no noises from the new lifters. So - out with the thermostate again. Checked alignment (nothing to go wrong, but meh...). Nothing to see. Different approach; fill her up from the top hose. But not before checking that I have flow through the engine (with a garden hose). I had. On the auxiliary pump, there's a little bleed nipple - I guess if the pipes running over the cylinder head are not properly vented, there's a lot of air trapped in the cylinder head... Of course this was totaly clogged up and had to be drilled(!) out to work again. Once it did, I started the car. Well, I tried to. Again it was blöödy hard to start... Somehow I managed to start it with bleeding the injection lines and what not. And a minute after it ran, the auxiliary electric water pump seized up... Starting to feel less exited. I replaced it - and it was hard to start again... Now the first time is to be expected. But 3 times in a row?? During cracking the injection lines open once again I noticed that the injection pump was soaked in fuel. I though maybe I have the replaced injection lines not aligned perfectly. So I bent them to perfection. But still - fuel oozing out. Hmmm. Delivery valves!? Why? The pump was dry as a desert before this operation. But - there was so much air going into the pump you could hear it! Very very luckily I had a set of o-rings for the delivery valves at hand. So - out with the fannymold again. Blargh... One was hard as glas, the others were actually not that bad. But oh well. I re-aligned all the fuel lines very carefully again until they were sitting without any tension on both pump & injectors. This time I had to crank it a lot less, it started up, ran well and the pump stayed dry. No air bubbles in the feed line after shut-off. Finally happy. When stuff like this happens and you don't have a backup car and must rely on the pile of sh!t you can't seem to fix - it all gets pretty serious. I don't know why the delivery valves started to leak SO bad all of a sudden... Maybe they hold together as long as there's fuel pressure from behind, and get unseated if this pressure drops (from unbolting the injection lines & turning the engine over by hand)? I don't know. But it's the only plausible theory I have right now. Hydraulics seem to love to do stuff like this. It's very often, that if we replace a clutch at work, that the slave cylinder cräps out, even if it worked perfectly before. Hydraulics are fücking weird... Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The difference is almost insignificant, but these are Remotec 6x10s. I'ven been runing this Mini Wheels Website for some years now, so I'ven been constantly on the lookout for unknown, to me, wheels. Current count is somewhere around 500. But in all the years, I've only ever seen 2 or 3 sets of Remotecs advertised, but never before had I come across 6" ones. I had to have them. They blend right into my little collection of "dishy" Mini wheels Momos: PEG Mistrals: And the Remos:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Why thank you kind Sir Been quietly reading both your threads, kudos to you as well! I think it's the wagons that will rise in value the quickest. It's allready hard to find good examples for good (low) money. ---- Back to the Taxi. My initial plan was to replace the apparently leaking head gasket. After removal of the exhaust manifolds and a good look at the suspected leak - I was not so sure anymore. In fact, I think the head gasket is just fine. It appears the traces of leakage are old ones not fresh. So - I left the head where it was. On. Instead I replaced the hydraulic lifters, since the contact surface looked terrible. I found another coolant leak, though. The heater output on the head was well past it's best days... Also replaced all the glow plugs, since I had the odd bad starting cylinder when I was not pre-heating with the Webasto. and since I bought it, I though I'd use it. The genuine Mercedes OM601/2/3 glow plug reamer Next issue that became obvious with the intake manifold removed; the slotted leaver and the guide roller are totaly shagged. This guided lever transmits the throttle input to the injection pump (only found on automatics weirdly). It had a LOT of wear & play. The slotted lever I had bought allready some months back, since it was on sale and cost' like 3€. The little roller however... Not available extra, and not before monday with the whole part. So - onto the lathe. Had a piece of POM kicking about I used to turn it into a new roller. The original felt like it's made from nylon or something similar to POM. It'll last, if not, it's fairly accesible for replacement. Gave all the joints a good clean & grease - on it went - no more play in the throttle linkage. Well, almost. But any slack can be adjusted with the throttle cable. Very pleased with this cheap little repair When I went to put the injection lines back in place, I noticed this: On the verge of catastrophic failure!! The injection lines were bent and rubbing together - this is what happens. I took a set of spare injection lines and replaced 3 badly damaged ones. The wall thickness is down to a third. Not much longer and they would have split... Glad I cought this! Also replaced the pre-glow loom and re-attached the proper crimped on nuts for the glow plugs. Then skimmed the exhaust manifolds with some 120 grit sanding paper, using my work bench as a surface plate. Yeah, it's that flat. At least I pretend it is. It has to. Installed them installed almost everything else - and called it a day. Easy, slow extended maintainance, I fixed a lot of little things along the way. I'm enjoying working at a slow pace, I do the same stuff to earn money, the difference is that now I don't have a deadline (well, apart from "monday"). That's all. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Know what's even better? They are not Ronals and they are 6x10"s
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Soooo - this is not the update you are looking for. In fact, I did nothing to the engine worth mentioning. But... I bought wheels. Thought they are blöödy fücking brilliant looking blobs of cast aluminium so I bought them. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Foook, that's unbelievable... I'd feel destroyed as well I know who I'm calling should my car ever get immobilized in an accident Re: windshiled; this is after about 17.000km. I was a bit shocked when the sun came out. In other news more pre-maturely failing replacement parts. The belt tensioner bearing is fücked again. After a disappointing 35.000km. I've used a INA bearing, this time I went for a FAG one. Don't have high hopes. ^grease oozing out... ^deep marks in the bearing races. and - what a blöödy mess underneath the intake manifold.... Bent and tangled up injection lines, repaired knackered wiring looms... Sigh. All works though. What didn't work was my eBay chain guide bolt extractor... I sheared off almost immediately. I was VERY lucky I was able to saw a slot into the broken off thread and unwind it. Else this would have been a disaster... So - the old bolt & nut & wrench method worked best, once again. I'm enjoying this sort of work again, now that I - for the first time - can really make use of my little carport-turned-garage Awesome to work behind closed doors, no wind, no rain, a bit warmth from the old gas burner. Awesome! Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Black smelly confetti dust In other news; whilst waiting for delivery of cold cleaner, I built this little contraption: Very long weekend, 2 days off - time for some work... Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 28, 2017 19:33:08 GMT
|
Very short update: 990.000km on the counter as of today...
