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Went to pickapart and replaced the missing air bleed hoses. Fixed a few other coolant leaks. Now it's good. Bought a big syringe pump thing to fill the gearbox with oil, managed to do this notoriously messy job without spilling a single drop of gearbox oil! Miracle! Until I realized that the drain plug wasnt screwed in properly, and itwas on an angle - so I had to undo it and quickly straighten it and tighten it up. So gearbox oil everywhere still. Damnit, haha. Then I think I've still got some fairly massive air leaks, I dont have any gaskets or sealants at the moment so I'll pull it all apart and sort that a bit better. I managed to get it idling at around 1000rpm, but only because I've leaned out the fuel table so much. Again an easy fix, just time consuming. Then another cool milestone, and to be honest something I was dreading a bit - testing the clutch. Everything's good! I drove the car forward about a meter, then reverse about a meter. Which is officially the furthest it's propelled itself in about 6 or 7 years. It's still ear splittingly loud, and dear god it sounds like a straight piped RB or something dreadful currently. Ugh. Will buy some mufflers this week if I can, so I can keep making some progress without making my brain bleed. Then also have enough of an exhaust on there that I'll be getting okay readings on the wideband. Small steps but all in the right direction currently. nother

Dad's cousin married Max, who has always been our family mechanic and panel beater. He's somewhere north of 70 and a full-time menace and tinkerer. This is his Ke70 wagon that he bought off @Dudley (also a fill-time menace) and proceeded to rebuild half the body of before painting it and tidying allll the things. He got bored one day and had a 2TGEU sitting around that he'd got in exchange for putting a 4age into someone's wagon years ago. The loom had been chopped in half, and being older than fuel injection he thought it was a great idea to replace the injection with twin carbs. Yesterday my brother called me and said "Max has been talking to Pete's friend who built himself an ECU for his car and tuned it himself. He reckons you should be able to do it." Approximately 24 hours later I have all of the EFI gear from the Corolla sitting on the floor in the shed and have read half of the information on the internet about the Speeduino. I've been given a generous (for a Speediuno build) budget to work with and told to get ordering. I've printed out the 2T wiring diagram which is comical after dealing with 1UZ diagrams and am starting to make a plan. So far the shopping list (other than the ECU) includes: IAT sensor (probably a Toyota one) Map sensor (also probably a Toyota one) (so I don't have to run a vacuum line all the way to the ECU and can just run it off the AFM wiring) TPS (maybe 4age as we have a couple of motors sitting around) A wideband, probably Spartan 3 I'm leaning toward either one of these https://www.everythingfuelinjection.com/store/The-Micro-p161480124 https://kiwiefi.nz/index.php?route=product/product&path=20&product_id=54 Feel free to tell me in the discussion how far over my head I am. I've wired a 4age, a B16a, an SR20VE, a 1uz and a 3uz and used to do car alarms, so pretending I know what I'm doing.

I got ants in my pants this morning so I took a coffee break from work, connected up the wiring, filled the fluids, primed the auto lube pump, mixed up some oily petrol for safety, and kicked it in the guts. Stoked!

I gave the new lever an absolute hiding with a file. Took if from ~10mm thick to <6mm. I also machined up a bush from an old bolt. It looks like it will fit now, but not properly tested. I've also: straightened and painted the rear rack Waterblasted the cover and put a seat back together for the time being Painted the front end and started to re-assemble that Changed the oil Installed the chain and cover Re-registered it Hoping to finish assembly and fire it up tonight!

While I've got the underside of the car right in my face, I've been using the hammer to close up any gappy seams and straightening edges. Because I can. The seam at the front end of the sills were a bit squashed from jacking so I knocked and pried them back into shape. While doing that I noticed some pinholes in the flat panel that joins the bottom of the front wing to the seam on the bottom of the sill. I decided to remove that panel. It's basically an 'L' shape so real easy to make a new one.(I've made the new ones using slightly thicker metal) The drivers side sill end was quite pitted under that flat panel because debris gets stuck between them. I cut that out too, it's also flat. It was in AMAZINGLY rust free condition in there. It seemed to be evenly coated with a dark grey primer, this shell must have been dunked in a vat of this primer at the factory for it to be in there. Just for good measure I flooded it with Zinc primer. I did the passenger side too, just to check it was in even better condition. A little pitting, but no pinholes. I tried to take a photo inside but my phone didn't want to use the flash.

