Mercedes 2626 AK 6x6

[pairospam]

When I could, I cleaned and polished once again the sleeves at my best. Then I took the pistons stored in their boxes and cleaned them again, especially the ring grooves.
Waiting for the best moment to put the pistons back in the block, with some aiding hand and the winch, I hoped, I painted some other pieces already prepared and forgotten amid all the garbage around. Unfortunately I painted some of them when it was 4º centigrade, and the paint became white, probably crystallized. The instructions on the can were clear (once read): “Do not use under 15º C.” Ops!
Then, one day, I did not wait for anyone to help nor wait for the turn to use the winch or anything and I bent the block and put the pistons in, alone. Eduardo told me how to set the rings prior to assembly because I had forgotten but I finished the job by myself without any major problem. Oh, they looked so good, all the pistons shining again, right where they belonged!
Then I grabbed the winch, almost fist fighting, and lifted the block to put the oil pump on its bottom. Once the pump and the sucking oil pipe were installed the block was not allowed to rest on the floor so I took the carter from Spare, bolted it with four bolts only, and the block could for the first time in months stand on something different from the greasy wood sticks. I decided to do so because the right carter was still full of pieces and parts waiting for painting and the block needed to be closed before installing the carter.

[pairospam]

It was late, as usual (that why I could use the winch), so I ended the working afternoon closing and sealing the cylinders with masking tape and paper to avoid dust, cats and other things to come into and for the painting that would come lately. I cleaned thoroughly the gears of both shafts, covered them with clean clothes, and went home.
The next job was to put the rear distribution cover to close the block from behind. Remember that I had painted it in advance to reach the angles and grooves that would have been difficult to reach once assembled. Well, I did the same with some portion of the block with the same potential problem. Then I changed the oil seal of the cover, recovered the bolts from a dirty and forgotten box from some dark and lost spot of the workshop, washed and power-brushed them, cleaned once more both the contact surfaces before applying the gasket filler, put the gaskets, more gasket filler and, finally, I bolted the rear cover to the block. Doing this took a lot of time, much more than desirable, as always does.
Maybe for the ones that read these lines it does not seem very important to put in the bloody cover, but it was actually something quiet significant to me. It seemed that, finally, the assembly of the engine had seriously started.
Putting the inertial flywheel in place seemed a pretty straight job, just bolting and that’s it. But… no Sir, not at all. It was necessary to clean the thing from all the dirt and packing grease, some kind of hard and sticky mass that offered great resistance to the putty knife and to solvents. I then changed the bearing for a new one and just when I was about to be happy I realized that the hole for the guiding bolt was too small for the bolt of the shaft itself. No problema! I went out and made a couple of visits to the local shops until I finally got a good quality bit with which I drilled and stretched the hole, just the right amount to allow the guiding bolt to get through. Then, and only then, there was no problem to bolt the flywheel to the shaft. Eduardo helped me with the manoeuvre because the thing was pretty heavy to do it by myself. The picture came blurred but I put it to honour his effort in helping me no matter of his lumbar aching. After a few efforts and a few torque the flywheel shone, finally in its place after months of waiting in its box.
The front cover had been previously cleaned, because it was dirty as hell like everything else, and when I finished it came a new oil retainer, gasket filler, the gasket itself and more gasket filler and it was ready and tightened.

[pairospam]

The closed block was ready to receive its oil carter at last; well…almost.
There is always something to do before you get to do what you want desperately to do. I closed and masked the holes of the rear cover and other potential points of entry from dirt, bolts or whatever wanted to go inside the block now that it would be closed. I also painted the rear wall of the carter, difficult to reach after assembly. The time passed and it was the right time to go home. The block stood hanging from the winch, waiting for another day of work.
The next time the whole idea was to bolt the carter to the block, simply. But of course it came not that easy; I had to figure out where the 14 bolts were hidden, take every one and wash, brush and clean them. I am a maniac, you already know. Naturally one of the bolts was missing and Spare’s box of remnants was the source for the bolt as for the ruffs replacements.
Finally the block and the carter were assembled and then the “engine” was ready for the next steps. I desperately wanted to put in the disc and the pressure plate so I took the bell housing to begin with its preparation. As everything else it had been waiting on a corner and had caught a couple of kilograms of dust besides its own charge of grease and mud from the unconcerned use.
The clutch release bearing, thanks to its lubrication system, was in good condition and once the transmission front bearing retainer was removed we realized that the main bearing was not. It was asking for help because of the dust and the rust so I removed it and ask for a replacement to Santiago; there were no such size bearings in San Felipe.

[pairospam]

