Everytime I catchup with this story I shudder at MB engineering lol. Then again I own a 2006 vito van and still bear a grudge from fixing the injector 'black death' problem. If they cannot design an injector clamp and seal adequately .... and the window regulators, the glow plugs, front end geometry... useful size van although looking forward to replacing it with a Hyundai :)
Came up with a solution for holding the flywheel:
Back when I first got the Titan lift someone cautioned me that if you took the wheels off a car and lowered it all the way down, the lift wouldn't be able to get started. I completely forgot about that until today. The control arms were too low for the hoist legs to slide under. I had to just put the floor jack under the subframe and lift the front a bit to take enough weight off the lift.
Should be bolted in shortly!
It was pretty hard to get the engine in the right spot because there isn't quite enough reach on the hoist. In order to get it in place, I raised the car in the lift so that the bumper was above the pump handle on the hydraulic cylinder. That have me enough to get the right side lined up. With that bolt started, I disconnected the hoist from the right side of the engine, lifted the left side, and it just sort of swing into place.
I realize that the folks that do this sort of thing for a living aren't all that impressed that I was able to lower an engine into the same car that it came out of and put a couple bolts into motor mounts that were designed by the factory to put this engine in that chassis. No cutting and welding was necessary, and there wasn't anything to really do other than pushing the hoist around the floor. There are people out there that do this sort of thing every day and are able to do a much better job in a fraction of the time. If I had to pay myself a wage for the hours that I've spent, I'd be absolutely broke except I'd have all that money I paid myself, so that would be okay I guess. All of that aside, this is - to me, at least - a major milestone.
Back in 2017, my dad shut down his business and sold his building so he could retire. My brother and I were very accustomed to being able to use the woodworking/cabinet-building/countertop-building shop that was part of the business. There was too much "good stuff" in the way (most of which we tossed in the Dumpster because it wasn't good enough to move and store!) to ever do anything like bring a car into the shop, but we could just pop out there whenever we wanted and would have access to the space and tools to do whatever, especially if it involved woodworking. If we could find a place to put all the tools, we could have them, so we had to scramble a little bit. There was a very short window of opportunity because the deal to sell the building happened really fast, so the best we could come up with in a short period of time was to get two storage units with part of the wall removed. The dream was a workshop where we could work on cars and do woodworking projects as well as anything else that came up, but as you can imagine, trying to do anything in a pair of 10x30 storage lockers with only about 33% of the wall between them removed was cumbersome.
Fast forward to early 2019 and we found a new space to build out our workshop: Geographically closer to me, but drive-time for both my brother and I is exactly the same; 20x70; 12' garage door with 16' ceilings (that's good for woodworking); gas heat; "real" electrical service (so that we can run the table saw); a bathroom and running water instead of a long walk to a portapotty; a separate man door so you can get in and out without losing all the heat; and even an office area. We'd be able to have plenty of space to set up all of Dad's tools as well as have room to work on cars. At the storage locker, only one of us could really be working on anything at a time, and now we could both work on stuff and not get in each other's way! There would even be so much room that when we brought supplies in we could pull the truck or trailer into the shop and unload it inside. It was The Dream!
Of course, it was about 4 months before we discovered this new place that der Scheißwagen took the big Scheiß in its Bett and I knew that I was going to have to do *something* with it, but I hadn't thought that far ahead yet. It was parked at the local independent Merc/BMW/Audi/VW shop and I hadn't made arrangements to move it because I wasn't sure where it should be delivered yet. We moved in to the shop and the very first thing I did was pull the motorhome into the shop so I could work on the front suspension in January. It was amazing to finally be able to work on a vehicle inside in the wintertime while not wearing a coat or thermals! And the fact that the vehicle was a 32' long motorhome was even more amazing. But it didn't take too long before I got the call from the shop that they really wanted my hunk of crap out of their way so I had it flatbedded to the shop.
