My Custom 1980 300SD Project

[Squiggle Dog]

Here is the piece all put together. I am very happy with the results. Apparently, this was an accessory designed by Samuel W. Bird, Jr. (patent number US D291.206 S) to hold an automobile telephone: http://www.google.com/patents/USD291026 . I have, indeed, seen some of these with the phone holder still in place. The company still exists as BIRD Automotive: http://www.birdautomotive.com/Armrests.htm . There is currently one for sale on ebay for $540: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-W126-560SEC-SEL-Palomino-leather-RARE-central-arm-rest-console-key-/290972255836?vxp=mtr .



The latch mechanism is missing a ball bearing, spring, and set screw for one side. I located all missing parts except for the ball bearing. The large hardware stores like Lowe's and The Home Depot don't carry ball bearings. The only store that had them was Ace Hardware, but they did not stock the size I need. I went to a bicycle shop, thinking they would have them there since I was a manager and mechanic at a bicycle shop for three years, where we had several containers of ball bearings. There was no parking anywhere near the shop, so I had to pay to park in a building. When I got to the shop, there was a note on the door that said the owner was out to lunch, so I had to wait out in the heat. When the owner came back from lunch, another guy butted in front of me and I had to wait while the owner of the shop did a long repair on his bicycle. After finally being acknowledged, the owner told me he didn't have ball bearings, and that if he had any laying around, that he would have thrown them in the trash. He was totally arrogant and had poor customer service. So, I left and went to another bicycle shop, which ended up being someone's house. The owner was very nice, but he didn't have any bearings in the size I need, but he directed me to a ball bearing company. The ball bearing company did not have one in the size I need (probably metric), saying they only carry SAE, and that there is a minimum order of 1000 pieces. So, it looks like I will need to order one online.


The bolts going through the center were exposed, so I cut some 3/8" hose 7cm long to hide them.

[Squiggle Dog]

Here is the armrest mounted. The captive nut that I used ended up sinking into the bracket, which held it from turning.


Because the armrest bracket is shaped differently, I had to cut a notch above the existing one in the cover. I will probably use a piece from a passenger seat at a later date so that the lower notch is not there.


Here is the cover installed with the skin reattached.

[Squiggle Dog]

The armrest looks like it could be original, and the storage space is very useful. I will need to have a key made for the lock. I would like to find another for my fintail wagon.


Now that I think of it, it could be a secure holder for my Walkman to keep it out of sight. The audio cord could be run through the grommet on the side.



It even folds up properly, though I will need to find a ball bearing so the latch stays closed. At least the lid falls on the bottom of the rear seat, which keeps it from damaging the hinges.

[KenM]

Another spectacular effort Squiggle, fantastic work there. The colour match is very impressive indeed, no way you could tell that it wasn't original. Looking good.

[Squiggle Dog]

The right side A-pillar covering had been bothering me for a while, because it was damaged and sagging down. The screw holding it in at the bottom was stripped out and stuck, so I couldn't replace the covering. I finally decided to extract the screw using a good set of locking pliers. Someone had used non-hardening windshield sealant to hold it on up top, and it was a gooey mess that required much cleaning. I had a nice replacement piece that I installed.


The plastic foot rest was broken and missing the carpet, but I happened to have an intact piece with the correct color carpet. The lower screw was rusted away, so I needed to extract it with locking pliers as well. It's a good thing I save as much hardware as possible when I go to the wrecking yards. They should make a reinforced version of these.


I had the interior trim that goes under the rear windshield off when I had the tinting done, and the piece had been in the trunk all this time. I finally removed the vinyl, scrubbed and cleaned it up the best I could, then used 3M spray adhesive to reattach it to the metal frame. I then applied a liberal coating of 303 Aerospace Protectant.


I'm going to measure the ball bearing for the armrest latch with calipers to find a replacement for the missing ball. Hopefully I can find one somewhere on the internet. On another topic, I spent a couple of weeks doing almost nothing but dusting and scrubbing the house from floor to ceiling. The dirt back yard and having three dogs makes for a lot of dust in the house, and last year the pest control sprayed over all of the dust, making an oily, muddy mess all over the walls. So, I made sure the house was clean when I mixed up a high concentration of Cy-Kick CS and sprayed it all over in the house, as well as the outside yard. At first, I was still finding bugs and scorpions in the house, but they were dead. Now it has been weeks since I have seen any scorpions inside, or outside of the house. The stuff must work!