My internet conection has been unstable and it has been difficult to upload updates. I will continue if possible.
About the clutch mechanism, the axle of the throughout lever had several ruffs and retainers and o-rings very unpleasant to clean and it was evident that it had been repaired before. More surprises.
At a given moment a few weeks before Eduardo and I went to the cattle to lower the cabin. The time was about to come to take the truck to the workshop and with the bent cabin it would be impossible. I wanted more help to do the job but we backed up with the old John Deere and the fork lift and went for it. To make the story short we almost broke one of the rear windows do to a miscalculation of the rear displacement of the cabin. We had to do a tremendous effort to keep the cabin from going full down before moving the fork lift and Eduardo’s back suffered the consequences. The pictures show the truck after the manoeuvre and in the middle of the smoke of the half burned diesel from the cold engine of the tractor. The cabin was not completely down because one of the spring coils was slightly out of of place but we did not mind at that moment.
That weekend I went again to the cattle to visit the truck and fixed the problem of the spring coil. I really liked to watch the truck instead of its sad and waiting condition and I wanted to check some features of the suspension of the cabin now that it was finally down and aligned. If you remember I wanted to swap the suspension of the cabin from Spare to the cabin of the Merkabah and I was concerned about the stability of the last if it got mounted on four semi-floating points. When inspected, with every element in its normal relationship with each other, I concluded that there would be no necessity to reinforce the union between the rear coil springs mountings and the cabin to assist with the longitudinal or lateral stability. The elements seemed properly fitted and robust enough for the job.
I addressed the issue for the future and decided not to think about until the moment of putting the repaired and painted cabin on the repaired and painted suspension and the first tests on the street.
I also had the idea of simply cut the dome over the engine of the cabin of Spare and paste (weld) it to the cabin of the Merkabah and forget about to flatten out the mess I provoked when lifting the cabin with the winch. I have had some previous cut-weld experiences with other project before and the results were, modestly, spectacular. But as always, things are quiet more difficult than expected and only then I realized that the cabin of the Merkabah had some kind of promontory where the shift lever was, and that the one from Spare was completely flat. Just another pretty brilliant idea to throw to the basket in confront with the cruel reality.
But as I am a cut-weld freak the last word was still not spoken.
You can appreciate by the pictures fron the interior of the cabin the damage and how deformed was the steel plate and how twisted were the levers for the traction and the bad state of the ring for the shift lever. Only nice comments, please, the damage was already done.

[pairospam]

Nevertheless, Spare's cabine would still be useful as donor of the door hinges, that were in better shape that those from the Merbabah, and probably of many other parts.
Another detail that was important not to forget was the tapestry of the cabin, that will demand a lot of work. As I did not stepped on the cabin since a long time ago I had practically forgotten the issue. I should have to find out the best way to repair it. If you look again at the ceiling you can see what I meant. An old wasp nest, classic figure of the forgotten, would have to get out too.
The bulky protection grille for the engine under the bumper would give a hard battle when it came the time to accommodate the front winch. But that would be in a subsequent phase of the project; at that particular moment I was not in the mood for calculations, just to take a look.
Well, what I did with the engine was to finish the sealing of the holes and the masking of the surfaces in order to accomplish the final cleaning and to paint it. Of course it is easier to say it than to do it, for to do it good and take off all the dirt, old and new oil, old paint, rust and everything else the time and effort employed were not minor.
If you pay attention, I also removed a couple of water seals by suggestion of Eduardo because the chemical bathe could have harmed them. At inspection they were perfectly well and it was decided not to remove the rest of them. I should replace the ones removed before cleaning and painting, of course. Another potential mishap to have in mind.
Even if I had been at work for more than an hour with solvents and with hand and power brushes the left face of the block still had many details that needed to be retouched before even thinking of painting, as you can see in the pictures. Pretty hard, this little engine!

[pairospam]

I found at home a metallic cup-shaped brush bought many years ago and I took it to the shop. It was far better and quicker to use it and the removal of the rust and paint was far more accurate. Eduardo passed by at some moment and pointed out two tiny holes, oil holes, that I had not sealed (horror!) and he asked me why the hell was I so bloody-minded with the poor engine. I could not answer.
I cleaned everything and pressure-blown the engine many times and then I grabbed the paint can and sprayed until it was empty. And there was not enough. As it was late and these were the last minutes of sunshine I decided not to go out to buy more paint because the results with artificial light were never as good as with daylight; instead, I took the clutch disk and the pressure plate and installed them. The hard-steel-sex picture shows a mishap: when tightening the plate the disc moved and then the alignment was missed not allowing the axle to go all the way through. I had to loosen the thing and realign the disc. Do you know how many bolts and how much they weight these things?
The next day I dedicated myself to clean the bell housing. The dirt came out without too much battle and all the retainers and bushings for the lever shaft were O.K., so I finished to clean everything and installed the new huge bearing that arrived from Santiago.

[pairospam]

Then I cleaned the drive shaft and after dedicating a little time to it I tried to put it back in its place. Unfortunately the Seeger lock was stuck and twisted during removal. I went out and searched for a new piece in every shop in San Felipe. No way, too thick. I came back after one and a half hours of driving around and took the lock to the work bench; with a “little” pressure it reprised its old shape and then I put it on and locked, pretty well, the shaft.
Next, with a little help from one of the customers of the shop, I put the bloody heavy bell housing and everything seemed to fit perfectly. I was finally happy and some of the bolts were already tightened when Eduardo came by to see how was the thing going, and for a change he pointed out that I missed something: I forgot to put the locking spring for the throughout disc, whatever its name was. There was none when disassembling so I assumed that the system was just like that. Mistake.
I should have to get them, take the bell housing off, install them and put the bell housing back in. Pretty annoying.
Well, to have a little distraction for the annoyance to pass me by I selected the best injector nuts from the ones that were not broken and cleaned them with a little power brushing. After finishing with them I was still annoyed so I decided to clean the bell housing too, what implied some time and effort with gasoline soaked cloths, poking in every dirty nook with the screwdriver and taking the light though tenacious superficial rust with the metallic brush. The pictures show the initial phase with the brush applied with the power drill, not bad, but evidently the job had to be finished with the brush applied by hand. It goes without saying that the hand brush ended in the trash can after that.
I took no picture of the final look of the ready-to-paint bell housing (it really shone!) for I just wanted to finish the thing. When the forearms cramps made me stop for the last time I went out and got the springs missing in a little Mercedes Benz trucks spareparts store. They were for the OM352 engine but with a little surgery they would do the job. Profiting of the cleaning mood I took the alternator support that showed, when visible at last, that the bushings were torn out long time ago. They were only a small detail, but that is precisely what this project is about, so I went back to the store and got both the silentblock bushings.

