thank you. Working on this thing brings out a level of eloquent frustration.
clay On Apr 4, 2012, at 6:34 PM, OK Don wrote: > I don't have a clue about how to get the seat out - never did it on the > SLC, but I did enjoy your writing almost as much as John Cleese's! > > On Wed, Apr 4, 2012 at 7:46 PM, clay monroe <redgh...@comcast.net> wrote: > >> How do the seats come out? >> >> Still sorting the car out. May be something I spend the next year doing. >> >> Today's adventure involved the hood release not doing its job. Seems the >> cable has stretched and no longer has enough yank left to fully retract the >> latch. Took it to my indy and in five minutes they got the thing open, and >> showed me how to fix. Went home and did that. This was helpful because.... >> >> I needed to change the oil, add washer fluid and put fresh ATF and filter >> in the power steering pump. I got all that done. >> >> Oil change was sort of a breeze. Sucker removed about three gallons of >> really nasty black goop that was worse than I ever got out of Gump, and she >> was diesel. While evac was proceeding, I pop the top on PS pump and used a >> bulb syringe to remove the thick orange slime from the housing. Get all >> the way to the bottom and can not find the filter. Well that sucks, but I >> have a new one from Rusty so in it goes, fresh ATF and clean the housing >> and button it up. >> >> Oil Goop is done, hose burbling away, so I head under the car and undo the >> filter housing. No gusher of warm oil down the sleeve, as would have been >> my fate with Gump. Dump the housing in the drain tub of used oil and swab >> up the oil mess around the upper sealing surface while the filter and >> housing empty. Filter does not want to come out. It was installed upside >> down. Great! Yank it out and begin taking the tub apart to clean it for >> new filter and seals. >> >> The thing looks like it was not swabbed in ages. Thick black slime >> tenasiously holding onto the bottom. Empty a whole can of brake cleaner to >> get it all out. Have to use a razor to wedge the old copper washer off the >> center post it is so welded on. Get it all back the way it should be and >> button that up. Fill with two gallons of Rotella, because it was on sale >> way cheap and I only need it to flow for a few hundred miles. Start the >> engine and wait for pressure to pop back up. Three bars and holds for a >> few minutes just fine. Get out and look for leaks. All good! Shut it off. >> >> Now the day has progressed to the point there is decreased chance of rain >> and temp is rising. Looking good to get the POR on things. Since I will >> be driving this weekend and next, but the seat cushions have arrived, I am >> going to take out the passenger side seat and derust the floor boards. >> >> I find the four bolts holding the seat track on, but can not get the dang >> thing to come out or release. All it wants to do is rock back and forth on >> a hidden pivot point. I am suspecting the seat belt is involved in some >> nefarious manner. BFH and flat head to the rescue to try to maybe unstick >> the thing, since it probably has thirty years of sugar slop holding it onto >> the drive shaft tunnel. That just makes it looser and more wiggly. Still >> clueless as to how it comes out. >> >> Pull up the front footwell pad, using putty knife to pry its death grip on >> the floor. This thing is sopping wet. Well, I guess I have to hunt down >> the leak. Another day. Got the thing out and went to work with the wire >> wheel on the rust. What was initially no rust through turned into 16 >> areas of pock marked holes. Poop! Well, snag some fiberglass weave and >> start cutting patches. Go to town with the marine clean, then the surface >> prep. Rinse up and toss towels in to soak up the wet in hopes of getting >> it dry enough to POR this afternoon. Grab one of the desiccant bag things >> to help it along. >> >> While the sun is out and a nice cool breeze is helping evaporation, I try >> to wrestle the dang seat out so I can get the rear pad up and out. No joy. >> Going to start kicking the tar out of the seat but for some reason >> everybody in the voting district seems to want to use my road to drive >> down. Not able to keep the door open long enough to go line backer on the >> seat and I can not get the sopping wet pad out either. Make a note ot ask >> the group and find another task. >> >> Which is to remove the chrome fender guard that has a dent in it and has >> dropped the gasket. Four screws later I am face to face with a nice rust >> spot about the size of a quarter where the dent is on the fender itself. >> Dang. Get some cleaner for the accreted filth gathered between the chrome >> part and the actual car. Wash it off and use 220 grit on the rust. Poot a >> bit of rust sealer rattle can spray to protect it for now and take a small >> peen to the dented chrome to smooth it out. Not great, but more flatter. >> Put it back on. >> >> Get my stack of fiberglass patches and scoop up two margarine tubs of POR. >> One to paint the other to soak each patch. Check for dry. Good enough. >> Set up a tub in the footwell and use the paint tub to add a second coat to >> the trunk. Then do the footwell with swipes of paint brush POR. Black goo >> is going all over and I am jamming it into any nook or cranny I find as >> well as seams and holes. It is doing a great job of flowing all over the >> holes and rust. Make sure it is even and fully coating, then grab a patch >> and look for a hole. Soak it and pop it on. Well, that is not such a good >> idea. This thing is pretty unmanageable sloppy wet. Grab a few more dry >> patches and plop them on top of the drenched one. They soak up a fair >> excess and I put them on their own holes. Decide I will just use dry patch >> and poke them down with the brush into the POR. Use a few dabs of wet >> brush to keep them down and fully get them wet. All patches used and I >> think I hit every hole I had. Some have overlap of patch because the dang >> hole were everywhere. >> >> Take the left over POR and the paint brush back to the trunk and see if it >> is tacky and dry enough to do a third coat. Get the third coat on with no >> issue. Still have more of the black slop and I am running out of places to >> slather it. Go to the rusty bits that got the last coating with left over, >> and do them a second coat. Still a goodly amount left. Gather up the junk >> yard found tools that had been sitting in ponds in the trunks of cars. >> Tool kit bits. I had used the electrolysis to remove the rust, but even >> coating the little things in WD-40 and light machine oil was not able to >> keep the rust away. I had sanded them up Sunday in case I needed them to >> work on the car, but three days later, rust is back. Slather them with >> POR. Now I have little black wrenches. They will live in the wet trunk >> until I can find where the water is getting in. >> >> Back to the seat. HOW THE EF do these things come out. Smack it with >> heavy rubber mallet. Rock it back and forth, sideways. Kick it, yell at >> it. Give up, hang up my shop smock and write a message to the mercedes >> group. >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> clay >> >> >> 1974 450sl - Frosch - Two tone green >> 1972 220D - Gump - She is green, simple and ran >> 1995 E300D - Cleo - Used by the Queen of Denial >> POS 1987 SDL - Beware Nigerian Scammers >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________ >> 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://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com >> > > > > -- > OK Don > 2001 ML320 > 1992 300D 2.5T > 1990 300D 2.5T > 1997 Plymouth Grand Voyager > _______________________________________ > 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://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ 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://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com