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

Congrats Jim.

I appreciated your updates from day to day. Hope You start a new project quite soon.

Bernd

This morning I.........


Fitted heat shrink tubing to the left bank of spark plug cables.





Fitted the new lower mounts for the engine shocks.





Filled the engine with coolant.





Then restarted the engine and watched for leaks, there were three, bottom of the oil cooler, niped up, coolant feed hose to radiator, nipped up and this fuel line on the warm up regulator also nipped up.





Next I added a further 4.5l of tranmission fluid to the transmission then checked the ignition timing. It was pretty close due to the old witness marks.









I then went out for a short drive, 200m up and down my street, I couldn't go too far as neither the bonnet or front bumper were fitted. All went well, no problems at all.


Last of all I touched up a couple of small paint chips, some 2k clear with a bit of base coat mixed in.






Tomorrow I'll refit the bonnet and bumper but I can't go for a proper drive yet as all the main roads near me are completely covered in salt, we have had about 10 nights below freezing and virtually no rain, just a few snow flurries. The local council salts the roads here every time sub zero temps are forecast and this weather is due to go on for another week or so.

I fitted the lower grill this morning.



Then the spoiler.



I couldn't refit the air filter box in this state.



Stripped.



Primed.



Ahhhh. not enough paint left, I ordered more that should arrive tomorrow.



Bonnet fitted.



Bumper and grill tomorrow.

Hi Jim,

one thing is for sure: You have to come and show this car on our 50th anniversary party of 107 series on Hockenheimring in fall !

The ring should be okay. There is no danger of driving on the wrong side

More activity today...

Fitted the grill.



Time for a tidy up.



Keep or sell........



That's better.



I need to find a space for the old transmission, I can't bring myself to get rid of it.



Getting ready to fit the bumper.



Bumper and fog lights fitted.



Air filer box painted.




 

Does anyone know the part numbers for the plenum grill rivets? Four of the central 3mm pegs went missing.



Plenum grills fitted.



Chrome windscreen trim fitted.



Just the air filer box, glove box and passenger kick panel to fit tommorow and that will be the job done.

Hello jim,
here the part number for the expanding rivet A0009902292
I admire your work on the 450 SL.

I took the car out for a shake down test drive, 10 miles or so of mixed driving but no WOT yet. Stopped at the local news agent and picked up a classic car magazine. May edition of "Practical Classics".

(Volker, please delete the picture if you feel it violates any copyright laws)

Just when I thought the job was over, I found that the drivers window switch was totally frozen, ~£30 for a second hand one.





Then took off the rear wheels of my 6 year old Golf to get new tyres fitted. It took a sledge hammer to get the wheels off, they were stuck to the hubs with corossion. The rears were still the original tyres and have never been off before.


What a state for a six year old car.





Look at the brake hose banjo bolt!!!





Sorting out this mess will be my next job.

A real shame! Quality made i Germany .....
The probably pressed their suppliers so far until they get this kind of quality.

Cheers,
Lutz

Hi Jim,
Golf Wheels protect to Hub with a little help of Silikone lube in the wheel center hole.
The hoses also needs protect with high Temperature Grease.
Your SL need new wipers, but in stainless Steel .

Hi Ralph,

Lots more than just the wipers on the wish list. I would like to replace the trim round the windscreen, door tops and trim on the soft top cover. It is all a bit scratched. But before all of that I need a new soft top.

Guys, the rebuilt engine is running much cooler than before, the needle used to sit halfway between the 175F (79.5 degC) and the next graticule when driving and when idling would go up to the next garticule (with no legend).

Now it is sitting just over 175F (79.5 degC) and after I let it sit at idle for a while earlier today it max'ed out here.



Is this normal? I just checked on the thermostat opening temp spec which is 75degC or 167 F so would seem reasonable.

Maybe its due to the new water paump and perfectly clean block?

The top of the radiator was at ~86 degC after idling for a while.

Hi Jim,

that seems okay. My 450 SL seems fixed at slightly above 80°C and hardly ever moves after engine has warmed up.

Hello Jim,

congratulations for your restauration report in the classic car magazine !! That is a nice recognition for your great performance !
I like the do-it-yourself reports in this magazine, they are much more profound than the ones in german magazines. I have a summary of paint reports that have appeared in this magazine, you can buy them as an anthology...

best regards

Markus

A few final jobs today.

I cut up some heat shrink tubing.



Then used it on the air filter box clips to prevent the newly painted lid from being damaged.





Then replaced the old spark plug wire clips, the new part 9top) is not identcal but works.



Last I got my CO value tested and corrected. Ignore RPM and oil temp as they were not measured.

Before, a bit low, the target is between 0.5 and 1.5%.



After.

Jim,
with all due respect, listen very carefully I shall say this only once: those condoms for the air filter clips are far too much Hyacinth ... I guess you know what I mean. Everything's so nice ... I have mine yellow galvanised.

Regards
Thomas

Today I investigated an old sound that I had hoped would be fixed with the engine rebuild.



During the rebuild I discovered I had purchased the wrong exhaust sealing rings (on the right) so reused the old ones when I re-attached the exhaust.

Here are the correct ones on the left.



I think the sound is coming from the exhaust to maifold connection.



When I removed the collar I could see that there was an exhaust gas leak.



And signs of it on one of the bolts.



So I dropped both sides of the exhaust and fitted the new sealing rings but on the right side also put a bead of high temperature sealant. The temp of the manifold is probably higher than the spec for thr silicon but I hope that its charred remains will help to improve the seal.

Cleaned up so that the silicon sealant would stick well.



All bolted back together.



I'll let the silicon set overnight and listen again tomorrow morning.

 

Great result this morning, the chirp has gone!