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6.9 #521 Restoration

Started by wbrian63, 28 August 2013, 06:40 AM

be free

Thanks for the info. Sorry for the fumbling of the name of the part.

Happy restoration.

I'll look you up when I am on the victory lap through Houston after getting my 6.9 on the road.

wbrian63

Here's some more "progress" thru 08/29/2013.

Started this evening stripping away more PVC under the driver's fender. Already revealed some rust on Tuesday, but it's surface and nothing to worry over:





Worked more, and uncovered even more rust. I'm beginning to think that it's not "if" a W116 has rust, it's "how bad is it" There were virtually no external signs of most of the rust you'll see in the following pictures, with the exception of the rocker panel, although even that didn't look as bad as it appears now.

The rust below the fuse box looks worse than it is. The metal is still solid, although I expect the entirety of the metal behind the overlapping flange is rusty. I'll investigate from above how bad the problem is and may decide to drill the spot welds out, open the flange and do some abatement, then re-weld the assembly.







Once I got the fenders off, I took the time to wiggle out each of the clips that area attached to the body through which the bolts secure the fender to the car. Each was covered in the PVC from the fender side, and the sticky black foam from the engine compartment side.

I found the quickest way to get them clean was to hold them with a pair of pliers, and gently play the flame of a MAPP gas torch over the item. The PVC will catch fire and burn, reducing much of the goop to a charred grit which is easily removed in the blasting cabinet.

I made sure not to overheat the clips lest I destroy the temper of the item. They got hot, but probably not much more than sitting in the sun with the engine of a freshly shut-off engine baking them.

I tried removing the PVC with the blasting cabinet alone, and it acts like a resist material - it's too rubbery and the glass just bounces off.

This is one of the clips from the front of the fender where the light bucket is - it's not as bad as the clips across the top of the fender, but it gives some indication of how nasty each clip was:




And here's how the clean clips appears:




I'll either paint or powder coat the clips before reinstallation.

That's all for now...
W. Brian Fogarty

'12 S550 (W221)
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted out

"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter V

TJ 450

Yes, all those rust issues are standard, as are icebergs when you see a "bit of rust". 8)

Tim
1976 450SEL 6.9 1432
1969 300SEL 6.3 1394
2003 ML500

wbrian63

For making repairs where a patch panel isn't available from MB, what gauge metal should I use, and where typically can I find such material?
W. Brian Fogarty

'12 S550 (W221)
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted out

"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter V

TJ 450

What I have done is used other MB panels such as W126 door skins etc. Sheet metal from whitegoods and the like would be OK too.

Tim
1976 450SEL 6.9 1432
1969 300SEL 6.3 1394
2003 ML500

Squiggle Dog

This is getting good. I look forward to seeing more of your repairs. Also, enjoy your new rubber cowl drain tubes. :)
Stop paying for animal cruelty and slaughter. Go vegan! [url="https://challenge22.com/"]https://challenge22.com/[/url]

1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+

wbrian63

Thanks Squiggle - the tubes look nearly unused.

I took the week of 09/02 off on vacation to spend more quality time with #521. Monday was "Labor Day" so no real "work" was done. Tuesday was work of a different sort - errands, etc.

Wednesday the work continued more-or-less in earnest. I have other projects going on in the shop, so I try to complete one non-6.9 task each day, so there were delays.

I continued with the stripping of the PVC liner from the drivers fender well - here you can see most of the paint and PVC have been removed:


The upper recesses of the fender were a real pain to work with. The angles aren't good for digging the PVC out. I finally resorted to two pieces of EMT conduit, 1/2" and 3/4" OD, which I put a fine edge to one end. This works well for scraping the PVC out of the various curved recesses.




I finally got all of the PVC removed on Thursday evening and was able to start the next step to remove all vestiges of the PVC, paint and primer down to bare metal.




I got a lot more done than appears in the pictures. I got the bulk of the PVC out with my 4-1/2" electric grinder fitted with a scouring pad. Then came the small right-angle pneumatic grinder with a 2" scouring pad. That allows me to get into the little nooks and crannies that the larger grinder can't access, but not everything. When I got to the point of needing to address the under side of the crease at the front of the fender well where it meets the engine compartment, there were still too many things in my way to do a credible job.

