Engine rebuild with no former experience........

A frustrating day!

This morning I rotated the engine and pulled the chain all the way through, no snags, pile ups or problems, just went straight through, so there was no issue with the way the chain was threaded trough all the sprockets.

With the chain linked, there is no way the tensioner will bolt on.



I then connected and pulled through the old chain.



It was the same as the new chain, it linked up as long as the tensioner rail was in the wrong position.



So there was no choice, slacken off the heads and remove the timing cover and the upper chain guides. I put the tensioner in place, with the chain pulled tight, you can see that it is still one link too short.





Tensioner peg pushing against the tensioner rail peg.



Next I measured and compared the new sprockets with the old, they were close to identical, I quick comparison of the lower chain guides came up with nothing obvious.

Tomorrow I'll start swapping back in the old parts till I find the problem.

Hi Jim,

can't the chain tensioner be pushed in further? I remember when I changed the guides I was instructed to use longer screws on the tensioner first because I wouldn't be able to push it in by hand.
Unfortunately I don't remember if the peg was protruding as far as yours.

Regards,
Lutz

I think because of all the new items, the rail peg protrudes further than it did before.

youtu.be/Epqs5t-8myc

Back on track, heads bolted down and a couple of ancillaries bolted on.





Inlet manifold just sat there for the picture, needs to be bolted to the lower manifold first.



Will get the oil pump and sump on tomorrow +++.

Engine flipped over.



Oil pump and its chain tensioner.



Then the sump.





Throttle body and lower manifold.



Upper and lower intake manifolds bolted together.



There are lots of parts to be bolted on.



Progress.



More progress.





Done for the day.

Great work - I admire you skills !

Where do you live ? In not Corona times I am usually once a year in Bracknell......

Kalli

Hi Kalli, not too close to Bracknell, I live just outside of Edinburgh. When I was still working I spent quite a bit of time in Germany, many visits to here.

Hello Jim,

the engine looks great with all the cleaned and new plated parts. I am a little bit confused, what was the solution of the problem you have had with the chain tensioner? As suspected from Lutz that the chain tensioner could be pushed in further ?

regards Markus

Racediagnostics wrote: ...I live just outside of Edinburgh....


 

That's good ... then we can welcome you back on the continent soon ... hats off to your work, looks great! Probably you will get the certificate "best looking M117 on the forum"
Thomas

Sindelfingen. My place of birth 
Impressive work that you show us. Thanks that we can take part of it.

 

In der Kantine habe ich auch oft gegessen und mein Büro war in dem Gebäude ganz unten links

Hi Markus,

All new parts means that the chain is tighter than before and the peg on the tensioner rail sticks out further. The tensioner (6 months old) had adapted to the old chain and parts and was being held in the previous position by the oil captive in its body. I emptied some out by removing the rear nut and it retracted more easily and can now be bolted on. It will now adapt to the new chain and sprockets.

Hi Rolf, I used to visit Claas Bracklo from ~ 1990 to 2000, I was the architect for the 68HC908AZ32 and AZ60 used for the body module CAN bus in DB, VW, Volvo and others. I see that Claas later moved to BMW.

Time to get all the rocker arms in.







Then the injector seats.....



.....and injectors.



Then the air flow meter.



New O ring for the fuel distributer.

Now this is a bit concerning, 7 of the fuel injector outlets on the distributer looked like this.



One looked like this, seems like there is something missing.



Mounted to the air flow meter.



Fuel damper next.



Then all the injector fuel lines.

Finally for today I got the alternator and oil damper mounted.


Can anyone spot the error?

Maybe a days work left on the engine now.

Hello Jim,

the engine looks fantastic ! I am looking forward to your next post : automatic transmission rebuild with no former experience ....

I think this post contains a lot of very interesting and helpful pictures and describtions for everyone who wants to do repair or restauration work at the engine. Thank you very much for your effort and detailed presentation of your work!!

...but the documentation is not over until yet, engine installing and commissioning will follow...

best regards

Markus

First job was to pick up a few new parts from Mercedes, exhaust studs, odd ball small head bolts for the fan and some rubber grommets for the PS trans cooler hard lines, £35.



Then onto fitting the dip stick tube, held in with a shrink fit.





New O ring for distributer.





The trans cooler lines are bolted to the sump using these clips and grommets.