March 13th or 15th or maybe the 19th of 2019 - the exact date is on the receipt from the towing company that is stuck under the windshield wiper - der Scheißwagen was delivered into the shop and for the last 3 years it has been in the way. I had it pushed all the way up against the wall, but it's the "wrong" wall. The approach to the garage is complicated by the shape of the parking lot. The whole building is at the bottom of a hill and part of that hill is directly in front of my garage door:
The red "X" marks the spot, so it can be a little hard to make the swing to get into the garage. The door is also not centered between the walls:
My original plan was that a non-op project car would be stored up against the wall on the left side there so that you'd be able to make the swing into the garage without too much effort. But the Merc wound up against the other wall where it blocked much of the door. I could get cars in and out, but it meant some Austin Powers action to line things up right and then once they were in, any work on the sides of the cars meant I was crammed up against either the Merc or the shelves against the other wall. Getting the Excursion in was a real PITA and I couldn't even open the doors. Once I put the lift in the shop, it was cool, but now getting the car in was even more difficult because I had to be on a straight approach by the time I crossed the threshold into the garage in order to be lined up with the ramps. And there was no chance to push a non-operational car over to the side to work on something else because I already had one of those.
It was one of those things that just kind of made me angry every time I tried to use the shop.
But now, having this car on the lift in the center of the space has finally made the workshop what I always dreamed it would be. I can walk all the way around it and don't have to squeeze past a wall or a shelf or another car or anything. I now have a project car in the shop and I can make full use of the shop to work on that project car. I have finally realized the dream! Now, once I can drive it out of there and bring the next project in (I'm looking at you, Miata!) it'll be even more betterer, but for right now it's been three years coming, but we're finally using the workshop how we originally intended and that's absolutely huge to me.
But nobody cares about that sentimental horseE36 M3, let's see where we're at now. I've made a list of things I need to do and now it's just a matter of starting to knock those off one by one:
The astute reader will notice that I have a very large amount of blank paper as well as a Sharpie right there so that as I remember things that need to be done, I have plenty of capacity to add them.
You've been an inspiration to me, I was in a similar "the car should be parted out/scrapped unless I'm willing to put a lot of work in" situation last year. No where near the scope of what you're doing, but it was probably the most extensive tear down and rebuild I've done to date. Seeing you grinding through the process and just putting one foot in front of the other has helped me to keep going on my project.
Thank You, and best of luck with the remaining punch list!
In reply to dj06482 (Forum Supporter) :
Wow, thank you for that! I've been similarly inspired by others' build projects so I'm glad I can pass it on down the line!
Just gotta make a little bit of progress any time you can!
In reply to wae :
Huge milestone. Congratulations!
Refresh my memory, are your intentions to keep it once it's up and running? Or get rid of it?
In reply to Indy - Guy :
I still waffle on that...
On the one hand, when it's running it's amazing and I'll have a warranty on the parts most likely to break and be expensive.
On the other hand, if used prices are still stupid, it might make sense to collect my check, sell this for a dumb amount of money, and then sit on the cash until things normalize and roll that and the Excursion into something nicer than the Ex and not as needy as der Scheißwagen.
But then, maybe I sell the Ex while prices are dumbish and I can get more than I should for it.
Well done, as soon as it starts making smoke and the proper noises it'll be time for congrats.
BTW, I use an old main bearing shell to lock the flywheel to torque it up on Minis, no reason you couldn't do the same, tho the valve trick was pretty slick!
Well, noises I am looking forward to. Smoke, however, should probably be kept to a minimum if at all possible!
Made some headway tonight. First off, I gave the blood sacrifice. I didn't even realize I had done it - it just took a little skin off and then a tiny little spot bled like the dickens for some reason:
The transmission and the engine are now connected, the motor mount bolts are torqued down, the starter is bolted on, and the torque converter is bolted up to the flexplate.
For the torque converter bolts, WIS calls for an 8nm stage, then 40nm, and then 90 degrees. I don't have anything that will register only 8nm, so I just went barely tight with that. The 90 degree turn, however, was a real tough one to do. I can't imagine what that would have been like if the car wasn't on the lift.
