From: bgiovan <bgiovan@cavtel.net>
To: diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thu, April 7, 2011 9:07:12 PM
Subject: RE: [diesel_mercedes] progress? report [2 Attachments]
I feel ya Blaise. Hopefully the head and turbo will be back in the next day or so and I can start putting this thing back together. Have had the radiator redone, starter rebuilt, new water pump, rebuilt vacuum pump, new head (including prechambers) and rebuilt/rebalanced the turbo.
Hopefully I can get it all back together too!
Ben near Detroit
From: diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com [mailto: diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com ] On Behalf Of Blaise Colasante
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 7:51 PM
To: diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [diesel_mercedes] progress? report
Well, there's truth in the addage "There's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes"!! A year ago I removed the rear windshield & replaced the seal to stop water getting into my trunk. I also replaced the trunk seal for good measure as it was showing evidence of yielding to the elements in the near term. A few months ago I started loosing power on slight inclines & discovered the dreaded black fuel fungus had taken up residence in my fuel tank. It was BAD so I decided to drop the fuel tank and get it boiled out at the radiator shop.
While draining the tank I noticed fuel dripping from the left rear control arm. Fuel supply line was nearly rusted through where it goes over the control arm and had broken during efforts to remove the tank. The fuel return line & brake line were in similarly bad condition. Better to make this discovery in the driveway at home than anywhere else! I also had the opportunity to observe that the CV joint boots were badly torn, devoid of essential lubrication & also in need of replacement. Not knowing the condition of said CV joints I determined to order two new axles & replace the entire units. After the old axles were out I could inspect the CV joints to decide on their ultimate fate. Of course at that time the weather here in the NE was beginning its seasonal decline into winter which would put said projects on hold until spring as I have no indoor facilities to accomplish these efforts.
At Christmas a friend with a two bay tractor trailer garage who uses one bay for his manufacturing business had me over to see his shop. Taking note that he has an entirely empty bay I asked if I could bring my ailing old 300D into the bay to do some repairs that would otherwise have to wait for warmer weather. We decided I could trade assistance to his business in trade for accomodations for the Mercedes.
I plumbed a 1 gallon empty oil jug into the fuel system under the hood as a short distance fuel tank (since the fuel tank had not been reinstalled & the fuel lines had not been replaced) & drove the 3 miles from home to the shop. In our spacious, heated & well lit accomodations the axles were readily removed and the fuel lines removed & duplicated (yes, I did use a bubble flare tool to make the connections for the master cylinder and the rear Tee connection). In removing the axles it was determined that it would be prudent to replace the axle seals in the differential. The pinion seal was also found wanting. Since I don't have the tools to remove the pinion shaft seal & check and reset the pinion shaft preload I decided to drop the rear and get it to a small independent Mercedes shop to accomplish this.
I didn't feel secure under the car attempting to remove the differential while it was on jack stands so I built a set of stackable, interlocking wooden cribbing boxes to support the car and also several to put under the floor jack to raise the car about 20 inches off the ground giving me more ample room to work and providing a rock solid, non-slip support for the car. In removing the four nuts securing the differential to the frame I needed an 18" cheater pipe on the 1/2" drive breaker bar to loosen them. When I thought all was going smoothly the seemed to get hard to turn again & then came out more easily. The exposed ends of the studs were so badly peened & rusted that I actually removed the studs from the differential case. New studs & nuts will replace them on reassembly.
After removing the exhaust pipe as a unit and beginning to remove the drive shaft I discovered that my tool box lacked the 41mm & 46 mm wrenches to loosen the nuts that secure the front & rear drive shaft sections. Order from Ebay. The rubber of the drive shaft support bearing was almost completely disintegrated and the transmission support had many radial cracks in the rubber so these were ordered & that task added to the work order. Also noted the absence of both automatic transmission shift linkage bushings. Thankfully both flex discs were in excellent condition.
While getting the rear wheels off to remove the axles I noticed that the left parking brake shoes had only a paper thin coating of brake material and on inspecting the right side I found only the badly rusted remains of the brake shoe minus any vestige of brake material. I added those to the outgoing order for rear wheel bearing/seal kits. I have removed the wheel hubs, seals & inner/outer bearing outer races. The bearings are in good condition at 250,000+ miles but since everything is apart and the crush washer needs to be replaced on reassembly it just made sense to replace the wheel bearings and install new grease. The hubs & the differential are going tomorrow to have work done at the shop and then reassembly begins!! Until then there are some sections of floor pan to replace, trunk wheel wells to patch and various other rusted nastiness to fix. I see a MIG welder in my future...I'm not happy pop riveting to repair body panels and even though I can stick weld thin metal with 1/16" 6013 rods the MIG makes it so much easier.
The FSM that I downloaded with help from the group, the Peachparts forum DIY archive and questions answered here have been really helpful in getting this far. Thanks to all. Now, if I can just get it all back together!!!!
Blaise
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