Mutt The Race Truck

[STINEY]

Congrats on finding and acquiring the Stickville stuff! This just gets better and better.

[milner351]

what's the story on the engine in the parts car Dan - good spare parts or ???

Here's to rowin!

[DanStokes]

John, the engine runs like a sluggish watch! These are not known for their extreme power output but it really does run like it should. Rashid (my Benz pal here in town) is deciding what to do with this bullet (maybe it's a pop gun?).

EDIT: Forgot to mention that these transmissions have a rep for being TOUGH. Not in a drag racing sense but able to handle many years of hard service. This one felt good and I'm hoping for the best. Worst case it'll get synchros, bearings, or what ever else it needs but I expect it'll probably be fine.

He and I pulled the trans and shifter. We were hoping to get the slave to bleed so I could run 'er thru the gears and try out the trans but the slave is well and truly SHOT. The slave fits really nicely into a cast-in spot on the passenger's side of the trans so I'll just order up a fresh one and go with M-B's design on that. The master is WEIRD so I'll go with the S-10 stuff there and just a little plumbing from here to there.

Rashid and I pulled the trans along with the shifter in no time flat. He'd never been into a manual trans before so he really enjoyed seeing how that all fit together. This is really a pretty conventional set-up from an American perspective.

Here's the pics of the trans on the floor:

The shot of the passenger's side shows the slave cylinder mount. It mounts to the rear and just a little below the starter bump.

From the front view you can see how it pushes right on the throw out arm. The wetness in the bellhousing is brake fluid from the slave. The rear main seems dry - all in all, the car looks pretty good but may be worth more in parts as it does have a little rust in the rear floor/unibody area.

Dan

[silver_bullet]

nice score Dan!!

[Beagle]

sawzall and hammer - geez, looks kinda like a ZF out of a one ton!

[DanStokes]

I wouldn't be surprised, Beags. M-B tries to pretend that they make everything in all of their vehicles but that's unlikely. I think they just want you to pay thru the nose for their parts at their dealers.

With no OD gear I may have to manipulate the rear gears to get the top speed I'm eventually wanting I think I'll have enough torque to push the truck as long as I can get the rpm at the top end - I hope.

Dan

[DanStokes]

A bit of progress.

First of all Phitter67 sent me a lovely box of goodies - THANKS!!!! The manual trans conversion marches on. Also, the new clutch slave is here but the clutch is still in transit so no trans bolting up tomorrow. Looks like ME gets me for the day although she is NOT my mother!

I've been busy tracking down odds and ends of parts and have a bunch of small bits on the way. I found a source for shifter bushings (I'm pretty well stuck with Benz shifter as mentioned) and they're coming, along with the solenoid valve I'll use for engine shut-off. A piece of happy news is that the vacuum pump on the engine has a 1-way valve built in so I should be able to just suck down the vacuum reserviour and have it hold as needed for engine shut off.

I also started reassembling the engine. I cleaned the manifold surfaces and studs and bolted everything back on. I put a thread in Tech asking about sealer for the gasket and I think I'll pop them off and Copper Cote them but that will only take a couple of minutes now that everything's clean. The powder coated intake looks great - I'd do that again in a minute.

I'll post pics when the trans is mounted. Then the engine should be ready to hop back in the S-10 and I can start hooking stuff up.

Dan

[phitter67]

I hope you didn't need anything else, as my truck went to scrap today. It was so bad the body almost separated from the frame, lifted over 6" before the frame moved. Anyway, does the manual mount to the same mount as the auto? Or did I miss that part?

[DanStokes]

I haven't mounted the pedals yet (still scrapping the 240D) but it sure looks like everything will fit just fine. Again, THANKS!!!!!

It'll probably be a few days before I get in there.

Dan

[DanStokes]

Mini-progress.

The 240 is on the trailer and will be off to the PnP tomorrow AM. THEN I can finally start putting the race motor and the 4 speed together - everything is gathered now that the pilot bearing is here. We'll be away from home for a while but I should get some stuff done this weekend - pics hopefully by tomorrow night.

Dan

[DanStokes]

Not Hitting My Goals

Leaving on vacation tomorrow and the plan was to get the manual trans bolted to the M-B engine before we left.

