Week 4 First look at the interior

While waiting for the suspension and steering linkage parts to arrive, decided to pay some attention at the interior. Although a good overhaul should wait until the car is running in top contition I could not help myself tinkering a bit.

Speakers
I removed the speaker covers by the two philips head screws hidden at the bottom of the cover. The top of the cover is held in place by two clips that hook behind a bracket that also mount the top part of the speakers to the dashboard. The speakers are just paper ones, 100mm standard model with 4 mounting tabs. Although the magnet size is quite good for the size of the speaker, meaning it can handle a bit of oomph, it does not have a tweeter and is just old.
So ordered from eBay a set of Nakamichi (Japanese and famous in the 80's for their tape decks, now-a-days supplying the premium sound package for Lexus cars). This eBay shop was clearing out their stock of 4 Inch 2 way speakers for $30. A bargain... The grill will be discarded, and they should fit nicely behind the existing dashboard grills.

Seats

The seats were covered by very tired looking sheep shin covers. As you can see the wool was completely worn off the skin in at the sides of the seats. It looks grose.
Underneath the covers the front seats were actually in good shape, but the rear seat had extensive sun damage on the top as you can see on the photo below (which looks disgusting, and uncleaned after removing the old sheepskin covers).

Although I was very tempted to get a nice new leather interior in a cream leather (the current seats are blue), I decided that this is not practical.


We'll be driving this car mainly with the top down in the weekends visiting wineries or nice towns in the hills. When we'll get back to the car after a nice lunch, the leather seats could be too hot to sit on... Nice new sheepskin covers will still be hot, but at least would not burn the legs. So send out emails to 4 suppliers, and settled on one that stated that they have the right patterns. Of course after providing my credit card details, he could not find the patterns and wanted to have a look at the car when he is in South Australia at Xmas time !!! Unbelievable...

Anyway, will decide the next couple of days if its worth to keeping dealing with those guys or get my money back.

Garage floor
Replacing the oils, I decided that I really should have painted the floor with a good 2 pack epoxy paint instead of leaving the floor unfinished. As I'm waiting for the suspension parts (that should get here next week), I decided to crack that job... Bought 60 Litres of paint and started clearing the shed. As I gathered already quite some stuff, I'll be doing this with help from a mate in two go's. First one side then the other. Today we did the etching. Tomorrow we might be able to put the first coat on... Will put some pictures up.

Transmission oil
The forums told me that it was basically a waste of time, only draining oil from the transmission, skipping the torque converter. So I'll be redoing this next week. I bought a 32mm socket so I can manually rotate the engine to get access to the  torque converter drain plug. I'll sort out if it need a washer or not (on the forum the members are divided on this issue), warm up the car, drop the lot again including the torque converter, and refill this time very carefully and make sure I do not overfill.

Next week
- Install the new speakers if they come in
- Sort out what to do with the ordered sheepshin covers
- Finish the floor painting
- Make a plan for the suspension replacement
- Put an order together for the time chain replacement.

Cheers and until next week,
Marco

Week 3 50,000km service

Hi Guys
I received the parts from the USA! Went very nice and smooth. Just 8 days from ordering in USA to delivering in Adelaide... and the parts are so much cheaper... anyway, at this stage I can recommend AutoHausAZ very much.

Anyway, the arrival of the stuff was the start shot for a list of maintenance jobs. Some are in the 15,000km and some are in the 50,000km service. I attended to most of them and will complete the others in the coming weeks.

Drive belts
My 450SL has a double drive belt going to the Power steering and water pump (B). A single one to the Air conditioning compressor (D) and another single one to the Alternator (C).
Only the (B) power steering pump double belt looked ok, the others looked very old and very cracked. Although it might be easier if you remove the radiator and shroud, I found it fine by just leaving this on the car. So loosened the auxiliary components (the fancy name of the pumps, compressor and alternator) and removed  the belts. This was quite easy. Then compared the sizes to the ones bought and they were all a bit different, but I guess this does not matter that much 9.5mm fitted, 10mm supplied as compatible...
Looking at the photo on the left, you can see that this was for me a priority job...
Fitting the new ones was a bit fiddly. Of course they have no stretch, so I ended up having to remove a bolt of the Alternator (see red arrow). This gave enough slack to fit the belt, and was then easy to refit once the belt was on the pulley.
The other tricky one was the air conditioning compressor belt. I ended up removing the tensioning roller (5), once that was done, it was easy.
So once all fitted, tensioned them as tight as possible, for this a second set of hands is highly recommended. One can hold the tension the other can tighten the bolts up. They then recommend to turn the engine over by hand at least two full turns. For this I need a socket 27mm that I don't have yet, so instead unplugged the coil lead, and just used the starter motor to turn the engine over without wanting to start it. Rechecked the tension and all done...