The engine compartment is seriously grimy, and there's a very real chance that if I don't take the time to clean it up, there will be issues with fouling the primers, paint and rock chip undercoating, so I started removing the items attached to the motor and in front of the motor.

First, I started removing the left and right main wiring harnesses from where they connect to the headlamps, horns, A/C fan, etc. I purchased some string tags that I used to label each wire when it was disconnected from something. Hopefully this will allow me to get the wiring back together again.

I have no pictures for the removal of the PS pump, Alternator, A/C compressor, radiator, A/C condenser or oil filter housing - the work there was simple enough. Hardest item was the two lower bolts on the oil filter housing - my socket mounted 6mm hex wrench was too large to fit in, so those bolts came out with a standard L-shaped wrench, 1/4" turn at a time - that took a while.

Once all those items were removed, what was revealed was a study in "nasty":


To the left in the picture below, you can see the string tags I spoke of earlier. More "hack" repairs can be seen on the bolt on the lower left hand corner of the water pump. There's a nut and a couple of washers behind the hex head. I'm guessing the right-length bolt wasn't available when the pump was changed...

When I removed the A/C compressor, I discovered that the lower rear mounting bolt had 3 washers between the compressor frame and the block, and the front tensioner pulley has 3 or 4 washers between the bracket and the compressor frame. When I get everything clean, I'll remove the frame from the compressor and see if the washers, etc were really necessary to proper alignment. I have a NOS compressor, so this grimy example will not be reused.




It may be possible to see in this picture, but the fitting that feeds the bypass hose isn't really a fitting, it's a female pipe thread to compression fitting adapter - no hose barb as one would expect. Naturally, the inside of the bypass hose was cut to shreds from being clamped over the threads. I had thought that the seals had perished on the water pump - I think it may have actually been this hose leaking...




All of the brackets, etc that have been removed from the engine have had their respective bolts bagged and tagged with application, and the brackets themselves have been through the parts washer.

I've decided to pull the motor and transmission out and finish the entire front clip of the car with the proper rust abatement, priming and undercoating, along with replacing the rockers. I don't want to do this stuff twice, and getting everything clean and tidy before any paint hits the metal is the best way to ensure success later on.

More pictures to follow as I return to work on the car next week.
W. Brian Fogarty

'12 S550 (W221)
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted out

"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter V

wbrian63

In preparation for removing the motor and tending to painting the entire front clip, I've been removing things from the car.

Part of the risk of an endeavor like this is being unable to reinstall the parts back to the car when the time comes, which may well be some weeks (months?) in the future. As I remove any fastener or sets of fasteners, they go into an individual zip-lock bag with a label tag containing (I hope) enough information for me to know where the fastener should be used.

For larger parts, I tie the string tag to the item.

I'm sure the service manual tells where each of the hard lines from the suspension are supposed to go - I'd just as soon as be sure.

In the case of the front level control valve, there are 4 ports, marked N, Z, B & R (if I recall correctly). After removing the valve, I tied string tags to each of the line ends with the proper reference included.




When it came time to remove the 4 lines that run over the inner fender from the valve to the right front pressure sphere and connect to lines running across the car to the suspension tank and height control valve, the easiest method was to label each end of a disconnect point A matches A, B matches B, etc.



After these lines were removed, I could start cleaning the grunge that was found on the fender and at the bottom on the frame rails


Method was the same as the wheel well side of the fender, Zep Industrial Purple cleaner, scrub brushes and patience:





It's not done, but it's a start.

The driver's side inner fender was far cleaner to start with, as I'd previously cleaned much of the gunk out when I first got the car:



But it's coming along nicely, too:
W. Brian Fogarty

'12 S550 (W221)
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted out

"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter V

wbrian63

More progress from Monday, 9/16 and Tuesday 9/17.

With the decision to pull the motor in order to properly strip and repaint not only the fenders but basically the entire front clip of the car, on Monday, I took on the particularly nasty task of removing the exhaust system and driveshaft.

