Topic: Sean's Yellow C5 - Good Buddy

[Canuckrz]

I've been getting more and more interested in the Mercs after watching legitstreetcars YouTube channel. It's a shame the mid 2000's inline 6 diesels are so damn hard to find, and only look to be in the sedan chassis. I wouldn't mind a diesel Merc, but I'm not about that turbo V6 life. 6 in a row ready to tow etc etc.

Any reason why you're just hollowing out the downpipe instead of cut cutting out the whole section and replacing it with a section of tube?

[SlowLGT]

I've been getting more and more interested in the Mercs after watching legitstreetcars YouTube channel. It's a shame the mid 2000's inline 6 diesels are so damn hard to find, and only look to be in the sedan chassis. I wouldn't mind a diesel Merc, but I'm not about that turbo V6 life. 6 in a row ready to tow etc etc.

Any reason why you're just hollowing out the downpipe instead of cut cutting out the whole section and replacing it with a section of tube?

That generation of E class is very nice. I actually don't see a lot of them on the road, regardless of engines. A turbo diesel does not sound very exciting until you live with a modern one. With the DPF hollowed and turbo fixed, I easily get into 7.4L/100km if I drive nicely, and only up to about 8.5L/100km when I really beat on it. With the 95L tank, this translates to about 900km between fuel stops, which is really great for all my work trips to remote areas. When I need power, the torque just keeps pulling. The only downside is NVH at start up and idle.

The reason I hollowed the DPF this way was for fitment. It is 100% hard connection from turbo to mid pipe with three V-band connections, with very little room between downpipe and transmission to do any work. I feel the cut and replace method would be too difficult given the space constraint and the precision requiremtn.

[jellynuts]

Can I consider myself one of the blessed few, because I have chest hair about as dense as Cole's arm hair?

Don't tease me bro. 

If you don't mind sharing, how much was the ML320?  Also, if you don't mind sharing, pics of chest hair. 

[SlowLGT]

Don't tease me bro. 

If you don't mind sharing, how much was the ML320?  Also, if you don't mind sharing, pics of chest hair.

ML320 had about 110k on the clock, clean history, dealer maintained its whole life, excellent condition inside and out. Options included NAV, heated steering wheel, and interior is covered in MB-Tex. Purchase price was $11750.

If you practice any grappling like Jiu Jitsu, wrestling, or Judo, I'd be happy to hold you down to the ground and rub my chest hair all over your face for no reason.

[SlowLGT]

I made some progress with the engine last night. Finally cleaned up all the carbon build up on the pistons. I did not enjoy this process very much. I did do some fun stuff though: measuring push rod lengths.

I followed Scruf's Garage's excellent instruction videos.

1. Since the stock LS6 hydraulic lifters are getting replaced by newer LS7 lifters, I took two of these apart and turned them into solid lifters. This simulates the effect of oil pressure pumping up the lifters, so the internals do not collapse when the engine is off during measurements. The instructional video is here:


2. I then installed the two makeshift solid lifters for Cyl#1, installed head gasket, and torqued the head to about 35 lb to make sure that the MLS gasket is compressed and making full contact.

This is about where I ran out of time and stopped. Notice the little valve stem cap (second valve from left). The steel lifters would wear down the titanium valve stems a little too quickly for a double duty car, so I got some of these to extend the valve life. Hopefully, with proper push rod length, these caps stay on and don't cause any trouble.

DSC_0277

The Comp Cam push rod length measure tool is pretty cool. It starts off 6.8", and each full turn adds 0.05". My first measurement on the intake valve did not go quite right, because I did not spin the engine to the right position. I will have to try again tonight.
DSC_0276

Here is the instructional video for my own reference and those interested.

[darthekai]

I used the "just send it" method.

Out of curiosity whats the torque spec for the rocker pedestal bolts? Like how is it worded?


On a 302 its like "hit zero lash, then anywhere between 1 and 2 full bolt rotations to hit XXft-lbs"

[SlowLGT]

I used the "just send it" method.

Out of curiosity whats the torque spec for the rocker pedestal bolts? Like how is it worded?


On a 302 its like "hit zero lash, then anywhere between 1 and 2 full bolt rotations to hit XXft-lbs"

I do not remember the exact torque spec, but it is typically 1/2 to 1 full turn till tight. The measurement tool is really cool. I found out my new heads and valve train needs a slightly different lengths compared to the common 7.400". Pretty glad I did my homework before "just send it".

I made some progress over the weekend. I finished fabricating the tunnel plate. It was not a hard job, but I sucked at cutting the thicker metal. The new piece is supposed to increase chassis rigidity and make the handling characteristics more intuitive. It apparently makes a very positive improvement on targa top chassis, we will see how much it improves the fixed roof chassis. I had to cut a little window near where the bellhousing is to make a pass through for the O2 sensors.



