[T3] Invasion prep woes....
Jim Adney
jadney at vwtype3.org
Thu Jun 14 20:23:21 PDT 2012
A couple months ago, a friend bought this old Mercedes, thinking it
was a really cool car. Well, it WAS cool, but for years it's just
been neglected. For the last 3 months I've been working with him to
fix one problem after another, working up a bill that exceeds what
I've paid for most of my Type 3s. It's taken up almost all of my
spare time.
The end result is that I only managed to get my '71 out of the garage
TODAY. That's about a week later than I had hoped. Okay, it's out,
but barely.
First I thought I'd drive it out, but when I went to prime the fuel
system, it all sounded fine for the first few seconds, then I heard
spraying and the sound of gas rapidly dripping on the garage floor.
Shut down and saw a puddle under the front end. Decided to PUSH the
car out of the garage, since there's no room to work on it in there.
That was actually last night. I figured one of the hoses has split
and just needed to be renewed.
This morning, I got it up in the air and found that the hoses were
fine, but where the pressure hose slips onto the hard line leading
back to the engine, there was NO hose clamp. NONE, NADA. That was my
hose, the hose I sell, the hose I installed and then drove to the
last 3 invasions. It hadn't blown itself off the tube, it had just
sprayed up against the body and the underside of the gas tank.
That's a hard place to reach, so I must have run out of time the day
I did that, and forgot to finish when I came back. Can't believe it
lasted that well, and that long. It's better now, and I'm feeling
more than a little bit ashamed.
After that, I ran the engine, let it cool while I did other things,
checked the valves (all E valves EXCEPT #3 were tight.) Dwell and
timing were still spot on. It's been for a short test drive and I'll
run some errands with it tomorrow morning. Good power, AT shifts
fine, brakes work, fluids are all fine. Tires need a bit of air.
I put a used muffler on it after I bought it, about 10 years ago.
That one is on it's last legs; sounds like a tractor.... Anyone know
if that muffler putty actually works? It's just a couple small holes.
The #3 injector is leaking. In the past that seals up once the
internal O-ring gets soaked a bit. I'll watch that, and maybe change
it on monday, if necessary. Hope it's not necessary.
Finally, I looked at the 2 gallon jug of diesel motor oil that I
bought for the Mercedes. (You won't believe how much oil a Mercedes
takes!) In addition, to all the Diesel ratings it meets (C, for
Compression) it also meets regular gas engine spec SL (for Spark, L
revision.) All my regular gas engine oil is marked SM, and has the
API seal that I know Ford insisted on by 1996. The diesel oil does
NOT have the API seal. This makes me wonder if the ZDDP disappeared
with the SM revision.
If this is right, this oil would be a very good choice for our cars.
I don't know if there's any way I can find the specs on this oil, but
next time I'm there, I'll try. The 2 gallon jug of 15W-40 was under
$30, house brand at Farm & Fleet. That's a good deal and sounds like
it might be a good choice for our cars.
I think S rated motor oils started in the late 60s. Before that,
there was HD, but by the time I owned my first cars, I think they
were all S rated. I THINK I remember SA-SB oils, but they were soon
replaced by SC-SD, which lasted a long time. I could never understand
why they always seemed to use up ratings 2 letters at a time.
It's likely that one's age can be told by the earliest oil you
remember.
See you all in Co. Springs!
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Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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