mu-mu-mu-my pagoda

[Naj ✝︎]

quote:If any one is interested in upgrading with the larger 85 litre tank into a 230, I will take some photos and give more detailed specifications of my modifications.

Yes Please, AL,

It will be a good addition for the 'wiki'

naj

68 280SL

[glennard]

Al, Am interested in the old tank.  617 947 6399.  Thanx

[al_lieffring]

quote:Originally posted by glennard

Al, Am interested in the old tank.  617 947 6399.  Thanx

Glen

When I was trying to drain the fuel out of the tank I punched a hole through the flower pot to get the bottom half of the tank to drain, I ended up haveing to punch a hole through the bottom of the tank to get it to empty completely.

If you'r near the Atlanta area (50 miles east) and want to pick it up it is yours.

Al Lieffring
66 230Sl
a-cheesin with a new 85 l. tank

[JPMOSE]

Al,

I finally put aside an hour and read from start to finish (so to speak).  Very interesting indeed.  I have been out of the Pagoda loop since mid '06.  I purchased a 560SL in June '06, a 300D W123 in Feb '07...gave to relative and purchased a 300SD W116 in July '07.  My New Years resolution for 2008(after I had Ron's Restorations in Sharpsburg, GA redo my leather in the 560SL in Dec. '07) was to spend all my car time back on the Pagoda.  Hence, I am doing a lot of catching up on my reading!  

You asked back in October if there was a reliable after market radiator available?   Tigris International in Houston makes reproduction radiators for W113 and has the correct size for a 230SL.  I recall reading that they are very correct looking and perform well.  I think they are $420 each plus $35 shipping.  Here is information out of Hemmings:

RADIATORS: new, 230, 250, 280SL, body W113, heavy duty, extra cooling power, 1966-1971. Tigris International, 713-628-1362, TX; tigrisint@yahoo.com

I am getting ready to recore mine to a three row.  It is original and has paint chipped off, etc.   It works well but gets up to around 200F on the highway in July.  I spoke with Marietta Radiator, as they came highly recommended.  They said it should cost more than $450 to recore it and they paint it the correct luster of black.  I think I rather keep my original one (especially since they are over $2,000 wholesale at the dealer!).

Good luck and keep us posted!

Best Regards,

J. P. Mose
1968 250SL
1987 560SL

[al_lieffring]

hey Ya'll

Thanks J.P. for the leads on the radiator, I will be looking into replacing or recoring mine before the summer comes. First I'll do a chemical flush of the block while the old radiator is in so I don't have to expose the new one to the corrosive cleaning solvent.

My SL has mostly been parked since the first of the year, I now have an 08 Chevy HHR Pannel van I use for my business and also so I won't rack up as many miles on the roadster. The insurance I have is only for 7k miles per year. If my odometer were still working it'd show I went over that amount last year, just running errands around town.

Since I installed the new 85 litre tank, the motor hasn't so much as made a hickup, it has been running and starting and restarting, exceptionally well. Yesterday was a unseasonally warm day so I deciced I would try to do something to get the rear suspension to support the extra weight of the larger fuel capacity.
 
Way, way back in the day, There used to be a spring kit for the 108 sedans that was sold by Benz as a lower cost replacement option for the hydro-pneumatic compensator. I only mention this because I remember it only taking about 20 minutes for me to install one of these kits. So I thought it would be no big deal to drop down the center compensator spring, install a thicker spring pad against the axle, and swing up the bracket with a pair of big channel locks and a prybar The way I used to do it and I would be done in about an hour.

Well that didn't happen.

The 113 compensator spring is a smaller wire diameter and longer uncompressed length than that 108 sedan spring, in fact so much longer that I couldn't even fit the spring onto the bracket with one bolt out and the bracket rotated as far as it would go. I ended up having to fabricate a spring compressor out of an 1/2" all-thread rod and a couple pieces of 3/16 X 1" strap. When I first tried the compressor, the spring arched the wrong way, so I had to back the nut all the way off and make a hook at the bracket end of the spring, I compressed the spring all the way down again and this time the angle of the axle casting was holding the spring too far off center, so I had to back the compressor all the way off again, (I was only able to turn the wrech on the nut 1/12 of a turn at a time) I then had to make the compressor strap on the axle end short enough to fit flat into the recessed area of the axle casting (Where the hydro penumatic compensator's bushing would go). This time (finaly!!) every thing lined up just right and it all bolted together without having to force any thing.

