|
|
Jan 18, 2016 19:34:59 GMT
|
Christ! Everyone else would have just welded 3 pieces together and dressed them up and "that'll do". That said: I like your style! All or nothing. If I'd had the tools & knew how to use them, I would have probably done the same. Only it would have taken me like 10 years of finding excuses and being too lazy to do anything What I actually want to say: hats off!! This is a whole new level of dedication and I'm very glad you'r sharing it with everyone!! Realy, realy inspiring work!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 12, 2016 19:06:01 GMT
|
I've always wanted to make use of that venomenous bright green stuff - only problem is: I can't find it anywhere! Since all components will be aluminium, I would have gone for full-aluminium coolant anyway (most times red IIRC) - but didn't think about using it to distinquish leaks from two separate circuits. That's a good idea! I am actually aiming for a separate circuit - I've read a couple of books - it is more efficient! I just thought that the idea to have a shared circuit with an additional cooler is a nice idea. And I'm tempted to try this once and compare it to a stand-alone system. But I'm planing on a separate circuit. This has also some added safety; if the charge-cooling circuit fails, the car can still drive. A shared system means more possible failures, and possible breakdown should one component fail and cause a severe loss of coolant
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 10, 2016 15:19:09 GMT
|
I set it on fire!!!!! No, just kidding. That's the auxilliary heater finally working!! Chnaged for another fuel pump - and it fired right up and burned stable! And after a little while the heater fan spring into live and blew a gentle breeze of warm air. Awesome!! But I need to monitor if it keeps smoking like that, if it does I might investigate further. But: it's a runner! That's something I can work on. Though if the neighbours alert the fire brigade that's sort of counter-productive It was a bit smokey the first couple of minutes, but soon cleared up. Might be just dirt and curse word from previous attempts to get it runing. Success!! Finally! Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
well, the last couple of days I had an concerning increase of rattling noises from the rear... The car has always had a knocking rear suspension, going over slight bumps. But now it had started making another, higher pitched noise. Time to investigate, no more procrastinating this. I'm just glad winter was canceled this year... And as soon as I had the wheels off, I found my new rattle. Jesus fooking christ!!! This could have ended BAD. I know I have tightened this - but it came undone nevertheless. In fact, both bolts were loose. I re-installed them with a good amount of thread lock, maybe this time they'll hold. They'r new bolts. But maybe the threads in the wheel carriers are just worn out!? Who knows how many brake jobs this car had... Anyway. Upon further investigation, I found some DEAD shocker bushes... And - I found a completely worn out, fubard and DEAD shocker.... It's not seized, but just completely worn out. They have a big ball bearing as support - which was worn out BAD. I've never heard of them wearing, worst case the rubber boot tears and they seize. Wel I guess that's high milage cars for you. Always good for surprises! And then the fookery started... Blöödy hell!! What a royal pain in the aßß!! One of the bottom bolts I could pull out by hand. The other was seized solid. Rock-solid. I tried heat, I tried force, I tried hammering - I even tried to offer money to that bolt! But - nope. I was able to turn it a bit with a LONG extension - but still - it didn't come out. I tried hammering it out for like 1 hour... So - out with the angle grinder and cut off both ends of the bolt flush with the a-arm. And then drilled it out from both sides. Which was a gamble, 'cause on one side one of the suspension links prevents you from drilling straight. But: success was mine. Hit it dead in the center on both sides! And then the real fookery was on. The fitting on the big hydraulic pipe didn't turn. I twisted the hydraulic hose runing to the shock (which was still attached) to undo it. All good. I have like-new pipes in stock, no problem. Right? Nope. It's impossible to remove the pipe without dropping the subframe. I was not in for that. So I tried to move the end with the fitting as far away from the bodywork as I could - and heated it up with the torch. Let it coola down, heat up, cool down etc. - couple of times. The fitting moved! Success. And then I had pulled the other end of the pipe past the bracket for the height regulator... And then sh!t got serious. It took me like 2.5h to get this fooking blöödy cvnt of a pipe back to where it belongs!! What a pain. I had to remove the height regulator (again, stuck pipes & fittings) and the pressure sphere to get it back. It went out like nothing, but not back in. And then came the part with putting the banjo bolt back in... AAARRRGGHH!!! If this was a petrol car, I'd just thrown a burning rag into the fuel tank. Sacre bleu! What a nightmare of work... Fastening the shocks to the body was kindergeburtstag in comparison (they'r too short since they act as drop-out buffer). Somewhere around 20:30 - way beyond my comfort zone - the car was back on the ground, the SLS vented and filled back up. Time for a test drive. Oh boy. Was that worth it all!! No more knocking, no more rattling - silence!! For the first time in like almost 50.000km! Beers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I figured by the steady rising amount of views this thread gets Well, got another parcel today. LOL! That one's a BIT on the smal side... Though it makes sense; as I understand it from going through the EPC drawings, the ML 400 CDI makes use of a shared coolant circuit. Which is done kind of clever. The chargecooler gets it's coolant from the main engine radiator's cold side. It then passes through this little lo-temp. cooler to cool it down further and is then - after it passed the chargecooler - merged into the engine's cooling circuit. It still has an auxilliary water pump to maintain flow. I quite like this, I think I will try this - but I think it will not be as efficient as having an extra stand-alone coolant circuit for the chargecooler... But it's a kind of a nice solution I think. I might be misstaken, though. There's not a lot of usefull information in the EPC... Anyway, might be something to consider, since this will do without another expansion tank. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So - I'm probably going air/water-intercooler resp. chargecooler. I was a bit bigh-mouthed when I announced that I could fit this monster of an IC behind the bumper. Why yes - I can, actually. But when I pushed the car outside with the bumper & IC installed - I realised that this isn't going to work very well. Yes, it fits behind the bumper. Yes, I can attach the bumper. But - the bumper warps. A lot. I didn't notice this when I was working in my little workshop where you can't get further away from the car. In the open though... Nooooope. A chargecooler will make it easyer in one respect, and in in this respect only: it's easyer to find a place, it doesn't have to be at the front of the car where a lot of air flows. The downside is huge: it's complicated. And it actually does require a radiator on the front of the car, and not a smal one. If it is to be efficient. But: in my case I hope it is easyer to find a space for a wide but thin low-temperature radiator. So, I googled some cars with air-water chargecooling - and I found quite a few! - Mercedes 290GD Turbodiesel - Mercedes G270 CDI - Mercedes ML 400 CDI - Mercedes S400 CDI - Mercedes C30 CDI AMG - Mercedes SLK320 Kompressor AMG - Jaguar XJR Supercharged - BMW X6M (one core for each bank, rather cheap) - Toyota Celica GT4 - Subaru Legacy - Lotus Carlton - Lotus Esprit Turbo - Peugeot 605 / Citröen XM 2.5TD - Smart Brabus Roadster - Ford Lightning Pick-Up So - there's some off-the-shelf stuff available. Thze first thing I bought, as above, is the G270 CDI chargecooler. I like the design. It's thick & long, there's a good amount of air going through which stays in the matrix for a good time. The next bit I bought is from a V8. A Schrempp-era W220 S400 CDI low-temp. cooler. Which turned out to be - er - big. Probably too big. On the other hand, it is rather thin. If I can make this fit, that's a winner! And since it was only 30€ delivered - I've not lost much if it doesn't fit. Next to arrive is a ML 400 CDI radiator. Which was the same price delivered. So again no big loss if it doesn't fit. Now I know there are drawings available for almost any radiator ever made - but in many cases they'r not accurate or measurements include stuff you can cut away. So - next stuff to buy is: a lot of radiator hoses and a big coolant pump. I'm probably going for a 400 CDI pump. They'r big, reliable and can flow a lot of water! And that's what I want: lots of flow. Though I'm not going to buy all that before I know that I can actually make the G270 chargecooler work. All in all, I think a custom unit is on order. The W124 chassis wasn't designed to fit stuff like this. But idealy I want it to look like it was. And this makes it time consuming and complicated. I'm not going to use a chinese eBay chargecooler kit with blue silicone hoses and chromed hose clamps. Nope. Next update will again have to wait a little, my "workshop" needs a proper bench and the Taxi's suspension some urgent attention. So that's the next weekend gone for that. Oh how I miss the times when I only worked part-time... That's it for now, plasese like & subscribe - thank you! So long, sincerely - me.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When I got home from work today, I was greetet by a huge parcel from Mercedes Benz. Awesome!! I had spent quite a substantial amount of money for what's inside that parcel. Some may say - irresponsible amounts of money. Not stupid amounts, mind! But sometimes - I just can't resist the urge to buy usefull useless tat. So - let's have a look inside. But such a huge parcel just for that? Nope. It get's better. The biggest piece is probably a very rare and rarely used tool. Because - it's easy to substitute if you do the work only very frequently. This tool would be better suited on a production line where many, many cars are being build daily. However - it was just cheap enough to justify buying it... Ugh - what the fook is that, you might ask? It's a MB factory jig for welding in the side panels on a wagon! To get the rear window opening just right. Is this awesome or what?? I don't need it - at all. But hey, you can't always buy tools you'r going to use, right? And about the other tools - take a guess! I'm especially proud of the tool on the right... You'll never guess what it is used for! And I might add - it's slightly unneccesary too Cheers, Jan PS: that parcel of course didn't come from MB's, but some guy who bought the inventory of some former MB dealership...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I have no clue, to be honest. There's a lot of carbon buildup inside the guides. So, yeah - it might be a lack of oil or overheating. What I also noticed is rust inside the exhaust manifold and on top of some bores. It's nothing that's worrysome, it's only superficial. But surprising. I know the engine has been in that garage for a week after removeal. That's by far not enough time for rust to occure. The car had 152.000km at time of removal. Maybe it's been standing still for a long, long, long time and was then forced into service? I don't know.
