1963 Mercedes Benz 190DC Fintail. Now in winter storage.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Today was the last drive of 2023 and this has now gone into winter storage. 1278 kilometers have been covered this season, which is not a lot, but the car has also been off the road for over 2 months in total due to work on it and MOT so not too bad with that in mind.

So now I just have to wait 6 months until I can drive it again.

[hairnet]

hnnnngg

[danthecapriman]

I know the feeling! 6 miserable months of crap weather.

Still, something to look forward to I suppose. I always get to late March early April time and get excited as it means Spring and time to get the old heaps back out!

[puddlethumper]

20 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Today was the last drive of 2023 and this has now gone into winter storage. 1278 kilometers have been covered this season, which is not a lot, but the car has also been off the road for over 2 months in total due to work on it and MOT so not too bad with that in mind.

So now I just have to wait 6 months until I can drive it again.

He's a handsome bugger isn't he. 

[captain_70s]

Excellent stuff. That mileage is pretty good for an elderly hobby car.

Do you have any jobs planned for winter or is it just going to be stored?

[Dyslexic Viking]

2 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Excellent stuff. That mileage is pretty good for an elderly hobby car.

Do you have any jobs planned for winter or is it just going to be stored?

I have some jobs planned. Have to replace the alternator and make new wires for it and replace the bushings to the alternator mount. And change some gaskets on engine and more. So there will be some work done over the winter. 

And mileage, Not sure if I've mentioned it but this one has done 14,000km in the last 25 years, so almost 1300km in one season is actually quite a lot for it. 

[Matty]

3 hours ago, puddlethumper said:

He's a handsome bugger isn't he. 

Dunno. We still haven't seen a picture of him yet 😄

 

(I'm here all week)

[Dyslexic Viking]

2 minutes ago, Matty said:

We still haven't seen a picture of him yet

Picture of me is the last thing you want to see

[Dyslexic Viking]

There has come a diesel fintale for sale here in Norway now and this is worth mentioning because this does not have the original engine which is the OM621 any longer but has from what i can se a OM616 in it also known as the 240D. This is interesting because I saw another with this engine for sale in Sweden earlier. So then it should be possible to mount this engine in these, which should give a much needed power upgrade. So I will start looking for an OM616 to keep as a spare in case my engine fails.

This is a picture from the ad and I'm annoyed that I don't have the opportunity to buy it as it would have been a good parts car for mine.

 

And I will soon have a look at the charging system, so there will be an update on that.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Had a look at the alternator situation now.

And for several reasons, I want to use a new universal alternator, the alternator that was on the car was also not original and was badly fitted.

The new one fits except for the tensioner, which is also not original.

 

The biggest problem with the new alternator is that it came without a wiring diagram but fortunately it only needs 3 wires, plus, charging lamp and ground.  And the picture below is of the back with the contacts. B+ is pretty certain is plus, but I'm not sure what the contact above and w are.

 

But fortunately these are very common alternators here in Scandinavia, so the Zetor 4712 also has one installed and it is connected as in the picture below. But it is missing ground?

So here B+ is connected to plus as expected, but the other contact must then be the charging lamp? This one charges so this works.

So what do some of you who know electricity think, B+ I feel is pretty safe but then there is the charging lamp and earth. Should I connect this up like on the tractor and just connect the ground to the alternator housing?

[Dyslexic Viking]

I have also removed the alternator mount and need to find new bushings for this.

This has now also done approx 1000km since the last oil change and the oil level has has only dropped a little, the oil level dropped must be thanks to oil leaks. And the oil leak which I think comes from the timing chain tensioner is now starting to get bad. The entire engine side is wet with oil and there is a small pool of oil at the bottom of the engine. But I don't feel comfortable touching timing chain tensioners so don't know how to get this fixed.

[Mr Pastry]

1 hour ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Had a look at the alternator situation now.

And for several reasons, I want to use a new universal alternator, the alternator that was on the car was also not original and was badly fitted.

The new one fits except for the tensioner, which is also not original.

 

The biggest problem with the new alternator is that it came without a wiring diagram but fortunately it only needs 3 wires, plus, charging lamp and ground.  And the picture below is of the back with the contacts. B+ is pretty certain is plus, but I'm not sure what the contact above and w are.

 

But fortunately these are very common alternators here in Scandinavia, so the Zetor 4712 also has one installed and it is connected as in the picture below. But it is missing ground?

So here B+ is connected to plus as expected, but the other contact must then be the charging lamp? This one charges so this works.