After seeing flash sort the ac in his van (that was the kick I needed to start refitting) and with the diy hoses I figured I'd give it a crack too. Ordered some fittings and a meter of hose Didn't end up needing anywhere close to a meter And sitting ready for crimping I'll probably end up running the wires through the loom in the guard for the ac compressor and pressure switch as I won't any any of the engine loom on the front. Thinking about it I'll run the boost control solenoid with it and tuck it out of the way in that area

Grabbed some M5 stainless stuff in my travels today Drilled and tapped the rest of the mounting holes and mounted the condenser In one of the previous test fits I'd marked out where it would probably hit the body Took a brave pill and took the hacksaw to the offending piece and it clears And it's in position and (nearly) everything clears It's close to the bonnet latch so I might need to give it a trim but will see how it goes I was thinking I might need to make up some ducting but the drivers side doesn't have too many places for the air to escape through Passengers side is a different story but I'll deal with that one turbo manifold and plumbing is done

Yeah my stock V50 goes great, speedo reckons I get up to 65ish on the flat and has no problem keeping up with urban traffic which is perfect for commuting/pub and general residential pesting. I have approximately zero interest in lifan (2 strokes 2 many!) but am keeping an eye out for a V70/90 or a PW80 donk to bolt in. I really need to update my thread with some V50 pics and miscellaneous tales of woe...

I got the charcoal bonnet off a mate who wasn't guna use it i thought it would be funny to put a k&n out the hole just to keep people guessing (nearly got to race in n/a class at summer drags a few years back)

Mazda rail to recaro adapter

Og vs savannah valance.

/lingpostthreadhijack

Mines a v90 now Find a pw80 donk to keep sweet 2t noises. Bolts straight in, and can swap the ignition stuff over from the 50 to keep the lights on

The HB Viva went to a new home and have this new project arriving next week

One the plus side I labelled the plugs On the minus side they have mostly faded. Dug out the intake piping, surprisingly well made I thought considering that I did it, but needed a good clean up Inside and out. I don't think I had roloc discs back in the day, they are good for this sort of job. Squirted some good old black zinc inside, will do the outside tomorrow then look at my silicone tube and clamp supplies. IIRC the radiator needs to go in first.

Hopefully turn it into something like this.

Sounds like a hoot. Here's a couple of pics for potential purchasers. This thing really Flys.

Cube speed shortshifter

New k&n had to change location so moved it and the water meth nozzle.

Recaros

Yeah will see what its like to ride tonight hopefully! To be honest, I'm probably not going to be using this for the big adventure rides, this will be for riding to work and taking on camping trips, so hopefully the 50 will be adequate. PW80 does sound like an ideal upgrade though! @alfalfa seems to enjoy his V50.

I lasted about 2 weeks on the factory 50 in mine before lifan swapping.... @GuyWithAviators has a 70/90? in his and its a complete different experience. Soooo good.

Bout that time again

The steel wheels on it are very heavy. When it did its quickest time it had some very light cragar super tricks on the front. They were popular in the 70s but the internet reckons there's not many around these days because they were prone to failure. I bought them ages ago from a guy who took them off his car because they made creaking noises when doing tight turns, they were very cheap. They weigh as much as a bag of chips and are a bit sketchy, also the tyres were right on the limit speed rating and load rating wise. Plus I had to run a 5mm spacer which I did not like. I only did 2x passes with them on and didn't like it So I've had my eye out for a second set of wheels suitable for drag racing Being an impressionable teenager in the 90s who read street machine magazine a lot I've always wanted a set of weld draglites. They don't come up often second hand, I found a set a while ago but they were not wide enough. You can still buy them new but they are pricey Picked these up today, 15x5 and 15x8. Tried them on then got the tyres off, they are very fucked. They need a polish but should tidy up well Anybody know a good polishing place in south auckland?

