I think that's an oil bath air filter, it's oriented vertically, right? You'll need a bucket of kerosene to clean it and some SAE30 oil (I'm guessing) to refill it.
Edit: This looks about right.
I think that's an oil bath air filter, it's oriented vertically, right? You'll need a bucket of kerosene to clean it and some SAE30 oil (I'm guessing) to refill it.
Edit: This looks about right.
Thanks Yugo!
Yeah, I've seen an oil bath before on an old Scout II my buddy used to own but I dont remember it having that wire filled container on it. That really threw me for a loop
. I got the air filter cleaned and re-filled. (oil change and coolant flush /thermostat too!). I used the old engine oil to replace the oil in the filter housing. Easy money.
Tomorrow I'll either go after these dampers or go for the ignition (points, etc).
It's nice working cars again. What a dark couple of months THAT was 
Of course, pictures to follow.
Good times
Regarding the seat belts. My 59 Mercedes 190 sedan has one seatbelt on the front passenger seat only and it looks to be aftermarket. Seat belts were optional back then I guess and the only person they seemed to be worried about was the front passenger.
t56mike wrote: Use apobox.com to ship stuff that Amazon won't. I use it here in Korea, A&P contractor, when someone says they don't ship to APOs. Commie bastages!
I had no idea we could do that! We ended up getting super lucky here. The local contingency of security forces let us get in on their APO box 
it does come with size and weight limitations but as long as I dont try to order something like a swaybar set or a transmission, I should be good
Cotton wrote: Regarding the seat belts. My 59 Mercedes 190 sedan has one seatbelt on the front passenger seat only and it looks to be aftermarket. Seat belts were optional back then I guess and the only person they seemed to be worried about was the front passenger.
I did some poking around and it looks like this car has provisions for rear shoulder belts (on the driver's and passenger side at least).
I found a set of lap belts for a w115 on ebay for $100 so those are on their way.
Ok, so the weekend started about here:
You remember the box, but that oil was bought out of an alley in the middle of this... well, I'll call it an "automotive parking lot with buildings(?)" I've got to go back and get some pictures, problem is I have no idea where in the heck I was! The place was cool though. Lots of "garages" and cars being worked on in a huge dirt parking lot... The oil is a semi-synthetic and so far is the only mobile-1 I've found in the country (Still learning the ropes) I had to tell the guy I had two mercedeseseses (Mercedi?) otherwise it was sounding like he wasn't going to let me take his last two jugs of Mobile 1 oil (lucky for me I picked up his hesitation quick, and kept my stride)
Day one started like this:
But ended with an oil change, filter service, and fluid flush (with thermostat change) as I didn't have a 17mm wrench to get the nuts off the struts. After everything was put back together we made a quick run to Ace but were really ready to call it a day after that.
The white stuff in the radiator is water pump lube I picked up from Ace. It turns out that finding anti-freeze here might be a bit difficult (but I guess it makes sense). The stuff I drained was just water and I didn't feel confident the water pump would last long that way...
zsolt: are you sure? did you taste it to see if there was any glycol?
me: hahahahahaha! There's a Hungarian sentence if I've ever heard one! Hold on (dips finger in radiator, touches to tongue) Nope, that's just water alright
By the end of the day, the house looked something like this:
Living room:
Laundry room:
I better enjoy that while I can. When Mrs. Hungary gets here she's going to put a stop to that real quick
The next day I went after the struts again, but for some reason it never dawned on me that they might be mounted inside the springs (durp!). The rears'll have to wait until I get a spring compressor. I could do the fronts but honestly I'd rather do all four at once... It wasnt a complete loss though, as when I was upside down in the trunk I think I saw what looks to be shoulder belt mounting points!
I'll keep that in my back pocket for now (both our car seats are lap belt only compatible) but it's good to know I can upgrade should I want to 
anyhoo, on to do the ignition stuffs:
Ta da!
Easily done when it's cool outside, but it was over 100 deg and we're in the middle of Ramadan. The locals fast during the day so we (I keep saying "we" because Zsolt was over replacing the engine and transmission mounts on his car) so we don't eat or drink outside. Instead we work until we're good and cooked, then come in for a sip of water and a quick cool off, then it's back outside again.
After the ignition stuff was done (no real change noticed in performance, but nice to know things are new) I moved on to general looking around and removing unnecessary crap.
