Category: Cars

I am a “car guy”… I love old cars.

Exhaust Update.

Today was a spectacular Spring day in the Pacific Northwest. Temps in the mid-70s(!), sunshine, and clear blue skies. It was really our first sunny and warm day of 2008. The air was filled with … the symphonic roar of a thousand Briggs & Stratton and two-stroke “weedeater” engines as everyone went out and cut their grass for the first time in 2008.

The Goolsbee’s joined the chorus and added to the roar. I only mowed the area around the barn. Chris & Sue did the rest of the property. I was focussed on barn-related tasks, namely oil processing, a bit of Spring Cleaning, and getting the resonators onto my new exhaust. I did the latter job first, as I wanted the Jaguar out of the barn to do some cleaning in there. It was an epic wrestling match, but I finally managed to get the resonators onto the pipes. Unfortunately they are completely cock-eyed:

Marty Feldman Exhaust.

If Marty Feldman had exhaust pipes, they’d look just like this.

The cock-eyed nature of the pipe on the left is due to the position of the exhaust components upstream. Jerry Mouton provided me with some guidance on keeping all the upstream attachment points loose until I had the resonators positioned just right… but working in the tight confines here just isn’t conducive to getting these adjustments made. I really need to get the car up on a proper lift that allows full access to the exhaust front-to-back. Unfortunately I don’t have such a lift, or access to one. Hrmmmm.

Yes, that is a chunk of wood wedged between the pipe and the body. That allowed me to take the car for a drive this evening and not damage my paint.

I will say that it was WONDERFUL to get the car out on the road again, especially on such a warm, wonderful evening. It felt like August, not April. The car ran perfectly, and sounded GREAT… so quiet and smooth. In fact it is so quiet now, especially at idle, that I thought the engine had died a couple of times as I waited at lights or stop signs. When I pressed the loud pedal it still had a great tune, just not as raucous and dissonant as before. Now it purrs just like a big cat should.

Need an Alternator for a ’79 M-B 450sl!


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My father is driving his 1979 Mercedes-Benz 450sl from Colorado to Vermont roughly along that route above. He just called me from western Nebraska with a dead alternator. 🙁

Needless to say, the parts stores in Nebraska don’t carry a suitable alternator, so he’s doing the logical gearhead thing: He bought two spare batteries and a charger and he’s going to keep driving until he can find one.

Here is where you come in dear reader: Anyone know what sort of alternator he needs? I assume it is a Bosch, but googling so far is just getting me link farms. A Lester/Rebuilders number would be great! If you don’t know that, how about a hint of reasonably honest Mercedes service locations (dealers or independents) anywhere from Elkhart, Indiana to Cleveland, Ohio. That is where he’ll be Monday morning.

Thanks in Advance!

Update, 11 PM PDT: I posted this to a couple of car-related mailing lists, and received a ton of useful information, part numbers, potential sources, and a good selection of service operations along his route. I’ve passed it along to my Dad. He & my mom made it to their hotel before dark, and have their battery on the charger. He said the car ran great all day.

Thanks to all who provided information!

Grown in Washington(?)

Diesel Tree?

As I work towards my own energy independence I thought about planting the spare acre or two of my property with rapeseed aka “canola”. That way I could not only make my own BioDiesel, but also grow my own feedstock. I assume rape will grow in Washington since it also grows in the UK and our climates are very similar.

Then I read about this tree. Copaifera langsdorfii is also known as “the Diesel tree” because you can tap it like a Maple and oil flows out. Pretty cool huh?

The wiki entry says though:

Despite its vigorous production of oil the tree does not grow well outside of the tropics and does not show promise as a reliable source of biodiesel.

Oh well. I guess the canola idea might still fly. 😉

Car Photo Of The Day… itching to be on the road again!

scratch it... right... THERE!

Springtime is here in the Pacific Northwest. Do you know how we know? The rain gets warmer! 😉

I’m itching to get out on the road again. I still have to complete the exhaust installation, and get my new OP gauge working correctly. But that just gets the car ready. I long to answer the call of the open road again… set off with just a companion, a road atlas, and a vague idea of a destination. That has to wait for the rain to stop however.

The above shot was taken on the Oregon Coast in October of 2004, as my father and I were headed south for the Mille Autunno.

Exhaust Progress + First Drive!

No photos sorry!

I finally wrestled my new mufflers on night before last. Wrestled further with the pipes under the IRS last night. I can’t get the resonators on due to some deformity in their shape from the person who clamped them on (not me!) The pipes are very crooked at the moment, but at least they are on! I figure I’ll get them on first, then fine-tune the position of them later.

The sun came out briefly yesterday evening and I moved the E-type from the barn to the garage (the wife’s car needed some maintenance and I wanted the space on the scissor lift for the tasks.) It took about 25 seconds of cranking for the XK to fire. Sounded great once running. =) The new tach gen I installed is working perfectly… not so the JEC OP gauge… hmmm. When I turn the key ‘on’ the gauge runs up to 50-some PSI, even before I hit the starter. Obviously I installed it wrong.

The work on the wife’s car done, I went to move the Jaguar back to the barn to finish the exhaust work… as the clouds had parted for a bit I could not resist the temptation to take the car for a wee run around the neighborhood. This time the engine started immediately. Mmmmmm… what a wonderful sound!

About a half-mile down the road I stopped at the fire station to fiddle with the OP gauge wiring… and a lady hung a u-turn and came back to complement me on the car. “That is such a pretty car!” I thanked her and chatted for a bit. After she left I went down to the highway to get the car up to speed. Man, I forgot how nice it sounds and how good it feels!

Even without the resonators the exhaust note was very pleasing. The new mufflers are a huge improvement over my old cracked ones! 😉 The car now purrs instead of snarling and screaming like a cat that just fell into water. Still roars when the right foot presses forward but now with quiet confidence rather than hysterical shrieks.

The car is back in the barn. Now I just have to wrestle these resonators back on the car and sort out this new OP gauge.