Bolted up the heads, tunnel plate, long tube headers, and intake manifold together for a mock up.The FAST 102R intake manifold looks absolutely huge in the engine bay. I will have to trim off about an inch from the bottom of my hood vent.


Oh, I also managed to take the crank bolt off. I need a puller to replace the harmonic balancer.

Overall, pretty happy with the progress so far. It is looking more and more likely that the car will be ready for the NASCC HPDE school on 25/26.

And it will finally be able to keep up with a stage 2 e-tune STI/s

[darthekai]

the just send it method also involves the tool. Not sure how you would pull it off without.

1) use a drill to pump oil thru engine

2) let it sit for a couple days

3) do it again and then decide uckfay it

4) crank it for a minute with the rods from the old head/valve combo.

5) do the adjust-a-rod thing until it just hits 0-lash.

6) get different results for some valves

7) look online and see that its hard to get rods of different lengths (i.e. you need to buy 16 of whatever length).

8 ) read about how hydraulic lifters work

9) read about valve train angles

10) realize only results matter

11) "just send it" and order a sort of weighted average length (basically a guess).

12) install, torque, mark, crank, check wear patterns.

13) great success!


Also, did you do the wear patterns? You basically color the tops of the valve stems with a sharpie, then crank the engine and see where the rocker contacts throughout the full rotation based on the pattern on the tip. Should be middle to 1/3 low, and different (higher, non centered, etc) indicates wrong pushrod length in one direction or the other.

[SlowLGT]

I did not.. I even looked at several other videos from big time LS builders (Katech, BTR), and they did not check for these things either.

[djteako]

Nice car there. Vette's were my first and still are one of my favorite muscle cars. Sorry but I have to take a like at you for the thread title. Old school hot rodding.  Lol. Not even close. Now if it had a carburetor ....

[Ambystom01]

It has leaf springs right? That's pretty old school. Even NASCAR has moved away from carburetors.

[Rathburn]

It has leaf springs right? That's pretty old school.

Don't forget about the pushrods!!

[SlowLGT]

Push rods, leaf springs, and the black smoke coming out of my tail pipe.

[SlowLGT]

Made some progress this past weekend:
1. Replaced the harmonic dampener aka crank pulley. Heating it up with a torch or a few minutes worked amazingly well.
2. Torqued on the heads. The factory head bolts are torque to yield. The first 90* pass was easily manageable, the second 70*pass took some efforts and a very long breaker bar.
3. Bolted on the intake manifold and throttle body. This thing is so big that the factory valley bolts were pushing against the bottom of the manifold. I had to replace them with lower profile bolts. The throttle body had interference with the front steam port lines connecting the two heads. A little blow with a rubber mallet fixed that.
4. Bolted on the long tube headers. There is not any fitment issues. The install was nice and easy, because my heads were off and steering linkage was disconnected. I can totally see space becoming a serious issue if I was only replacing the headers.
5. Got fuel line figured out to the new fuel rails. Factory GM uses a 3/8" quick connect at the firewall. The first 3/8 EFI to -6AN adapter I picked up from Mopac did not want to stay on at all. I got an industrial swagelok fitting for $20. This is probably the best fitting I've ever used.

To do:
1. Finish the head install 100%. This involves rocker arm upgrades, and new push rods.
2. Torque crank pulley bolt to 235 lb ft.
3. Install steering rack.
4. Reconnect all electric connections. I don't know if I remember where everything goes... e.g. why is there a knock sensor kicking around while I already have one installed on the driver side of the block??
5. Fill fluids.
6. Fire up!
7. Alignment.
8. Dyno tune by Davenport Motorsports on June 5.

[Canuckrz]

I got an industrial swagelok fitting for $20. This is probably the best fitting I've ever used.

Real men go industrial, only boiz buy "performance" brands. Fluid filled cluster gauges when?

[jellynuts]

8. Dyno tune by Davenport Motorsports on June 5.

You don't need a tune. You just need a full send.

[SlowLGT]

Real men go industrial, only boiz buy "performance" brands. Fluid filled cluster gauges when?

When I try to drive through the flooded 111st/Whitemud underpass some time this summer.

[SlowLGT]

Do I full send, too?

[jellynuts]

Do I full send, too?

The question is not do you full send, the question is, do you possess the constitution, the depth of faith, to send as full as needed? 

[SlowLGT]

The question is not do you full send, the question is, do you possess the constitution, the depth of faith, to send as full as needed? 

I may go half send and look at the data first.

[jellynuts]

I may go half send and look at the data first.

[SlowLGT]

Tonight, I have the same wish as 10SD.

All that is left is replacing all the fluids at this point and hope she fires up.

[SlowLGT]

She cranks, but no starts.

[10secdream]

She cranks, but no starts.

 

[SlowLGT]

Engine sounds fine when it rotates. Seems to be a grounding related problem. I will check all grounding points when I get home tonight.