Restoration Difficulty Level

[andyburns]

WRe, thanks for that you may be on to something.  The tensioner came out when I removed the manifolds.  I dont recall any small 6mm socket head bolt.  Not to sure about where the pool is but am assuming that its inside the head casting.  I didn't touch anything internal but perhaps it was leaking out here before I even got the car.  The engine was filthy so it is totally possible this is existing.

The only other thing I can think off is that I didn't tighten up the large cap on the tensioner.   It was about the time I went into hospital so I was high as a kite on pain killers.  Perhaps I just left it hand tight.  Will check again in the morning.

[andyburns]

Couldnt sleep and decided to do something productive so wandered out to my  garage at 3am in my pajamas to investigate the oil leak.  Just went out for a quick look.  Used a powerful torch and managed to track the leak back to its source.  Luckily it wasnt behind the pump housing but was another plug in the head just above the leak.  Exactly as i predicted it was just sitting finger tight.  Blaming this one on the drugs.

After i got up from kneeling on my trusty piece of garage carpet i noticed one of my knees was soaking wet.  the smell test told me immetiately it was hydraulic fluid.   Look under the car and discover the entire bottle i poured into the brake resovouir last night is now all on the floor.  Leaked out of an open brake nipple.  will clean up in the morning.  Just have to explain the oily pj's  the wife

[GGR]

 Just have to explain the oily pj's  the wife

Reminds me of when my wife found a crankshaft pulley in the freezer and a toothed wheel in the oven. I needed to fit a toothed wheel on the pulley as part of the crank sensor set-up for my Megasquirt conversion on my Coupe. It was a really snug fit so I had the pulley retract in the freezer and the toothed wheel expand in the oven. It worked like a charm but no matter what explanation I tried giving my wife, to this day she is still horrified (I hear about it at about every dinner we're having with friends). My father is partly responsible for this as he jokingly told my wife when we married that she should start worrying the day when she finds spare parts under the bed. This is going back to when I was a teenager: I was tinkering with motorbikes, and having absolutely no storage space in the city apartment we were living in by then I turned the space under my bed as storage for my various projects. So with the freezer and oven story my wife thought I had just gone one more step into insanity and started looking everywhere in the house for hidden parts! 

Don't forget to clean all the parts where the brake fluid trickled on as this is very bad for paint!

[cabrioletturbo]

What a story, GGR. It really brought up smiles today.

[andyburns]

Have really enjoyed looking at GGR pics and reading his fantastic stories today.  Had a quiet one after being up all night working on the oil leak issues.

This afternoon I decided to finish off the mounting of the high capacity fuse protecting all my hidden audio gear.  The fuse block I ended up running with was chosen as it has a Bakelite look to it.  Most of the ones available in this day and age are fluorescent pink or have some totally useless feature like led back lighting that would look absolutely hideous in a 113 engine bay.    With all the aftermarket gear I have gone with I have gone the extra mile to make sure its either totally hidden or in keeping.

The mounting has been a bit of a dilemma for me as well.  In the end I have decided to try and replicate the offset bracket type mounting that is used on the factory relays.  Cut up some 1mm plate and did my best to copy the factory pattern.

Result is ok,  Just need to figure out how to insulate the posts in a presentable manner.  Red insulation tape is only temporary.

[JamesL]

My wife had a very small apartment in NYC and used to keep sweaters in the oven - clothes more important than food...

[GGR]

My wife had a very small apartment in NYC and used to keep sweaters in the oven - clothes more important than food...

Ha! Ha! Each his/her own as they say. My wife is into art. We have a small room dedicated to storage and it's full of paintings. Fortunately enough, she did not yet got the idea to check what is lying behind them since a while! I may have a hard time explaining it's modern art! 

[andyburns]

Agggghhhhhh.  Spent most of today trying to track down the hot start issue.  Just cant figure it out.  Went back to basics this morning and timed the ignition again.  Vacuum advance off, 4500rpm and 30 degrees.  All good.

Then double checked all the linkages.  Pump rod exactly 233mm, throttle butterfly just closed on the stop all the other rods just with slight tension and all rods moving together perfectly.  Car starting from cold on the first click and idling well as 800-850 rpm.  Perhaps hunting a tad between 750-850.  mmmmm.

Then I thought I had it cracked.  Discovered the vacuum hard pipe attached to the cold start valve was finger tight.  Blame it on the drugs.  Nup, still didn't want to start hot.

Next I reverted to the parts break down and discovered that the cold start wax thermostat looks as if it has a rubber oring sealing it to the main body.  I didn't have one at all and assume it there to prevent vacuum leak.  Put one in and crossed my fingers.  Same result.

Checked the barometric unit.  Am sure it has all the correct spacers in place.

This is driving me nuts.  Anyone have any good ideas of what I can check next.

I desperately want to put my bonnet on but have made a promise to myself not to do it until the engine is running ok.