Does anyone have any experience or thoughts on these sheet metal exhaust manifold gaskets, they came in the engine gasket set, the original OEM ones are a thicker gasket type. I don't have a good feeling about the metal ones.



Exhaust manifold temporarily fitted till I decide on the gasket type.



Heat shields fitted.

Polished up the oil filter housing.



Next will be the rear cover but will need to get the engine off the stand first so I may leave that a while.



I could also do with a bit of warmer weather for painting of the pulleys and balancer etc, its not been above 3 degC here for a month now.

I do have this left over, any suggestions on where it's from?

Hello Jim,

crank case internal light clamp..........now most likely its dark in the crank case and the pistons might loose orientation.......

Just kidding, your work looks good.

I would be a little hesitant to do all the plating because I would give this to a vendor and this would consume some time and the risk not to receive all parts back again.
You did this by yourself and it looks perfect.

Kind regards

JP

Hi JP,

I was also worried about sending parts out to a player and then losing parts in the bottom of the tank.

Instead I bought the chemicals and did it myself.

For 9 longer pipes, for example the trans cooler lines, power steering lines etc I sent them to a player as they were too long for my tanks.

I like your safety shoes, Jim.
Btw, what was the error in yesterdays post?

Regards,
Lutz

Hi Lutz,

The backfire protection above the air meter was upside down. I only noticed in the pictures.

Hello Jim, 
There ist a small strainer missing from the fuel distributor, which just gets jammed. That doesn`t seem to be available individually. 
Great job whith your engine. Thanks for watching. 
Frank
 

Hi Frank, see below for an update on the filter.

Oil filter fitted.



Power steering pump seal was leaking, so out with the old.



In with the new.



Next I was doing a big tidy up of the total mess in the garage and incredibly found this even though I wasn't looking for it. It is the missing filter from the fuel distributer. Result!



Then on to a leak down test, all cylinders were around 20%, not great but what I expected given I didn't re-bore the block and use oversize pistons.



Next, checking the height/compression of the hydraulic lifters, 15 out of 16 were good like this.



One was high, ie at the top of tool at bottom of the pin groove, when this happens you are supposed to put a thicker shim on top of the valve. I Have a few spares but none the correct thickness so cut up a Stanley blade to put under the shim to increase its thickness. I already have two others operating like this that I adapted years ago.



I lost the pic of the new shim but here is an old one that I found in the old 350 engine that is pretty much the same.



It looked like this after fitting, I will need to try to find some 5.1mm and 5.45 shims to try, the original ones are 4.75mm.



I will checked them all again after the engine has been run and they have a bit of hydraulic pressure.

The next job was to paint these parts but the weather forecast is bad and cold for the next two weeks.



So tomorrow I will start on the transmission.

Hello Jim,

did you had a chance to check where the pressurised air escaped the chamber? Inlet/ Outlet valves or engine case breather?

Your piston rings are new and leak rate will got down after running in process. So no concern for now if the air escape via liner and piston rings. Running in process will improve this.

Kind regards

JP

Thanks JP,

Yes, it was all into the crank case, no leakage via the valves.

Hello Jim,

you want really demount and restore the automatic transmission? Respect, i am looking forward for this documentation!

I think this will be also very interesting for a lot of users here in the forum.

Best regards,

;Markus

I do not plan a full restoration of the transmission, just replace some of the seals. I am too concerned about my ability, need for special tools and NLA parts to try a full rebuild.

Transmission seals, should be an easy job? But on a 42 year old car.....

First step was to give it a wash.





This looks bad, stator shaft splines almost gone!



On the bench.



Marked the pump to bell housing orientation.



Bell housing removed.



Output shaft lifted out of pump.



Pump unbolted from bell housing. This is the O - ring I had planned to change.



Unfortunately the stator shaft is pressed in, I will need to do a bit of research on how to correctly replace. I found a price for the part from 2011, it was 48Euro then, see below. A quick check with Mercedes today, they now want 280Euro, rip off merchants!



Close up on the splines.

The mating splines in the torque converter are perfect.



Oil pan and filter off.



Some time later.........

"Hey Kim, it's time we cleared out the shed now the snow has melted......", OK Jim.



Wow, looks what's been in the back of the shed for the last 11 years.



Its cleaner than the one I washed this morning.



The spline is worn, but not as badly as the one above, so do I swap in this one or buy a new one?



I also emailed a couple of transmission shops and asked for prices for a new shaft, I'll hopefully get a response tomorrow.