The exhaust is a butchery job - it looks like it was replaced at some point at a local muffler shop, with pipes that are too small for the application. Notice how they reused the flare portion where the pipe meets the manifold?





Surprisingly, only 1 of the 4 bolts that hold the exhaust to the manifold gave me any grief, and it appears that it was one replaced by someone at some point, as it wasn't a 13mm head like the rest.

Pulling the driveshaft wasn't too difficult - the bolts on the front flex plate came off with little persuasion. The rears, however, were apparently installed by that Grunter fellow - - had to get the rattle gun out to break them loose, which meant a face full of dirt and grime... Thanks Grunter...

When I pulled the transmission support to get at the front flex disc, I was reminded why it's not a good idea to let seals leak on cars, particularly when rubber items are in the path of the leaking seal. The transmission mount has Melted...





As I was removing the driveshaft, the carrier bearing revealed just how completely shot it was...





Still working slowly to remove all of the PVC stone guard from the driver's fender...





I'm not certain how I'm going to get at all the undercoat and grime around the cup that retains the top of the strut - the right-angle grinder that I'm using, combined with the peculiar angles of the fender components means this is as far as I can get with pneumatic/mechanical assistance. You can see the remaining coating on the left-hand side of the mounting cup.





This view is the interior of the recess where the upper control arm mounts. The shiny spot at the back is the extent of the reach of the grinder - going to have to do better than this...


Tonight, I finished (98%) stripping the coating on the exterior side of the fenderwell - a little surface rust to be found, but nothing scaly at all...






I've managed to purchase the last two large tools needed for the motor/suspension work. The largest wrench required to service the dry-sump hoses is a 36mm. My stock of wrenches goes up to 32mm only. Here's a comparison of the Armstrong 36mm I just got vs a 30mm Craftsman unit - just a tad more beefy, wouldn't you say?



Both wrenches are USA-stamped - getting anything Craftsman with USA on it is becoming a real challenge. I've had the 30mm wrench for about 4 years.


W. Brian Fogarty

'12 S550 (W221)
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted out

"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter V

oversize

Well I think you should do the whole car like that and just add a thick clear coat!  The polished steel looks fantastic!  For the really tight bits I'd look at a portable bead blaster as I've seen some in action before.  Do a Google search and you might even find they can be hired for DIY or just get a mobile operator to do the awkward bits for you
1979 6.9 #5541 (Red Bull)
1978 6.9 #4248 (Skye)
1979 6.9 #3686 (Moby Dick)
1978 6.9 #1776 (Dora)
1977 450SEL #7010 white -P
1975 450SEL #8414 gold -P

wbrian63

That shiny metal is a real bear to deal with visually, both for pictures and video. It also confounds the eye when trying to find areas that need further cleaning - the body primer is grey and only shows vaguely as a dull area at some angles. I initially thought that more light was the solution to seeing what remains for cleanup, but that actually makes the problem worse with the glare.

I've got a portable bead blaster. That is actually my plan, but I've got to build a cart strong enough to hold the chassis and get it outside. No way I'm going to try it inside the shop.

That being said, the biggest obstacle at that point will be the rubbery nature of the PVC itself. It will act like a resist material, very similar to the masking material used by folks that etch glass and make tombstones.

But first - the motor has to come out, and then I've got to build the cart.

I've got the casters for it - they're monsters rated at 1250# per caster - should be more than enough to handle the weight of the chassis minus the motor. The biggest challenge for that effort is making sure that the casters are mounted perfectly perpendicular to the cart frame, and that the cart frame can't flex under the weight of the chassis....

So much to do, so little time and even less $...
W. Brian Fogarty

'12 S550 (W221)
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted out

"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter V

wbrian63

I've not forgotten this project, but have been sidetracked by things that must be done before I can continue with the stripping of the fenderwells.

I've decided to pull the motor and transmission. This will give me the opportunity to clean the engine compartment 100% and paint it back in the original Cypress Green that it should be, at the same time I paint the fenderwells.

I've got work to do on the motor as well. New seals, etc, plus new intake rubbers. To facilitate this - the engine needs to go on a stand.