The only other theory I have is that I am running the car without the manifold heat shield.  Could I be getting some weird vapor lock issue going on.  The inlet manifold is noticeably hot.  Dont know if this is normal.

[jameshoward]

Andy,

Having replaced my exhaust manifold not too long ago (self-inflicted gunshot wound), I can confirm that the inlet manifold doesn't get that hot. It may be, though, that static running the car is having an additional heating effect due to the lack of airflow both into the engine, and perhaps around it. That could be a contributing factor. If you are concerned that the manifold could be an issue (I'd have thought not, but have no empirical basis on which to make such a statement) you could probably fashion one from foil, loo rolls inners, and doublesided sticky tape to see if it has an effect in order simply to rule it out. The shield is clearly effective, but it's also quite crude.

JH

[Jonny B]

Andy, how is the hot start issue showing up? Just has to wait before it will fire? Or do you have to crank and crank and crank and crank to get it going? Is it when you try to start the car again right after shutting it off, or after the car has sat for a while?

With the bonnet/hood off the car, I would not think that heat build up would be an issue.

How do you try to start the car? For my 250 SL, for a warm start, I turn the key, push the pedal about half way down, and bam, off it goes.

[andyburns]

Hi Guys,  the issue is showing up after the car has warmed up.  It runs fine but if the engine is turned off it wont restart.  It shows signs of wanting to start.  I have to let it cool right down before it will start again.  When cool it starts almost on the first click of the starter.

After doing some reading in here last night things I think it may be include.

1) Fuel supply issue.  Remember I only have 8psi at the fuel delivery pump.  Should be at least 12psi.  The may be causing vapor locks in the injection pump.
2) The cold start solenoid on the injection pump isn't engaging

If its the delivery pump I am dead in the water as I cant afford the 1000 dollars to replace it at the moment.  Will check the  solenoid today and also try and bolt up my old heat shield to see if it makes any difference.

I may go ahead and put the bonnet back on just to make me feel as if I have made more progress. 

What is the car like to work on with the bonnet in place compared to it off.  Should I leave it off with the final diagnostic work remaining?

[andyburns]

Have had another thought this morning.  I have also replaced the points with a pertronix electronic ignition.  Will also check the spark.  Am also wondering if it could be the spark plugs which have been fouled and cleaned four or five times now.  Am doubting either of these as it starts so well from cold but thought I would throw them into the mix.

[andyburns]

Spent this morning checking and double checking everything that I can think may be causing my hot start issues.  Overnight I had another worry about the oil supply hard piped that snakes its way from the front of the block around to the back of the FI pump.  I assume this is essential in keeping the pump well lubricated.  If it was blocked I could imagine all sorts of nasty things would ensue.  Given what happened with the fuel injection pipes blocking during the plating process I immediately felt a sickening feeling well up in my gust. That thought crossed my mind at about 2am this morning.  I managed to get back to sleep at 4 which I thought was actually pretty good!.  

This morning the pipe was quickly removed and to my relief was free of any obstructions and debris.  The one way ball valve was however a bit stiff so I spent half an hour cleaning it and freeing it up.  

Next I decided that an entire set of new plugs was the order of the day.  Down to super cheap auto to buy some new NGK units.  I am picking I have fouled the old set so many times now they could be causing issues.  The car really needs to be put under load rather than just idling to operating temp time and time again.  Not good for it.

Next I decided to check that both the fuel injection solenoid and the cold start valve solenoids were at least getting power.  I know the csv solenoid is good but havn't yet tested the action of the fuel injection pump solenoid.  I would have to take it off to be 100% sure.  I am wondering if I have the wires on the wrong way around.  This would have the effect of trying to force the solenoid bolt in the wrong direction.  I am quite sure it is correct as I took good photos of it coming off the car.  If anyone can tell me a way of telling for sure I would be appreciative.

I took a quick video of a couple of test lamps I made up connected to both solenoids to see if and how long they were powered for.  The results were surprising in that they both only seemed to come on for a second or so when the car was stone cold.  I am going to repeat the test again when its hot in the next couple of days.  If you want to take a look at the 10 second vid follow this link. http://youtu.be/92QPh-nSRwk

I now only have the power steering to commission.   I finished off replacing all the low pressure hoses and now only need to fill it and bleed the system.  Will do this at the same time as bleeding the brakes.

With nothing left to do in the engine bay I was left around twiddling my thumbs.  Yesterday I pledged to not put the bonnet back on until everything was finished.  Some strange little voice kept on repeating 'Close enough' in my head.  I couldn't ignore it.

Quickly made up a S clip to hold the bonnet stay and summoned my wife.  I gave here a long and detailed sermon about the do's and dont's of bonnet hanging and then very quickly we proceeded.  I mounted up on hinge on the bonnet and slipped this into its counterpart on the car.  This then let me free my hands to bolt up the other side while my wife was left holding the baby.  With two people this is the only way to do it.