First thing is the mounts to the air filter box are broken (it's being held in place by a wadded up towel underneath it). There's three of them with rubber bushings and for some reason they're all toast. There's a rubber elbow that looks to be poorly fixed with foam as well:
I'm going to need to get that fixed pretty quick as this isn't really the place I want to have air filtration issues...
Next up was an old Alarm system (Spybot or something like that?). I unplugged it and the car still ran, so out it came!
I promise the rats nest was much more impressive before I threw it in the bin, but for some reason I forgot to take a picture of it and no way was I going in to pull it back out. We were already getting enough weird looks from locals for working on our cars (seriously, one Indian guy stopped by about three times. Each time he watched us for a good 15 minutes. )
The Alarm removal led me to this weird red box that was clipped to the ignition coil. There are no part numbers or anything, just a 3-position switch and a sticker that peeled off long ago. My initial instinct was to take it apart (couldn't, no drill for the rivets) to see if maybe it was a capacitive ignition or something, but I figured "nah" so in the bin it went...
Local law requires you to carry a fire extinguisher (and I've seen about three burned out cars on my way to work so far).
My extinguisher is empty....
So that goes on the list.
I went and had a look at the blower motor for the HVAC system... Just an initial peek really, not much to report but things were looking a bit cramped in there and i figured the inlet to the motor was kind of being "pinched" so I cut out a little opening to help it breathe:
(cutout at top right)
That might have made a bit of a difference. I cant say if it's a placebo effect or not, but it feels like I have more air coming out the vents now Still a ways to go though on that one.
So what's left... well, there's a warm start stumble, and the rear brake pads look like they've got a paper thin layer of material left before they bite their backings . I've really got to do something about that air filter. I don't like the elbow, or the mounts and I think the lid might not be sealing very well to the housing.
I think that should do me for the coming weekend
good times!
(oh, window shading on hold for Ramadan. The weekends are kind of sporadic with when what businesses are going to be open, and the weekdays aren't much better.... That's what I get for waiting)
Where does one get gas for his Mercedes in Kuwait?
At an Alfa station of course!
(disclaimer, I was walking when I took that picture)
I ran a tank of 91 octane and got a little ignition knock and the occasional dieseling when I shut it off... I just filled up again with 95 octane so we'll see if that made a difference. I don't have a timing light or anything to see where the advance is set.
Fill up # 1 was 3.500kd for 41 liters of regular unleaded (around 10 gallons). That's a whopping $11.55 with the current exchange rate. I can get used to this 
Bill, are you really married to that oil-bath air filter? Looks like a standard sidedraft Z-S carb. Why not just clamp a come filter to it?
I take it they use RON over there and not AKI (the US octane rating system)? 95 RON is about 90 AKI, 91 RON is about 87 AKI.
In reply to EvanR: It's my understanding that an oil bath will catch a lot more dirt than a paper filter before clogging up, and probably filter better than an oiled cloth K&N or whatever. I suspect the Germans knew what they were doing when they specced an oil bath filter for the car in a time when paper filters were getting pretty common.
Yugo: Yeah, it's RON (much like Europe as I understand) so right now I'm running our equivalent of mid-grade. First drive to work and no more ignition knock and no dieseling when I shut it down, but I'll have to drive it a few more times before I call the problem "solved". Looks promising so far
EvanR: I still have the K&N and could easily clamp it in with a piece of steel for a cap, but so far everything I've read on teh interwebz strongly favors the oil bath over the paper/foam replacements. I am getting kind of attached to it though. The oil bath super easy to clean and I can do it every time I change my oil for no cost
Cheers!
Desert + oil bath sounds good, they are still used on machinery that spends a lot of time in dirt (think quarry etc) Although cyclonic prefilters and paper (huge paper!) are slowly killing them off.
Hungary Bill wrote: The oil is a semi-synthetic and so far is the only mobile-1 I've found in the country (Still learning the ropes)
Semi- synth M1? That's weird. Must be because it's the Alabama version.
IIRC certain flavors of M1 can't legally be called synthetic in some parts of the world.
So I have to ask. Are you in love with her yet? Is this going to be another adopted foreign child you adopt and drag along with you to your next local like some kind of automotive Angelina Jolie?
I agree that she needs GRM diplomat flags.
AClockworkGarage wrote: So I have to ask. Are you in love with her yet? Is this going to be another adopted foreign child you adopt and drag along with you to your next local like some kind of automotive Angelina Jolie?