PNot an update as such, more a musing/potential future upgrade. Upon procuring the engine, id noted the front crank seal had been leaking. I whipped the crank pulley off, and much like the pinion seal on the diff, the seal journal was quite rutted/cut into. A speedy sleeve put this back to new. While i had the crank pulley off, i noticed an interesting shape was present. So i figured while it was off, it would be a travesty not to machine off the power steering pump pulley, (these are attached to the main hub, not the dampered pulleys that drive the water pump/alternator/AC) A nice spigot was machined on, and some holes drilled and tapped to correspond with those nice bosses. This is very hard to photograph in the car. Quite a while ago, the old boy picked up an Eaton M62 supercharger off Ebay. It came off a USDM nissan frontier truck, with the nissan VG33ER. (The larger version of the single can VG30 which were once common here) i basically told him, i was commandeering it. And back when @Vintage Grumblewas a cool kid, he had some SR20det injectors which he kindly gifted to me. So in the unlikely event 5his wreck ever sees the road, it wont be too big of a stretch to turn the wick up.

Alright alright alright! So I pushed the car outside this afternoon so I could reach some wiring inside to try fire it up. I filled the car up with coolant, by which I mean water because I was expecting things to leak. Sure enough each head had a hole up the front where water started leaking out. I couldnt remember what these were for, then found out that they are like an air bleed channel that goes back to the thermostat housing. So, these seem to have gone AWOL when moving house so I'll need to pickapart some more. I must have removed them when taking the heads off to clean them. Easy fix. Then I got the fuel pump working and fixed a few fuel leaks. It turns out that AN fittings arent very good at sealing if you havent tightened them up? Crazy. Then I got my tune somewhat sorted, and tried cranking the motor over.... and the bloody battery died! Ugh. I mucked around to get another battery, it sort of spluttered a few times but not quite. I had a look through the tune settings. Engine size was still set to 1500cc from using this ECU in the Echo - woops. I needed to disable the fuel pressure sensor allocation. As since this isnt wired in yet, it took 0v to believe that the motor had zillions of psi worth of fuel pressure. Then when I cranked the motor it was registering the crank trigger, but not cam trigger. Checked the settings, had this wrong. Both were set to VR sensors, but the crank is VR and the cams are hall effect. So once that was fixed... Bam! We are running. It was absolutely awesome to reach this point. So whats next? Lots. Get the coolant system functioning properly. Make an exhaust for it. A lot of wiring work, get the fusebox setup all connected nicely and mount all of the wiring nicely. Need to put some gearbox oil in the box, will do this before running the engine any longer. Pull the fuel rails off, and do tests to work out the CC rating and deadtimes for the injectors. Calibrate all of the sensors Mount a radiator fan Check intake for leaks (I think all of the air bypass screws are currently all the way out) Install the wideband Finish wiring up the alternator And a bunch of other little similar jobs. Most of these I can peck away at over winter with limited space. Making an exhaust will be difficult when weather starts getting darker and wetter and I can only really work outside. Will push ahead as best I can. Super excited for first start though!

I'm sure you are familiar with these trikes Here I am, with my brother on the back, this bike was even still in the garden at the old house up to a few years ago, with plants growing in the tray and the wheels rusted off Made in waihi, the Akrad flyer, (the Mr akrad of pye radio fame) 300,000 units were produced from 1945 to 1984, the aluminium seats being cast from army surplus I picked up a fairly crusty, but complete one a year or so ago, and it's been sitting dangerously close to my scrap pile ever since

Not sure yet, I usually struggle to get there on time after work/traffic/probably overheat in the southern traffic jam

Agreed, looks so good! Love this car. Going to come to the night speed final next Friday?