|
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 26, 2017 17:30:20 GMT
|
About that new windscreen... Current count of major stone chips: 4. Yes, four. It looks like any particle of dirt that hits the wind screen leaves an impression, literally. It's now about 15.000km old, and looks worse than the old screen. I polished it from both sides prior to taking these pictures. During which I noticed that it also has a big "dent" on the passenger's side - this is where the wiper blade frequently leaves a trail / spot of screen wash or water. I guess the glas dude got me a cheap windscreen to maximise his profits. Next time I'm doing it myself. That's for sure! And it needs to come out sooner or later anyway, since the frame shows traces of rust again. Next time no more rust converter but sand blasting & phosphoric acid. And a 2k epoxy primer. And a good quality windscreen. Less than happy. On a brighter note: the last oil change before resetting the counter is approaching. And the head gasket is leaking. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 19, 2017 15:40:49 GMT
|
Mercedes W124 500E. It has a hard suspension that suggests a sporty car. It has a quad-cam V8 that promises a sporty drive. It has a 4 speed slushbox that makes it a tourer. It's short final gear opposes any tourer qualities. Those opposing promises make it a totaly spoiled car that can't define what it was meant to be. With a manual gearbox, this would be great! But the automatic with the short diff kills it. It realy does. It doesn't even feel fast, despite having 326HP. A terrible car throughout. Way overrated & priced. I like W124s, but I'd never buy a 500... A terribly confused car.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 17, 2017 20:47:26 GMT
|
Hi! Well I figure a lot of people would like an update on this... Including me. But reality is; it's stashed 80km away in a garage, I work 5-6 days per week and on the very few remaining free days I prefere to do other things. I was very enthusiastic withthis car once, but reality has kicked in. I used to work only part-time, now I'm working full time. Tthere's work for me in the line to keep me occupied 24/7 for the next year... I do mostly panel beating stuff, new projects are currently being booked for 2018. Which on the one hand is awesome - on the other hand it takes away time for projects like this. But truth to be told; I'm not particularily sad about this. My hobby is also my daily work. I can enjoy what I'm doing (in generall, of course there's stuff that's not that much fun). However, the Taxi needs to come off the road for a lot of work... I might feel the itch to drag this out of hibbernation come spring. So - sorry to dissapoint. But I have learned form my W123 project. Don't ever sell projects because you feel like you've grown a distance, a feeling of detachement to them. Don't. Every now and then I'm offering this car for sale. But... I'm probably not going to do it. Only if someone would offer a mint Toyota HJ61 inexchnage, I could get weak...... Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 16, 2017 20:09:24 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 12, 2017 19:21:17 GMT
|
Hi!
Still alive, still driving. 988.000km at the moment.
Quick test to hear what the new mic is capable of... Might need headphones or turn the volume up a bit. Stock exhaust. nothing done to it. Just pretty much empty... Love it!Pretty decent straight-six sound for a low-reving engine.
Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 29, 2017 14:02:20 GMT
|
Yes! Current herd of capricorns now has 9 specimens Unloaded using the old, leaky engine crane (needs a re-fill every time I use it...) and a ratchet strap. And why be happy with one, if you can have two? And comparing my reproduction of the pump lever to the original: I just had a drawing from a brochure - given that I got pretty close! Onl the original is not a pipe like I assumed, but seems to be a solid, forged(!) piece. Only the bottom end is some HEAVY walled tube (about 50% wall thickness) welded on. Gave it a lick of oil here and there, greased it - and stored away. Hydraulics work flawless, everything is original. It even has the plastic knobs on the two release handles (which snap back like they'r supposed to). Overall, this one is in 100% better shape than the first Hydro Crab I bought... Much happy me! Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|