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'01 Mercedes AMG, Problem Solving

Mercedes CLK55 – Oil Filter Housing Leak Solved

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The 2001 CLK55 engine sprung a leak, evidenced one morning by a visible oil puddle behind the right front wheel. It was a narrow lake of oil, probably no more than a couple tablespoons, originating near the rear of the engine. After putting the car on ramps I crawled under to take a look.

The evidence
The likely sources, the oil filter housing and the oil filler cap. Yellow is pointing at filter housing that must be removed

I uploaded the photo and had a bit of consultation with ChatGPT as to the possible source of the leak, and eventually discovered there was oil on the front of the engine below the oil filter housing, and a bit near the oil filler cap.

The yellow arrow points to the oil filter housing, which needed to be removed. I feared the worst, but found that it is a simple job. There are two rubber seals between the filter housing and the finned oil cooler, attached with four bolts removed with a T30 socket. The filter housing also has upper and lower halves, with a rubber seal between them. These are held together with a large hollow “bolt” that requires a 46 mm socket for removal.

Four T30 socket bolts hold this cooler to the filter housing
This bolt gives the most grief, tight space for a ratchet down there
That one!
At bottom of housing, the 46 mm “bolt”
I used a 1 13/16″ socket, which set me back $20 at Tractor Supply
The torque spec is around 50 lb/ft, but it took two pulling on a 3 foot lever to break it loose.
Old flattened, hard rubber seals
Found the seals online at Autozone
Bottom seal lubed and in place
Ditto for the two seals between housing and cooler
New filter going in, job nearly finished
All buttoned up. After a couple long drives, not a drop of oil under the car!

When I first spotted the oil, I was tempted to donate the car to charity. However, what I feared would be a time consuming, difficult, and expensive repair turned out to be simple and straightforward.

I am an advocate of AI for help diagnosing car issues but ChatGPT was a bit off with this repair. First it insisted that I could replace the oil level sensor without removing the oil pan, telling me that it was removed from bottom of the pan, held by 3 bolts. NOT!

And then it was pretty clueless about the 46 mm bolt securing the upper half of the filter housing to the lower half that bolts to the engine block. By providing photos and working through it, I’m hoping it got a little smarter.

No plastic plate secured with 3 bolts down here
This is the oil level sensor, not critical, but annoying
Seen here roughly above the drain plug, it’s accessed after removing the oil pan

Next up, in a few thousand miles, replacing that oil level sensor. And then… fixing the ABS/ESP/BAS fault, which means having the pump rebuilt.

'73 Triumph TR6, Problem Solving

TR6 Gets a Factory Hardtop

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I have been half-heartedly looking for a factory hardtop for the Six, and this summer I lucked out and found one within an hour drive. It was a bare top but included all windows – in excellent shape – and some but not all of the rubber. The paint looks like rattle-can flat black and there are a couple very slight dents front and center, hardly noticeable now but which would need fixing prior to painting. I had to make the mounting brackets at the B-pillar, and I added insulation and headliner, as shown in the photos.

First, I made the B post brackets, which were either unavailable or crazy expensive.

B post brackets were unobtanium
SketchUp to visualize what I needed to make
Time to cut some metal, 3/16th steel
Angle iron, internally threaded tube, and the 3/16th plates
Welds are a bit rough because I didn’t use our gas shielded rig at the barn, but good enough
Test fitting
Getting the top level for the next step
Plumb bobbing, there are two angles to deal with… just trying to get close.
The B-post leans toward center of the car and leans toward the rear, so we are plumbobbulating. Your new word for the day.
Eye-balling
Drawing lines and eye-balling again
A little black paint, a couple washers, and we’re done
Finished B-post bracket, not perfectly aligned, but the top is easy to install and it’s not going to fly off

Although I’m not finishing the top at this time, I did want to experience enclosed driving through the winter, and decided to try and make it quiet with insulation and headliner.

