Engine Bay and Front Suspension Refresh Advice

[stickandrudderman]

You most certainly CAN plate electrical parts like cold start valve solenoid but you MUST get them back as soon as they are plated and soak them in light oil (diesel works well) to prevent corrosion of the internal parts. I had to learn the hard way but believe me it is entirely possible. Injection pipes should be treated similarly or anything else that might have an orifice. You can even have your fuel pipes plated, the process doesn't harm the rubber.

[rbouch8828]

Thanks to all for the additional suggestions about your cleaning and storage approaches. Everyone has been so helpful in offering their experiences and recommended approaches. I really appreciate all of the suggestions.

Is there anyone in MA with an Engine hoist they'd like to rent or sell?

[rbouch8828]

How do you decide which parts are to be plated? Is it every nut, bolt and washer? What about other parts? What is the deciding factor?

Best,
Roland

[stickandrudderman]

Simple. If it was plated before, plate it again!

[rbouch8828]

Simple. If it was plated before, plate it again!

Not everything that was previously plated still has its plating showing.

[wwheeler]

That is why people crave factory and original engine bay pictures. There are several people on this site who have such pictures and are a good guide. In general, Mercedes never had exposed parts that were bare steel and would rust unlike US cars of the same era. Either painted, plated or aluminum.

Might be a good idea to start a file in the tech section for such documented original or factory pictures. Is there one now?

[dirkbalter]

Might be a good idea to start a file in the tech section for such documented original or factory pictures. Is there one now?

I agree, that would be great info to have and fall back to.

[dirkbalter]

Btw, with the support of the members, I would be willing help generate a file for the tech manual.

[wwheeler]

Thank you for offering to do that. You might PM one of the Pagoda board members and get their suggestions on how to start and if there is interest. I would think you would want to start a new thread asking for submission of original pictures and or factory images that would be helpful. Maybe limit it to engine bay, drivetrain, etc.. Mostly mechanical items. 

[Garry]

Dirk,

Any Full Member is able to amend or add to the Technical Manual.  I agree that this would be a fine addition to the manual and no doubt others on the Board would also agree. This is the only way the Tech Manual is populated, by Members adding the info over time.

Have a look at the area on the left hand side of the Tech Manual where is says PmWIKI and the items below.  You can play around with it in what is called the WIKI Sandbox to practice before actually working live with the document.

Meanwhile Other Board may like to also comment here.

Garry
Membership Administrator

[dirkbalter]

Garry,
I will take wwheelers advice and start a new thread, collecting information, pictures.......
I will probably create the file offline first and later transfer it to the manual if found useful.
Dirk

[Garry]

Dirk,

I think the idea is good.  What you should try to achieve is a searchable file.  Maybe the way would be to break the photos up into their component parts or such that is someone did a search for say “original fan blade colour” it may pick up on several areas like “original” or within an “engine” area would hopefully recognise Fan Blade if there is a photo headed such as part of it. The difficulty may be to know how detailed in the breakup of the areas to go. 

You could always use the standard Parts Sellers 10+ area descriptors headings. e.g., body, electrical, engine, drive train etc etc etc. If you look at the Tech Manual you will see lots of areas where there are headings only. There are there in the hope that someone will add items as they are done. When making your pages up, you probably should put as many headings as possible in the hope that people would populate it over time as photos come to light.

Garry

[rbouch8828]

There were several people who said that they had collected lists of parts on spreadsheets as well as on photographing them on large pieces of paper with the part name/location and a number related to the spreadsheet.

Perhaps one of these systems would be a useful addition too, if one of the members was willing to share it.

[Tomnistuff]

I don't mind sharing mine if it will help.

I have deleted all pages of my Parts to Cadmium Plate spreadsheet except for the first page.  The format is (xls).  The parts listed and described on the spreadsheet correspond with the Batch 1 photo, also attached.  On the photo, P1LXX corresponds to the parts on spreadsheet Page 1, Line XX.

Unfortunately the Pagoda site does not accept Excel Spreadsheets.  If you can give me an email address to send it to, I will be happy to send the Excel sample spreadsheet.  It's only about 70 kilobytes.  As a reminder, I've attached the screen dump of the spreadsheet page 1.

For about 1600 individual parts, I ended up with 14 batches (14 photos) of parts that filled 15 spreadsheet pages.

To satisfy anyone's curiosity, it all weighed 60 pounds and cost $120 U.S. to ship them to DeTray Plating, $ 475 U.S. for CAD plating, and $260 U.S. for DeTray to ship it all back to me here in Quebec, Canada in the summer of 2013.

I hope this will help to start the process.

Tom Kizer

[dirkbalter]

Tom,
Yes, this will help. I will start a new thread shortly. Meanwhile my e-mail is dirkbalter@hotmail.com.
Thanks
Dirk

[rbouch8828]

I don't mind sharing mine if it will help.

I have deleted all pages of my Parts to Cadmium Plate spreadsheet except for the first page.  The format is (xls).  The parts listed and described on the spreadsheet correspond with the Batch 1 photo, also attached.  On the photo, P1LXX corresponds to the parts on spreadsheet Page 1, Line XX.

Unfortunately the Pagoda site does not accept Excel Spreadsheets.  If you can give me an email address to send it to, I will be happy to send the Excel sample spreadsheet.  It's only about 70 kilobytes.  As a reminder, I've attached the screen dump of the spreadsheet page 1.

For about 1600 individual parts, I ended up with 14 batches (14 photos) of parts that filled 15 spreadsheet pages.

To satisfy anyone's curiosity, it all weighed 60 pounds and cost $120 U.S. to ship them to DeTray Plating, $ 475 U.S. for CAD plating, and $260 U.S. for DeTray to ship it all back to me here in Quebec, Canada in the summer of 2013.

I hope this will help to start the process.

Tom Kizer

Yes, tom it will be of help to me as well. My e-mail is: rbouch8828@aol.com

[rbouch8828]

Tom,

I'm curious as to why you had the hood catch on the paper with your parts? Does that get cadmium treatment? Also, what is the meaning of the "X"s?

Best,
Roland