Mercedes 300SEL 6.3 Racing Project

MAF260

Member
Messages
7,662
Oh that is splendid! I shall follow this with great interest, I love to see projects like this.
 

Contigo

Sponsor
Messages
18,376
Wow amazing, get this posted on Pistonheads, they will literally be creaming themselves over it!
 

2b1ask1

Special case
Messages
20,223
Getting there Grant; had to go back to the start of the thread in the link just to remind myself of the mission!
 

Almichie

Junior Member
Messages
799
Superb, and total dedication to original form. I really look forward to seeing (and hearing!) the finished article. Well done.
 

Grant V

Member
Messages
242
A lot of progress has been made on the diff over the last three months and it’s now effectively ready to be re-installed.
The diff was stripped down, cleaned and prepared for painting. I decided not to strip the whole crown wheel and pinion assembly, thinking that if it ain’t broke etc. and I didn’t want to unsettle anything. However, I did split the two diff halves as a new pivot mounting needed to be fitted.
I sprayed the individual parts in primer and then in a 2K black paint, which was matched to a black powder coated finish. The trailing arms, anti-roll bar and other parts were powder coated and I didn’t want there to be a difference in colour once assembled, hence the paint needing to match and the paint supplier did a really good job.
The one half of the diff was placed in a vice, but in hindsight, it really needs some sort of a rotisserie type setup to be able to spray this part of the diff in one go – only once the final black coat had dried properly did I notice some areas where I didn’t get the paint done properly. Anyway, I’ve touch this up with a brush so that you wouldn’t notice it, but it’s not first prize. Lessons learnt! Oh yes, I now also have a yellow vice....

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My paint supplier matched the red colour for the bellow chambers and these were painted. Once thoroughly dry, the units were re-assembled with new bellows and seals for the connections and re-installed – I’m very happy with how they turned out.

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All the nuts, bolts and washers were zinc plated, so assembly of the diff could begin.
The two halves were reassembled with a new rubber boot and pivot mounting, along with new O-ring seals at the pivot joins – the cradle I had made to support the diff made the job infinitely easier than my past experiences.

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The anti-dive brake mechanism was then tackled with new felts seals. New nylon bushes were used with the old shims, which were cleaned up. Once the tolerances were measured, the caps were replaced with new O-ring seals.

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I had the brake callipers overhauled at a brake specialist, but asked them not to paint them – I was thinking of painting them myself. My paint supplier suggested that I get them gun-coated, a baking process that is brake fluid resistant and offer better scratch and chip resistance than powder coating. I had to strip the callipers again to get this done, and once I got them back they were reassembled. The colour choices were a bit limited – I would have liked them done in grey to match the front callipers, but the final result is still great.

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The drive shafts were cleaned and new seals were fitted to the drive shaft housings. New outer seals were fitted to the backing plates, which had been powder coated, and these were re-assembled onto the drive shafts with new bearings, washers and lock nuts. I had a special tool made to fasten the slotted nuts to the required 200Nm.

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The drive shafts were inserted without too much fuss and new hand brake shoes fitted.

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The handbrake cables were really grubby and I wanted new ones, but they’re no longer available. Nevertheless they cleaned up nicely and the metal parts were plated – they really look good, except for the rubber boots closest to the brake shoes. I found a part number on the boots and they’re still available, so I’ll order these – even though they cost the same as the fiscal budget of a small African republic.

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New discs were fitted along with the callipers, steel brake pipes and new rubber hoses.

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The trailing arms were powder coated and the rubber bushes have been replaced with nylon bushes for rigidity – the original threaded insert has been retained. I will fit these once the diff is in the car, as the diff cradle obstructs where the nuts must be inserted and secured.

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The diff is effectively now ready to be refitted, except that I’m still waiting or the diff flange seal to come. Once this is here, I can fit the seal and torque the flange, and then set up the diff mounting according to the specs.

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Here is a detailed before and after pic of the work done so far:

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AFTER
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I'm sure the purists will cringe at what's been done here, as the diff originally came out of the factory sprayed overall black. Some might think this over-restored, but stuff it - it's been tremendous fun and very satisfying - for me it looks good.
 

alfatwo

Member
Messages
5,517
It's great you can work out doors...no such luck over here at the moment as its pissing down with rain as usual!

Dave
 

MAF260

Member
Messages
7,662
Wow, that's amazing work. I really enjoy these updates, it's great to see the workmanship and transformation.
 

Grant V

Member
Messages
242
The diff was refitted to the car over a weekend in the middle of April - the cradle was really good idea and was worth the effort to make it. It made the job a breeze. I followed some advice and strapped the diff down, although I just used one strap closest to where it pivots.

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Everything went together easily, except that the right hand trailing arm didn’t want to line up with the mounting point. It was about 25mm off and the nylon bushes that I had fitted were so ridged that there was no lateral movement at all.

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I decided to take the trailing arms off the parts car and fit them instead, which I did the next weekend. It all fitted perfectly, so I’m going to bin the nylon bushes and fit new rubber bushes in future when the diff comes out again when the car gets painted.

With great excitement, the car was dropped off its stands and started. It took some time for the air suspension system to get charged and some minor adjustments were required on the lever of the rear anti-roll bar to get the rear suspension to its correct height.

The next morning was time for the test drive to make sure all gears worked and for the first time in two years the car was fully mobile!! Check out the Youtube clip below of the first drive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvGusDw_bWU&feature=em-upload_owner

The steering was very heavy and difficult to turn and when I got back from a trip around the block, I realised that I hadn’t filled the power steering system. I also found that one of the clamping bolts on the steering knuckle hadn’t been fitted. Sometimes (no, often) I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

With the car back in the garage, the power steering system was filled and needed to be bled. There was an interesting moment during the bleeding process when the bleeding hose popped off the bleeder nipple, but all is well and the power steering works as it should. Amazing how easy it is to turn the wheel now…..

The next job to be tackled was to make the mounting frame for the electric coolant fan. I took some basic measurements and drew these out on the work bench. I placed the fan in position on the table and then bent into shape two lengths of 12mm solid round bar, which would be the main struts.

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The struts were tacked together with 20x3mm flat cross bars and then fitted to the car step-by-step to check that everything fitted properly.

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Once everything had been tacked and checked, the frame was welded up and finished off, which will be sent for powder coating. I really enjoy doing these fabrication jobs.

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It was time to tackle the brake upgrade. I removed the front hubs from the car and then took off the discs. I noticed that both front seals were damaged – I must have done this when I fitted the front hubs to move the car last year. (Refer to the line further up about not being the sharpest knife…). Once the old discs were removed, I cleaned up the mating surface of the hubs with some emery paper to ensure that they were as clean as possible to accept the new discs.

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The new discs are very different from the originals. Apart from the heights being different and the thickness of the discs, the new ones are also about 10mm larger in diameter :

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The callipers bolt into the standard holes with and adapter bracket, which bolts into the calliper.

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These will have to go back to the supplier, as the bolt holes, which are supposed to take the standard bolts, are too small. The standard bolts are also too long, so either a spacer will have to be made so that the standard bolts can be used, or new bolts will have to be made. It’s not a big deal, but I mounted everything as a mock up to see what it would look like. Notice the different colours of paint on the discs – these colours are temperature sensitive and will change once only when the car is used (there’ a whole run-in procedure) and indicate what temperatures are reached

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The new brake lines that have been supplied are the perfect length, but I’ll have to make some guide brackets to keep them away from moving parts.