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The fan force is with you...NOT

Started by goldacre, 22 October 2009, 11:43 PM

goldacre

Hi folks, here is the update PART 1:

I reinstalled the blower box with new fan and managed to reconnect the cooling air hose with assistance of packing tape, lucky for me you cannot see it when all filled back in so carried on with the packing tape to seal the gap between the fan plate and blower box. What a pig putting that blower box back in on your own, i strongly suggest a spare pair of hands when you do this otherwise God will really think you got it in for him  ::) The only blessing  ;D was the bolts that hold it in do not rotate when you tighten the nuts (Thanks Mercedes for that luxury  >:(  )

So determined am i to drive to Busselton on Saturday i have reinstalled the stereo, that strange metal box that lives in the back of the glove box (says 'balance' on it) and the left hand air vent. the vent controls are in with out the fascia as MB Spares sent the new part to my PO Box in Belmont  :-\  I have manipulated both left and right stuck flaps to the forward unstuck position so i can evaluate their effects on airflow. So, with her pants down under the dashboard and a few other bits missing she is primed and ready to go on Saturday when i will give you all the Part 2 update.

At present i have not started the blower to evaluate the performance as i was knackered after 4 hours working on it and could not handle any possible disappointment, best done when refreshed and ready to tackle the next hurdle  :'(

As an off topic i have replaced the ignition leads with Beru ones and reconnected that vacuum line that connects at one end to a spherical piece that sits on the left (as you look at it from the front) of the CIS business and the other end to the Blow By pickup tube on the left bank (as you look at it from  the front)

So, i am very much looking forward to this run as i have not driven her since i picked her up from Lyons in Kewdale, getting withdrawal symptoms  8)  I just hope the dream i had last night that the AC gas leaked out does not come true (bugger, it affects my sleep even, it must be love  :D  )

Stay tuned, will update Saturday arvo.....

G

PS Bill, how about we all line up our cars together at your place when you do your flap fix (Henry Ford style) and do a group fix session  ::)
12/1979 450 SEL 148K on clock (museum piece)
12/1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo 87K on clock 'Darling, look what Q has brought for us, isn't it nice' :)

WGB

Quote from: goldacre on 03 December 2009, 08:38 PM
  8)  I just hope the dream i had last night that the AC gas leaked out does not come true (bugger, it affects my sleep even, it must be love  :D  )

Stay tuned, will update Saturday arvo.....

G

PS Bill, how about we all line up our cars together at your place when you do your flap fix (Henry Ford style) and do a group fix session  ::)

My gas leaked out three times until I found the corroded length of A/C manifold pipe and had it fixed. It has held beautifully for the last 18 months since the repair and the coldness is more than adequate on the hottest of days.

Apparently this spring thing is a 10 hour job so I was hoping to spread it over a couple of weekends and take a lot of photos.

Bill

goldacre

Fingers crossed my gas has held  :D

Just went outside of the office here in the Wheatbelt and its a stinker so will be a good test run for her down to Stratton tonight, may get Part 2 in tonight if i can lever off our friends kids from the computer screen.

The blokes at Lyons said they pressure tested the lines and said everything was OK, even went so far as to say they only rarely had to replace the AC plumbing on our model Mercs.

PS PB, i will put the Squirrel cage Vs centrifugal fan to the acid test with the kids, my moneys on the squirrel  :D

G
12/1979 450 SEL 148K on clock (museum piece)
12/1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo 87K on clock 'Darling, look what Q has brought for us, isn't it nice' :)

WGB

The problem on my A-C line was under what had previously been insulated and thius retained the water when the A-C manifold pipe sweated.

The pipe had slowly corroded from the outside in over a short length.

The A-C manifold is peculiar to the RHD 6.9 and is impossible to replace new.

It was repaired by an engineer friend of mine who cleaned it and then hard brazed the outside over the length of the corroded area.

I then added insulation and reinstalled - perfect since.

Bill

goldacre

i have to take my hat off to you 6.9 owners, parts availability sounds like a potential issue, thank god for Tom Hanson, Importec, Rockauto and the like  :)

Part 2 (B)

My trip to Stratton was a blessing, the car performed well, very well in fact, wether it was due to the ignition upgrade, or that odd tube off the CIS system it is hard to say but i cracked 420klm at half a tank which is a first and the acceleration was alot smoother.

As for the fan performance it was excellent (once i sorted out the optimal position of the levers  ::)  got a bit worried there at the time) The fan force is now with me although not to the extent of the 280SEL i owned but certainly an improvement. Oh, the AC held its gas (woohoo!).

Will fiddle with the flaps tomorrow and see what effect that has overall.

But at the end of the day i am very happy  ;D

G
12/1979 450 SEL 148K on clock (museum piece)
12/1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo 87K on clock 'Darling, look what Q has brought for us, isn't it nice' :)

goldacre

Part 2 B

The next morning i checked under the bonnet and discovered the AC belt was loose, too loose in fact as the arm of the idler puller was rubbing on the fan-power steering belt. What a pig of a job adjusting that crappy setup, bugger all room to move as well  >:( Eventually got the job done but i bet there is a 'special MB tool' to do that job effortlessly.