I am, and that's not a good thing
Seriously. If the car was just a little more powerful, a little lower, a little less floaty, the AC a little colder, and if it were a manual transmission it'd be on track to beat out the Alfa. This is a car I could keep for a loooooooooooooong time and would be very happy.
Edit: The Rote Sau replica build doesnt help either...
Crankwalk and Yugo.
Yeah, I haven't heard of this stuff before either. It seemed to have decent reviews online, and the general consensus was favorable. Here's a link to their site: http://www.mobil.co.uk/uk-english-lcw/carengineoils_products_mobil-super-2000-formula-p-10w40.aspx#
I should say I was specifically looking for mobile 1 here because of some favorable results in my old 4-runner. I'm not sure what old oil was in there before but on the temp gauge I used to see temperatures as high as 230deg f while putting around the forest service roads. After my first oil change (I think we picked up some Mobile 1 from Costco on sale or something) I dont think I ever saw the temp gauge hit 200 again. Hopefully this stuff is doing the same thing in the Merc but I'd have no idea if it was since I dont have an aftermarket gauge installed
Hungary Bill wrote:AClockworkGarage wrote: So I have to ask. Are you in love with her yet? Is this going to be another adopted foreign child you adopt and drag along with you to your next local like some kind of automotive Angelina Jolie?I am, and that's not a good thing
You know a little more power and a manual are not hard to change right? 
If you can't find a full synthetic, 15w40 diesel oil would work just as well. Though given the hot environment and German propensity for thick oil I wonder if a 50 weight might be appropriate. In that category if you can find it, M1 15w50 is about the toughest street oil you can buy. Does it have an oil pressure gauge?
java230 wrote:Hungary Bill wrote:You know a little more power and a manual are not hard to change right?AClockworkGarage wrote: So I have to ask. Are you in love with her yet? Is this going to be another adopted foreign child you adopt and drag along with you to your next local like some kind of automotive Angelina Jolie?I am, and that's not a good thing
BrokenYugo wrote: If you can't find a full synthetic, 15w40 diesel oil would work just as well. Though given the hot environment and German propensity for thick oil I wonder if a 50 weight might be appropriate. In that category if you can find it, M1 15w50 is about the toughest street oil you can buy. Does it have an oil pressure gauge?
It does have a stock oil pressure gauge, but it's just labeled 1 through 3 (I assume "bar"). At idle it sits above 1, anything above that and it's pegged at 3...
I did hear good things about M1 15w50 though... I'll definitely keep an eye out on my next outing.
Cheers!
If it pegs the gauge like that at cruise on a hot day with a 40 weight I'd say that's plenty thick. Going thicker when you've already got the oil pump relief valve opened most of the time results in less oil flow to the bearings.
Word.
Really, I should get a set of aftermarket gauges and see how accurate the coolant and oil gauges in this beast are...
In other news, I'm afraid I've temporarily lost my Hungarian chauffeur 
His new license didnt get issued in time, and no his old one is expired. Did you know that the penalty for driving without a license here is deportation? Apparently in years previous there were a good handful of big accidents caused by unlicensed drivers
So the car is stuck at the hotel again (as am I) and I still have that fear of popping my hood and tinkering. To keep busy I thought I'd have a go at the fuel sending unit. The fuel gauge gets a bit "dancy" between 1/4 and 3/4 tank and apparently a dirty or corroded fuel sending unit is often the culprit.
To help, Mercedes provided around access point in the trunk:
dang!
Missed it by that much!
It's just slightly off center with the access port and I cant fudge it enough to get it out of there. Ah well, that was a good practice run. Now it's back to the room and long hours of playing "Stronghold Crusader" on my ancient laptop...
Edit: did you notice the dirt was darker around the sending unit? I've been picking up whiffs of gas, and I think that might be the culprit. Investigation to follow
Good times
(found at work)
Snicker
Great thread, excited to see how this beauty works out for ya. I love watching how folks learn to work with what they can find in a new and unfamiliar environment, without all the amenities (necessarily) we have back home...even Amazon, apparently!
Oh and the title caught my eye; apparently we're kinda neighbors...I'm in the Jahra area. We spend a lot of the day at work outside or piled in a truck so I hear ya on boosting that AC! 49C today and 50C predicted for Wednesday, woohoo!
You'll need to log in to post.