After viewing the stand that Art & Justin (names from the M-100.co site) built, I decided that I was up to the task of creating one "like" that one.

Part of the "problem" of creating something like this is that I'm missing several critical pieces of data:

1) How much does a fully dressed M-100 motor from a 6.9 really weigh?
2) How much stress will that weight, when bolted to a plate and suspended in mid-air place on the device trying to overcome gravity's strong desire to drop the block to the pavement?
3) Any sort of engineering training that would allow me to take the value from #1 and calculate the answer to #2.

So, true to my nickname "Bullet-Proof-Brian", what I constructed (I think) is an engine stand that takes overkill to the next level.

Started out on eBay for a pair of pillow block bearings:


These have a 2 inch (50.8mm) bore.

Art & Justin's use of a right angle gear box to rotate the block was a stroke of genius, so I sourced one - also from eBay.



I had originally ordered one about 60% as big as this one, but the seller didn't have the one I wanted, so he sold me this one instead. It's quite a bit larger, but there was no additional cost.



At this point in the process, things got a little screwy - mostly my fault. The original gear case had a 1" drive shaft, so I ordered a set of spider shaft couplings from McMaster Carr - this on the same day as the completed eBay purchase, but before the seller contacted me.

The gear box arrived the same day as the shaft couplings, and I took one look at the output shaft and realized that it was much larger than 1". I think I measured it and came up with 1-1/2".

Ordered a piece of 2" 1018 rod for the shaft - also from eBay. This came in at the same time as the gear box, so I gave it to my buddy Tin, who's a machinist, to turn one end down to 1-1/2" to correspond to the ID of the shaft couplings I was going to have to reorder.

Placed an order for the new, correctly sized couplings. They arrived about the same time Tin gave me the modified shaft:



Tested the fit of the couplings on the shaft - perfect fit.

Got to the shop, all excited to assemble the shaft with the pillow blocks and the gear box, and went to slip one of the couplings on the drive shaft - and the coupling is TOO BIG. WHAT?!?!?!?

Caliper in hand I check - the drive shaft is 1-3/8"... UGH.

So another set of couplings to return, and the shaft back to Tin for more turning...

For the frame of the stand, I sourced a 20' piece of 3" square tube. I'd asked my supplier for a 5/16" wall thickness (yes - overkill to the extreme), and when I arrived to pick it up, they only had 1/4" wall tube. They cut it into 2 10' pieces for transport in my truck.

Good thing they didn't have 5/16" wall - I was very surprised when I went to remove the tube from the truck - 1/4" wall 3" square tube weighs 8.8 pounds per foot. 5/16" is over 11 pounds per foot.

Cut the tubing up into the various sizes required to construct the stand. Two pieces to create a mounting frame for the pillow block bearings - cut and drilled with 5/8" holes for the bolts:



Welded them together:



This was my first effort at welding this size and thickness of metal. I must say it was invigorating - the crack and sizzle of the MIG welder cranked up for 1/4" stock is mesmerizing...

Welded a 30" piece of tube to the pair I just joined together. This joint is going to be under the most stress with the engine mounted to the stand, and my Hobart 187 welder manual suggests multiple beads for maximum strength in 1/4" material using .030 solid core wire.

Welds don't look very good, but I think the penetration is acceptable:





Taking a design cue from Art & Justin's work, I wanted to cut the tubes for the front and rear "feet" to allow the casters to be attached to the top of the tube - allowing for a 3" closer-to-the-floor stance.

Frankly - this was MISERABLE work. I used a 4" hole saw in my drill press to cut the arcs. The problem is that my 17" Delta drill press has some serious design issues, and the clamping bolts and trunion pivots under the table have cracked, so the table is held in place with a couple of C-clamps and is far from rock solid. I think it took about 3 hours to cut 8 arcs in the two legs. Then I removed the remaining metal on my Milwaukee 14" cold-cut saw.

This is one of the legs before I cleaned up the work with the right-angle grinder:


The front leg is 24" long, the rear is 30" long. They're joined by a 30" piece of 3" tube.