I think I'm doing this wrong. I completed one item and added two more.
Tonight's main task was to secure the fuel lines. They have some brackets that bolt to the block and the head covers. My mistake was putting the left side head shield on before lowering the engine. The fuel lines pass between the heat shield and the block at the front. In order to get the lines in place, the heat shield had to be removed, the lines bolted in, and the heat shield reattached. So that took a while.
Next up is the wiring harness. I started with that, but only got a couple connections made before I had to close up for the night.
wae said:Back when I first got the Titan lift someone cautioned me that if you took the wheels off a car and lowered it all the way down, the lift wouldn't be able to get started.
That.... that may have been me. (hashtag deadpool reference)
I completely forgot about that until today. The control arms were too low for the hoist legs to slide under. I had to just put the floor jack under the subframe and lift the front a bit to take enough weight off the lift.
And now you have gone from the "been told" part of education to the "real world experience" part, and you are much more likely to remember that one!
A basic understanding of trigonometry and the Unit Circle would make this all obvious, at least in hindsight, but nothin' makes for learnin' like real-world application.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Yeah, it makes total sense, but I believe there's a corollary to the principle that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". I don't have any witty phrasing, but it basically boils down to the fact that the technology doesn't have to be that advanced if the person experiencing it is sufficient stupid. As far as I'm concerned, there's some sort of magic involved so that I pushy button, car go up. I pushy lever, car come down. My operating theory is that there's some really strong gnomes or something but I can't prove it. I've been leaving a box of Wheaties for them.
Once I get things to the point where I'm not going to be raising and lowering constantly, I am going to bring it all the way back down again, though. There's plenty of room to get the not-low-profile jack under it and when it's all the way down, it's a lot easier to get to things!
wae said:In reply to dj06482 (Forum Supporter) :
Wow, thank you for that! I've been similarly inspired by others' build projects so I'm glad I can pass it on down the line!
Just gotta make a little bit of progress any time you can!
Please dont take this the wrong way, but you've inspired me to not purchase anything with a Mercedes logo on it.
Your persistence in getting this car back on the road is truly admirable.
In reply to RandolphCarter :
I like to think that my life serves as a cautionary tale to others.
Movin' right along (did you hear that in Fozzy's voice or Kermit's?)
Taking a quick break for lunch here, but AC compressor and power steering pump are installed and I've got the belt on. Probably going to go ahead and get the turbo on next.
It's kind of neat that I can do this:
But it'll be cooler when I don't need to!
The rest of that day - and the weekend - pretty much got away from me and I didn't get much done. The alternator is hooked up, a bunch of electrical connectors are plugged in, and I fished all the hardware and tools out from between the radiator and the intercooler. I should put some blue tape across there to prevent things from falling in, come to think of it. I also discovered that I had connected one of the fuel lines to the water neck and one of the coolant lines to the fuel filter. That would have been.... problematic. So I rectumfied that. Before putting the turbo on, I really want to have all the wiring figured out since the harness bolts in under it. There are a handful of connectors that I really can't tell exactly where they should go - I've laid them out in their natural position, but there isn't anything in range for them to get plugged in to. There are some plugs for emissions and the turbo which is fine, I had one giant honking connection that I was worried about but realized it's for the fan, and the starter wires are all hanging loose and need to be bolted up, and the two MAF connectors are there and waiting. But then I've got a couple connectors in the front and two or three on the top that I'm just baffled by. I'm assuming that WIS has a wiring diagram that will have a section that shows the various connectors by shape and wire color so I can trace these back. Every time I've been out at the shop to do that, though, people have shown up and I've spent my time yakking instead of working. Which is really okay - I'd rather talk to people than curse at inanimate objects! - but I'm just making excuses for why I'm done finished yet!
In reply to wae :
I need a shop space like that!
This week has been a bit of a wash so far. I'm taking a networking training class during the day which doesn't leave me with much downtime to fiddle on things, and then my wife had to go out of town and I've had homework for this class, so I haven't had any time in the evenings either. I was able to scare up a couple hours today, though, so I went out to the shop and thought about getting the turbo installed. The first part of that was to get the turbo pedestal bolted to the block so I went off in search of it.