Technically I’m only a part time menace

Will do some reshaping to the rimu drawbar once the glue sets, and make some kind of hook set up. I have an eye bolt mounted to the back of the trike. Also painted the tray, will probably rivet it on using the original brackets. Painted the white part just before it ruined heavily, so it's not very nice. Oops. Might line it with some wood or something nice rather than paint again

I'm looking for something diesel and somewhat cool to tow our old caravan that isn't a boring as fuck ford ranger . My current daily is a 3.0R Legacy that has heaps of power to tow it but I'm not sure the suspension is loving it. Replacing it with a comfy, reliable daily and tow wagon is the dream. W164 ML could fit that criteria quite nicely...

Looks BADASS on the draglites! perfect wheel for this thing

Did a run around the block with a speedo app. Time to tighten up the governor a bit. Can’t be holding up traffic. edit. I tried to take a terrible one handed video of a ride in this. But it’s, well, terrible. As I need 2 hands to drive. Might upload it anyway.

Aftermarket carpet sucks. I learnt this the hard way I suppose. The Celica carpet was already aftermarket by the time I got it and it was super old, dirty and chopped to hell. In my attempt to try and freshen up the interior this year I decided to get one of those moulded carpets. I quickly realised I'm not made for an upholstery career. They say you should start from the rear and move forwards when fitting them up. The problem I quickly found was that these are not quite right for this car. Research suggests that they are in fact moulded off TA23 not TA22, a small but important difference. TA22 did not even have carpet like this from the factory, more like glorified floor mats. My cutting skills are terrible as I was getting annoyed by this point, and the blades were getting blunt. I initially wanted to wrap it under the seat base however the seat sits directly on the body with no room to move so that was not possible. Additionally the roll cage mounts in the rear are in the way of the seat bottom which is why its curved up on each end. I'm not sure what the OEM TA22 carpet looks like but I believe there are some clips that it can use to hold up, but I've not actually seen any factory standard TA22 carpets in person before to compare it. I'll paint the floor black and the rear around the seats so it is less noticeable but yeah, disappointed with my efforts on that one. Another thing about the TA23 vs TA22 is the TA23 side rocker sill things are designed for the edge of the carpet to go underneath and bolt down, TA22 are not. That means more rough cuts along the side edges too. As you can see, lots of bits cut off. Anyway I got the front kind of fitted up as best as possible (remember those fucking blocks in the way) and installed the seats back. I'll need to replace these as it turns out as there is some damage on both of them (more than just superficial and foam). Then I got her fired up and went for a burn and I didn't care about the carpet at all. The fuel is probably 2 years old by now and it still worked mint. Sadly I don't have a phone mount but the sounds on song were excellent. The panhard rod I put in stopped any rubbing that I could tell and actually the car handled surprisingly well. It goes, stops and turns just like it should. Good car.

Bit of a bitter sweet update. After the last monthly meet the 2l decided to run a bearing on the way home leave me stranded on the side of the motorway. I managed to source a gamble na 1600 motor of a friend so whipped that in and after the legend himself @RUNAMUCK worked his wizardry swapping out the dizzy and timing the motor up I was back in business again . Have taken it for a wee drive around the block and the motor seems to be happy enough. Old water pump was shot so picked up another and slammed it in. Oil change and some new plugs and hopefully it's smooth sailing from here on in I also put some guard mirrors on it. Damn they're useless but they look the part

Slower than I’d like progress last night. I cleaned all the gunge off the engine and got that installed. But then went to fit the foot pegs, I have 3 sets… the one which was originally on it, which is broken and has had multiple dodgey repairs. The next I brought off trademe is twisted and bent in multiple planes. The third I brought off trademe turned out to be a home made replica, which I was planning on using but it must have been made around a different engine as it doesn’t fit…

Ref the different floorpans….. IIRC the really early MK1s had a transverse exhaust box tucked into that space (some Dolomite variants did too). That arrangement was dropped quite early on for the more familiar crazy afterthought hodge-podge, but seems they never changed the floor pan pressing….