Well - something has happened to it. I've ordered some reamers - when they arrive I'll clean the guides, polish the valve stems and see if I can make it work. If not, I'll replace the guides and possibly valves.
Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The classic 911 oil slick pan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 30, 2015 10:56:07 GMT
|
Hi! This is a n/a engine, no Turbo-engine. They differ quite a lot internally. Piston oil squirters, ring grooved pistons, sodium filled valves, bigger pre-chambers and reinforced cylinder heads. Though on the other hand this engine was dirt cheap and I have all the required part "in stock" to turbo-charge this... Not sure if it would last, though. Better wait for a turbo-engine... I still have a turbo short block from the '87 limo, but no solid cylinder head - and the new one I got will go on the Coupé's engine. And you know what? This car is fine just like it is. I'll repair this engine and then store it away. It's nice to have a spare engine readily available. It's some sort of Voodoo - 'cause you know, the stuff you have as spare NEVER breaks! Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 29, 2015 16:30:50 GMT
|
Busted!! Took off the cylinder head. I actually wanted to get the aux heater to work - fcuk that. It still doesn't work... But it should, going by the manual and measurements. Anyway. Took out the chain guide bolts with the sliding hammer and removed the head bolts. Hmmm. As per endoscopic camera; nothing to see here. Pistons are sound, no slap, bores are so-so (they collected a bit surface rust on top of the rings). But when I turned the cylinder head, I knew I was onto something. It's fine, no valve stuck open - like I suspected from looking at them from the top. But wait a minute... They are a bit shiney, are they not? Out with the valve collets & springs... And then I actually had to put the head in the vice (god, I LOVE my big vice!! ) to smash out 4 of the exhaust valves! They took quite a substantial beating with a 1000g hammer! (Ignore the mess in the background, it's only temporary - I swear!) I compared the stuck valves with the OK valves - they have the exact same amount of run-out. So that's probably my old worn 3-jaw chuck rather than the valves... also tried different valves in different valve guides - it certainly is a problem with the valve guides. They seem very uneven und gunked up... So there you have it - sticky valves. That engine must have run like a bag of sh!t!! I'll buy a reamer and try to clean them up. Looks like I have an engine that's easy to fix. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 29, 2015 16:19:09 GMT
|
Yeah, I know my options. But as I said - no aftermarket bumper. They'r all fooking awefull! So - I might go down yet another route. With a bit of luck I might even be able to squeeze this between radiator & engine and actually move the radiator forward. And use the space behind the bumper for a flat long-ish low-temperature heat exchanger for the charge cooler. Speaking of which; it has a big Mercedes star cast in on each end It's an ultra rare charge-cooler off a W463 G270 CDI G-Wagen. They later switched to intercoolers, as far as I know. Hell, eben the internet doesn't know about them! Oh well. I need to stop dicking around and drive this car again... Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 28, 2015 21:49:50 GMT
|
I'm actually starting to fear the same!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 28, 2015 14:58:17 GMT
|
Damn those pre-chambers were tight!! But, my tool adapter did just fine, maybe after all I can weld material thicker than 1mm It took about 5 to 7 strokes for each pre-chamber, they'r pretty gunked up with carbon. It's not difficult to pull the pre-chambers, but exhausting hard work. Cracking open 6 damn tight lock-nuts and then hulking them out... Sliding hammer has 4.5kg - I moved a bit of weight there I then shoved my USB endoscopic camera into the bores to look for signs of damaged pistons or apparent impact marks from valves - but nothing. Actually, everything looks very clean and free from bad carbon buildup... ^it's a realy lousy camera, but you get the idea... That's part of the "combustion chamber" and valve relief cut on the piston. Also need to take screenshots, as the chinese software doesn't save it's own captured images... Anyway. I then turned up a bar of POM and a longer bar of aluminium. Both got a M4 thread... The idea was to create something of a boring-bar for light work, like scraping carbon from a steel pre-chamber. Which sort of worked, but POM tips are way too soft. I should use copper or brass. None of which I currently have at hand... Though emery cloth does the job just fine, the important bit is to have a lazy-man's spinning machine So - I still don't know what's wrong with that engine, I guess the next step is to actually remove the cylinder head and pull the valves. I was sure I'd find some shiney impact marks on the pistons, but I didn't. The mysterie remains unsolved... Stay tuned for the next episode of OM603 Busters Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 26, 2015 19:00:02 GMT