Adhesive backed 3/4 inch foam
Nice soft suede, 1/4 inch foam, also adhesive backed
Test fitting the insulation
Getting set to cut the headliner to fit the 3/4 insulation
The suede headliner I selected required a two-piece approach
All stuck together
Metal rib covers the seam
Not a bad result, with a total of an inch insulation, around $100 for the materials

The final steps included installation of the seals, the glass, and the chrome trim. I chose to have the glass done by Grace Auto Glass, as I had used them previously when assembling the windshield a few years ago.

It seemed to me there were some conflicting and incorrect comments re installing the seal between the hardtop and the windshield. So, quoting the official Fitting Instructions for Item 11, the Hardtop to Windshield seal, this is the process I followed…

Place the rubber with flat side facing upwards and apply adhesive to the complete area of the flat surface. Insert distance tubes through the inner holes of the rubber. Screw a 5/16 inch “slave” stud finger tight to each of the two weld nuts in the header panel of the Hard Top, in order to locate the exact position of the rubber. Position the rubber to header rail and press down firmly to ensure satisfactory bond. Remove “slave” studs.

HT to WS seal, studs finger tight into captive nuts, distance pieces inserted through the rubber seal, ready to apply adhesive
5/16 – 18 studs
Glued, but I did not apply adhesive across the entire seal, just from a few inches inboard of the distance pieces and out to the ends
Glued down, and ready to unscrew the “slave” studs
This seal was a bit tricky, but after cleaning up the channel, and slightly opening up the channel around the sweeping 90 degree turn, it slid in pretty easily. I then tightened the channel up a bit with pliers
Trip to Ace Hardware for these stoppers that I drilled through to use as the buffers between HT and rear deck
Installed, with glass and chrome!
I could not get the long chrome piece to stay on the rivets, so I got creative. Oh well
Since I am holding off on painting the top (and the entire car) I applied Sweet Patina on the top to offer a little protection against the elements this winter.

The Six actually seems like a real car now rather than a toy, but I’m pretty sure that come next spring the hardtop will be coming back off. For now, I will experience cozy comfort through the San Diego “winter.”

'73 Triumph TR6, Build Projects

British invasion, The ’73 Triumph

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After declining to rebuild my neighbor Wendy’s Triumph TR6 for a few years because I was too busy building these old trucks, she finally approached me with an offer I couldn’t refuse. “Give me $250 and send another $250 to my favorite charity, and it’s yours.” Thus began a two year rebuild… not at the Barn but in my garage at home.

My plan for this narrative is just to post pictures of the process, with captions. I’m sure that there will be posts dedicated to specific problems and solutions, but this build story will be heavy on photos.

Here is the current state of the TR6 as of Fall 2021…

Next guy can paint it… I have grandkids, and they don’t use the doors
California Special… no heater or top
Now it’s a “fuelie”… Patton TBI system
Short drive in the TR6 on a nearby twisty road.

Enjoy the (mostly) photographic narrative of the two year journey. Click on the Triumph link in the table of contents at the top or left side of the page for a complete archive of posts. There is a list of vendors we used on this project in the Stuff We Like post.

'56 Farm Truck, Build Projects

The ’56 Chevy 3600 Farm Truck is Finished

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Finally done, here is the After gallery. Click a picture to view the carousel…

This was the “farm truck” in January 2017, the Before gallery…

And lastly, this gallery shows some of our work. There is no question that the paint job (and prep and finish) was by far the most time consuming and at times disheartening part of the restoration. The mechanical jobs were mostly straightforward, with just a handful that caused trouble. We got pretty good at rebuilding doors and windows but a broken – yeah, we broke it – passenger side window just as we were finishing the truck gave us some grief… nobody likes to backtrack. All in all, we enjoyed the project and we’re pleased with the result.

More importantly, Lewie is happy to have the truck just as he remembered back in the sixties, but made more enjoyable with the addition of power steering, power brakes, and the overdrive transmission.

