Author Topic: Restoration Difficulty Level (Read 947332 times)

Dave H · « **Reply #950 on:** June 18, 2014, 10:05:57 »

Another

andyburns · « **Reply #951 on:** June 18, 2014, 10:14:28 »

Thanks Dave, I honestly dont think I ever had one. Its so distinctive I would have remembered it. Guess I now need to go on another world wide hunt for one. Hopefully they are still available. Are the small holes on the side so you can put in small bar to tighten it. Dont understand why it wasn't just a nut.

Dave H · « **Reply #952 on:** June 18, 2014, 11:07:27 »

As you know it's the adjuster nut for the tension.
It's a bit "on show "in the footwell and the shape of the base locks the adjustment
So you can't use a normal nut.. if I had a spare I'd send you it..

action jackson · « **Reply #953 on:** June 18, 2014, 18:14:43 »

I am in the 14 month of a complete rotisserie restoration on my original 1970 280sl and I am not sure if I did the right thing the time and cost got far above my original estimate 2 months to go I hope my son will keep it in good shape for my greatgrandson age 3

andyburns · « **Reply #954 on:** June 18, 2014, 18:30:19 »

Hi Action J

Sounds as if you will be well aware of the pain a 113 restoration will inflict! Still I think that you are doing well at 14 months. When I first began I was totally naive and thought I could bang it out in 6-12. Quite a joke between the wife and I now. Well more my joke than hers. Good luck with the completion of yours. I would love to see some photos.

Dave, I went trawling back through my photos for a picture of the handbrake lever before I pulled the car apart. Found this one. I am not sure but assume that the cut out on the forward side of the lever is where the nut sits. If this is the case looking at my photos it would appear that the special nut was never there. Probably the previous owner couldn't be bothered sourcing the correct nut and slammed in a couple from the local hardware store. Would certainly explain why I cant find it.

Would appreciate if someone could post of picture of the nut in situ. Kind of weird asking for you guys to take photos of your nuts... but its for a good cause

Jonny B · « **Reply #955 on:** June 18, 2014, 19:39:13 »

Well, nuts to you too!
See attached photo as requested. This is from a 1970 280 SL

andyburns · « **Reply #956 on:** June 18, 2014, 20:04:24 »

would you believe that that nut is 42 dollars US

thanks Johnny. Just spotted your pic. Guess I need it so will bite the bullet.

Jonny B · « **Reply #957 on:** June 19, 2014, 03:09:18 »

Oh yes, I would definitely believe it!

andyburns · « **Reply #958 on:** June 19, 2014, 06:12:59 »

I spent the morning deciding on what I should do with my fuel delivery pump. From memory it seemed to work fine when I took the car apart. No starting or stalling issues with the engine running faultlessly. The same old dilemma, do you strip it down and pessimistically assume that due to its age its going to be worn and buggered, or take your chances that it will give another 10 years good service.

I decided that as its easy to remove from the car, should it ever stuff out on me, that I am going to run with the risk.

So masked up all the inlets and outlets and into the bead blaster it went. A quick coat of 2k etch and then a couple of satin. Didn't go down the epoxy track as I wanted to get it in today.

Great pulling out all my new braided fuel pipe and fitting that up as well. Feels like all the prep work from the past couple of years is really built up a good head of steam and the parts are now flying back onto the car.

After I finished off with the fuel pump decided to mount up my restored gear lever. Have had a nice new ivory gear knob sitting on my computer desk just begging to be put back into a more natural environment. Today was the day. Just love the crisp look of it against the black leather and carpet.

Decided while I was on a roll to fit up the remainder of the hard lines. I have come up short on one of the rubber blocks that hold all three pipes. Really frustrating as I have dozens of absolutely mint W108 equivalents. Unfortunately Mercedes decided to run the brake down the middle of the transmission tunnel. Probably better from a safety perspective but definitely a really bad thing from a restoration pilfering exercise. Haven't looked up the part number but am picking it starts with 113.

Last thing to do on the underside it the exhaust. Before I fit up that I need to sort out the long heat shield. Cant find any obvious holes in the foot well. Anyone have a photo of its position.

WRe · « **Reply #959 on:** June 19, 2014, 08:01:08 »

...WRe

andyburns · « **Reply #960 on:** June 19, 2014, 08:48:09 »

Wre that is awesome. I thought it was going to be much further back so you have saved me quite a bit of grief. Looks as if it covers the bolt openings for the gearbox support plate so am guessing this needs to be installed after the gearbox goes back in. Also of interest in your photo is another aluminum plate up the vertical plane of the firewall. Mine did not have this. Am wondering if its a left hand drive thing?

