Just secured a 450 SEL 6.9 after bit of a chase (years)

[rumb]

Might find the hoses here

https://www.mercedespartz.com/page/1/?s=W116+hose&post_type=product

[andrewk]

Well, this whole set of work has blown out of proportion with the intake replacement.

The process to separate the lower ball joint from the control arm/wishbone has been gruelling. They have obviously been installed with an excessive amount of torque, causing the spindle of the ball joints (TRW brand with 90s date code) to be stuck in the hole. I now have pain in both of my arms from the hammering.

So far I have separated one of the joints but I had to dismember it and hammer, drill and yell at it for three hours (after i'd already spend hours trying with ball joint tools and conventional methods, breaking a brand new Kukko tool in the process, one Chinesium ball joint tool turned to glitter as it was tightened).

Today i'll attempt to get the other side apart and then press out the ball joints from the steering knuckle, get those blasted and powder coated and install fresh genuine joints. Hopefully I won't have to do this job again any time soon.

I had the fan blasted and painted with Cerakote which has turned out really well. Small wins. Hopefully i'll have the car back together in a fortnight or so; I really am keen to just drive it for a while without leaks, creaks and annoyances.

[daantjie]

Oi, yes indeed, I think we've all been stuck in suspension work purgatory before, it's usually ugly with lots of colourful language involved always amazes me when I see shops do suspension work.  It's almost always a dude with a BFH (Big effing hammer) giving the part in question a couple of smart wacks and out she comes.  I guess it comes with experience as I have pretty much always had to resort to tons of heat and an inordinate amount of force on all the pullers and separators to get them to let go, usually with a loud bang and pop!

[Jed]

Oh Andrew,

I feel for you! That ball joint makes MY hands hurt!!

One trick that has not failed me yet is to use a pneumatic impact gun and hit the side of the connector (where you would hit it with the BFH).  Works every time but can make the end link less than pretty when your done. Of course so does the BFH, but this is a lot less work.

I spent Saturday taking down the entire front suspension on a W108 and the mercedes gods smiled on me.  Not a single rusted/broken or seized bolt.  Must have been a first for me.

[rumb]

Fan looks much better.  Why did you choose Cerakote?  Looks like an interesting product.

[andrewk]

Fan looks much better.  Why did you choose Cerakote?  Looks like an interesting product.

Giving it a try as the finish is nice, high chemical resistance and very high heat resistance so it should look good for a while. Seemed to be a better option than powder coating in terms of durability and the guy who does it here in Sydney is a good guy. (Sydney Cerakote). He is also doing a lot of work for Porsche shops and the finish keeps the Magnesium alloy fans looking great, so I assume the Benz fan will be a similar situation.

A friend gave the left hand ball joint end link a mighty whack and it came out last night.

[andrewk]

I just received some bad news about the HPF regulator from Martin.

The housing, near fittings is cracked and will not be usable in the car.

Curious to know if anyone has one of these in good condition that I can send for rebuild? Also the valve block, I will probably obtain a spare of that too. Everything else in the system has been rebuilt now.