Fabbed up the mounting shelf for the gear box and ground the welds flat to make sure the case would sit square on it's base:



For the mounting plate for the engine, I got a 24" x 24" x 5/8" thick plate for $.40/pound. It cost just over $40.00 - yep - it weighs about 100#...

I took a piece of plywood and attached it to the front of the spare transmission and used a transfer punch to mark the location for the bolts. I knocked the corners off the plywood and traced the shape onto the plate and cut it out with the torch:


I managed to make 6 cuts for the mounting plate without dropping any molten steel on my feet or burning my hands. After I was all finished and had wrapped the hoses back onto the cart I backed into the tip of the torch and burned my right arm...

My original plan was to weld the mounting plate directly to the shaft. I had Tin tap the end of the shaft for a 1/2"-13 bolt so I could bolt the shaft firmly in place before welding it. I decided instead to cut a 6" square from the leftovers from the mounting plate, drill it for a central hole and 4 mounting holes. That way I can have other uses for the stand in the future besides supporting M-100 motors.

Here's what the 6x6 plate looked like after the torching:


And after a few minutes with the grinder and a 36grit segmented disc:



5 - 1/2" holes drilled:



The rough-cut mounting plate:



Cleaned up with the grinder - this took about an hour:


When I went to drill the holes in the mounting plate, I discovered that only 2 of them were accessible on the drill press. I drilled those first, and tapped them for 1/2"-13 bolts. I discovered the quick way to tap the holes is to mount the tap handle (which has a removable T-bar and a recess for a 3/8" drive ratchet) in my Makita 18v impact driver. With the proper tapping fluid and care, I can go back and forth quickly with minimal risk of breaking the tap. Each hole took about 2 minutes to tap.

After I got the second hole tapped, I noticed something peculiar - the bolts weren't in straight. I checked the drill press table and it was not perfect, but it was very close to perpendicular to the drill bit used to drill the holes. What went wrong?

I used a piece of 5/8" plate scrap with a 1/4" hole drilled in it as a guide bushing for the other two holes in the plate which I had to drill by hand. As I was drilling the pilot hole in the plate, I noticed that the table moved when I pulled down on the quill handle to drill the hole. I confirmed my suspicions by putting the mounting plate on the drill press and checking for perpendicularity - it was off a lot more with the weight of the plate (about 75#) on the table. Those stupid busted trunions bite me in the a$$ again... (what parts are still available - press is a whopping 5 years old) are on order from Delta. When those get here - that can take 1-2 months depending on who knows what - I'll figure out what I'm going to have to do to fix the table...)

The second set of holes tapped nicely - nothing out of kilter, even with doing it all by hand.

Here's the almost complete stand - the hand wheel is missing:


A closeup of the gear box, Lovejoy couplings and the pillow block bearings:


I sourced the casters from eBay - they came with hollow king pins ready for 1/2" bolts. The wheels have annular bearings and are rated at 225# per caster - hopefully that's enough to carry the engine plus the weight of the stand... To mount them I took 1/2" carriage bolts and ground the square block off the back of the head and used nylock nuts on the caster side.




The stabilizers use a 3/8" stainless all thread - there's a 3/8" nut welded inside the tube under the top. The feet and knobs are McMaster-Carr faire.

When I ordered the second set of wrong motor couplings, I also ordered a handwheel, going from memory that the input shaft was 7/8" diameter. IT IS NOT... so that handwheel went back and I got this one instead. The input shaft is 1-3/16, and Tin was nice enough to bore it out for me. A 5/16 set screw holds it in place, and I made the handle with a 5/16" bolt through a 3/8" brass pipe nipple from which I removed the threaded ends:



Hopefully next weekend we can pull the motor - the stand is ready and I think (hope?) up to the task.

W. Brian Fogarty

'12 S550 (W221)
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted out

"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter V

wbrian63

Been a while since I've provided substantive updates, so here we go.

Two weekends ago, Tin and I pulled the motor out of the car. The process went very smoothly, given that fact that the engine/transmission assembly weighs only slightly less than a small planet.

Nothing will put the fear of gravity into a person like the sound of metal popping when the engine assembly is 3 feet in the air and still a ways from being out of the engine compartment...