[pairospam]

Finally, I took off the bell housing by myself and put the locking springs in. They looked O.K., green and all, and I rushed to put the bell housing back before it was too late to paint that particular day. When the bell was bolted I emptied the last can of paint on it and managed to paint also the portions of the engine that were left unpainted the last session.
Ahh… I liked very much the final look, even if the black colour hides the details and the pictures show only a graceless dark and menacing shape.
The next job was to install the cylinder heads but before the bolts needed to be cleaned. Six bolts per cylinder head, eight cylinder heads, nearly three minutes to wash and brush every bolt…ahh! After that I took the cylinder heads, one by one from under the cloths that covered them, and cleaned them again in many ways.
I took off the masking tape and the paper from the block (one cylinder at a time to avoid dirt to get into them again, unnecessarily, of course), then I put the new gasket and gracefully put the first cylinder head of the left row.
It was a nice feeling.

[samson_braun]

really awesome what you doing. my respect....

[pairospam]

Thanks, samson_brown.

As soon as the first cylinder head was secured and photographed I hurried to put the other three of the row. I was a little concerned about the stability of the engine but the tremendous mass did not even notice the extra weight.
Big emotion when the row was completed! I tightened the head cylinders following the manual and without loosing any second I continued with the right row but, the mythical “but”… I found out that one of the guiding rings for the cylinder heads was missing, and, of course, I realized it only when I was putting the last one. Always at the last possible moment!
I took an almost-similar piece from the block of Spare that was still around, but even if I modified it with the power grinder it did not fit in. The next day I had to order one to be turned. And that was the end of the happiness.
Even if I could not finish assembling all the bloody heads I could at least put three of them at their places. Then I masked again the naked cylinder, painted the engine front supports and the pulley of the water pump, put away the tools and went home.
Back in the workshop, when I could, the idea was to put the valve rocker arm assemblies in. It seemed quiet an easy task to perform and after the typical “Ops… I forgot to put the handspikes!” the four on the left side and two on the right were installed. I had to take one of the cylinder heads to use the guiding ring as sample so only two were ready. Then I put the already painted rocker arm covers in, without too much tightening, in order to paint the cylinder heads of the left row. I masked the admission and exhaust openings and filled the lodges for the injectors with paper (recycled from previous painting sessions).

[Fernreisender]

Just great what you are doing, please go on....

Greetings, Andreas.

[pairospam]

Well, after masking I painted the head cylinder row and also retouched some aspects of the block. It looked great. Good.
As I was on the mood I got the stairs to the attic and took the water pump that waited its turn for cleaning, painting and installing. But firstly I followed a pretty faint hunch and took the gasket that came with the pump and presented it to the engine…again the horror feeling, it did not fit. When I ordered it to the official dealer I trusted them and only confirmed that the pulley for the belt fitted o.k., but I did not confirmed that the pump itself was actually the right pump and I left it on the attic. There were two options and, naturally, that was not the one. Bad.
It was already late and I could not contact the seller, but I did not want to waist time wailing so I grabbed the starter and put it in its place, with a missing nut taken from Spare. I also gave it another hand of paint once bolted.
When I could, I took the oil radiator cover and bolted it to the block. I did the same with the front block supports. I bolted anything that was at sight.
I was waiting for the machinist to turn a new guide ring for the head cylinder and of course he could not do the job because of the myriad of things these guys seem to always have pending, and as result I was not able to conclude the right row of head cylinders. It was very frustrating.
At some moment I profited of a trip to Santiago for other reasons and took with me the new/wrong water pump directly to the Mercedes dealers, to see if they were keen to help me. At arrival the seller was waiting for me and fortunately he had no trouble at all to change the pump even after almost four months from the purchase. Unfortunately the “right” pump was not in stock and he would have to order it (the last one, of course) to a branch office and send it by bus later. He changed, also with no problem, the brazilian thermostat for the german one. The trip was not totally lost.
Did I mention that the pile of discarded pieces and parts grew and grew? Someone asked me once why did I not throw the occupying space pile of old, heavy and dirty steel away, and I said that better not... because you never know.
Well, as soon as I could proceed I took one of the admission manifolds to prepare it. Washing it was pretty hard and dirty, the inside and the external part. I continued then with the metallic brush to remove the excesses of the original paint and the most difficult dirt.
I was hands-on when I had a little chat with Eduardo and realized that I was facing a far more dangerous challenge compared with all the other dangers known and suffered until that moment. The idea was to take the truck to the shop in the next ten or fourteen days and begin to disassemble the cabin, the chassis and virtually everything in order to install the engine back once every component was ready, painted and shining. But the timing was absolutely uncertain and months could pass before it was all ready, and the engine, the rings, the pumps, the injectors and all the moving parts could get stuck if not used. If that happened it would be necessary to reopen the engine and repair, what would have killed the whole project.
We agreed then that when the engine would be ready we would fill it with oil, make the shaft spin frequently by hand, and then we would bring the truck to the shop. The first thing to do would be to move or remove the wiring and tubing from the frame, precisely where the engine sits, and to clean and paint that particular area for the engine to be installed with all the circuits to make it run as soon as possible. We also called to the injection pumps service shop to stop the servicing of the pump and the injectors for them to leave the pieces in their preserving liquids untill the engine was ready for assembly.

