Topic: My Custom 1980 300SD Project Part 2

[Squiggle Dog]

I did a permanent fix on my air cleaner. A big problem with the W116 300SDs is that they didn't have room in the engine compartment for an air cleaner, so the air cleaners were mounted on a bracket hanging off an engine that tends to shake.

The air cleaners were mounted to the bracket on rubber buffers with bolts molded in each end. The bolts tend to tear out or the rubber rips in the center, and then the air cleaner starts coming off. Mercedes diesel owners just replace these regularly and figure it's part of the hassle. I said no more and fabricated my own unbreakable mounts.

I bought six new mounts and cut the bolts off the ends, leaving just the rubber.


Then I ran the rubber on a belt sander to get them flat and the correct height.


Next I made some holders out of hardware. If I remember correctly, for each mount I used a 35mm M6 1.0 bolt and cut it down to about 33mm. I put a split washer and then a flat washer on it and threaded it up through the bottom of the air cleaner mounting bracket. Then I installed the heat shield, three 1/4 X 1" stainless fender washers (the lowest one needed to be filed around the edges until it fit down all the way). Then I threaded on an 11mm long M6 1.0 coupler nut (I couldn't find these locally and had to order them online) and secured it with blue threadlocker.



I drilled holes in the rubber and slid them down onto the holders. I think that the clearance between the air cleaner and bracket is supposed to be 18mm, so I probably made the lower rubber spacer 14mm tall as the total height of the heat shield and washers was about 4mm.

[Squiggle Dog]

I made more rubber spacers (about 11mm tall, I think) to go on top of the air cleaner after it was mounted, so it would be sandwiched and allow for vibration to be absorbed in both directions. I cut down some M6 1.0 joint connector nuts (which I had to order on eBay from Lithuania) to about 7mm tall to thread down over the rubber, until the ends of the bolts bottomed out inside of the nuts right after slightly compressing the rubber. Blue threadlocker was used to keep them from loosening.


It all fits together nicely and the new mounts I made cannot just rip apart in the center like the original design, yet they still absorb vibration just as well, if not better.


The stock air filter still fits.


Here is the air cleaner all put back together. I will have peace of mind knowing that I won't suddenly hear clunking, only to find that the air cleaner has broken loose from the engine again.

[Squiggle Dog]

I had my annual emissions test for my 300SD. The opacity reading was 1.9% (20% is the maximum permissible level in Arizona). This is on an engine with almost 343,000 miles and the ALDA system removed.

The employees didn't believe me at first when I told them that the odometer says 342,900 NOT 34,290 miles. They said that the engine still looks brand new and the exhaust is as clean as a brand new engine. I told them that these engines last a very long time when you take care of them.

They told me that they get a lot of old Mercedes diesels in, but they said that most of them are extremely dirty and oily and smoke a lot, and they didn't understand why my car's engine was in such good condition. That's the benefit of good maintenance procedures and not being a cheapskate.

[Squiggle Dog]

After having it for over 5 years, I finally installed the skid plate that s class helped me get (and surprised me by having it powder coated). I want to protect the oil pan from bottoming out, rocks, and curbs (so what happened to my roommate doesn't happen to me--he broke the oil pan on his W126 pulling into a parking lot). It seems that North American market W116s don't have mounting holes to install them, and the areas where the holes need to be drilled don't lend well to drilling. I think that right-hand-drive W116s built in the South African plant were built with mounting holes? I know JasonP had one on his North American 300SD, but it may have been added later on.




I attempted installing the plate a few times over the years but was too nervous about drilling holes into the body and messing it up. Finally I decided I just needed to get this thing out of my storage unit, so I went at it. I am happy at where the holes ended up and how it fits, but it was nerve-wracking and took a lot of effort.


I was nervous about the custom Sanden compressor being in the way of the brace, but there is more clearance than the picture suggests. With the way the compressor pivots during belt changes, I don't think the bracket will be in the way, and there should be plenty of clearance to compensate for engine shake and eventual sagging of the mounts.

[Squiggle Dog]

The skid plate was designed with an access hole for the oil pan's drain plug. However, it would have been designed for a gasoline engine and even though the hole is very close to being correct for the diesel engine, a socket just won't fit squarely on the drain plug. However, a box wrench fits well and there is enough travel to loosen the plug. The oil should should pour out through the access hole during oil changes making removing the plate unnecessary. The ground clearance at the skid plate is nearly 6" unloaded. With me hanging on the bumper, that clearance shrinks down to about 5", but the exhaust appears to be even lower than that.


It was challenging guessing where to drill. Ultimately, the correct spot ended up being near the little holes that are already in place on the outsides of the rails. They were a good starting point, but I had to oval out the holes and cheat them slightly downward and toward the rear of the vehicle so the starting hole was on the very edge of the final larger hole, not in the area where the rails start to bend outward. The holes had to be drilled from the outside in as the engine was in the way to do it the other way.



There is an angled piece of sheet metal inside the box tubing that made the drill tend to slip, as if that part of the body wasn't intended to have holes drilled, further leading me to believe that the North American market wasn't intended to have skid plates installed.

[Squiggle Dog]

I started out with a small bit and had to oval out the holes and cheat them until they were aligned correctly. Then I used a larger bit and bored out the holes.


I made some steel spacers (about 52mm long) to fit into the holes to prevent the box tubing on the body from collapsing when the bolts are tightened down. I installed them with sealant.




I painted the inner edges to prevent rust.

[ptashek]

Just to address one point: "Why would a company suddenly move production from a country like Germany to China?"