I removed the bonnet catch from the inside of the bonnet this let me close the bonnet and move it around for fine adjustment without having it hinge.  A really good technique that saves a lot of time.  From inside the grill opening you have full access to all the adjustment bolts.  I simply left them all finger tight and moved the bonnet to where I wanted it and then nipped them up.  Took about 20 minutes.

Very very happy.

[andyburns]

Gave the dusty old bonnet a bit of a clean up.  Made a huge difference and looks 100% better.  Cant wait to give the whole car a really good detail and a thick coat of wax.  At least now you can start to see the potential of it all.  Quite exciting.

My wife is also getting quite enthusiastic about it and has made several comments about wanting to take it out on her own for a girls night.  Mmmm will have to think about that one.  In the mean time I gave her the honor of being the first one to start the engine with the hood on and closed.  It fired first click with the new plugs and sounded much quieter than it did before putting the hood on.

Chuffed

[Garry]

Gone, Race for the keys.  Know the problem.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Nice Job Andy ... well done!

[Peter van Es]

Andy,

letting het drive the car is compensation for her letting you live in the garage. Gets you 1000's of kudos points. My wife even drives my car during Pagoda events and rallies with me navigating. Go for it!

Peter

[Cees Klumper]

Nice going Andy, car looks great. Some put a push button switch in the interior to momentarily activate the CSV to ease hot starts. You might give that a try, rig up somethjng to see if it helps. The engine is still quite accessible with the bonnet on the car, but probably you experienced that already. The fresh plugs may also have made a difference. Keep at it, you're very close to huge dividends for all your hard work and investment!

[jameshoward]

My wife even drives my car during Pagoda events and rallies with me navigating.

Usually after lunch, as I recall, Peter.

[WRe]

Hi Andy,
this was an awesome work and shows an awesome result, congratulations with my high respect!
What Peter mentioned with your life in the garage and your wife is really worth to reconsider.
...WRe

[andyburns]

Thanks guys,  appreciate your kind words.  The bonnet fitting has given me a huge lift.  Big milestone that I have ran over in my head dozens of times during the anticipation of finishing the project.   Also huge relief I didn't bend it in the process!

Definitely going to let the wife drive the car.  That has always been on the agenda.  Just gotta make sure she doesn't take it anywhere it will get damaged or stolen.  Lots of diplomacy to follow!

Today I spend working on the front grills.  These have soaked up twice as long as the bonnet took.  Lots of small issues that took time to resolve.  

The biggest has prevented me from putting it back in place.  The 6mm bolt securing the oval was welded in place when I took it apart and totally destroyed the thread extracting it.  Without knowing how much it cost I gave it to a friend to tap out.  He made a total hash of it and used a M7 tap.  All good and well if you can actually find a M7 bolt but I have spent most of the day unsuccessfully doing just that.

I dont know if there is enough meat to tap it out to a M8 so the only alternatives are to try and slip in a helicoil or use some form of filler.  Or I guess I could just grind off the retaining block and put in a nut.

 

[Garry]

Andy,

What ever you do be very carefull when tighening it up with the star that you dont break off the attaching tab on the star, its pot metal and very very difficult to repair.

( Dont ask me how I know)

Garry

[drmb]

If you have an early solenoid type auto they are a source for M7 bolts,everything is bolted on with M7 bolts.

[jameshoward]

All good advice on the grille. I have this job to do very soon indeed. Like Garry, I know how fragile the damn star is. The repair looks good, though. 

[66andBlue]

....
The biggest has prevented me from putting it back in place.  The 6mm bolt securing the oval was welded in place when I took it apart and totally destroyed the thread extracting it.  Without knowing how much it cost I gave it to a friend to tap out.  He made a total hash of it and used a M7 tap.  All good and well if you can actually find a M7 bolt but I have spent most of the day unsuccessfully doing just that.
I dont know if there is enough meat to tap it out to a M8 so the only alternatives are to try and slip in a helicoil or use some form of filler.  Or I guess I could just grind off the retaining block and put in a nut.

Andy,
looking at your photo with the red text I cannot figure out what you have. As Garry wrote the outer ring of the star has two tabs (top and bottom) that fit inside the hollow rim of the barrel and a M4 screw keeps it in place. You cannot substitute the tab with a nut unless you glue (solder?) the nut to the ring; the tabs prevent the ring from moving in a circular fashion. See first photo. The M4 screw should be countersunk - I have seen Phillips lens head and slotted flat head screws at that location. Not sure what is correct because there is no p/n in the spare parts list.
Once assembled the barrel with the star is fixed on the top and the bottom to the oval frame with two M5 screws (see photo) and to the horizontal bars left and right with four M5 x 8mm hex head screws, wave washer, and nuts (not shown).