After looking high and low, including coming back home and scouring the basement where I was cleaning parts, I still couldn't find it. After dropping a kid off at youth group, I went and looked again. I finally found it out at the shop.
It was already bolted to the block.
I can hear yakkity sax playing in my head right now....
Anyway, I did get the turbo itself bolted up. Then I unbolted it and removed it so I could put the new collector gaskets on and then bolted it up again. That was all the time I was able to find for myself, but it's a step forward. I also found a few more things that need to be done and got them written down on the sheet.
Making progress Wae, good job. I do not envy trying to get the turbo & exh pipes installed in chassis. I watched a vid of an engine install and realized (after I installed it bare) that the turbo outlet elbow & first downpipe could be on the engine before installing it in the truck. It's together now, but was quite the challenge.
So on mine, the engine is all installed, connected, fluids filled, etc.. Though the main battery had been disconnected the whole time, I know that modern vehicles are sensitive to voltage dropping below minimum thresholds, so it was topped off with the batt charger. Then the moment of truth: dropped on the battery terminal. Clicking, whirring noise from throughout the vehicle, but then the dash lit up RED with a warning: Drive direct to workshop, do not shift gears!
WTF? The key is not in it, why is the dash on and dinging?
Turning the key to run does allow communication through the OBD2 port, though the dash continues dinging & showing the weird message. Code scan shows U0101 which is no communication with TCM. Without the tranny module joining the CAN-Bus, the dash can't show the gear position. The ECM won't start the engine, since it doesn't know the trans is in Park. The shift lever doesn't do anything since it communicates to the tranny through the bus.
What went wrong, you ask? The vehicle has 2 batteries, main & a tiny Aux battery that maintains memory in all the modules should the main battery be removed. Both batteries are under the passenger seat. There is a large positive battery cable that goes to a +12V jump post under the hood, and from there a cable goes to starter and to alternator charge post.
What should be done to unpower vehicle & remove engine for long term rebuild: Disconnect main battery. Disconnect starter cable at underhood jump terminal. Reconnect main battery. Connect batt maintainer. Take as long as necessary for engine work, because main battery & maintainer are keeping all modules & memories alive.
What I did: Disconnect main battery. Disconnect starter cable at underhood jump terminal. Let aux battery keep alive all modules & memories for a day. Let all modules die, capacitors discharge, volatile memory disappears, modules think they are stolen, lock out....
Next step: Disconnect driveshaft, roll vehicle out of shop onto trailer, take to MB dealer to be diagnosed (several modules have died, duh), and get an obscene estimate to replace modules & code them to the vehicle.
Last step: light this fawcker on fire!
In reply to FJ40Jim :
Ugh. That is not a promising situation. I was fearing that things might be a bit grumpy and out of whack after being without power for so long, but that sounds like an epic disaster...
Hopefully, worst case is the modules all need the dealer to make them able to communicate with each other again. CAN-Bus modules can be annoying sometimes.
My concern is that I have no idea if the thing is going to fire up, sound okay, need anything else, etc. So I can envision a scenario where I have the thing towed there, they sync the modules, then I tow it back to me to get it running, and then it goes back to them again so they can do the AEM.
I wonder if that can be solved with just a copy of Xentry or if it needs to "call home" to der Kommandant in Stuttgart.
In reply to FJ40Jim :
Quick question for you... Did it give you that immediately or did it take a while? I hooked up the new battery so I could move the seat forward to get to the battery compartment and just got the regular screen. I couldn't leave it powered up too long because apparently it runs the fuel pump and all my fuel lines aren't hooked up yet so I was getting a bit of a mess! I did get the seat out of the way, though:
On another topic, I have this third connector from the main positive cable that goes to the starter and the alternator. I cannot find anything that this would plug in to. It's a round connector with a single blade inside and it's pretty heavy gauge. Did you happen to have one of these?
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