There was a rust hole in one of the rims around the stem hole, so I welded it up. I was really quite chuffed with myself for A) Not blowing the hole through into the stem hole. b) Not welding the spoke nipple to the rim. Paint is progressing, but no photos yet. Not flash, but it will do.

When I had finished school, was studying Radio broadcasting and volunteering at a local radio station - this car was the coolest thing around and was owned by a local DJ. Fast Forward to 2023 and I'm still in touch with that person, he's lived overseas for a decade and it turns out the car needs to be rescued from its existing resting spot. I got the opportunity to do such a thing and it's now in my posession. Also what a pest image hosting is these days. Imgur wouldn't let me login no matter what and everything else sucks so I shall try uploading here (for the second time after initially creating this whole thing in the project discussion thread before realising last minute and throwing it here) So why am I excited about a sex toaster? Because it used to look like this: bebo.com represent! Before it was parked up owner did some schmancy engine work. Standard, these come with a B20B. Non vtec, non exciting. But that can be rectified, and rectified it was: Supposedly a B18C top end. I say supposedly because I'll elaborate further soon. That ended up in the car, and this was how it looked when it was done: So it's now a 2.0 Vtec. Still a column change automatic but that suits me fine as it's got my favourite seating arrangement - front bench seating. Anyway - After talking for about 6 months I finally got the opportunity to pick it up and see it in person for the first time in 10 years. Turns out it had been sitting almost entirely outside for the last decade. RIP. But I was still excited. Upon arrival with @Threeonthetree closely in tow we discovered the fuel pump was dead, tank smelt horrible and the alarm wanted to go off almost non stop. We winched it onto a trailer and I made the long trek home. Nice wet Neal. So it's been in my posession for over half a year. Fuel tank came out and the pump was replaced. Spark plugs swapped out - and it ran mint. All the drive belts are old and need replacing. The tyres are cooked and thanks to it's nearly full decade outside, of which 3-4 years were in wave hearing distance of a west Auckland beach we have the dreaded R word come into play. I knew it might have a bit of rust when I got it. When we picked it up I ignored nearly everything in that respect because I didn't want dreams dashed right there and then. I did get under it and find a few spots while it was in the shed. Mainly under the front end where the rad sits and the rear end in behind the bumper - plus anywhere the bodykit was tek screwed in place has caused rust to appear and spread. Here's a few snaps: So there is an idea of it's exciting rust problem. There is more than I've shown above but it's all similar spec patches so to save time and photo bombardment I've just shared the above. I'm currently blasting and refinishing the wheels for some new rubber. Then I'll do basic fluids so I can get it off this hoist I have temporary access too. Then it's time to make a decision about what next. Thankfully I have next to nothing invested into this. The unique shape plus the unique engine makes me want to continue the battle and see it through to a happy driving state. It's certed for all current mods which are wheels, adjustables, bodykit, engine and the rego is on hold - so the fire is still burning in me bright enough to give it a good hot go. My skills only go so far and the main issue is the one that will eat $$$. Basic mechanical stuff just takes time and knuckle skin so with that I'm happy to persevere. Oh - about the supposedly B18C top end thing. I've yarned with 4 or 5 proper Honda nuts and each one has said different things. Some agree that the owners recollection is right. One swore up and down it's a B16. Either way it reminded me of lifan top speed arguments from the small bike world so I've bowed out of that yarn and now have a stamping on the head to locate which will determine what it really is. It was built by Lin Chen supposedly who used to be one of the dudes at Speed Factor down here. I should really track him down and have a yarn to find out more. Oh, before I forget: here's that fancy engine bay after sitting for so many years Feel free to add opinions and comments below. I've got a lot of bits for it that came with the car such as a mint rear subframe, new radiator, even got full monsoon kit for the windows. It'll need new rotors and a brake refurb - which is okay but all the parts for these seem to have been hoarded or produced by one guy in the UK so I'll need to figure out everything required and order bulk in one go. Anyway thats my first 4 wheel post on OS after many years of membership. Stay tuned, I may eventually update this but progress will be slow.

I have only just now realised what's going to happen the streets of Chch when Bort's old man pops his clogs....