Jonny B · « **Reply #961 on:** June 19, 2014, 14:43:02 »

Just checked my 280 SL, and it does have the vertical aluminum plate (heat shield) as shown in the chassis photo from Wre. It is a LHD car.

Bonnyboy · « **Reply #962 on:** June 19, 2014, 18:42:07 »

Andy, I looked at my nut this morning to see what is worth $42 bucks plus shipping and I think it could be made with a tap, grinder and a drill bit pretty quickly. Finish off with a buffing wheel - Maybe 1 hour at most. A chunk of brass would look pretty but a piece of stainless stock would probably be closer to stock.

andyburns · « **Reply #963 on:** June 19, 2014, 20:31:24 »

Thanks Ian, I would have a crack but dont think I have got the skill to pull it off convincingly. I also would have to go out and buy a tap and die set. Will probably do what the previous owner did and put back in a basic stainless steel nut for the time being. Just cant justify the expense at this point.

rutger kohler · « **Reply #964 on:** June 20, 2014, 01:48:46 »

Hi Andy, I can make you a handbrake nut as per the original but you will have to wait until I get home again after 1st August.

cheers

Rodger

hkollan · « **Reply #965 on:** June 20, 2014, 05:58:48 »

Hi,

To me, fabricating this part when you can get the original chromed part over the counter from any MB dealer for a few bucks
Is just NUTS. Its a miracle this piece is even available still for a 50+ year old car.
Just had to get that off my chest.

Hans

andyburns · « **Reply #966 on:** June 20, 2014, 08:40:55 »

Spent all afternoon fitting up the four pieces of wind lace. They are an absolute mongrel to get right in leather. The small screw that hold the chrome strips down have to penetrate the leather.

If your using MB tex its much easier to puncture the material but leather is a different proposition. I tried several times and ended up cutting small notches out of the leather that allow the screws through but are hidden under the chrome strips.

The lace is also required before the final fitting of the rear panels. So after I mopped up the lace I also had a crack at the two quarter panels. The early 230's had a unique panel that was probably replaced because its such a pain in the ass to fit. None of the screw holes located with the equivalents drilled in the body the first time I tried to fit them. I had to tweak the panels to get everything to fit. Two hours latter the interior refit has moved to the next level. All I need to do now is finish off the stereo install and fit the seats back on the bolted in rails. Probably tackle this over the weekend.

getsmart · « **Reply #967 on:** June 20, 2014, 11:12:18 »

Andy I'm in the middle of refurbishing my fuel pump and I'm glad I took it apart. The bearings were "cluncky" and the thing was full of 50 years of carbon from the brushes wearing. I bought a brush and bearing kit from one of the guys on here....

check my tumblr link for pics...

http://getsmartpagoda.tumblr.com/

Rgds, Joe

andyburns · « **Reply #968 on:** June 20, 2014, 11:57:26 »

Joe, the minute mine starts to play up or I have weird issues with the engine I am going to have mine apart quicker than you could say 'jack Russell terrier'

Just far to tired to be pulling apart stuff that has even a theoretical chance of being ok for a few more years.

On another bright note, I got an email today from the LTSA out of the blue. These are the guys who hold all the historic ownership records here in New Zealand. They had previously declined my application for the ownership history of the car but by some weird miracle had reconsidered it. Perhaps they read my blog! They didn't release everything. The name an street address information was withheld if the owner was private. They just substituted the city in this case. But all the business and dealers who have owned the car are there in big neon signs. Thrilled to get a few more pieces of the puzzle. Can at least now see clearly where in New Zealand the little girl has been.

getsmart · « **Reply #969 on:** June 20, 2014, 12:26:41 »

I understand ...Thats excellent news Andy ! I visited the previous owner of mine recently who owned it for 30 years. Gave me some old pics and the BBB. I can't believe how many changes had been made before he bought in (around 1975 when it was 11 years old) that he didn't know about. Different engine and different softtop @

andyburns · « **Reply #970 on:** June 21, 2014, 06:03:10 »

Rats and Mice

Before I launch into the gearbox I wanted to clean up a few 'small' job. Started early thinking I would be done by 11am. I should have known better and before I knew it the wife was calling me in for dinner.

I started with the soft top hatch chrome. It took quite some time cleaning and polishing... and debating if the bits need to be rechromed. I still struggle drawing the line on various quality control issues. I spent at least an hour looking and obsessing over small detail. In the end I decided not to mount out the main brass moldings and will seek a couple of quotes on monday to rechrome. These are very prominent and will be an obvious target for anyone critiquing the car.

