OT: Starting a new project... MB 190SL

As a matter of fact, I do!

Thanks for the tip.

Jan

The Busman wrote:

Got the drums off. It was way too easy. They put 3 M8 threaded bolt holes through the face of the drum so you can turn bolts through them that bottom out on the hub and push the drum off. 1-2-3 and they were all out. And to my surprise, they look flawless. These can go right back into service untouched! I'll check for warpage of course, and treat the outside. The shoes are a bit worn but they'd work in a pinch. Everything looks dry.

I have to admit though, I had some professional help:

Although sometimes I had my doubts about his professionalism:

Some shots showing rust holes in the fender wells and pan area... pretty much needs all new floorpans

Looks like the oil pan would come out pretty easy.

First minor setbacks. Can't get the wheel cylinder pistons out from the first one I'm doing. One piston moves a little with compressed air, but not enough to come out. The other went in but won't come back out at all. Feels like there's a wall they are both hitting when you drive them in, so I may not be able to push them through from one side to the other.

Also need to disconnect a steering rod from under the oil pan to be able to drop the pan, and I didn't have my pickleforks at home. The one joint puller I had was too big.

Oh well. No biggie. A grease gun should pop the pistons out.

That reminds me of the home brew gun cleaner Ed's Red. It's equal parts ATF, acetone, mineral spirits and kerosene. It's a great solvent and penetrant.

Tony

Hey Jan. I notice in the pictures that the springs have "spacer" in them. Usually indicative of weak sagging springs that need replacement. This is one hell of a project car. Good luck. And personally, I would have the drums turned anyway.........

How about towing the car somewhere and have it cleaned with a high pressure water (forgotten the name)? Would make it a tad more pleasant to work with.

And, the laundry does NOT go on the garage floor. :o}

J.

You can get by without the joint-puller. Use two large hammers and hit the female part of the joint at 180 deg. simultaneously, this shocks the conical bind and it will come loose after a few tries.

J.

Yea he said the rear sagged so those rubber spacers were installed.

I wont' turn the drums unless they need it, that just removes material unnecessarily and makes the brakes a tiny bit weaker... that's how drum brakes work. I don't know how close to the limit they are now, don't have the specs yet.

Hmmm I see Progress! ;-)

Those pistons should free up and there will be excellent compression again. Do you have a heat gun to warm up the pistons and cylinders up a little? I have used a heat gun to warm up parts along with some rust penetrant successfully! I would sop/soak up some of that solution before using the heat gun though! Or poof! lol GOOD VENTILATION PLEASE! Tapping with a wide piece of wood might help free those pistons up one at a time. LIGHT TAPPING ONLY!

Shop vac should make short work of that fluid.

Max

LOL yea I imagine so, but I wanted it to go to the rings :)

The left side brakes came apart today. With minor injuries to my wrist as the *wrong side* piston shot out under compressed air :D Didn't expect that to budge, as it hadn't moved before. I need to find that darn thing, it took off like a bullet.

Anyways. Rear cylinder looked a little scary before cleaning and honing:

But it turned out ok, still need to put a finishing touch on it:

Fronts were not so bad. There's two cylinders per wheel.

I haven't pulled the master cylinder out yet. I noticed one cool thing about it: it has a bleeder screw at the end of it :)

Can you still repair kits for those wheel cylinders?

Keep the pictures coming good someone keeps the group alive, even if watercooled content. :o)

Did you buy a house or are you renting? Would be nice to have a proper garage.

J.

renting the house my wife lived in when she was 16 :)

Love the garage. It would be a 2 car garage, but half of it is filled with junk and clothes. Yes the clothes and other fabrics you saw on the floor. A pile fell down. There's a lot of stuff that needs to go to Good Will. But nobody ever takes them there!! Then there's random pieces of fabrics, samples and leftovers from Kidd and her mom making handbags and stuff.

I have an Isuzu Rodeo coming in as a quick side job too, will have to do that outside on the driveway. And it's almost winter! Well... +25C isn't that cold :D The Rodeo will get all new brakes, rotors, calipers, pads... and later on the same car will get new lifters, rockers, rocker shafts. (clackity clackity clackity). The rocker shafts wear out so bad the hydraulic lifters can't make up the slack.

Anyway. Yea. Look how low I have sunken. Watercooled crap. At least I get to mess with aircooled stuff at work :) Even if it's products inferior to VW. ;)

Got the stupid oil pan off and 3 pistons out. #1 is still stuck in the cylinder.. it has moved maybe an inch so far, up and down.. but it's just not coming out. The top of the piston is level with the top of the block. These darn things have 3 compression rings too, and they are really tall.

Got a bag of ice laying on top of the piston now... we'll see if that does anything.

A bag of ice sitting on top of the piston seemed to help a little.

I got the last piston out.

Rod bearings look really good, the cylinder walls have some minor surface rust here and there, that can be easily honed out. This engine block has only 50k miles on it, which shouldn't be much for it if the engine was put together right. No ridge at the top of the bore.

I'll take a look at the crank bearings but since everything seemed to be still coated with oil, I don't expect to see anything wrong. Chances are I will reuse the existing crank bearings and never take the crank out.

Good news. Save yourself the hassle and leave the crank alone, if the rod bearings look good so should the crank bearings.

Have you got a cabinet for washing parts?

J.

I'll sneak them to work little by little where I have two parts washers and a glass beading cabinet ;)

Jan