Supply chain costs, and operational efficiency. One of the biggest operational expense in making cars is supply chain logistics. The industry - following Toyota's lead - has been shifting, for many years now, to a just-in-time supply chain model, keeping minimum on-site stock. This in turn increases logistical demands on so-called "Tier 1" suppliers - the Valeo, TRW, Bosch, VDO, NGKs of this world. Long-term it is cheaper for them to move their own manufacturing plants close to their largest customers or markets, than to ship a majority of their output all over the globe all the time, dealing with unpredictable weather, natural disasters, conflicts, industrial actions and what not. And often the pressure to move comes from the customer themselves! And yes, sometimes they move just close enough to solve the logistics problem, but far enough to avail of cheaper labour - hence Mexico v. USA.

But there really is more to it than just skimping on labour costs, or not caring about quality.

Guess which country produced just shy of 30% of the entire global car output since - according to online data - at least 2009? China.
Combined with India, which is just around the corner, that number is closer to 35%. We're talking about two rapidly growing markets, with ~2.7 billion potential customers.
"Why would a company suddenly move production from a country like Germany to China?" - from a business perspective, isn't this reason enough?

Last, but not least, here's a shocker: N000000001061 - instrument cluster bulb - an MB re-packaged part, mass-produced in China / Thailand and sold at nearly 20x premium by your local dealer.

[Squiggle Dog]

China no doubt has the ability to make good parts, but their track record is poor, so it will take a lot to gain my trust of their quality. I like sticking with countries that have proven reliable in engineering and production quality. I see what you mean about the domino effect. Then again, if large scale auto production hadn't gone to China, this wouldn't be necessary. It's all a game of cause and effect. One seemingly small thing leads to another until we are living in a totally different world, for better or for worse. So often it seems to be for worse.

As a side note, I ordered a genuine Mercedes rear crank seal for an OM603 engine through Pelican Parts. It was marked as made in China. The part looked legitimate and even had the hologram on the packaging. One of The Classic Center employees made a comment in a forum post about aftermarket parts being made in China, stating that if the poster had purchased a part from Mercedes, they could have avoided this. I replied with a picture of the genuine Mercedes part that was made in China. The Classic Center employee's response was, "I don't believe it. Mercedes never has and never will sell parts made in China. What you have is likely counterfeit. We also do not sell to third parties, though there is an operation that is selling counterfeit Mercedes parts. One day we will get them." I found that very interesting, because either I DID receive a counterfeit part, or Classic Center employees are refusing to acknowledge that some of their parts are made in China.

[ptashek]

They are refusing to acknowledge I'd say.
I've an MB dealer issued invoice to prove those bulbs were bought from an official source.

[Squiggle Dog]

I'm still using my car as a truck.

[Squiggle Dog]

My car has been without wheel covers for a long time. As mentioned in an earlier post, I installed aluminum wheels but my wheel covers wouldn't fit them. A friend sent me some of the special stainless steel wheel covers that fit the aluminum wheels. I removed the dents the best I could and sanded the scuffs. I used oven cleaner to get off all the baked-on brake dust and grime. Paint stripper removed the old paint with little effort.


I used a stencil that my roommate bought me, which helped a lot, but I had to use paint thinner on a rag to wipe off areas of overspray and had to carefully wipe paint off of the outer rim so it would make a crisp line.


I wasn't sure whether or not to prime them before painting them as it made it a lot more difficult and the factory didn't use primer. I used primer and it was a lot of extra work.


I painted five wheel covers so I have a spare. Painting them was a first for me, but they came out acceptably. There was a lot of overspray, and it was nerve-wracking to use paint thinner on a rag, but it works like an eraser for paint.


I think that letting the primer dry overnight was a mistake, because when I sprayed on the paint, it didn't lay down very smoothly, though it is smoothing out with time. I might wet sand and then polish the paint so it looks better.

[Squiggle Dog]

One of the wheel covers had a large dent on the raised edge where the chrome and paint meet. Using a ball peen hammer and a sledge hammer, I was able to get it almost perfect.


A couple of the wheel covers were scuffed, so I sanded them starting with 400 grit and ending with 2000 grit and polish. In order to completely remove the scratches, I would have had to sand almost all the material away, so I did the best I could.


I'm holding up one of my old wheel covers in front of the ones I just painted. They look almost identical, but the old ones were chrome-plated steel instead of stainless steel and wouldn't fit the aluminum wheels.


I had a whole bunch of clips for aluminum wheels blasted and powder coated. They have Teflon inserts which protect against scratches.


Installing the clips wasn't difficult with the help of a flat blade screwdriver.

[Squiggle Dog]

The fifth wheel cover fit on the spare wheel, even with the hold-down hardware in place.


Yay! My car finally has wheel covers again. I wet sanded the paint and then polished it so it would be smoother.


I spread the Kurgo seat hammock on the back seat for the dogs.



The paint wore off of the front license plate, and my roommate gave me a replacement with a larger star that he found in a wrecking yard.

[Squiggle Dog]

I finally washed my car for the first time in YEARS! I've just been too busy before then. I wish that the paint was in better condition, as it's flaking off all over. It's interesting how the clear coat wouldn't shine up at all, but the paint in the areas where the clear coat had peeled off buffed out to be very glossy. I am not a fan of clear coat and one day when I have the car repainted, it is going to be single stage with NO clear!

[Squiggle Dog]

When I was out taking pictures today, I was joined by several jackrabbits running around and having a good time. There are also coyotes out here that come into the neighborhood to say hi. They look exactly like one of my dogs, and I am starting to wonder if she is part coyote. She doesn't mind them when they walk past us at night, and she makes howling and yipping noises with them. She also has strange mannerisms like sneaking up on other dogs or people, pushing them hard with her crutch tip nose, and then running away. She is also very feral and skittish like a coyote, and was found as a stray in the desert.