[pairospam]

Well, that weekend I was a little concerned, thinking about the timing and the engine of the Merkabah, so I went again to the cattle to examine the situation and to “talk” with her. The truck looked pretty good to me, as always, but under the cabin the frame looked pretty crowded and dirty. It would be a hard work to accomplish to clean the frame rails. The cabin would have to wait... everything else should wait.
Back at the shop, as soon I as I could dedicate some time to the project, I realized that I needed to replace the circular metallic brush if I wanted to go on with the polishing of the manifold and to pain it that day. If you look at the picture you can see why. I picked also some other parts that I wanted to paint, among them the hydraulic pump, the one from Spare, the newer one. It was covered of dust even if it was inside a box, and fluids still came out from it so I had to fully clean it again. Then I masked everything that went not black and painted it. I also painted the little supports that went on the air intake manifold and others that went on the distribution cover of the block that were left apart, probably because I could not find the proper bolts at that moment. I looked for them again, full hearted, and I found them... on the cover of the engine of Spare. I cleaned them and put them in. They looked so pretty well, shiny and in perfect contrast with the black matt of the engine, that I thought to leave them like that, without painting, and do the same with all the others bolts around the engine. I sat back for some minutes with a Darjeeling tea in my hand waiting for this idea to pass, then I stood up and painted them. Ahh... nothing better than a cup of tea to remedy the wills to make stupid things.
I continued with the masking of the air intake manifold and when it was ready I sprayed black in two layers. No drips and almost perfect covering. Good.

[pairospam]

Days passed and no news about the head cylinder guide ring or about the water pump. It was very frustrating but I tried to make some progress in other aspects.
After a while and after a lot of misfortuned events the pump finally arrived from Santiago. Great espectation when picking the package up and when opening it. I was so anxious that at first I did not notice that the gasket had some strange shape. It was the third attempt... it had to be the right one, no?
But, it was not. I presented the gasket, and it did not fit at all. I insisted with the pump itself and still was not. Almost, but not.
I unearthed the old pump, buried at the bottom of the junk pile, and took a comparison picture and sent it to the dealer that could not believe that it was not the right pump. It seemed to be the case of a “special execution”, the elegant way of Mercedes Benz to say that there were a few pumps from older or strange discontinued models that were left over and that they put them anywhere, just to not loose them. Unfortunately it looked like my engine was one of the lucky ones and there were no spares around, not even one. Hmm...
I dusted off the water pump of Spare and it was exactly the same as the pump just arrived from Santiago. Even Spare played visitor that time.
The alternatives were scarse: to find out if in Germany there was a similar pump and import it; repair the old pump, something potentially dangerous; wait for a miracle and find the pump in some old and forgotten shop somewhere.
I drank a little tea, amaretto that time, and after a brief but conforting chat with Carmen and Eduardo I went back to the engine and grabbed the front flywheel of the cranckshaft. I wanted to bolt it for good but first I had to adjust the retainer of the block front cover because it was too superficial and conflicted with the flywheel back tap. When the depth was appropriate after several but careful bumps I cleaned the bolts and put the round and black thing in. Again the temptation to leave the bolts unpainted.
At that moment Eduardo arrived from the machinist carrying the guiding ring just turned. I took it and brushed it a little to soften the metal finishing and I plugged both the new and the sample ring in place. I then cleaned, once more, the remaining two head cylinders and installed and tightened them. In a hurry I put the rocker arms assemblies and their respective handspikes in and also put the valve covers.

[pairospam]

I masked the intake and exhaust openings and before hanging the worksuit the engine was finally painted, full black. Well... almost.
I did not make any picture of the recently assembled and painted engine that afternoon, but I did it the next day. Ah, and I profited to paint the bolts of the cranckshaft.
Those days I had a few discussions about how to repair the inner cover of the roof of the cabin and one afternoon I had another kind-of a vision, something I had seen before but less clear than usual. It was about a truck, naturally, already a wreck one but in good shape, and I could get from it the floor covering and other pieces and parts that were suited for the Merkabah. You probably will not believe it but I was also pretty concerned about where to find the pommels of the heating and other minutiae that were almost impossible to find and were very important for the presentation and the comfort of the cabin. It was so curious, having that feeling just then, so I looked in the net and found a very promising (the only one) advertisement. I contacted the guy who said: “Of course, the cabin is complete, don’t you worry!” Of course, I started worrying.
The next day I took the Terrano and drove past Santiago to a little town very known because of the many truck wreckyards and the very high prices that they charge for the used parts and pieces. I asked for the truck of the advertising and the man in charge told me that it was already sold and that he was waiting for the new owner to pick it that same day. I was not surprised at all, even if I talked with the former owner the day before. The truck looked, well… used, but the front grille was in god shape and the mudguards were the shorter ones, ideal for the bigger wheels. When inspected, though, they were pretty rusted so my disappointment was minor.
Before I get depressed I started wandering around and bumped into another old NG that looked pretty bad but, surprise!... the tapestry of the roof was in pretty good condition. I got into the cabin and more surprisingly the dashboard covers had not even a scratch and the pommels were all where they were supposed to be. It was truly an extraordinary finding.