I got the Benz adaptor plate bolted on (weird arrangement) and the flywheel on and torqued. So far so good. The pilot bearing is a sealed ball bearing. I put it in the freezer so it would get a little smaller, then took it out to pound it in. After several thousand attempts one of the seals got distorted and fell out. No using THAT bearing! The good news is that I have the box with the SKF number on it so I can get another one locally and, I suspect, for cheap. When we get back.

Bummer - goal denied.

Dan

[Deaf Bob]

Check a bearing company... Many times they are cheaper and better quality..

[DanStokes]

FINALLY - something worth a pic or two.

We're back from MI/Ontario and have a week or so before we leave for The Ohio Mile and points West - WAY West. Anyhow, I'm determined to get at least SOMETHING done on the S-10 this week.

I picked up another pilot bearing while in MI and the M-B Forum guys gave me some ideas as to how to fit it in there. It was a SOB to drive in but I took a Tootsie Roll to the bore (lightly), tapered the edge of the bore a bit more (they have a 45* bevel from the factory), and took the green wheel to one edge of the bearing (the green wheel is VERY mild). I also soaked the bearing in ice water to shrink it a little. After all this who-ha I did get it to start and then beat in as far into the bore as I could get it. It looks pretty much like the one from the 240D engine that I got the trans from so I think it should be fine (I hope - it didn't hit bottom like I expected).

So home free, right? No. The LuK clutch kit came with a centering tool that didn't fit the clutch disc splines. Oh, joy! I had an old GM one which has the same spline but the fit into the pilot was sloppier than I was comfortable with. Turns out the new one was not made with deep enough splines so I pounded the tool thru the disc splines and re-broached it to fit (good thing it was plastic). If anyone needs to install a Benz clutch I have the tool! But jobs that ought to be easy never are, I guess.

So I put the trans up on the table saw and slid it up to the engine. The pilot fits REALLY tight (I knew this from test fitting the bearing before the battle) and that made the trans a TIGHT push up to the block but I got it.

Currently I trying my homemade scattershield and modifying as needed. I think it'll work but the manual trans case has a LOT more ribs than the auto and I made the shield fit pretty tightly so it's taking some fiddling. Still, I THINK I can work it on there.

Here's the pics:

The top one just shows that there really IS a clutch in there.

Middle and bottom are just a couple of shots of the trans bolted up. Also shown are my He-Man engine lift brackets (there's a similarly beefy unit on the front). I didn't want my sexy powdercoated VC getting messed up with the installation chains and the stock lifting brackets are stamped sheet metal and bend under load, right into the VC. These are made from 3/16 plate.

Note how little the trans is. Unfortunately mine is the aluminum case one. According to the Benz guys the cast iron case ones are MUCH tougher but I'm not going drag racing so I think I'll be OK.

Dan

[Monk]

Project is looking good Dan.......making progress.

[DanStokes]

Finally!!!

Something worth reporting (at least to me) and taking a pic or two.

After some SERIOUS hassles I found out that the pilot bearing hole in the crank (auto trans) was just a tad (maybe 0.020) too small for the manual trans pilot bearing to press in the hole. Once I figured this out I attacked the hole with the die grinder and a Tootsie roll, followed by a fairly fine flap wheel. I measured as well as I could using my calipers but it was difficult to get square to the hole. I KNEW I should have bought that dial bore gage when I saw it for cheap. Anyhow, going by the measurements I could get and the feel of the bearing in the hole, I got the darn thing in there.

The first pic is the pilot hole after I enlarged it. The surface finish is not too bad.

Second shot is the rig to press the whole deal back in place. This way I didn't have to pound on the crank and therefore the thrust bearings.

The third shot is the bearing in place and at the right depth. I went over to my buddy's place (the guy who got the 4 cylinder engine) and measured the depth of that pilot - I'm just a smidge deeper than the factory installation which should be no problem.

I also found that one of the clutch slave cylinder bolt holes was FUBAR'd and a 6mm Heli-Coil fixed that.

I've started reassembling the whole deal. The intermediate plate is back in place and tomorrow I'll torque the flywheel back in place, install the clutch assembly, and bolt everything back in place. Then on to refitting the scattershield.

Dan