Bit of colour went on too.

Super speedy same day turnaround at the sand blasters.

So my experiences with the w163 span most models, including both the v8 and V6 petrols and the diesel 2.7 common rail. Largely the petrol models are fairly simple reliable things out of the box. All models run the 5 speed 722.6 trans, which is used in a heap of mercs of the era. It largely gives few problems if serviced well. They are meant to be a 'service free' trans. Don't buy that bullshit, fresh oil and filter does wonders. One issue that does crop up is the low range selector motor electric motor can seize, necessitating either the bash with a hammer technique, a pull apart and fettling of the contacts, or a replacement. The V6 M112 engine isn't really much to write home about as it uses nearly the same amount of gas as the v8s M113, so why bother... They are effectively the same engine with two cylinders lopped off so share a lot of parts in common including water pumps etc. In nz I think all models are rated to tow 3200kg braked. Other general issues are around the radio chip in the key failing, requiring recoding a new key. I've never had this problem. Also something called the All Activity Module, which is sort of a central brain. I've never had that fail either, but they can cause some dicky little issues. It would be great if someone made some sort of emulator to delete this, it would sort a lot of little bugs. Window switches as mentioned above. Lots of cheap knockoffs on AliExpress for cheap - along with many other parts. The door locks can sometimes be problematic too. They have a weak spring in them which breaks and the locks fault. I've never replaced or repaired these...not bothering locking my car I found was the easiest fix.. they are a cunt to remove so I gave up, haha. Like all vehicles there are other things that can fail all over the show but I haven't experienced much else there, and what I'm outlining here is the common stuff. Oh the odd bit of trim falls off, my solution there was often not to replace or use some boogie up to fix... My main area of focus has been around the diesel engine. It's a solid unit and makes a healthy 121kw out of the box. My first one went like a cut cat, my current one has been remapped to 150kw to achieve the same thing by some random eastern European YouTuber, Caryfuk8 I sent the file to. I used a cheap AliExpress Kess clone box for sucking the ECU file off and he did the rest. Dark art that shit, I don't know how to write a map.. his intention is to get a 0-100 in the 6 second bracket on largely stock hardware, which he has very nearly managed. He mapped mine to 20psi, I didn't want to roll coal, and he put in a hard cut which sounds awesome.. example here. before undertaking a map, there are a few hardware issues to sort with the 270. Underneath the complicated things is actually a simple bulletproof engine. The trick is to get rid of a lot of shit up front so it doesn't cause you grief, as much of it will at some stage. I know a local Dutchman here who's pretty clever with them and he has one that's seen over 900,000km. So yeah... The main problem with Merc common rails, and probably a few other common rails is a thing called black death. The injectors hare held down by a cantilevered forked bracket by way of a stretch bolt. It is truly a shit design. Over time the injector seal to head becomes compromised allowing a slow built-up of diesely sludge around the injector. Bad ones will chuff and damage the sealing face on the head. Sometimes removal of really bad ones will result in snapped bolts (I've had this problem). I've found that it's best to pull all the injectors and clean seats with a bit of scotchy on the end of a screwdriver, or recut the faces with a cheap AliExpress seat cutting tool. Also cut a groove in an old bolt and use to fastidiously clean threads with solvent etc to ensure correct torquing and bolts no bottoming out on old sludge..Replacement with factory Merc seals or aftermarket is generally fraught. New stretch bolts are always required. One fix is to use a Honda diesel washer, and annealing it to soften it to allow better crush. The Honda washer has an oval cross-section so you get proper point contact. During lockdown I tackled mine and due to limited oversease shipping I couldn't get the Honda washer, so I resorted to making my own. I brought stock Merc washers, which are flat and hence useless. I lathed up a little press tool that I then fit the annealed washer into and smacked with a hammer. The press tool was shaped to effectively compress the inner and outer diameters of the washer and raise a peak in the centre on both top and bottom faces. I then reannealed the washers before fitment to soften and allow 'crush'. These are presently over 50,000km deep and no sign of leaking. Furthermore Merc updated the torque spec on these to 7nm +90deg +90deg, formerly it was only one 90deg. It's a shit design and it feels like it was designed to fail, the cleanup is a patience game but once you sus it they can be pretty reliable. Once the injectors are sorted the other main issues largely revolve around the egr system and the inlet swirl flaps. The swirl flaps are to increase low rpm air speed, but they sometimes fall apart and get lodged in the inlet tract, or leak around the pivots, or seize up, ironically due to egr sludge buildup, causing the actuator motor to fault and throw a limp condition. So the trick is to simply remove the manifold and get rid of the flaps and drill/tap/blank the pivot holes in the plastic manifold then clean all the exhaust sludge from the manifold from the egrs most positive influence over emissions.. if your swirl motor is still working just leave it plugged in. If it isn't you can put a resistor across the plug so the computer thinks it's still there. Lots of internet info on this mod. The egr system also needs to go. This can either be mapped out, as can most things including swirl motor etc, or you can splice a little diode/resistor combo in to the ECU inputs to trick it. A lah below.. Again. Computer still thinks it's there, it's basically emulating a difference in airflow condition that the computer wants to see. I also physically removed all egr stuff and made a blanking plate on the head by number 5 cylinder, which only has a water outlet to hook to the heater. I also remove the fuel heat exchanger while I'm at it as it's only useful in Russia and Nordic countries where it's arctic cold. Makes life easier. Only other mod I've done is add a bigger variable vane garret turbo off an e320cdi om613 3.2 6 cylinder. It was bolt on and only required some exhaust mods, removing the cat. I actually lunched the first turbo due to not fixing a dodgy turbo inlet pipe and bits got sucked in... Aside from that there is not much else. It seems like a minor laundry list, but if you buy one knowing these things from the outset, it's about a 2 day program of work as a baseline to get rid of a whole lot of future niggles that have a good chance of cropping up. Knock off parts are really cheap. Probably due to Russia's proximity to China. Ball joints are about $40 a corner and can be fit in 20minutes on a jack for instance. Bumpers are made of something akin to glass, and owing to my roughness I have disintegrated both ends of mine and replaced with steel buttyness. Any questions feel free to ask. I'll move on to the start of my GL320cdi adventure next...

