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15 GoodAbout Dewie
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Location
Nova Scotia, Canada
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Well it's back on its wheels again - even if only temporarily. I do have the engine buttoned up and pretty well ready to go; I was able to order the gasket through the local Mercedes dealer and my intercooler came in. I made one shroud out of two and got everything (alternator, AC compressor, etc) installed again - but the car body needs some loving next. The fire has impacted a few wires where they come through the firewall, the vacuum hose for the brakes needs to be swapped out and, of course, the power wire. I also need to look at trying to recover some of the fire-mat on the firewall. Tomorrow I will be storing my VW at a friend's place for a few weeks and moving the Smart over to that side of the garage. I then have to modify a flat-deck for my farm truck (reason for needing the garage) and then paint it. After that I'll roll the parts car in and start recovering some parts. If I feel ambitious I will also remove the engine, jack this car up and start removing damaged components/addressing some small rust areas. Slow progress is better than no progress - right?
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<Edit> I've fount the gasket is readily available over-seas... hopefully I can find one locally this week
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Well I made some good progress today, engine cradle is back together, exhaust is mounted, wiring harness is mostly hooked up again (turns out I DO have an EGR Delete module; I totally forgot about that), managed to break off the bolt holding the AC Compressor to the water pump housing but was able to successfully remove that without damaging any threads or the housing somehow, and ran in to a bit of a snag with the water pump housing. More below: (wiring not pictured) I set about switching my ECU from the melted air box to the new-to-me one. Every screw holding the ECU on broke on both air boxes. I also dropped my good ECU I have siliconed the ECU in for now, if everything works I'll look at epoxy or something if necessary and the damn thing still works. Next up was the water pump/AC Compressor. As I mentioned above the bolt holding the two together broke despite me having been putting penetrating fluid on it the last... uh.. year? sooo I had to drill that out: This left-over sleeve came out so amazingly well I had to take a video haha https://photos.app.goo.gl/ScUfKYoWPQvNLjNb9 The remaining bit of bolt was so stuck I had to actually drill it out as well (couldn't hammer it out with a punch) While all that was on the go I noticed the gasket for the water pump flange has a massive chunk out of it at the top where there was a really convenient notch for a screwdriver to separate the housing from the block. (Sorry it's so out of focus) I had a brief look and I'm not seeing where I can buy this gasket/O-ring setup. I'm on the fence about just using silicone, it's a pretty big chunk missing... Maybe this is available from a dealer?
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I've not had much luck with this method thus far on this engine for some reason. There is a reason why I now have 3 9mm bolts... As for the power wire idea - I honestly never though too much about this being an issue while getting the engine out of the vehicle as mine was already disconnected. Perhaps a quick connect method of some nature WOULD be the better option. I'll have to ponder that.
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sorry the bolts on the the EGR assembly, not the intercooler - not sure what I was thinking there. Got the transmission bolted to the engine again and the starter installed. I then set the engine on the floor inside the lower part of the engine cradle/suspension. I then realized the stop spring hats were still sitting outside where I pressure-washed everything in the fall so I cleaned them up a bit and painted them. I also finally used my first part off the parts car I bought from @Sydney - a rear spring. The weather then turned nice and I cleared brush for the rest of the afternoon. Hopefully tomorrow I can make another dent in putting things back together. It's been so long since I've taken things apart I'll be doing good to find all the bolts much less remember where they all go haha I think I'll just splice the power wire that's there for now, I have the proper lugs, crimpers, and no lack of shrink tubing to do so. The same wire was cut on my parts car so I at least have a hunk of the right wire to do it with.
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There is nothing left of the heads of the bolts for the cooler, I am leaving it in place because it's going to be one hell of a headache to remove, not because I don't see any benefit to doing so.
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I haven't removed anything EGR related as of yet. I will get an emulator but I don't have one yet.
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Yes I that's what I did for the crack. A friend of mine is a professional welder and seems think it will be ok. "It doesn't have to be pretty to work" - and I hope he's right. I have ordered a new Intercooler for the car, it's somewhere between here in Germany on a boat as far as I can tell... EGR will stay where it is for now. Where I've had the engine out it should come out next time much more easily should the need arise.
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Well we're on the "back-together" train a bit here now. There was a few more repairs along the way. First was the lever for the throw-out bearing that the clutch actuator pushes on. The clutch actuator had a washer welded to the rod so SOMETHING would fetch up and move the lever. I ended up taking it off and welding in a piece of metal over the entire opening. It's ugly but it's got to be more robust than what was going on there before... Second I had to drill and tap that bolt in the side of the head - for anyone who hasn't tried these bits yet I HIGHLY recommend them, I was surprised how much better they worked than a half dozen other bits I had tried that would fit in my air-powered 90 degree Dremel tool: I actually used them in my impact driver with a long extension to get in to the side of the head as there is no way the EGR stuff is coming off this thing nicely. There was a couple of times the bits really bit in and I'd figured I was going to have to pick fragments of drill bit out of the hole but they held up nicely and got the job done. Tapping the hole I had JUST enough room: Next up was the exhaust, I drilled the ends of the crack and v'd it out then welded it up with a nickel rod. I'm honestly not hugely happy with it but there was no way I was getting the exhaust manifold off easily. I'm at the point where I need to just run the car some and see what happens. Last thing to remove/replace was the oil pan. Surprisingly all but one of the bolts came out - the one that holds the block heater in. I'm not going to bother with the block heater for now as that wiring burnt up. I won't get rid of it though - but I don't foresee driving this thing in the winter. The engine is currently hanging at the proper angle again to take the strain off the motor mount as is visible in the photo above. CDN Tire had Mobil-1 0W40 on sale this week so I grabbed a jug of that. Looks like I need 2.7L? My engine had WAY more oil in it than that, there must have been close to 4L come out of it. Either way I'll put some in and double check everything once I have the engine back in the car/cradle at least.
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I mean... maybe - but there are no axles and it's removed from the car, what are you implying ? haha
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I actually have two here and they're both pretty punched out to the point I'm just guessing. I can certainly make it whatever shape/depth I need but I'd REALLY like to have a measurement to go off of vs winging it. I've been losing a surprising amount of oil out of the transmission from various bolt holes and the axle holes, I'm kind of wondering if it's not over-full. I'll have to drain it and re-fill once I have the orientation correct/everything mounted back in the subframe.
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Intentionally posting here as I feel this information should be included here with the rest of this informative thread. If I was to weld up my clutch fork and then grind out the divot again, how deep below the surface do I need to go to be close to "spec"?
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I will not be buying a new clutch assembly for this car. As it is I'm just about to cut my losses and move on, it would be different if I knew it otherwise worked ok but I really don't, it may need all new front end parts and brake parts yet.... As it is I'm invested in the car for far more time and a bit more money than what I've been seeing functional cars selling for locally.
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The bolts I ordered for a Mini flywheel came in and, with a washer, work perfectly. I installed that engine mount and set about removing the transmission so I could see, and that's where the fun ended. *sigh* Despite my best efforts two of the bolts that hold the bracket on the side of the head broke off: and then when I finally got the transmission off I discovered that the bracket lever for the throw-out bearing is not only a bit punched but I can't see it having actually worked anymore: Next up I guess I'll try to get the broken bolts out of the block. I don't know as I actually want to take the clutch and flywheel apart or not; I'm kind of scared of what I might find next.
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After some time on Google I've determined that flywheel bolts from a Mini Cooper are exactly what I'm after, I've ordered a couple in from a local parts place. Frig you Fastenal employee who told me M9 bolts don't exist and I wouldn't find anything *shakes fist*