[pairospam]

I also noted that the supports for the shock absorbers and the cabin were different and that the clutch actuator was a hydraulic one. Unfortunately the truck itself was pretty rusted and the actuator was hopeless as well as the mudguards, the shorter ones too.
There were some tough treatises, more and less bucks, and I ended rolling up my sleeves and helped/kept an eye on the man to take the inner cover of the roof out of the cabin. It was a dirty job, plenty of dust accumulated between the roof and the cover, and I was dressed for a meeting, actually a GPS training course. Finally the cover was lying on the floor, almost unharmed, and the dashboard covers and the pommels were in the Terrano.
I put the cover in the Terrano and I almost have to stay in the wreckyard; it was that big. Anyway, once all the pieces were inside the truck I dusted off myself and went to my meeting, and then back to San Felipe.
When I arrived to the shop Alejandro helped me to blow many kilos of dust from the covers before even getting in. As the space was reduced and I did not wanted to leave the roof cover leaning on one side for it could brake or got deformed I decided to leave it on the roof of the Blazer; she would understand. It would stay there and accumulate another ton of dust until I could disassemble and reassemble the cabin. Well, at least one big problem was solved.
A little bit happier I wore the worksuit again, that by the way needed urgently cleaning, and I focused in finishing the air compressor story.

[pairospam]

Hi:
Taking a look at the page I had this feeling that maybe I am a little obsessed with the engine overhauling of the Merkabah, and that maybe I put too many pictures of details that are quiet significant to me but may lack of interest for the readers. As every bolt and piece has to pass by my hands and follow cleaning and reassembling processes I assume that it is worth to show it in detail. If I am getting too boring please tell me, publicly or by private message, does not matter. I will try to make an effort and shorten the number of pictures, an effort, at least.
Well, as I said previously, I wanted to end the issue of the air compressor. Eduardo had put the new rings the day before and I prepared all the other new stuff, took off the connector rod and replaced the flat bearings. I switched bolts with Spare’s connecting rod because I prefer always the Allen ones and those from the Merkabah were different one from the other. Assembling the compressor was far more complex than putting the big pistons of the block, curiously. I had to look at the pictures uploaded previously because I was not sure about the direction in which the cylinder was pointing. Anyway, I put halfway the piston, enough to put the piston pin in, and with the four shining bolts the cylinder was again in place on the distribution cover. I then put the lateral cover of the crankshaft of the compressor and the manoeuvre was complete. Looking at the pictures it was evident that the compressor needed a paint retouch from the downside, and that would be done once all the parts were in place.
When I could proceed I took the hydraulic pump that was already painted because I wanted to put it in and go on with the tubing, but I could not find the proper gasket in the gasket-joints kit box that I had bought so many months before. I then looked for and found a little piece of velumoid paper deep in the workshop and I made the gasket myself. A little bit of gasket filler and torque and the pump was finally installed.
Looking at the engine the work to come was to clean, prepare, paint and connect all the tubing and cables. Very annoying. But… life is hard.
The next thing I took was the piece that distributes the diesel to the pump and receives it from the return circuit from the cylinders, then I took some tubing from the water circuit and then a couple of tubes from the pressurized air circuit.

[pairospam]

I cleaned the tubes until they shone... and I painted them until the shining was deeply covered with black.
As I had a little time left over I also bolted the long piece of the accelerator to the front of the engine.
When I returned to the shop some other day I took some time to look for, amid all the stuff in the box of Spare’s pieces, one in particular: the oil pressure sensor. If you remember, the Merkabah had an extemporaneous gauge under the steering wheel and a little tube that went straight to the engine, connected to a home-made perforated bolt that, though functional, did not rise to the occasion nor matched with the love and caring offered to the engine until then.
I finally found it, pretty covered by mud and oil and, when unearthed, the device showed up apparently good and functioning. I replaced the bolt with the sensor and raised a prayer to the Chief, hoping that when the engine started it would give an accurate and normal lecture. I will only know at that moment, after finding and connecting the right wiring also, of course.
The air intake manifold was dry, so I took the new gaskets and the big piece of alluminum and went for the engine.

[pairospam]

Hi:
I have been a little busy with no much time for updating, but I have never stopped working on the project.
Well, I bolted the left intake manifold to the cylinder heads and the engine seemed to be a little more “complete” after that manoeuver.
I took then the little supports that went on the manifolds and I applied solvents and the metallic brush. Of course I forget where the hell did I put them after cleaning so I had to continue with other stuff, waiting for them to reappear at any time somewhere.
As I had put the left intake manifold I then grabbed the right side one and started to prepare it. After the classic ton of dirty towels and many kilos of paint-dust flying all over the place I painted it black and left it aside to dry properly. But before putting all the dust in the air I also took the double piping piece of the water circuit and brushed it. It had a couple of welding spots and I was a little concerned about the integrity of the pipe walls because of the internal rust. Once polished it seemed to be O.K. and probably the welding was a repair of a traumatic event, or so I hoped. Anyway, more paint and the problem, if at all, was postponed until the engine came to life again and the pressure had put some tension on the suspicious spots.
The overhauling of the engine went on the next days, slowly and carefully and a little boring. All I wanted was to finish it and put the engine back in the frame and move on.
I installed next the left intake manifold and then the water piping over it.

