Modifying the oil pan and propeller
axle, turbo lubrication etc.

 

This is the oil pan upside down on the work bench. It's going to get cut along some of these black lines. The white arrow points at the part that's going to get moved forward The green arrow points at the part which is going to be removed.

Here it's obvious how much smaller the oil pan will be, and from now on less than six quarts of oil will go in it. The big 6" x 10" hole will be filled with a piece of sheet aluminum. As the cuts were done at an angle, the shallow angle of the pan will be the same as before, allowing oil to flow smoothly back down to the deepest part of the pan.

Some cutting and hammering, bending and grinding later the hole is filled with a piece of sheet aluminum.

After contact with the heli arc welder at Kims body shop, the oil pan looks like it would once again be up for its task. In this pic the oil pan is still mounted to a sturdy piece of plywood with about twenty plaster board screws. The plywood is screwed to an even sturdier piece of chip board. This combination was made by my brother in law to prevent the oil pan from warping during the welding process. Seems to have worked too.

New sway bar end links and bushings, along with 2" sway bar spacers, to move the sway bar down, away from the Mercedes oil pan. The spacers were made from some hard green plastic, probably nylon.

Spacers mounted between the frame and the sway bar bushings. The oil pan has a kind of cut out which fits the sway bar very well. The spacers are a bit thick and will be cut down maybe half an inch.

The rear part of the oil pump, which was taken off a four cylinder engine had been used with very dirty oil and looked awfully worn. In this pic the machined surface has just been sanded smooth on a thick piece of glass with a succession of 240-320-400-800 and 1200 grit wet or dry sanding paper.

The sway bar spacers were cut a bit smaller and here are cinched snug. The end links were tightened too. The clearance between the sway bar and oil pan is just over a ½", hopefully it's adequate

The compressor side of the turbo can be rotated to fit, and has been adjusted in this pic. The arrow points at the lubrication oil inlet. Pressurized oil from the oil gauge sender will be routed here through a tube or hose.

Mercedes transmissions don't have slip yokes like the Turbo Hydramatics. Instead they have a rubber flex joint which bolts to the yoke in the rear of the tranny with three of four bolts. Of course the Sprinter van transmission had the sturdier version, and the prop shaft was the smaller three bolt version.Luckily the splines are the same, as is the outer diameter for the seal, so the yokes are easy to swap even from a manual to an automatic.

As oil goes into the turbo charger, it also needs to get out. As a return line is needed, a hole was drilled in the side of the oil pan and a short piece of 5 ⁄ 8" outer diameter (16 mm) tubing was welded to it. A reinforcing piece of sheet aluminum was welded to the tube and pan to prevent cracks later.

Here the oil pan is bolted to the the engine, which is hoisted back into the car. The exhaust manifold and the turbo is installed, and the oil pressure line is attached to the top of it. The heat expander accordion joint on the exhaust manifold (the shiny thing to the left of the turbo) was badly cracked, and a better one was found on the old non turbo manifold.

Good friend Leif made this exhaust flange, so now it's just a matter of welding together a new exhaust system. The oil supply hose for the turbo is now connected at the other end to where the Mercedes oil pressure gauge was. The return line from the turbo to the oil pan is also ready for use. (February 2014)

After mounting a new rear seal and the three bolt yoke, the prop axle could be mounted. The Benz prop axle is different than your usual GM axle in that it does have a slip joint aft of a prop shaft bearing. As there's no slip joint at the rear of the transmission said bearing has to be used. Mounts for the bearing was done from ¾"x 1" mild steel and bolted to the floor of the body. The rear part of the prop axle could now be measured, and was sent off for shortening and mating with the rearmost part of the Chevy prop axle.

The rear end of the rear part of the prop axle looks like this after shortening and mating with the Chevrolet yoke. When mounting it became obvious the axle is about ¾" too long and have to be shortened once more, so it's back to the Tuovila SpeedShop again, to cut it up in the lathe and weld it back again. This was a mathematic mistake. should keep my adding and subracting in better order...

A couple of days later the newly shortened prop axle is mounted, and now it fits perfectly. Everything gets snugged up, all the bolts along the prop shaft, bolts holding engine and transmission together, the converter bolts...

The starter is mounted too. The clearance between the starter and the engine mount is .025" (0,6 mm). A close call. The dipstick tube for the tranny was welded together (it was cut in half for transport), the return hose for the turbo lubrication was snugged with all its hose clamps, some planning was done regarding hoses, tubes and wiring. It seems every day the list of things still to do is getting longer.

Some work has been done in the engine compartment. The radiator with associated hoses, the Mercedes heat circulation pump (arrow), a chopped version of the Chevrolet fan shroud has been mounted, electrical connections for the alternator, oil pressure sensor etcetera have been done...

The stickers came! Gold on black. Gotta have some fun too. All the ToDo lists in white taped to the side window above the sticker.

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