[Beastie]

Nice job on the center armrest. Very tidy. 

[Squiggle Dog]

You may have noticed that I went a few months without posting on here. I wasn't having success finding a decent job, so I started working for a temp agency that hires only drivers. I wasn't happy with the rate of pay, but I needed something to get me by until I found a job I could stick with. The agency sure kept me busy; work days were 11 hours on average. I was out as much as 14 hours some days (which is the legal limit for a CDL driver to be on the road). I started delivering and picking up book fairs at the schools, then was delivering freight for another company.

One of the assignments was driving a truck into California, swapping trucks with another driver, and delivering parts to the Mercedes-Benz dealerships in the Phoenix area, which typically took about 12 hours, night shift from 7 PM to about 7 AM. It was interesting being part of the process, and was the only assignment during which I felt the pay rate was fair. I really wish I could work it long-term instead of a day or two here and there (I was mainly filling in for a driver who would take days off).

My shifts often went back and forth between morning and night shift, which was difficult. I have hypersomnia, which means I need 10 hours of sleep at night to function. Once I get my 10 hours, my eyes pop open and I am wide awake and ready to go for the day. If I miss an hour or more, I am often sleepy all day and then the next night I have to sleep extra to make up for the sleep I lost. So, this robs a lot of time from my day, and many days I would wake up, go to work, then come home and go right to sleep again.

In one of the latest assignments, they put me on a bulk mail route for a mail processing center. It wasn't promising to start out with; the other driver and I were briefed on the job, and told that the previous drivers had been fired because they weren't up to the task; that they were late and spilling mail everywhere and couldn't handle it. We were told that timing was crucial, and that these are high profile customers. The other driver and I were told to drive around to the different businesses and record our times on a route sheet, then to return to the office. We did so, and got a phone call from dispatch partway through. The dispatcher was yelling at me, telling me that we were supposed to call in at each stop and give him the times (we did not hear him say that). He then said that we failed the first test. What a nice way to start out a job...

I was originally told that the assignment was supposed to be 7 hours a day. Then I was told it would take 9 hours. 9 hours was their wishful thinking. In reality, it took no less than 11 hours if I rushed. There was no time included for doing a pre-trip inspection of the truck, filling out my logbook, loading the truck with equipment, and then driving out to the processing center. As soon as I would get to there, the manager would be in my face trying to rush me out of there. What made it worse is that the schedule had totally unrealistic time frames. For example, it gave 20 minutes to arrive at the processing center, unload a full truckload of mail, reload with supplies, and then drive out to the next stop--when the distance between between the processing center and the next stop can't possibly be driven in less than 35 minutes in ideal traffic conditions! Unloading and loading easily takes an additional hour. At one stop, they had me scheduled to arrive at 2:20 PM, when the business closes at 2:30 PM! There is no way I can arrive on time there ever, let alone get that truck unloaded with supplies and reloaded in just 10 minutes! Half the time their pallets wouldn't be ready, and I would have to stretch wrap 6 pallets for them, even though the drivers aren't supposed to do that.

Part of the job was pushing metal cages full of mail that weigh about 1,200 lbs into the truck. At some stops, the truck was backed downhill into the dock, which meant all of the cages had to be pushed uphill. A full truckload of them takes a lot work and time to load. There could be as many as 12 cages in the truck, plus several pallets, and this would require proper heavy-duty straps to secure the load. Unfortunately, the company did not provide straps, and the trucks weren't even equipped with E-tracks for straps! All that were provided were friction-mount load bars which could not handle that much weight. Since day one, I told the company that the provided equipment was inadequate. Every day the load bars would fall down and the load would slide in the back of the truck and jam the rear door, despite how carefully I drove. After nearly a week of asking for straps every day and getting told "we are buying them today" but never actually getting them, the load bars snapped in half and three of the full cages fell over inside the truck, scattering mail all over. Of course, I got blamed for "not securing the load". So, I called the company and told them that there is a situation, and that I need those straps to do the job safely. I also called the temp agency and let them know that the company is not complying with safety.