[pairospam]

One of the supports was missing and I found it, finally, properly bolted to the long hydraulic pipes that were left under some dirty stuff on the floor. Both intake manifolds had a lot of little supports where to bolt the pipes. And, as I was working on the subject, I prepared and painted the diesel supply pipes, replacing one of the manifolds by the similar from Spare as one of the Merkabah’s was incomplete.
I was finishing with the painting when the water pump, the right one, finally arrived. I then hurried to unpack and clean it from the sticky packing grease and prepared it also for painting. Could not wait to see it installed! But unfortunately all I could do is see how the paint dried so I went for the exhaust manifold bolts and made suffer a little more the already agonic metallic brush trying to take out all the rust that had almost devoured them. Once ready, I picked the manifold and shifted to the power grinder with a bigger brush because the amount of rust was considerably higher. I put on a nurse cap over my head because I had to work that afternoon and did not want my hair to get stiff and rust-red with all the rust dust drifting on the air around. Nice model, don’t you think?
Anyway, after some noise and some time the manifold was ready for painting and so I did. Meanwhile, the water pump dried and I put it in as soon as the bolts, that I forgot to prepare, were ready. Both thermostats were put in place and the cover was secured with pretty much love and gasket filler, just in case.

[pairospam]

Next, another couple of pieces was bolted, among them the double water pipe, and the engine seemed another little bit more complete. I also put in place the first of the engine’s hoses, with the proper recycled and shining steel clamps.
I remember that I went from work to the shop one time for just a couple of minutes only to install the left exhaust manifold, that I also finished to paint in a similar break. It looked great.
In another working afternoon session I put again the nurse cap on and did not finish until the right side exhaust manifold was clean from rust, and my hands tingled badly. Then I painted it and left it to dry and went home.
When I could put my hands again on the engine I bolted the right side exhaust manifold, but I decided to paint the bolts before putting them in, and when in place they looked pretty well. So, the brightest idea came to me of painting also the bolts of the left side manifold because they were not painted and the still-rusty look was not so good, and the paint applied after bolting would never be as good. Error.
I took off the bolts and painted them, and when I was bolting them back I thought that they could use a little more tightening as I found them quiet a bit loosen. Just a little distraction, a minimal distraction, and clack! one bolt cracked. Horror.
I was so happy that the thing was going on and suddenly, plop! an obliged stop to shift reverse and resolve an unwanted issue.
The mishap depressed me for about three seconds, not one more, and I looked immediately around for something to focus in and go over the bolt problem. I took the air intake tube, whose actual name still eludes me, and started to clean it. The piece was huge and it took me the rest of the afternoon to get it clean.

[pairospam]

I profited to clean the pulley of the crankshaft, completely forgotten until then.
So, after doing some order and shooting a sad last glance at the hurt engine I went home with the broken bolt as mental homework, and the pride a little broken too… but just a little.
The first thing I did was to print a document brought to me by a well provided and prepared subscriber of the Chilean website where I also post the project of the Merkabah, kind of a domestic Pirx. I had the document with me all the time, but in the useless penndrive. From then on every bolt and nut of the engine would be tightened with the proper torque as specified by the maker.
Later on I bought a broken-bolt-extractor-set and a super hyper adamantium-like pointed drill tool. I pretended to extract the bolt cleanly at the first attempt because the ghosts of the difficult broken bolts stalked me for the whole weekend and I absolutely did not want to lose a couple of afternoons dealing with the problem. It made me think of sepuku constantly.
Fortunately, to my surprise, once I took off the exhaust manifold it took me only six minutes to extract the bolt from the cylinder head. Good. As I ran out of bolts I had to use one from Spare that was not equal, but I did not wanted to further complicate things so I cleaned and painted it and, as soon as the bolt could be manipulated, the manifold was back in place and 50 Nm were applied by the book to every bolt on each side of the engine.
With a pretty renewed and optimistic mood I finished to polish the air intake pipe and painted it. That took me some time, of course, so when the job was done it was time to go home.
I had mentioned before that I loved cars, trucks and motorbikes as well, and I had said that I no longer owned the yellow BMW 650GS. A sad and long story, with no motorbike in the end. The thing is that I had a meeting by the coast in a well known and beautiful place, and the idea of having again a bike was turning in my head for quiet a few weeks. On arrival, guess what was waiting for me? Exactly. A short test tour, some brief treatises, a necessary period of reflection (some like 15 minutes), a clear signal from the good Lord (and there was, as always!), and the next morning I owned a bike again, a classic one. It weighted a little more than 210 kg. so the rack for the spare wheel and the bike would have to be well designed and built, and the reinforcement of the rear panel of the cabin would be critical.

[pairospam]

The air actuators for the engine brakes were polished, but they would be also painted so they would lose their shining sooner than later.
The air intake tube was dry and ready, and as it was difficult to handle and to store I put it in its place in the engine momentarily, safe from myself and from other potential traumatizers. I did not bolted it immediately as it would be easier to install the hydraulic piping that went under it and also would be easier to handle the throttle and the injection pump, I guessed.
The engine looked pretty well to me, and the time for it to get started seemed to be closer at every minute. I picked the hydraulic pipes and painted them along with the brake cylinders and I let them to dry until I could find the time to return to the shop.
Searching and searching on the web, always uneasy and wanting to make the 3D model of the Merkabah the most realistic possible, I found a Feuerwehr Mercedes NG model with a much more detailed cabin than the one I used in the primary Merkabah. I borrowed some bytes and made a little cosmetic surgery; well… maybe more than cosmetic. Anyway, the poor interdimensional (diesel powered) ship saw its cabin being teared apart and then, fortunately, replaced by the newer one.
The result was okay, but not perfect, so I am still in the search of the next cabin swap. Yes, I know… I know…

[pairospam]

Hi:

Some little news about this slow but demanding project.
And then it was the turn of the viscoelastic fan. The one from Spare was in better shape externally, but it was completely blocked. The one from the Merkabah looked a little uglier, it had one home-made blade, another blade with a little crack, but it worked well and it proved to perform as expected from Talca to San Felipe.
Its preparation took me the whole afternoon, from the light initial unearthing, through the removal of the hard dry mud and oil from the myriad of holes and grooves that Mercedes engineers had put on the fan (for a good reason, I guess), the solvents, the metallic brush, the masking and finally both hands of paint. The dirt was very tenacious.
I decided not to paint the blades and leave them with a polished termination, just to break the monotony of the black of the whole engine. I softly polished the surface of the blades hoping not to damage any protective layer of whatever thing on the aluminium even if it did not seem to be any.
Waiting for the paint to dry I installed the engine brake air cylinders, and after watching some pictures I took them off and put them in again, with the right orientation that time. The temptation to leave the bolts and nuts without painting was always present, but surely they would get rusty faster in time, especially after having brushed them.
At the end of the second working afternoon the fan was installed using the only bolts that had been bought brand new until that moment; the original ones got missing and those from Spare were unrecoverable. The engine looked pretty well, at least to me, and the metallic touch gave it an exotic look, less serious than the black of the background. Well, that was my personal high with wich anyone is allowed to desagree with.
It was late but I could not avoid to continue and took off the caps of the cylinder heads, a task that had been postponed many times for reasons that ellude me at this time in the morning. Anyway, Eduardo showed me how to regulate the valves with the first cylinder, with a helping and quiet magical 1978 Mercedes trucks specs handbook that I was given by another rust-lover as a very appreciated gift.
When making the cranckshaft spin to regulate the valves cylinder by cilinder (the slowest and hardest but the more secure way for me) the air flowed and sissed through the circuits and made me think of the power that the engine would generate and the paths that it would take me to, taking me out of who knows which sand dune or mud pond.
I verified the measures and repeated the procedure at least three times for each valve to make sure that there were not errors and of course I ended pretty late. I put the caps in with the proper gaskets and a little amount of filler and painted the bolts. Eduardo saw me and smiled; he remembered me that it would be necessary to recalibrate and tighten the things after the first 1.000 kilometers. I replied that I would repaint the bolts if necessary, but the engine had to look impecable at every moment.

[pairospam]

Hi:

Well, the next thing on the pseudo-schedule was to repair the electric wiring of the engine, pretty simple, for it to say. A little love, a welding gun, isolating tape, some centimeters from the wiring of Spare, and the thing came quiet well, specially the remote starter button. Eduardo passed by and looked at the work and could not avoid to make his classic constructive criticism, actually he almost shouted:”How the hell…!” I would have to get some corrugated protective hoses and change the terminals.
And suddenly, an unexpected call. A friend made the bond and I got in touch with someone who was interested in buying the sadly famous alluminium rings. At last! He would take the six of them for a little bit less than I had paid for them, of course, so the task was to gather them. He transferred the money to my account in advance. I had left two of the rims in the wheel shop and the others were at the cattle. That weekend I borrowed the Mitsubishi from Eduardo and went to the country to pick the rims and I remembered what was to work there the past summer. The heat was horrible, and it was still spring. I had used the remains of the cover of the cabin to protect the wheels from the direct sunlight some weeks before just because of that.
And there they were, the piled loosen rims and both rims that had the wheels still mounted. I profited of the trip and took also the stabilizer/suspension of the cabin and both sway bars from Spare and the radiator from the Merkabah that were among other parts and garbage still spread around. If I had had more space I would have put on the pickup many others pieces too. Anyway, the amount of rusted things on the cattle diminished at least a little. What would never leave the cattle was the venerable truck of Eduardo’s father, which sentimental value impeded any attempt of getting rid of it, and which monetary and historical value precluded any attempt of restauration. Life is hard for others too… hmm.
I was hurt by the fact that the cap of the wiring and the piping of the fuel tank was missing, probably been taken by some boy. I could not imagine anyone who could use such a cap for any purpose other than fooling aroung. Anyway, the day was near when I could take the truck to a safer and less exposed place, I hoped.
Back in San Felipe, at the shop I had to wait a while they serviced and changed wheels to a white Iveco tipper. Pretty nice little truck. Pretty new little truck.
I studied briefly its rear suspension system, quiet similar to what I wanted for the Merkabah even if it is very obvious and simple and there is not much to invent.
Cristián, already a friend, had some difficulties but finally he could take the rims and the tires apart and I could take them back to the shop where they would be picked a couple days after. That time, the only one time, they charged me nothing!
Also the parts that needed to be restaured or repaired were taken the shop and the working space, that had been slowly growing, was again occupied.

[pairospam]

When I went again to the shop and saw the rims piled and ready for delivery I smiled thinking of that money going back to the budget for the project. Naïve me, as always. But I did not smiled as I realized that the place had became slowly and inadvertentely a mess. I took the iron pieces out to the street to clean them with the power washer because they were too dirty and wow… they were indeed bloody heavy! After the washing session I decided to clean the place before getting back to work and for the next hour I carried out and discarded lots of used parts, rusted pieces of steel, pieces of cotton and papers and a ton of dust and dirt. Once it was again clean and decent I took in the radiator and the sway bars, heavy and hot after the sun had fried them a little.
The engine ended practically submerged by half the dust that settled after swipping but the Mercedes original spirit stood proud and still.
And another weekend passed and I went back to work, the one that gives me the meanings to go on with the Merkabah, then I started to receive a series of almost desperately phone calls and, to make the story short, the selling of the rims failed because the buyer found that they were too wide for his purposes and he only realized it when he saw them. Life is hard, as I always recall.
I transferred the money back to the failed buyer’s account and I forgot the rims issue, again. I did not even think of doing anything else, but I remembered the man that did not want to return me the money even if I did not have taken the rims from his store. Well, I guess these things make the difference between people.
I left the rims at the shop, but sooner or later they would have to go back to the cattle because they occupied pretty much space.
Few parts were left loose from the engine, among them the air pressure pipe that described a curious and long path over the engine to end back and to the left. The pipe had suffered at some moment a fracture or damage generously repaired with welding. After cleaning and brushing the bronze pipe looked pretty well and again I thought about leaving the piece unpainted, but I painted it anyway at last.
Then I took out the fan nozzle from the radiator to prepare the pieces for painting. Even after the power washing there still was a lot of dirt coming from the grill of the radiator so I spent another half an hour blowing it out. When finished, I found that the cooling fins were marked and distorted at some points, like tracks of ancient strikes. No, I could not leave the radiator marked that way! I took the screwdriver and I did not finished until all the fins were satisfactorily straight, later, much later. Yes, I know… but there is not a cure for this.