"59 Apache, Build Projects

First Truck: The ’59 Apache (update)

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What to do when you have a big old barn with a cement floor and electricity? Go find an old truck, of course. In this case, we jumped in with both feet and ended up with a somewhat sorry 1959 Chevrolet 3100 Apache, short bed, step side, small window.

A few words about the “patient.” The truck would barely run as the carb was spewing fuel through the throttle shaft. During the test drive the previous owner almost slid the thing through a stop sign into cross traffic because only one of the drum brakes seemed to be doing its job. And the god awful bench seats smelled like an open sewer. On top of that, the left front corner of the cab was low due to a rust problem where it mounted to the frame.

The Apache is finally back on the road with a fresh coat of satin black paint, a freshened 350 engine, and a long list of fixes and improvements. There is still plenty  to do, but it is now a fun driver (and work truck – this Apache can haul!)

Heart of the 1959 Apache, the fresh 350 engine
Heart of the 1959 Apache, the fresh 350 engine… check the rebuild article posted previously.

We shored up the front cab corners with 1/4 inch steel, rebuilt the drum brake system, added new shocks all around, installed a drop axle at the front, and lowered the rear to match it by re-curving the main leaf spring and removing the supplementary extra stack of leaf springs. We replaced the rear cab corners and then spent weeks cleaning up the body and chassis and prepping for paint.

Using string and tape to line up the bed with the cab prior to mounting on the frame.
Using string and tape to line up the bed with the cab prior to mounting on the frame.

The colors lurking under that old black paint.
The colors lurking under that old black paint.

1959 Apache with light gray primer applied.
Checking out the fender emblem and Boyd’s 17 inch rims against the light gray primer. Next truck might be light gray!

At this stage, we have stuck with manual 4-speed Saginaw transmission, manual steering, and the drum brakes sans power assist. However, having just added CPP’s easily installed power steering and power assist brake kits to the ’56 “Farm Truck,” these improvements might soon appear on the Apache.

The rear end is a bit noisy, but we’re living with it for now, until the Farm Truck is finished and on the road. At this point, it’s just time to enjoy driving the big hunk of steel. The rake of the chassis, with the front end low, and the 3.90 ratio rear end make it feel sporty on the twisty roads between home and shop.

The '59 Apache looks like a compact truck next to bro's GMC hauler... it does haul with 900+ lbs of torque.
The ’59 Apache looks like a compact truck next to bro’s GMC hauler… it does haul with 900+ lbs of torque.

New tailgate and a little bright stuff at the rear of our 1959 Apache
New tailgate and a little bright stuff at the rear.

1959 Apache truck in driveway ready to cruise.
The Apache ready for a cruise.

The Barn’s “first truck” isn’t a show stopper, nor is it completed to our satisfaction yet. On the other hand, our key phrase for the Apache during the build was “next guy.” So maybe it will just change hands as is, to add a little to the budget for our next project… the ’58 GMC seen behind the Apache in the title picture.

1959 Apache loaded with tires for the '56 Farm Truck
The Apache hauls… new 17.5 radials for the ’56 Farm Truck.

 

 

'48 Patina, Build Projects

The ’48… aka Mr. Patina

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When my friend and fellow barn junkie, Lance, asked if we could get his recovered ’48 half-ton running again, I agreed. Little did we know it would take a fifteen month bite out of our schedule for the Apache. But after his truck – in his family for decades – was mistakenly sold from the private property where it was being stored, it took him quite a while to find it and reclaim it, and to convince the DMV that he wasn’t an axe-murderer. So what’s a few months in the grand scheme of things.

The reclaimed truck was minus its engine and transmission, and what remained of it was in a sorry state. Things were not looking good for this budget build until Lance found a restored ’48 chassis with a 327 small block and TH 350 transmission. The previous owner had thrown in the towel on a project started a decade earlier. The rest is history.