Only after having an incident, did the company finally get straps. Of course, they were a total joke, and were the cheapest 1" straps that they must have got from Harbor Freight. They were way undersized and wouldn't even stay hooked on the side rails. I told the company that these new straps wouldn't work, and that I needed ratcheting 2" heavy-duty straps like I requested. Their response was that they looked at the ones I wanted, but they were "too expensive". $19 each is too expensive to secure a several thousand pound load on wheels when you just won a new contract and are trying to prove yourself? So, I used them, doubled up with the load bars, and they broke the first day, which caused the load bars to snap in half. Finally, after more disasters, proper straps were invested in.

Working for up to 13 hours a day, rushing at full speed and nearly injuring myself, getting a phone call from the manager at nearly every stop telling me to hurry up, getting chastised when I returned, having zero time for a food or bathroom break, always feeling like a failure, and working for just above minimum wage got to be too much. No matter how much I rushed, I was always behind schedule. Whenever my bladder was about to burst, and I would try to take a bathroom break, the manager would follow me and would tell me to get my butt out of there because I had work to do. All I ever heard from him was, "Hurry up!" I probably lost 10 lbs from just not eating, because there was no time to. When I would get home, I would usually fall right asleep.

After a couple of weeks of being on the job and nearly walking off, I started feeling more and more uncontrollable rage and requested for the temp agency to take me off of the assignment. I told them that this wasn't working out and was totally unrealistic. Apparently, the other driver felt the same way and was also complaining about the job. The agency wanted me to work a few more days until they could find a replacement. I reluctantly agreed. The next day, the company had me train one of its own drivers. So, he rode with me on my route one day, and then the next day he didn't show up for work, which meant I had to train someone else. In my mind, I was jokingly thinking, "Where is that son of a B, I'll kill him!" I worked a few more days, and after being strung along without a replacement to train, I said, "forget this" and called in to tell the temp agency I would not be going in the next morning and shut off my phone (which incidentally, was my first cell phone ever, and it was costing me 25 cents a minute, so I was spending about $10 a day on work-related phone calls that I didn't anticipate).

A few days later, the other driver called me on my land line to let me know that she was sick and pleaded with me to fill in for her that day. So, I was nice and drove her route for her. By the end of the day, I felt like I was going to go postal. I got put back on the Mercedes-Benz assignment for a couple days, but then was told that the other driver quit, and that her replacement also quit, so I was pulled off of the assignment and put back on the stupid mail route. Not only did I have a bad day, but the transmission in the truck went out, so I had to unload the truck, wait for the replacement truck to arrive, then load the replacement truck. Once I had the replacement truck loaded, I realized the truck had no rails for straps. So, I had to have someone from the company come out to deliver the loathed load bars. By this time, the manager was having a fit and told me to just get back to the processing center. I barely got out of the parking lot before I heard a WHAM! and realized that the load bars must have fallen down. I pulled over at the next parking lot, opened the back of the truck, and sure enough the load bars had fallen down, and the cages were all over the place and jammed against each other. After putting them back in place and securing the load bars extra tight, I drove off and when I got on the freeway onramp, I heard another, "Roll, roll, roll, THUD!" At this point, I didn't care, and just continued on to the processing center. When I got to the dock, I couldn't get the door to open, and could see that it was cracked. I had to get a forklift to pull the door open. The cages were tipped over, but I didn't care anymore. The manager was yelling at me, and I just ignored him. I knew I would not be coming in the next day. When the day was over, I called in and let the temp agency know that I would not be going in the next day and shut off my phone.

Right now, I am taking a break from work. It seems that in a work environment, everyone is against me, and it's so hard to find one that pays anything decent and won't work you over 10 hours a day. I also miss having time to draw and play music. I want to be an artist and musician, but it's so hard to balance between it and work. I did take a little extra money and finally took my violin into a repair shop so I can start playing it again. I am probably going to start selling junkyard Mercedes parts on eBay again until I find a job that pays well and doesn't overwork me. I can't believe how low the CDL jobs around here pay, but I guess it's better than making minimum wage. I am also doing restoration work on my roommate's 1965 W111 220S. The interior is mostly done, and I am currently replacing the head gasket and doing a valve job.