Spark plugs & Leads
On the forums there are a lot of stories about this. Basically the recommended practice on the forums is to stay with how the car came out of the factory. That is, the spark leads have a resistor in the spark plug cap of about 1k ohm. The sparks themselves should not have any resistance. So this is how it was and this is the recommended way according to many forum members.
The kit of all the leads is Bosch B6040i and the spark plugs are Bosch W7DCO or NGK BP6ES.
But... As I had to wait a while for delivery, I just went to the local Mercedes garage to pick some up. The service bloke handed me Bosch WR7DC, but these are resistance one (WR instead of just W). He said that's what they've been fitting to the 450 SL's for the last 15 years and never had problems...
Interesting... according to the forums, having too much resistance (lead and plug), gives a smaller spark, having no resistance gives static on the radio (among other side effects).

Anyway, found that the NGK BP6ES were just a stock item in Supercheapauto so picked them up, and fitted the lot. Some of the spark plugs were a bit fiddly but with some flexible joints and extenders, I got them all out.
Some more on resistance, the plugs that I removed were also exactly BP6ES, but the leads had no resistance... Interesting. Anyway some spark plugs were very loose and as you can see above, some look better than others, but generally they don't look too bad I guess. They are shown from left to right cylinder 1-4 and the next picture 5-8.
After fitting the new plugs and leads, the engine runs like a dream... Previously it did not run on all 8, causing loss of power and shaking of the engine (on worn engine mounts). Now it runs so much nicer...

Power steering filter
This seems to be one of the many forgotten items to service especially as the filter is sunk in the bottom of the reservoir. Anyway I used a suction gun to empty the reservoir and used pliers to lift the filter out. It's a pity that I did not take a picture of the old filter... lets say it was well overdue.
The fluid looked fine enough (the Steering gear was overhauled just 6 months ago) so pushed the harvested oil back in the reservoir. Placed the missing seal under the lid and closed all up again.

Air filter
The air filter also looked worse for wear. I nearly fell over when a carshop around the corner wanted $120 for one of their home brands that would fit... Good that I ordered an OEM for US$ 15.75 don't know how that is possible and how its sustainable but there you go...
See on the photo, the nice new one fitted and the old one next to it, I bet the engine will have a sigh of relief.

Positive Crank Ventilation
The Haynes manual states to disconnect the PCV hose and take a spring (flame guard filament) out. When I remove the hose of there was no spring underneath... Need some further investigation, added to the list of next week.

Engine & Transmission oil
Took the car for a nice drive with the new spark plugs, leads and air filter, and must say it runs very nice indeed. Filled up for 98 octane and added the lead additive. Still not sure if this is required, but the previous owner gave me the bottle so I guess it does not hurt.
After the car had a good 30 minutes run, it was nice and hot and I had my driving kicks (it was a nice 33 degrees sunny day), I lifted the car on the hoist and removed the sump plug. When the stream turned into a trickle I undid the oil filter but gee, that thing stays hot for a long time. Next time I will wear thicker gloves...
I just let it drip while I focused on the transmission oil.
Took the banjo fitting of the filler pipe off and drained about 2 liters. Then undid the pan and tried to remove somehow without burning ourselves while this pan was still full of very hot oil... It was not ideal but nobody got burnt... I think I might have to wait for the removal of the pan until the oil has cooled down...
Then I cleaned the pan and dried with compressed air. Fitted the new transmission filter and placed the pan back with some sealant and the new rubber gasket.
Also fitted the banjo plug back with a new copper seal ring, as well as the engine oil sump plug with a new copper seal ring and a new oil filter.
Then it was time to refill. The engine took just under 8 Litres, while the transmission was already over the level with just 4 Litres. This needs further investigation...
Took the car for a drive and it goes nice...

Ballast resistor
Although I was not sure that it was broken, I replaced the 0.4 Ohm ballast resistor. It was cracked and could have been one of the causes that the previous owner was so afraid of getting the engine cleaned. As you can see it did not look all that flash... When I measured the resistance it was all over the place. Depending on the force in the connections it went from no resistance at all to unlimited. Good I replaced it I think.

Suspension
Taking the car for another drive really indicated to me again that the steering linkage and the suspension rubber as well as the engine mounts are all very dried out and need replacement. I placed an order in for the parts, so probably in week 6 I should be able to replace large parts of this and return the suspension back to what it should be...