The result, by installing a 3/4" thick spring pad I was able to raise the rear end by 1/2" measued at the wheel arch over the center of the hub cap Star. Now with a spirit level on the trim line of the door moulding it's just slightly higher at the rear with the tank full and the hard top on. Before it was drooping down in the rear.
I am not pleased enough with these results to reccomened this procedure to others, when I have time I will install the proper oversized pads on the rear springs to get the correct height, but for now it's O.K.

Al Lieffring
66 230SL

[waqas]

Al,

Great to read your latest update to this most interesting thread.

By the way, a few years ago I too fabricated a compressor for the compensating spring using a threaded rod and some plates. I've since re-used it on three other rear axles with relative ease. Details can be found at http://sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=1642&whichpage=2. Needless to say, I'm very pleased with it.

For an alternate radiator source, I used DNT in Austin. They did excellent work on recoring my original with a new three-row (very reasonable rates too): DNT Recycling Inc, 705 W Saint Johns Ave, Austin, TX (512) 467-0063. They also boiled out my fuel tank last year.

Waqas in Austin, Texas

[al_lieffring]

The spring shown in Waquas' earlier thread looks to me like the shorter fatter spring from a 111 sedan.

Download Attachment: comp springs.jpg
39.72 KB

I took a picture of my sl's spring, it still has the 113 part number visible on it, and resized the two images to the same scale. The top spring is from Waquas' thread, the lower is the spring from my SL.

As I mentioned in my post the shoter fatter spring was fairly easy to lever (I think my being 20 years old at that time factored into the equation) into place without a spring compressor, but the 113 spring is much too long to get into place without using a spring compressor.




Al Lieffring
66 230SL

[waqas]

Interesting... so I have a sedan spring in my Pagoda. (Al, can you please post your original part number?)

Question: wouldn't the fatter spring be stiffer than the thinner one, assuming they are composed of similar materials? And shouldn't the SL spring be stiffer than the sedan one? Why or why not?

Waqas in Austin, Texas

[al_lieffring]

quote:Originally posted by waqas

Interesting... so I have a sedan spring in my Pagoda. (Al, can you please post your original part number?)

Question: wouldn't the fatter spring be stiffer than the thinner one, assuming they are composed of similar materials? And shouldn't the SL spring be stiffer than the sedan one? Why or why not?

Waqas in Austin, Texas

I still got my Sunday go to meeting colthes on, so I cant crawl under there right now, I will look for you when I get a chance.

As for the engeneering advantage of one spring design for the sedan as opposed to the other for the roadster, I realy don't know why a short strong spring for a sedan and a weaker spring under more tension for the roadster was chosen, but the unloaded sedan of course has more weight over the rear axle, and it also has to function over a greater range of loading conditions with a larger trunk and 0-3 passengers in the rear.

Al Lieffring
66 230SL

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by al_lieffring

Since I installed the new 85 litre tank, the motor hasn't so much as made a hickup, it has been running and starting and restarting, exceptionally well.

Al Lieffring
66 230SL

Is that a standard 280 SL tank?  I've often thought that the larger tank would be a nice, and less expensive, upgrade.  I believe the smaller 230 SL tank is more expensive, right?

Rodd
Pagoda Technical Manual
please contibute: http://www.sl113.org/wiki/pmwiki.php
1966 230SL
2006 C230 Sport Sedan

[al_lieffring]

Hey Ya'll

I've spent some time over the past couple of days getting my top frame back into shape and installing the new cover.

When I was taking off the old cover, the bolt on the window frame that holds the tension cable on the left side broke where the cable passes through the hole, I ended up drilling out the broken off nub and making a new one out of a 6mm. bolt and welding it to the frame from the front side and grinding it smooth. The cables were all frayed too so I made up a new pair out of picture frame hanging cable and soldered an electrical ring terminal to the end where the chrome screw attaches it to the front bow.


Old: Robbins Top, German Cloth ca. 1977


New: World Upholstery, Stayfast Cloth.

As you can see from the photo, the rear glass was completely opaque, and the canvas looked O.K. but was so brittle that it tore any time it was handled. I ordered the Stayfast canvas top from World Upholstery last fall, Blue with the non textured tan interior and it had been in the trunk since then.
 