[pairospam]

When I finished with some other little details of the radiator I painted it with the heat resistant paint and I took all the rust from the fan nozzle and painted it with black anti-rust paint, but I did not like at all the matt looking of the paint, too matt for the satin finition of the heat resistant paint. Hmm…
After a pair of baths with soap the hoses were clean and the clamps were recycled so the radiator was complete and ready to assemble when the time came.
I had to go to the country and profited to fix the cover of the wheels of the truck at the cattle because the strong spring winds had stripped it out. A couple of boards, stones and pieces of steel and the job was done, at least from the practical point of view, not from the aestetical one. So many months exposed to the elements had made the coolant reservoir cap rust badly, but I had a little joy when I found the lost diesel tank cap a few meters away from the truck, consistent with the theory that it had been a kid’s antic.
Something that I had completely neglected and never paid attention to was the mileage of the truck and I felt suddenly curious. The odometer showed only 364.216 kilometers. Could it be true? Doubtful. Probably it actually had 1.364.216 kilometers, judging for the state of the poor bastard.
Anyway, the truck had been scheduled to enter the workshop many times until then and it had been postponed because the truck that was going to leave its place was never ready, and that made me almost crazy.
Do you remember the long shift gear barr that bent when I pulled up the cabin? Well, nobody seemed to care much about when taken to fix it so, as practicaly always, I ended fixing it myself. I cleaned some of the dirt and grease and took off the delicate pieces from it and took it to the machine shop of a friend and agreed that it would be ready at once:”Don’t you worry!” they said. Damn.
I had already ordered the repair kit for the sway barr of the damping system of Spare, the one that should replace the zero-damping pivots of the cabin of the Merkabah, so I started the disassembling of its parts for cleaning and painting.

[Speed5]

Ich kann immer wieder nur wow sagen !!!!!

[pairospam]

Hey! Thank you very much, Michael.

The bolts were pretty rusted and it was hard to take them off. The pieces did not look so good and the bushings were a disaster and, by the way, there were no replacements for the sway barr bushings shown in the first picture, not even alternatives. The official dealer excused himself and offered to import them but he charged minimunm 600 euros; a little expensive, I thought.
I could use a little help and ask if someone can figure out how much does the repair kit cost in Germany so I can import it directly. The EPC code is A 387 586 05 31. Thanks!
Well, what I was really concerned about was that the pillow blocks were fractured, and the right sided one had a bolt incrusted in its surface. The blocks, by they side, were solid iron cast pieces and after some burnishing they were O.K. for the paint.
After polishing the right pillow block it was evident that the fractures were three. I grabbed the power grinder and beveled the edges of the fracture lines and applied some MIG welding. Ahh… I had forgotten how much I liked to weld things!
I also refilled the edges of the opening of the inlaid bolt and all that remained was to grind the welding string where needed. The look was not professional, but it would work.
When I could I went to pick up the shifting gear barr and found it just where I left it leaning a couple of days before. Evidently all the people there had more interesting things to do than dealing with bent bloody tubes. I spoke with my friend, Verardo, who was as surprised as myself and he designated one of his workers to do the job immediately. I stayed to keep an eye on the guy and together we applyed a little heat, a little strenght, a little hydraulic pressure and a little skill craft and straightened up the barr to the point of minimal satisfaction. Going beyond was the key to disaster. Verardo did not charge me anything, once again, and I went back to the workshop with the barr where I carefully examined it under the direct sunlight, away from the temptation of “straighten a little more… just a little bit…”. It was okay to me, at least okay enough.
Thinking a little (sometimes it happens), with the truck in the shop it would be very difficult to clean the frame with the power washer, with all the engines and metallic parts around, and the idea of pulling the eight tonnes back and forth for washing it was a pretty unreallistic one. I then took the power washer, the hoses and the lenghtening cable and went back to the cattle to perform the third bath of the truck. After two hours of throwing water wherever I could feel there could be a little dirt the old Mercedes looked as clean as it could ever be. If you compare the pictures before and after maybe you can see no big change, but all the dirt and grease over my t-shirt, my jeans and my head bear witness of the great job done, modestly speaking.

[Pirx]

I could use a little help and ask if someone can figure out how much does the repair kit cost in Germany so I can import it directly. The EPC code is A 387 586 05 31. Thanks!

Hi Pairoa,

the part number you mentioned will cost 56,26 EUR in germany, plus tax. So the price will be roundabout 70,- EUR.

I would prefer if you find anyone other than me to buy it and send it to you, because I have absolutely no time to do it. My boss wants too much work to be done before christmas ...

Pirx