I had previously removed all the external attachments to allow for quick removal of the assembly. All that remained was to disconnect the engine mounts, remove the transmission support and lift/coax the engine out of the engine compartment.

Naturally, since the bolts that attach the engine mounts to the engine are steel, and the attachment points are aluminum, the bolts wouldn't break free. However, a lot of heat applied with a MAPP gas torch to the aluminum, along with a shot of PB blaster and the bolts came free with no issues.





In order to completely clear the core support, we had to take the body off of the support blocks in the front and lower it almost all the way down to the floor.









Total start to finish was about 2 hours. No fingers were pinched, no knuckles skinned and no damage to the body or to the engine assembly.

After the engine was out, next came the task of disconnecting the engine from the transmission. I should have removed the torque converter-to-flex plate bolts while the engine was in the car, but a little effort laying on the ground with the engine lifted off the floor provided positive results.

After that, the engine needed to be attached to the yet-as-untested engine stand. That process went very smoothly until I discovered that the mounting point of the adapter plate was WAY below the center of gravity of the motor, making it VERY top heavy.

Add to that the fact that the rubber "spider" that's in the Lovejoy coupling on the stand is way too soft for the application, what resulted was a very unstable and unsafe situation.

Disconnected the engine from the stand and removed the adapter plate from the engine. Shifted the mounting point for the stand-to-adapter plate 6" upwards and that improved things immensely.

I am VERY pleased with how the stand is working out. I can rotate the motor completely upside down with no issues at all. The casters are up to the task of rolling the assembly around, and the stabilizer feet allow me to jack the frame up to prevent the weight of the motor from causing flat spots on the caster wheels or leaving dents in the wood floor of the shop.

This week, I worked on getting the car dolly under the unibody and the unibody securely attached to the dolly.

The rear "attachment" point relies on gravity to place the car. The 1-1/2" square tube is welded to the trolley frame, but only the weight of the car and the subframe bolt head keep the car in position.


In front, I made a pair of staddle stands, and bolted the car to the stands through the holes in the side of the front crossmember attachment points.


When it comes time to move the car, these saddles will make sure the car won't separate from the dolly.

I tested the dolly once fully installed and I can indeed move the car. Doesn't move easily, mostly due to the wood floor and the very small contact patch offered by the caster wheels.

One of my ideas for the dolly was the ability to raise the car up for better underneath access as well as making sill replacement easier.

At each corner of the dolly, I added a tube I purchased from a trailer supply company designed to accept a 2" square tube.

Made 4 12" legs with bottoms - jacked the front of the car up and slid the legs into place. Repeated the same at the rear, and the car is now sitting nice and high (sills are about 18" off the floor).


Tonight, I resumed cleaning by working on the items at the firewall. Central to this task was removing the fuse box to ensure there was no rust damage behind the fuse box where it attaches to the firewall.

I'm happy to report there appears to be no issue. I carefully marked each wire that was removed from the fuse block, so hopefully everything can go back together when the time comes.

(How I'll get the top 3 nuts on the fuse box studs at that point is another matter for speculation...)

More updates coming soon.
W. Brian Fogarty

'12 S550 (W221)
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted out

"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter V

oversize

The M100s are such an impressive engine; they're just enormous!  And it must be a very scary task to have it hanging so far off the ground....

Looking at it I don't think they were ever designed to come out that way, but without a hoist any other option is near impossible.  Unless you had 2 engine cranes to lift the body from the subframe/engine.  But then you'd have the whole body suspended high in the air which could be just as dangerous....
1979 6.9 #5541 (Red Bull)
1978 6.9 #4248 (Skye)
1979 6.9 #3686 (Moby Dick)
1978 6.9 #1776 (Dora)
1977 450SEL #7010 white -P
1975 450SEL #8414 gold -P

oversize

Great work BTW; any pics of the empty engine bay?  What is now easily accessible?
1979 6.9 #5541 (Red Bull)
1978 6.9 #4248 (Skye)
1979 6.9 #3686 (Moby Dick)
1978 6.9 #1776 (Dora)
1977 450SEL #7010 white -P
1975 450SEL #8414 gold -P