Kind of half-seriously shopping for a good beginner's bike and these seem to have a really devoted following. Saw this ad on Portland CL which sounds almost too good to be true: http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/mcy/1248049633.html
Sounds like as long as you could deal with the broken Harbor Freight easy-out that the guy tried to use on the stripped valve cover bolt, the bike would be just about perfect. (He broke off another bolt in the valve cover, but hopefully once the one with the bad head is removed along with all the other bolts, the valve cover would come off and the broken bolt would be accessible.) I'm thinking there are three, maybe four possible outcomes: 1. Remove the remains of the easy-out and the bolt with the appropriate carbide drill bit, diamond burr in a die grinder or Dremel, or some such. Problem solved. 2. Drill out the easy-out, the threads, etc. and put in a heli-coil or retap for a larger bolt. Problem solved. 3. If #1 or #2 doesn't work, remove the next larger assembly (the head?) with valve cover still attached, and pay a machine shop to deal with it. Can the head on these bikes be removed with the engine in place? 4. If necessary, remove the engine and farm out the work as in #2, but now it's probably crossing the line into too big a project to be worth it. Any thoughts? (Curt, this sounds like your area of expertise...) Alex Chamberlain '87 300D Turbo et al. _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
