STUARTQ

A great job as usual Rob!

kos11-12

Fantastic job ,Really impressive !
Could you please let us know the Mercedes reference for the electric power steering ?

Thanks

robt964

I don't have the specific part number with me now but I bought mine on ebay listed as: MERCEDES A CLASS W168 A140 A160 A170 - PAS POWER STEERING PUMP

StanUK951

Just read this from start to finish. Great stuff. Great colour too! Guards red always looks so good when the car is this clean. Massively impressive doing this in a small garage and with the cold weather we had a while back. Did something similar on a mini with my Dad when I was 17. Can't imagine finding the time or willpower (or skill) to tackle something like this 15 or so years later!! Hope to see it in the flesh one day.

kos11-12

thanks a lot Rob, just a silly question how do you know the steering pump is up to the job...!?

here we go guys

http://www.ebay.fr/itm/MERCEDES-A-CL...ht_1060wt_1157

I agree with Stan, I am very impressed too by your work, in a such a small place ...
but you must have been working in a garage in the past, have you !? you re so confident about all your work.....

robt964

Nope my profession couldn't be further from the automotive industry
I've just been building cars as a hobby ever since I was old enough to have a driving licence. In essence, regardless of the vehicle it's just metal, paint and glass held together with nuts and bolts. :-)

robt964

Oh, as for the pump I don't have any spec's or figures that *prove* it'll be a total and complete success, but I am pretty confident it'll work. I came round to the conclusion to try this particular pump for reading posts on various other car forums. It was I think a BMW forum that convinced me to give it a shot as they were fitting these into their track cars. That and the packaging dimensions looked like it'd fit well. If for whatever reason it doesn't work out, the only thing that is junk is the mount! Pretty easy to fit an alternative.

dave964diver

Thanks Rob,

Looking forward to you plumbing that ps in. Just about finished rebuilding my 3.8 engine and my idea was the same as yours to clean the transmission tunnel up and remove unecessary weight and strain on the engine as I'm running an rs lwf and clutch. With no harmonic balancer and a clewett single belt setup.

robt964

Well - its in and working :-)



Filled it with fluid and sparked it up. For the purpose of the test, I've temporarily wired the 'sense' wire to a ignition switched supply in the fuse box until I identify the correct alternator lead. It sounds very cool :-p. There is a about a 3sec delay from turning the key before the pump starts. It immediately revs to full speed for 2secs before dropping to a lower speed. I think the pump has has 3 power settings that it switches between as you load up the steering. Haven't obviously driven with it yet tho.



I took all the loom at the front of the car apart and integrated the wires into that before recovering with proper non-adhesive loom tape. The power leads run all the way down to the battery terminals just like those of the ABS pump.

robt964

Well, as the front 2/3rds of the car are now sorted, it was time to drop it back onto its wheels.



LOL - really doesn't look much different from the earlier pictures I took way back when I started :-) All the good work will never be seen by anyone other than the MOT tester.
After spinning the car around it was winched back into the garage so I could stare at the other end for a change. These cars have got a crackin' *** :-)



So onto the final 3rd of the underside. I was intending to just remove and refurb the rear suspension and leave the tidy-up / respray until winter when I drop the engine to fit RS flywheel & clutch. However.... having spent the evening surveying the next set of challenges, that approach may well make things harder than they need to be and create more work. As was the story with the front end, the rear nuts & bolts look set to give me a real hard time. I'm going to need as much room as I can get so the engine will need to come out. To be fair it shouldn't take that long since the throttle link, gear change, fuel lines, oil lines, fenders & exhaust cans are already off the car. Should only be a few electrical connectors and breather hoses before the whole lot can be dropped.

As I'm somewhat restricted for space I'm wondering if a different approach can be taken to doing this.

Question 1)
My issue is once the engine/trans is out I have nowhere to put it!
Is it possible instead, to support the underside of the engine/tran (on wooden beams) before releasing everything and raising the body? This will keep everything in the garage and hopefully provide me more access to get medieval on the rear suspension bolts.

Question 2)
Does the cat need to be removed? (I have a cat bypass)


Question 3)
Is there a UK/European source for rear suspension spring plates or replacement bushes for them?

Thankfully the engine doesn't need any work (although some sections of the tin are pretty bad). Its completely dry and clean since it had a full rebuild (including split case) a year of 2 back.

cptnzero

epic work, really enjoying the thread

with regards to Question 1, this might be of interest - fella with a 993 has lifted the body clear of the engine
http://www.pcarworkshop.com/index.ph...cial_stripdown

StanUK951

I hope you get this done before the end of summer (if we haven't already had it, that is!). Would be sacrilege to drive this on winter roads!

jevvy964

I actually think this is the best way to remove the engine as it minimizes the risk of balancing the engine as you lower it from the car. I remove the rear wheels so I can lower the car and engine to rest on a pallet under the car then as you say un-hook everything and raise the car up.

Careful as you unto the last rear mount bolt as the car will pop-up a bit as the weight of the engine is released from the body.

Great project btw

robt964

Brilliant ! thanks for the confirmation chaps. Jevvy964 - that sounds the simplist approach. I'll have a crack at it over the weekend. I'll lower the engine onto a few 5 inch wooden beams positioned transversly under the engine. The bulk of the weight will be taken by the center spline of the case but is it still ok for the engine to rest on the heat exchangers a little?

StanUK951 - This car won't ever see road salt as long as I own it :-)

jevvy964

Yes sure you can rest on the HE's for a short time but as you say get something under the main case as soon as you can.

Also it might be worth finding a pallet as it makes it easy to slide the engine out from under the car on a sunny day(remember those) if you want access to the engine bay.