The fan performed well, as backed up by the Misses, and is certainly an improvement and the AC chilled exceptionally well making the trip to Busselton and back an absolute pleasure as it should be in a classic MB  8)

was doing some thinking on the way to Bunbury and have this idea. swapping the W126 'Squirrel Cage' (sorry PB, the kids said Squirrel cage was a cool name 2/0) and fixing it to the W116 motor, now the blessing here is if you use the only replacement W116 fan motor available it rotates in the opposite direction but because we discovered that the W126 Squirrel cage is designed to operate in that direction there would therefore be no need to swap the polarity on the motor. You will get a new motor, bigger squirrel Cage and more air force performance  8)  Perhaps this is what Bolbol did with his?

The blower box which splits apart in two easily enough (held only by clips) would enable the fan to be pressed onto the spindle shaft (it is too big to go through the fan motor hole) Our internal measurements revealed that the W126 Squirrel Cage will fit in the W116 blower Box.

If you read this Nathan could you check the diameter of the W116 Vs W126 motor shafts and if the same pull the W126 squirrel cage off and stick it on the W116 motor when in the blower box, reverse the polarity and see how it goes? Cheers  ;D I think we could be on to something here  :) To help pulling the Squirrel cages off place hot water around the where the Squirrel cage fits to the shaft, was the only way i got mine off, and it was still a struggle.

Wait and see how Nathan goes with this idea, otherwise i could pop around again and have a crack at it myself  8)

My next mission is to connect that Choke cable to the Hot water valve and then connect the other end to the right hand side heater lever and see if i can make a cable operated variable heater control (and totally bypass that W116 heater flap issue, woohoo!)  8)

:)
12/1979 450 SEL 148K on clock (museum piece)
12/1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo 87K on clock 'Darling, look what Q has brought for us, isn't it nice' :)

nathan

heh Goldie,
in less than 6 weeks im off to melbourne for 6 months.  i have very little time to spare at the moment as im trying to get my Gwagen 5.0 finished as well as reconstruct goldie 6.9!  i will see how i go but may suggest next time you are heading to perth, give me a buzz and you may need to be the experimentor as i frantically try to finish the 6.9 before i go!
it is true i am a wet wig!
regards
nathan
1979 116 6.9 #6436
2018 213 e63
2011 212 e63
2011 463 g55
2007 211 e500 wagen
1995 124 e320 cabriolet
1983 460 300gd
1981 123 280te

goldacre

Quoteit is true i am a wet wig!
Not at all Nathan, if a wet wig can accomplish what you have done then give me that wet wig 101 training manual, i want to be one  :D

There is a possibility this weekend but will touch base to confirm.

G

PS Is Tim baby sitting your collection of parts so they don't get thrown out in your absence?

12/1979 450 SEL 148K on clock (museum piece)
12/1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo 87K on clock 'Darling, look what Q has brought for us, isn't it nice' :)

nathan

Tim has been of great assistance since the day we met on this forum (oh shucks). he has been a big help when i ring up for help at the drop of a hat in the middle of the week with my sporadic work hours.  my only concern is that he has very shifty hands and takes a little of column A and a little column B when im not looking...now where did i  put that new suspension valve?;)
i have the weekend off and plan to get some quality 116 resto time on saturday so you can give me a buzz
1979 116 6.9 #6436
2018 213 e63
2011 212 e63
2011 463 g55
2007 211 e500 wagen
1995 124 e320 cabriolet
1983 460 300gd
1981 123 280te

TJ 450

I'm glad I could be of assistance, Nathan. 8)

Now, I don't know where my "shifty hands" reputation came from, but I'm fairly certain it was something PB conjured up. ;) :D

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

goldacre

LOL  :D

Will pop around on Saturday to check out the fan swap option, will SMS before hand.

I will bring the 450SEL down and you can all marvel at the huge box in the back seat courtesy of Tom Hanson from the Classic center........then after all the marveling you can help me put it on  ::)

A brand spanking new front grille assembly fully equipped (less the bonnet star i purchased new a few months ago)  8)

Posted on the 3 December from California USA and arrived in the Western Australian Central Wheatbelt 5 days later Holy Cow that was quick  :o  (FedEx)

G
12/1979 450 SEL 148K on clock (museum piece)
12/1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo 87K on clock 'Darling, look what Q has brought for us, isn't it nice' :)

WGB

Give me a rough time scale and I might give the 6.9 a run on Saturday before I strip it down for the summer refit.

Bill

goldacre

Looking around 11am ish, i hate waking up early on Saturdays and its a 2 hour 20 minute drive for me, i will be coming through Mundaring

area, could SMS you and we could have a scaled down W116 WA Club meet drive to that fancy suburb in Perth  ;D

G
12/1979 450 SEL 148K on clock (museum piece)
12/1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo 87K on clock 'Darling, look what Q has brought for us, isn't it nice' :)

WGB


goldacre

The W116 to W126 fan replacement saga con't:

Well, i managed to remove both squirrel cages after a lot of hot water and grunting followed up by a Crown Lager and chicken roll from Nathans dad (big thanks to your dad Nathan, top bloke  :)

Well the original idea of swapping the squirrel cages died in the buttocks as due to the extra thickness of the W126 squirrel cage it cannot fit onto the W116 fan motor, the shaft is not long enough  :'( bugger.

The only way now is to resort to constructing a custom flange to bolt the W126 fan motor onto then fit onto the W116 blower box, the flange will be an  interesting construct. The new fan is working sweet so not touching that project with a ten foot pole although the challenge is out there for someone else  ;)  (post pics when you finish that one)

G
12/1979 450 SEL 148K on clock (museum piece)
12/1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo 87K on clock 'Darling, look what Q has brought for us, isn't it nice' :)