Reply With QuoteOh my, those big ends. Being generous somebody was having an off day but what else would those numbers be for? Oh well...
I posted pics of an engine from a MKII Jaguar. When the car was brought in, it was clear that it didn't run. What wasn't clear at that time, was (is) the fact that the engine only ran for about 100km after rebuilding! Then it seized up! The car had been in the shop before but for all other sorts of work: brakes, wheels powder coated etc. The engine was done at a different workshop(?)
Well, earlier this week it became clear what has happened...
The conrods were line bored in the factory. And then they're numbered: #1-> 6. And the numbers need to be opposite of each other, on one side. And that... was not done after rebuilding the engine! I forgot to take a pic of the crankshaft, but that's in the same condition as the bearings... All 6 conrod bearings are shot; here some examples:
How it should be...
Then the Mercedes that was in the shop for a longer period than expected: braking was very, very bad when it came in and it ended in a full rebuild of the braking system. However, finding a new master cylinder wasn't easy. Despite Mercedes Benz' vast stock of classic car parts. For some reason unknown to me, Mercedes built these cars for a short while with a different type of master cylinder. And you cannot swap the original (in this car) for one that's normally used for this Mercedes! And you've guessed it: they didn't have that one in stock. Ultimately, one was found not too far from the workshop. A guy known for 'hoarding' Mercedes parts in his farm barns had one! One lucky shot.
Oh my, those big ends. Being generous somebody was having an off day but what else would those numbers be for? Oh well...
Big ends, ouch!
That Merc is just beautiful, would love to be lucky enough to own one as a retirement toy one day if I had the garage space & friendly mechanic like yourself.
These Mercedes models are pretty rare here. Most people turn to older British classics: Jaguars, Rovers.
But, having looked under the bonnet etc., I would say that a good, well-sorted classic Mercedes like this is worth a serious look when you're in the market for an 'upmarket classic'. It it still a very classy car even by today's standards. It drives majestically (is perhaps the right word here). It's all superbly built. One with an auto'box would perhaps be better suited for the look and feel of this car.
As always, rust is the major problem on these cars. Maintenance is not cheap. Like so many other cars from that era: they were built when labour costs were low. And the original owner of these cars could afford it to have an expensive car.
The best route for buying a car like this, is trying to find a restored specimen. Service history and restoration pictures is an absolute 'must'.
I had not spotted it was a manual car, how strange; as you say, an auto box would be more becoming of the car & as such just assumed it had one and didn’t focus on the gearstick.
having restored a 1960's W114 mercedes in the early 1990's i can appreciate how much work has been done to achieve the condition this one is in,simply beautiful.love it..
Last edited by greasemonkey; 4th November 2023 at 08:47.
There is a Belgian guy (the Belgians are slowly replacing the Brits as the No1 Expat in Spain) who has a Merc almost identical to the one here but it is all white. He lives a few doors down from me. It's the little things that make you realise how things have moved on. He uses a key to unlock the doors and boot and you never see that nowadays and it somehow looks strange. It's the love of his life and he maintains it superbly.
Can`t believe someone assembling an engine would make such a mistake, they're numbered and marked for a reason! Hopefully the crank can be salvaged with having to regrind it again.
When I bought my MGB in 2015 it had a freshly rebuilt engine that had been poorly machined and assembled by a monkey, fortunately I made the right decision to strip it and sort it out myself, I doubt whether it would've lasted 1000miles. Several faults were found but fortunately he crank could be re-used without a full regrind. One journal hadn`t been ground fully (!) but that was fixable by the machine shop I dealt with. MG engines are relatively cheap and easy to fix.........definitely not the case with a 60s Jaguar!
This is my latest little project all ready to go back together,
That looks really, really good! And, you don't see a lot of engine stands with a drip tray like that!
On my end of the engine 'spectrum'... things go from 'bad' to 'worse'. The big ends is damaged (pics above), the crankshaft is damaged and... those small plates behind the bolts (I think they're called 'lock taps' in English?) were installed in the wrong way. The edges touched the crankshaft!!!
Not seen by myself when 'in situ': the distribution chain was not a new one; lots of play because it was stretched. "The only good part is the paint job on lower end of the block!" was our definite conclusion yesterday around 5pm
The folded edges are okay, but they need to align with the crankshaft when that's turning...
Originally Posted by thieuster
That looks really, really good! And, you don't see a lot of engine stands with a drip tray like that!
On my end of the engine 'spectrum'... things go from 'bad' to 'worse'. The big ends is damaged (pics above), the crankshaft is damaged and... those small plates behind the bolts (I think they're called 'lock taps' in English?) were installed in the wrong way. The edges touched the crankshaft!!!
Not seen by myself when 'in situ': the distribution chain was not a new one; lots of play because it was stretched. "The only good part is the paint job on lower end of the block!" was our definite conclusion yesterday around 5pm
The folded edges are okay, but they need to align with the crankshaft when that's turning...
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