S130Z: RHD-only longtube amazingness

Perusing my usual Japanese auctions, I came across this masterpiece of L28 magnificence. RHD only, but boy, at a $3.4K USD pricetag, it's wall art.

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W140: Another one bites the dust

Bought a 300SD parts car a few months back and finally had a chance to dig through it and remove what I wanted before sending it off to become a Coke can. 

Needless to say, seeing this on a rodbender car is like winning the lottery. I wasn't able to see any rebuild tags when I first bought the car, but it was definitely the smoothest running OM603 I've ever had, so that's nice. lol

 

Motor/trans pulled out as an assembly. I've gotten pretty good with the chain and balancing these motor/trans assemblies. 

here's a good look at the replacement engine tag. found on passenger side of motor, around the middle.

with motor out, the little ancillary pieces I wanted from the car, out she goes into the wild

sitting on some wooden blocks and my junk roller wheels. the wheels that were on this car are actually on my w210 now. fwiw, i bought the car for the wheels.

good riddance

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W126: Knock knock

So, did ball joints/guide rod mounts on an 87 300SDL. I've got the tools to do the work on the car, but if I'm honest, it's quicker for me to remove the spindle assembly/guide rod bracket and knock everything out on a bench.

Hey a taste of Mercedes dealer tools at work. Spindle cap remover hammer. Ever get tired of beating on your grease caps with a hammer/flathead? Well, if you'd ever want to race me in removing the caps, try beating 3 seconds.

 

Cap removed, tool worked................... 

Before I even start the major work, spring removal is a must. I don't even bother playing with the suspensions on these cars without removing the springs. This is before I remove shocks, etc etc etc.

Tada

No pics of the special press here. Knock the old ball joint out with a hammer, clean the bore of the spindle with a wire brush and press in the new joint. To make life infinitely easier (if you're doing the work) leave your ball joint in the freezer for a few hours. Goes in like butter.

Both ball joints on this car hadn't had their boots for years. No lubrication at all and they were fairly rusted.

I say knock them out with a hammer, but when they're stubborn and don't want to come out, a powerful air hammer with a chisel that will dig into the joint like this will get them out in no time.

My 6lb wilton sledge in the back definitely gave this joint a beating./

Here's a small clip of the bad guide rod mounts this car was knocking with. 

Bracket is aluminum, but give it enough time with a different metal and you'll start getting a build up of materials that makes extracting the old mounts from this an absolute chore.

New joints look at home and will probably give this car a good reliable 100k miles. 

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W210: How to check if the front flex disc is good or bad

Had this hanging around so I could show how a bad front flex disk would look on a W210 chassis.




Moral of the story, WIGGLE. You absolutely will not be able to check condition of flex disc just on visuals. You must be physical with it. 

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W210: Eh

Had a bit of time to myself to give the ole daily a quick once over.

Quick oil change

Swapped out the serpentine belt damper as the old one blew out it's lower bushing and was making a nasty knocking/vibratory noise. All is well again. Need to replace the tensioner pivot and throw another new belt on as it's getting chewed up slowly 

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