The Stayfast top isn't really that much cheaper than the Sonnendec top with the textured headliner, I just prefer the Stayfast (they used to be called Haarz) because the material is thinner and folds up more nicely. Besides a canvas top only lasts about 5 years. If I had a really nice car I'm sure I would have gotten another German cloth top, The one I took off had a 1977 date stamp on the window, that sounds like when I would have put that top on.

Back then the only tops that were available were Haarz canvas in black/black, black/tan or tan/tan, and German cloth in black, blue or brown with the tan herringbone headliner. At that time those three German cloth materials were the only colors available on M.B. factory replacement tops too.

Last week I stretched out the top fabric over the frame so it could flatten out before I began to attach it, Next morning Nick (my son) found Renault (our cat) out in the garage sleeping on it. I hadn't even started to install it and there was white cat fur all over my new blue top.

Later





I'm riding 50Km. on my Unicycle 18 May, 2008 in the Tour de Cure.
http://main.diabetes.org/goto/al.lieffring
Please help if you can by sponsoring my ride.
Al Lieffring

[hauser]

Very nicely done!

1969 Euro 280sl 5 spd
Gainesville, Fl.

[J. Huber]

Nice work Al. Really dresses things up!

James
63 230SL

[al_lieffring]

This afternoon I was doing some P.M. work, changing the oil and filter, greasing up the front end, replacing the front brake pads and rotating the tires.

I noticed that the left front tire was wearing on the outside front edge. It seemed to me that this could be caused by too much positive camber, so I check the camber cams and find them both already adjusted all the way to the inside.

This is making me wonder if when I reassembled my front end I put the offset of the kingpins the wrong way. I put the front end together with the offset toward the inside (toward the shock) this would push the camber out.

Does this sound correct? do I need to take the king pin loose and rotate it 180deg so the offset of the upper outer bushing is to the outside? Is my terminology correct? positive camber = top of the tire leaning out?
I just want to make sure my thought process is correct before I tear the front end apart and take it back to the alignment shop.

Back when we were servicing these cars years ago, we always installed new brakde pads with an additional rubber coated sheet metal shim that was the same shape as the metal backing of the brake pad. They went between the back of the pads and the caliper piston. My old pads that I installed 30 years ago still had them in there, I dug through my parts stash and only found a single new one (not a set of 4) We used to buy them hundreds at a time. I haven't seen any mention of them here on the forum or any listing for them at any of the parts suppliers. Have modern brake materials made these "squeak shims" no longer necessary?

Have I asked too many questions in one posting?

Al

[rwmastel]

quote:Originally posted by al_lieffring

Back when we were servicing these cars years ago, we always installed new brakde pads with an additional rubber coated sheet metal shim that was the same shape as the metal backing of the brake pad.   .....    Have modern brake materials made these "squeak shims" no longer necessary?

I reuse my old ones.

[glennard]

Al, What offset?  Isn't the top threaded pin centered on the vertical of the king pin?  The eccentric bolt goes thru the threaded pin to vary the camber???  Lubed up good?  The threaded pin and the eccentric bolt freeze up.  The eccentric bolt gets no lubrication from the grease fitting.  Grease just goes to the outside of the threaded pin.  Anti seize the eccentric bolt on installation.  You probably know all this already.  Castor is adjusted by the cam bolts on the flat spring suspension.

[al_lieffring]

Whoo Hoo I just went gold post # 501

[al_lieffring]

My brother called me this morning and read an article from the Kansas City Star business section:

Lost lease

After 31 years, Brookside’s Star Motors Ltd. has lost its lease.

The high-end auto repair shop at 7 W. 62nd Terrace will close April 30 and relocate to 5400 Antioch Road in Merriam. It has 17 employees.

Owner Emery Zanagal said the Merriam space is a better location and closer to his customer base.

31 years ago was when my father and I moved our shop from the building in Waldo where we made the Wunderbug kits to the upscale Brookside shopping district in mid-town Kansas City. The Brookside building was a 1930's era Chrysler dealership that had been sitting vacant for about 10 yeas. it was an odd design with a central drive through and only a small area with a level floor that we enclosed for office space. When we leased the space the showroom was occupied by a paint store and a Vetrenarian Clinic. When Emery bought out the business he was able to get a lease on the entire building.

It's the end of an era, The "Brookside Cruisers" will ride no more.

Al