|
So, straight into investigating the potential spare engine. I noticed that there's a rather loud knock & slight resistance when turning the engine. So my first supect was a broken vacuume pump. They'r known to fail. But: nope. When turning the engine very carefull, it went stuck completely. With a bit of inertia, it would make a "bang" noise. Weird. Maybe a stuck lifter!? So out with the camshaft. And: engine turns over smooth as silk, no resistance, no bang. Definately an issue with the valve train. It's not the lifters, though. They'r all fine. Valves are all straight as an arrow - from looking at them from the top anyway. Though since the chain has some considerable stretch (cam timing is about 12° off!) - I suspect it's a slightly bent valve that touched a piston. But before I pull the cylinder head, I want to remove the pre-chambers. Which by the way all have they'r swirl balls present and appear to be undamaged. This was my first assumption; sometimes the loose the little ball/bar that "spreads" the injected fuel. In bad cases they fly around and knock out the bottom of the pre-chamber and in turn cause sometimes severe damage... But this seems not the case here. I may convert the Taxi to angled injection, and this engine has all the parts on it for that. Pre-chambers, injectors and injector lines. It's best to pull the pre-chambers with the engine as a counter weight. So - I made an adaptor to attach my 4.5kg sliding hammer to the MB extraction tool. It's a bit long and about as straight as George Michael but will do the job just fine. I hope. Untill monday, damn holydays... The camshaft is fine, lobes look very good - this will go into the Coupé's engine to finally have a good camshaft in there after my c0ckup with the original camshaft. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 23, 2015 12:35:22 GMT
|
Og course!!! That's fooking mental!! Awesome!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 20, 2015 16:56:20 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, my eBay hunting is quite lucky these days Last week I collected these; 25 4x18W office ceiling lights. For 1€. The chap was very nice and so I payed 20€. Which still is a blöödy steal. They'll be tranforming my little garage into a bright little star No honestly, I'll be selling most of them on, I need like 3-4 of them... So if someone near needs some - come get some! Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 19, 2015 19:14:47 GMT
|
Today I took the self leveling suspension for a stress test. As it happened, there was a eBay auction with zero bids. I read the - short - autction text for like 10 times and couldn't find a fault. So - I bid the obligatory 1 Euro. 5 days later, today, this happened: One Euro. I kid you not. 153.000km (I saw the car it came from, it adds up). Apparently has some issue with compression. Whatever that means. I don't care. There's so many parts on that engine... Any single part on that is worth more than 1€. I payed the chap a bit more, though. Was a perfectly, sunny and warm day. And you know it's Christmas soon when you can collect your tree in a convertible Crazy. Today was like 16°C+... Which was very welcome, as I had to shift a lot of sh!t that collected the last couple of weeks. I didn't have the time to properly store it. Made some room, unloaded the engine (the angled boot opening makes it very easy to lift out an engine with the hydraulic hoist) and put it against the wall. It's got a perfect spotless PAS pump pulley. This will go onto the Coupé, the rusty pulley on that engine bugged me for ages... Anyway, this realy was a steal - I'll have a look what's wrong with it. If it's not much, I have my low-milage spare engine for the Taxi. 'Cause noone knows how old then engine currently in the Taxi realy is. It's at the VERY least 460.000km. Current milage: 941.200km Fluids most used: diesel & screen wash The oil loss got significantly less after I re-sealed the fuel pump. That's it. Cheers, Jan
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dec 16, 2015 21:46:07 GMT
|
|
|
|
|
|