The last week has been a bit more busy than usual. I had a run in with a deer that produced large dents in the pass. frt. 1/4 panel and rear door. I was able to source replacements from a a local guy parting out a black E320 so paint and finish match.
-Replacing the door was much easier if done from the door side of the hinges, which turn out to be laterally adustable as well. I did have to remove the door cards to unplug the window switch & motor, speaker and footlight. These door cards are much easier than W124 so thats a plus. I ended up splicing the vac line to the lock actuator.
-Replacing the 1/4 panel was pretty easy too. The only fiddly bit was getting at the two frontmost screws. Some say take the bumper off, but I was able to access them by unbolting the pass side fender bolt and loosening up the frt. pass one under the aux fan. This gave me plenty of room to access the 1/4 panel screws and I did not have to disconnect anything except the pass. headlight.
I did find a surprisingly large amount of leaves, dirt, compost in the lower rear area of this panel aft of the wheel. This is where we all seem to find that rust on the panel and front of the rocker where the two meet. I would suggest a periodic cleaning of this area by removing the small trim piece and unscrewing the bottom most two screws and gently pulling that part of the panel out to let the debris drop out. Perhaps a good vacuuming and nylon brushing to get everything out is a good idea.
I dont know if it was linked too or coincidental to the deer run-in, but my Alt pulley failed and killed the Alt-order of demise's may be backwards. This resulted in me getting a tow home because the alt was banging/knocking a riot. I ended up replacing parts in a piecemeal fashion(didnt want to drop the bigger bucks on the Alt itself) including the Alt pulley, tension lever and tension shock. Neither the new pulley nor lever + shock fixed the knock, so I got a new Alt put it in and now back in business. I guess in the final analysis I should have gone straight to the Alt, but the car is better for the new parts.
-Replaced the Alt, Tension Lever(with washer and seal-don't forget these). Tension lever is an easy out-in and the Alt is easy too once the turbo downpipe is removed. Getting the downpipe lined up and on its three screw down points is an ordeal in frustration and head knocking rivaling the Alt gone toasty. I wound up unbolting the lower end of the bracket from the block to get things lined up and on, then re-bolt the bracket. As with most MB things the bracket bolts also the Alt bracket to the block so not a part to leave off.
Been a busy week of recovering from that damned deer's butt and my daughter now has her 28 yr old 300TD wagon back from Dad(i.e. I still needed to get to work so commandeered hers)