[Squiggle Dog]

The 300SD has been driving well during this time. The only thing that has really gone wrong is that I ran over a screw and got a flat tire. But, I was able to repair the tire with a plug kit that I already had. Despite how much I've been working, I haven't really had any money to spend on my car, but I did find a really good deal on a wooden cup holder. I couldn't pass it up for $10, and it is a perfect fit. I can also pull it out if I need to use the console.




I could not locate a ball bearing locally that would fit the latch for my armrest lid. Apparently, 5.5mm (7/32") ball bearings are an uncommon size. I had to buy a quantity on eBay. I found the missing spring, and the hardware store had some set screws that fit on each end. So, I was able to repair the latch and it now functions properly.

[polymathman]

Wow - that really sucks! Here in northern West Virginia they have all kind of signing bonuses for CDL's. They get paid a lot of money! And they have to teat them well, because there is always another employer looking for drivers.

REALLY like the idea of the armrest storage, but it's too rich for my blood.

When I was in the long, hot, difficult job of putting a new roof on my back building and garage, I would occasionally stop and imagine pulling my 280SE into the garage, turning off the key, and starting to do the rebuild on the head. Well, now I'm up to my elbows in grease and parts are everywhere, And my wife keeps commenting on the big stupid grin. Worked for me.

[adamb]

Squiggle,

That was a very interesting post about your truck driving jobs. You are having to work hard to make ends meet and it's commendable. I'd like to say that I won't put up with bull from a manager but in reality it is truly difficult when you need the income. I won't be issuing any advice because I am sure that you know all the answers yourself, so good luck with finding a reasonably paid assignment you can tolerate.

Best wishes,
Adam

[Casey]

Sorry to hear about your luck. I've been well on the job front but very stressed otherwise - my significant other has been diagnosed with a fairly rare, tenacious, and unfortunately pretty developed type of cancer so trying to help her has become my only real concern. I've barely kept my primary car in repair (replaced failed blower motor after freezing while driving for a while, replacing all brake pads and a leaking caliper, replacing a rim, rotor, and damaged caliper after my driver rear wheel flew off while driving down the freeway (I always used a torque wrench to MB specs, but now am over tightening a bit as a result)), and the other cars have just become an unnecessary burden I don't have time or money for. I'm stuck in the middle of a long lease on the warehouse, and that's probably the only reason I haven't just eBay-or-junked the whole lot to save the rent expense for more important things (am still a bit tempted to do that anyways and bail on the lease despite consequences that would follow). I find it extremely difficult to focus on my work as well, though I realize it is very important as without that, I have no resources.

Life can be a b***h sometimes and the only certainty about material life is uncertainty. These sorts of times however can serve to remind us to not think too much of it - I think what matters more is spiritual. Things can always be, and one day probably will be worse on the material front. Nonetheless, I wish you better times and luck! Glad the car is still serving you well!

[Squiggle Dog]

Thanks for the responses. It's nice to have a community here where I can speak my mind and vent a little.

Casey, I noticed you hadn't been posting here in a while, and wondered how you have been doing. I can see that you have been going through a really tough time, as well. I hope that your significant other's health improves.

If you decide to liquidate your W116 collection, hopefully you'll be able to sell the cars and parts and get them to good homes. I imagine it's hard to focus on when you're dealing with what you're going through.

Well, I'm off to work. The temp agency called me on an assignment to deliver Honda parts at the last minute, so I've got to go in ASAP.

[KenM]

Hey Squiggle, your work situation there certainly sounds like it sucked big ones, you would hope it was an isolated incident but who knows? I don't know much about trucking in general but here they are always going on about unrealistic delivery schedules for drivers, and the fact that they have to falsify log books, skip breaks etc to achieve a schedule. Time is money but how far can it be pushed?
Hope you find a better situation soon. Above all stay safe.

[littlefin]

Hey SD
Sorry to hear your recent employment experience has been so stressful. How do you get on with the guys at the agency? In my experience, the new employees tend to get given the worst jobs, so if you stick at it a while maybe you'll get some better assignments. That mail job sounds really sh*tty. I've done various delivery jobs over the years, but that one sounds truly grim. The auto part delivery jobs sound like a much better bet.