So there is some shit to know about the w163 platform. Firstly, they are the only Merc on a full chassis, or body on frame, aside from the G-wagen. They were originally slated to replace the G, and we're actually launched as a concept car in Jurassic Park movie (circa 1997). They are much loved by the Ruski's, most of europe, Asia the USA, and Soccer Mum's. They kind of invented the SUV category in a way. They are very safe and have many stability features and 12 airbags. Merc was broke at the time and half owned by Chrysler so the engines ended up in everything. Think Jeeps, Ssangyongs, ambulances and sprinter Vans erc. They run independent susp all around, torsion bars in front and coil over rear, yes they can be lifted both at suspension and body off frame. They have a low range transfer case with a very low crawling gear. They have exceptional departure and approach angles, still ahead of many more contemporary machines. They have a 20" fording depth factory. They have massive 4pot brakes and a very clever 4wd system in lieu of locking diffs. Basically they brake the slipping wheel which transfers the power to the non slipping wheel through the open differential...it all happens very fast and is quite effective. Toyota has only just copied this on the recent Hilux.. I suspect it's due to a patent. They were built in Alabama, Germany and Japan. The pre 2000 models are best avoided as they facelifted and fixed a lot of shit around 2000. They ran till about 2005. I'll mostly give my experiences with the 5 cylinder common rail. Sorry for few pics to accommodate my technical foibles, but there's loads of internet info, should you be so inclined. Or ask here. Some things I have had to solve myself. Cool Merc development vid... https://youtu.be/f599FIqCpSg

I think Speeduino has proven to be pretty fucking robust now! Like any self build ecu though its fully down to how well its assembled and then actually wired into the car. I reckon megasquirt is a bit over priced now for what you get compared to Speeduino for most applications.