Pictorial - Rear End Overhaul - Part 9 - Final Assembly and Index

[WGB]

I have really enjoyed seeing some beautiful engineering lying around my shed floor looking as pristine as I can get it but time came when it should be returned to it's place of birth.



It was lifted with the engine crane and placed on the jig and then the car was lifted high enough to fit it all in again.



The final bolt in to the three mounting points was quite simple with the proviso that it all three points must be correctly aligned to almost a mm before the two front mounting bolts will start on their threads.



I put in a new rear flex joint for no other reason than I had one on hand but I did not use the new bolts as they appeared to be a few mm longer than the originals and came close to fouling on the front of the diff housing. I did of course use all new lock nuts.



There is often a discussion about whether or not certain cars were fitted with LSD - well 6.9's were  - and here is the identification plate with all the appropriate "achtungs" about using the correct oil only.



Apart from the exhaust I found the rear sway bar particularly difficult to fit single handed. It was complicated by the fact that I chose not to disturb the rubber bush in the wheel hub as it is known to be ferociously expensive to replace but eventually by starting the two small forward bolts each side first and then rotating the anti-squat hub with a large screwdriver I managed to get the bolt holes lined up for the chassis mounts.

I was a little less than impresed by the state of the two rubber chassis sway bar bushes but they were not that bad and at $145 each quoted from Diesel Motors I packed them out a little and will get a quote from Tom Hanson when some of his family troubles are a little further behind him.



I did like the look of the new 126 style diagonal arm bushes which seem to be a better design and as I have a copy of the previous rear wheel alignment it will be interesting to see what the change is in the future.



Handbrake linkage needs to be connected and adjusted.




Heat shielding replaced carefully and the little separate piece towards the rear as well as the shield above the rear muffler need to be checked for rattles.

The hand brake linkage also needs to be checked in case it fouls the heat shield as it can create quite a din if it does.



Exhaust sytem fitted which again is a challenge single handed.



At this point it should have been time for a drive and indeed I did start the motor to check the new fuel lines but I am now fitting up the AMG rear and side skirts that I have so the drive will have to wait for the time being.



Bill

Index of previous Rear End Overhaul Sections.

1) Part 1 - Removal of Rear Assembly
2) Part 2 - Diff conversion to Flanges and newer type driveshafts
3) Part 3 - Pinion Seal Replacement
4) Part 4 - Rear Hub Strip Down and Rebuild
5) Part 5 - Torqueing up rear hub
6) Replacing Rear Diagonal Arm Bushes
7) Part 7 - Handbrake Rebuilt
Part 8 - Replace rear fuel lines and Fuel Filter
9) - You are already here.

[TJ 450]

Great pics, and wonderful work as always, Bill. I could almost eat those new half-shafts!

It will be the icing on the cake with the AMG skirts installed.

Tim

[KenM]

Dammit Bill, I'm fierce jealous seeing your large shed and wonderful equipment, congrats on a difficult job successfully done, must be immensely satisfying.

Thanks for posting your work, is this being put into the 'wiki'? (where is the wiki anyhow, is there a link?)

Cheers,

[WGB]

I tried earlier to put stuff on the Wiki but after a lot of huffing and puffing never managed to make anything stick past the title.

Thank you for the compliment about my tools.

It is the result of 43 years of collecting and then spending the last 20 or so years being M-B specific and the last 6 or 7 years 116 orientated.

It still gives me  a great thrill to pull out and use a spanner I purchased when I was 15 and first reconditioned a 1938 DX Vauxhall motor.

Bill

[oscar]

I don't think I could have put aside a test drive.  As soon as the car was off the hoist I would've planted 11's from the shed floor all the way to the road.
Nah not really.    Looking forward to the spoilers addition and the report from a test drive.  Can't believe that gap in the sway bar bush though but congrats on a job well done and thanks for posting, very informative. 

[WGB]

I think you'll find that the anti squat hub rear end  has it's sway bar bush mounted lower with a flat spacer plate on the upper face   and doesn't use the cutout in the chassis hence it looks like a gap.

The bush isn't actually that bad but it has a critical job in this version of the rear hub and nothing less than perfect will do.

Bill

[Kris P.]

by the way,  can yu take a pic of the side skirts of your 116 (if you have them) that matche the front and rear skirts.  Im curious about how the y look.  Im interested in putting the kit in my car as well...

Thanks.

[WGB]

Hi Kris I have the skirts and they were pictured in an earlier posting.



The skirts I have are SE not SEL so I will have to cut and add an extra 100mm to the length.

One is originally an SE length but the other is a cut and shorted SEL so i have made a cross section mould so that I can cut and then manufacture the correct length with fibreglass.



And here are two pictures from the AMG Catalog which I have posted before.





Bill