Take some time to do the stuff you want to do. The art and music are good for your soul, and working those long days can really bend you out of shape. Make sure to eat and drink regularly if you are working that hard physically.

I'm sure things will work out for you in the long run. in the meantime, take care of yourself 

PS I Really like your wooden cup holder 

[Squiggle Dog]

The job situation hasn't been much better. I've applied for several jobs, but have only had a few interviews. The interviews seemed to go well, but I didn't hear anything back. The Class B CDL jobs don't seem to pay much above minimum wage, so I am thinking about just working in a warehouse or production line for minimum wage, just as long as I don't have to work more than 8 hours a day. I've even considered selling my car and just finding a nearby job to where I can ride my bicycle. I just feel like I'm never going to earn a good living ever again.

I finally got my violin back from the luthier after he gave me story after story and stalled for months. I told him that I wasn't happy with his constant rescheduling and excuses. Then after I got home, I realized that he still has part of my violin case there. He rarely responds when I call, and then he says he will look for it and then never gets back to me. I am using a different guy next time. But, I am practicing 2 hours a day in hopes that I'll someday be able to make money as a performing artist.

In the meantime, I've been selling wrecking yard Mercedes parts trying to get by. Though, rent is coming up in a few days and I have nothing. I have another Mercedes friend who was nice enough to ship me some parts to sell for him to split the profit on, and who also loaned me some money so I could buy food for my dogs. I've been riding my bicycle as much as possible so I don't have to buy fuel. I had $8 left on one credit card and attempted to buy a 12-pack of pita bread for $2.99 at Costco so I could have it with some hummus I have at the house, but they don't take credit cards, debit only, so I had to put it back. I might have to start looking under drive-through windows for change again. Haha.

I've also been working on trying to collect from the lawsuit I won for the carrier that damaged my 300SD and my roommate's 1965 Ford when they were being transported from Washington, and then the driver abandoned them on the side of the road and they were sent to a storage yard where hundreds of dollars in fees were accrued. I sent a letter of collection to the owner, and now he is declaring Chapter 7 bankruptcy, so he will probably get away with it, even though I spent hundreds of my own dollars filing the lawsuit.

The injectors in the 300SD had been nailing for a while, and sometimes it would run a bit rough at idle. It started to get pretty bad, and I noticed smoking which wasn't there before. I drove out to get some packing material and the car was idling so rough that the whole car was shaking. When I got near the house, it stalled. It barely limped back to the house, and when I moved it later on, it would smoke a lot and barely move under its own power. At this point, it was no longer drivable.

Fortunately, I had a set of 5 used injectors that I removed from a 300SD in a wrecking yard a few years ago. I got them because they looked like they were almost new. I removed the injectors from my 300SD and looked at them. It looks like they are cratered and probably just worn out after 320,000 miles of use.



I did some research and discovered that the spare injectors I had were remanufactured at some point because of the rubber band on them that reads NA31X. The "X" means rebuilt. Apparently, when Bosch rebuilds injectors, they do it in bulk and they get all mixed up, so an injector that used to have one part number will end up being rebuilt to possibly be a different part, so the rubber band covers up the old part number. The bottoms of the spare injectors looked much better than the ones that were in my car. But, just to be safe, I took them in to be tested at a Bosch facility.



I dropped off the injectors at the Bosch facility as they test them for free. I wanted to know in what condition both sets were, and what the pop pressures and spray patterns were like. The shop said they would call me in the morning when they were done. 3 PM came the next day and I didn't hear back from the shop, so I called them and asked if they had been tested. The person on the phone said yes, and that all of the injectors failed. So, I went to the shop and asked them what the pop pressures and spray patterns were. They had no data for me, only that "they failed". I humored the shop with a rebuild estimate, and they wanted $500 to rebuild them! Then they wanted $77.10 for just the heat shields. Luckily, I already had a set I got for $7.20 from an online vendor. When the time comes, I am probably going to rebuild my old ones with Monark nozzles. The shop was nice enough to give me a bottle of diesel fuel system cleaner and cetane booster.

While the injectors were out, I did a test to see if my glow plugs still work.