Thanks! Once I get it all sorted out I plan on putting a "splash" shield in front of the filter. By the time I actually get it all finished and insured for the road it will be July, so usually no rain for a few months. Plus the set-up is designed so the air has to go up before heading to the turbo, hopefully preventing any water from getting down there. I might also box the filter completely from the engine compartment, but hat will be later also, due to the fact that I am spending WAY too much time on this stuff and I want to get it on the road as soon as I can, knowing full well there will be "bugs" to be worked out!

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Thanks John, yea my body and paint are fairly nice, just a few "wows" in the pass doors that I think I can massage out. The int. is a little worse for wear, I picked up a pair of late model front seats late 90s I think, so that helps but the headliner is trash so I will have to fix that. I used the benz rad. It took some creative work to make it fit, I had to take off the a/c compressor to clear the top hose, no biggie cause I wasn't going to get the a/c sorted out until next summer anyway but all the brackets are there. Also with this rad I didn't have any room for the condenser, so my plan is to get a custom rad later so all the a/c stuff will fit and retain the motor driven fan. I didn't want to spend the money now, I guess I'm too cheep. My plan was to use as much as I already had on hand, get it on the road, sort it all out then fine tune so I dont waste too much money, I have more time than money!

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Thanks! I had some aluminum diamond plate left over from another project so I figured it would be good to have a shroud due to the fact that the rad is a little farther away from the fan due to the necessary fitment issues. The benz shroud would't even come close! I thought about converting it to the later style hood latch system, would have solved some fitment issues, but later with the custom rad it won't.

 

I figured you probably already had something in mind, since the rest of the build has been so well thought out and executed... Sounds like you and I are on about the same schedule - though you appear to be a bit farther along than me. How about a little motivational wager? Something like whoever finishes first drives his rig to the other guy's location and then the "loser" buys the "winner" dinner? A nice dinner (not Space Needle nice, but not Denny's either).

You up for it?

 

I'm in!! I still have nightmares about something seriously going wrong and I have to start over! So we will see. I don't know how many times I have "re-engineered" something while I am driving to Boise. (I get some of my best work done while I am cruising down the road) I am getting dangerously close to seeing it (hopefully) move under its own power! It's those pesky loose ends that are keeping me down!

 

Hmmn I may have stuck my foot in it! You now are sounding like you're almost there - whereas I took your July forcast to mean you still had a long ways to go!

Ahh, that's OK. Of course the winner will no doubt drive the looser to the restaurant to collect on the bet, and it would be worth loosing just to see it in action and go for a ride in it! Besides, ready to move under its own power and ready for a 200 mile road trip can be two entirely different things...

I do most of my re-engneering when I'm falling asleep at night. Fortunately I haven't had to do TOO much of that with this project so far, because since daylight savings time started I've been getting up at 5:00 AM to go in to work earlier so I can get off early enough to get a little work in a lot of evenings. When I'm not doing Scouts or baseball or whatever else my kids have on their agenda. Getting up that early means I don't spend much time staring at the ceiling waiting to fall asleep most nights...

 

May I ask if you used rubber mount between the oil cooler and the mount?
If not you should do so- vibrations will break the cooler off. I wouldn't use hose clamps for the oil cooler hose, get them crimped, your engine oil will be out under load before you recognize the "oh,**** lamp"
It's a painful (expensive) experience if that happens.

 

I mounted the oil cooler with the benz mounts, the clamps are not your typical hose clamps, I got them at the hydrolic supply shop. They couldn't do the crimp deal like I wanted to so these clamps apply as much or more as the crimp, so they say(I guess I'll find out!)

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Your exactly correct, moving under its own power and on the road are two different deals! I seriousy don't see it being ready to become my dd until mid summer, it seems like the nice weather is stealing shop time! Was working on the shift likkage today before I have to go to work and it looks like I might be able to get one more shift point for 1st by moving the stop and easing the plastic trim!

 

I'd like to see more of a close up picture of those if/when you're working on it and have your camera handy...
Does your 86 have the rod-style linkage with the pivot bracket welded to the bottom side of the tranny hump?

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I had a question for both Benzer1 and FTE.

How are you guys planning on dealing with the vacuum controlled fuel cutoff valve to shut the engine down? Replace it with an electric solenoid? Install a valve to control vacuum to the original vacuum pod? Something else?

 

I stripped the HVAC vacuum solenoids out of the donor car (300SD). I wired one of them up to the ignition switch (used to be the distributor wire) As long as the key is on, no vacuum to the IP. Shut the key off, solenoid off, it shuts down. I had to put the vacuum line on a different port on the solenoid to make it work, but it works good.

 

OK, I see. The 300SD (W126) series must be different than the 300D or 300CD (W123) then. From what you're saying the vacuum to the IP in the SD has an electric solenoid. The D and CD don't. They actually have vacuum lines running to a valve built into the key switch and turning the key opens/closes the vacuum port directly.

Just in case you're wondering why I've been following these Mercedes/Jeep swaps so closely and asking so many questions, I have a spare motor and tranny from a 300D that I may be swapping into a Cherokee one day. Things like this will be good info to have when that day comes - I now know I can get the shutdown parts from a 300SD and make it work without trying to come up with a way to re-invent the wheel

 

The SD is the same, the vac is built into the key switch. I used a vac solenoid that was originally for the heating/AC, it's one of the solenoids that move the doors when you switch from defrost to floor, etc......... There were like six of them in the car.... I took them all out when I stripped the SD.......

John