Moved on to the hatch cable release mechanism. I thought this would be easy but took a good hour to get right. Even now I am not happy the mechanism does not spring back to the latched state without help twisting the chrome handle. I am not sure if I have missed out a spring or not. Any tips on this appreciated. I may strip everything back down and lubricate the cables.

Next moved on to tidy up the boot. A few cable elbow to install and some sound dead material cut into strips to hold down the power cables. During the tidy up I discovered that I have forgot to mount up a earth cable. No surprise given its obscure location that I missed it. All the same I have to strip apart the rear quarter panel to gain access to get the bolt through. A bit of a bugga but just the nature of the restoration beast!

andyburns · « **Reply #971 on:** June 23, 2014, 03:20:31 »

Moved on to the gearbox this morning. Stripped off all the fixtures and fittings ready for blasting and then plating. My goal with this refurb was just to reseal. I didn't want to break into the box all and assumed the front and rear seals would be easily accessed. Discovered that this is not the case. The front one isn't too bad but have had to split off the bell housing and the front plate to get at it. No drama as I have a complete seal kit.

The rear however is proving to be a real PIA. The slotted nut doesn't want to come off. I dont have the proper tool so was hoping it wouldn't be wound on too tight and might come off with a few 'light tap'. Again not to be. I have dropped all the bolts that hold the ali plate behind it to the gearbox casing so I am no committed to getting it off and resealing. If anyone has any easy methods to get this nut off I would love to here.

I am wondering now that the box is open if its worth doing anything else. Syncro's or bearings. Dont know how hard they would be but my back is already so raw with self inflicted wounds I figure a couple more gashes wont even be noticed. Again any advice would be well received. I can just imagine Rodger rolling his eye back. He told me not to touch the box a couple of weeks back. I should have listened. Blame it on my obsessive compulsive disorder. To make matters worse the front seal looked brand new. I think someone has replaced it recently. But this doesn't necessarily mean that anything else has been touched. Better safe than sorry and replace everything?

This is when its good to have all the last owners receipts.

Also the top ali plate that hold the changing rods, is this hard to pull off. I have the gasket for this and would like to clean it up and seal again. I did some research in here and it looks like JA was going to do a gearbox tour back in 05 but it seems it never happened.

Decided that the failures of the day shouldn't halt progress and took all the bits down to the blaster and then onto the platers. Just have to keep everything moving.

Have decided that the chrome moldings on the soft top hatch look terrible against all the fresh paint so have sent mails to about 5 chrome shops around NZ checking on who has the sharpest price. Will get all the caps done at the same time.

GGR · « **Reply #972 on:** June 23, 2014, 13:36:54 »

For the transmission, you need a 4 pin socket like this one (cross-check dimensions though): http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pin-Wrench-Socket-Tool-for-Mercedes-differential-/380602132397?hash=item589da7a7ad&item=380602132397&pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&vxp=mtr Or you can modify a socket to fit.

These transmissions are not that complicated. The way it worked before is a good indicator of what would be needed: was it noisy (bearings)? Were the gears grinding when shifting (synchros)? Also, many of these trans have been filled with gear oil instead of ATF, which may mask the noise. So if that's the case with yours, the way you remember it working may not be a correct estimate of its real condition. When you reseal it don't forget to replace the seal for the speedo cable drive. It is often omitted because there is a ball that needs to be dislodged. But if you omit it, this is where the trans is going to leak from and you will be kicking yourself for not having done it when the trans was easily accessible.

andyburns · « **Reply #973 on:** June 23, 2014, 15:01:48 »

Thanks GGR, that is excellent advice. I just yesterday drained the oil and it was most definitely not ATF but gear oil. My memory of the box when I drove it last was that all was ok but I here what your saying about thicker oil masking nasty behavior. I am stunned that its suppose to have ATF though. I wonder why they designed it like that? Its now cast a big shadow on the condition of the box in my mind if that's the case.

When I drained the oil I did take particular attention to what came out in the oil. There were the odd flakes of copper in with it but nothing too excessive.

Another really weird thing is that my tool I made for pulling the rear pinion is different. The teeth are to thick and wide to fit into this nut. I sat for a while yesterday wondering if I should just file it down but came to the conclusion that its probably more likely I would use it on a pinion than the gearbox in the upcoming years.

Will keep on persisting with it I guess and probably put the correct oil back in it and just take a punt that all is ok.

GGR · « **Reply #974 on:** June 23, 2014, 15:15:16 »

They use ATF because there are needle bearings in there that may end up being starved with thicker oil. Not always the case, but it happened to some group members.

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Author Topic: Restoration Difficulty Level (Read 947332 times)

action jackson