Plan for week 4
- Get some good quality replacement speakers (I know, not important in general, but important to me)
- Clean up the inside with a good vacuum, perhaps even remove the seats.
- Find out if the PCV should have a flame guard filament
- Make a plan for the suspension removal when the parts arrive the week after
- Replace the rear diff oil and leaking seal

Cheers and hope you enjoy my blog
Marco

Week 2 Clean up engine bay, order parts

This week I did not do as much as I wanted as I was waiting for the ignition parts to arrive. I did further clean the engine and have a clear picture of the oil leaks now. I also changed the coolant and placed a large order of parts from the USA.

Engine coolant change
After doing some reading up between the advantages of Coolant with anti-freeze vs Distilled water with Corrosion inhibitor, I choose for the latter. It never freezes in Adelaide and this option seems to cool better if your car can 'handle' it. As the owner's manual describes it as an option in warmer climates I went with that.
When undoing the drain plug a sign of past budget maintenance was apparent. There should be a copper crush washer (basically a hollow donut) but instead there was a very flat crushed version and a gardenhose variety rubber ring... Obviously that had to be replaced. Was very pleased that the Mercedes Service center did not charge... now that is a smart action as now I will go back more often for these kind of parts.

Engine clean
I got 10 litres of concentrated CT14 degreasing and a air cleaning gun for just under $50. This worked really well although what a mess... But at least now it is a much more obvious where the leaks are.
1. The oil drainplug is leaking. This is just a $1 washer that should be replaced anyway when I do the oil change, so that is easy.
2. Rear differential housing is leaking. This should be as simple as taking the cover off when I change the diff oil and apply a good sealant.
3. A power steering hose, was not properly connected just tightened it up
4. This one is a bit more of a strange one. It looks like the hoses from and to the oil cooler (next to radiator) are porous, so just seep oil. Replacements seem hard to get, so might go with an universal braided hose and pipe fittings.

Loose vacuum hose

During the engine clean I found a disconnected vacuum hose. After some searching found that it should be connected to the distributor, the line was quite dry so probably just snapped off. This would have effected the ignition timing when the car is cold (lack of power).


Ignition coil lead

When re-connecting the vacuum line above, I had to disconnect the spark plug leads, although I am planning to replace these when the spark plugs and rotor arrive, I could not get myself to put the old coil lead back, this one looked so old and dried out, I'm surprised it still worked... Put a nice new Bosch one in that came with the whole set.

Next week
A lot of the parts and tools that I ordered should come in early this week. Let's keep our fingers crossed...
Hope you enjoy this blog, speak to you next week!
Cheers
Marco

Week 1 Purchase, Registration, Clean & Inspect

In this blog I want to document the restoration of a 1978 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL.
I purchased the vehicle 1/11/11 for a fair price for a fair condition car. On the surface the price was affected by:

• Almost all panels have paint blisters
• The engine is very dirty with oil spills
• The engine is misfiring
• The auto gear changes are very rough
• The car drives like a boat...
• The previous owner declared that the car does not like a steam clean
• The interior is very average (wear and tear)
• The roof is average condition
• Although all books and receipts were present, the last 3 years, the car only had done 2000 miles and only had its oil refreshed
• The car was originally delivered in the UK, then came with the owner to Australia when several years old

The purpose of getting this car was not to just drive and enjoy, but to get my hands dirty and get to understand the mechanics of a car. I think I will really enjoy doing up the car bit by bit.

So after the purchase, joining a car club, registering the car on historic registration and getting insurance, it was time to get my hands dirty.

The goals for this week

1. Clean the engine, find out where the leaks are and fixing them where possible
2. Order the parts for the ignition tune-up, the distributor, rotor, spark leads and plugs
3. Checkout the suspension to address the 'drives like a boat'

The cleaning of the engine was a lot of work. There was so much oil and sand buildup on the engine... Even the strongest de-greaser with 15 min soaking and blasting with a power blaster, took 3 full goes to make it a bit acceptable.

Found as suspects for the oil leaks, the drainplug seal, the powersteering hose next to the brake booster, and the upper oil cooler connector. These areas seem to have the most oil and gunk. 

The plan after the clean was to go for a drive and see where the leaks appear. Instead I noticed how worn the drive belts are. I simply decided to not take the risk and have a belt snap during my test drive...

So I got onto the net and purchased a whole lot of parts. Basically all for a tune and obvious engine repairs.

Plan for week 2:

• Get ignition timing light and check current timing
• If the new rotor and spark plugs arrive: install with new leads & distributor cap
• When the belts arrive, install and go for a good drive, to trace the oil leaks
• Check all suspension parts and order these in
• Find out where a snapped vacuum hose should be connected to
• Continue to clean the engine as possible

Hope you enjoy my blog,

Cheers, Marco