So what do some of you who know electricity think, B+ I feel is pretty safe but then there is the charging lamp and earth. Should I connect this up like on the tractor and just connect the ground to the alternator housing?

Yes, I think you will find that the other large contact is the charging lamp, so  connect it the same as the tractor, and ground to the alternator housing.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Thanks. At the start of working on cars, I connected an alternator incorrectly and would prefer not do that again.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I'm having some trouble finding  new bushings for the alternator mount. The many lists for these do not fit and I am struggling to find something that has the right size. The liner/bushing must be between the disc marked in blue and the hole marked in red. And I measured that I need something with 17mm on the outside and 13mm hole on the inside, I didn't get the thickness measured but it is about 5mm. And this is hard to find I also want to find something that will last a long time.

 

So the hunt is on to find something and if anyone has any tips it would be appreciated as this is the biggest problem I have now.

[Remspoor]

20 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

o the hunt is on to find something and if anyone has any tips it would be appreciated as this is the biggest problem I have now.

If you can weld then tacking several different diameter washers together my help you get out of a spot until you can find something more suitable.

[Rust Collector]

On 24/10/2023 at 11:09, Dyslexic Viking said:

And for several reasons, I want to use a new universal alternator, the alternator that was on the car was also not original and was badly fitted.

I met a chap who restores older vehicles as a living (I bought my ZAZ from him), and he said that he often fits alternators meant for Kubota diesel engines. He reckons they're durable, small, and sufficiently powerful to drive the electrics on older vehicles. It might be worth a look? I could text him to ask if he had an model numbers to recommend, but I don't know him that well so no idea if I'd hear back from him.

[Dyslexic Viking]

12 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

If you can weld then tacking several different diameter washers together my help you get out of a spot until you can find something more suitable.

This is an idea and I have thought of something similar. 

And I wonder if that bushing for the alternator mount is really necessary or if I could just use a metal bushing?

[Dyslexic Viking]

13 minutes ago, Rust Collector said:

I met a chap who restores older vehicles as a living (I bought my ZAZ from him), and he said that he often fits alternators meant for Kubota diesel engines. He reckons they're durable, small, and sufficiently powerful to drive the electrics on older vehicles. It might be worth a look? I could text him to ask if he had an model numbers to recommend, but I don't know him that well so no idea if I'd hear back from him.

Thanks, but I've already bought a new alternator, the one in the pictures. But I can imagine that the alternators he uses must be good and should be a good upgrade from original.

[Rust Collector]

1 minute ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Thanks, but I've already bought a new alternator, the one in the pictures. But I can imagine that the alternators he uses must be good and should be a good upgrade from original.

Yes, I've just re-read your post and I realise now I was being stupid 😅 For some reason I thought that was the alternator that came fitted to the car when you got it.

[Remspoor]

2 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

This is an idea and I have thought of something similar. 

And I wonder if that bushing for the alternator mount is really necessary or if I could just use a metal bushing?

I did not realise they were made of rubber. I would cut up an old inner tube and wrap this around the welded washers. That may help if  you have some doubts on supports made only from metal.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I have also been wondering if I can make new bushings out of one of the old implement tires that I have somewhere. As I am guessing the rubber they are made of can withstand a bit.

[Dyslexic Viking]

A little update here since it's been a while.

I have had several attempts to make new bushings for the alternator mount  and failed so the plan is that at the end of January or in February to find someone with a lathe to make me some in metal, that will solve this problem forever.

In February and March I will probably start and do some work on this, as there are a number of things that need to be done before it hits the road again in April. So it will probably happen more here in those times.

This year is almost over and has been demanding, it has needed a lot this year and it has been disastrous financially but it has come a long way now and I believe and hope that next year will be better. But despite this, I would say that 2023 has been a success, the improvements to this have been big, and it managed 1300km of reliable driving, which I am happy about.

So that's all from this thread this year, a big thank you to everyone who has helped me when I've needed it and to all of you who have read the thread let's see what 2024 brings.

[danthecapriman]

6 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

A little update here since it's been a while.

I have had several attempts to make new bushings for the alternator mount  and failed so the plan is that at the end of January or in February to find someone with a lathe to make me some in metal, that will solve this problem forever.

In February and March I will probably start and do some work on this, as there are a number of things that need to be done before it hits the road again in April. So it will probably happen more here in those times.

This year is almost over and has been demanding, it has needed a lot this year and it has been disastrous financially but it has come a long way now and I believe and hope that next year will be better. But despite this, I would say that 2023 has been a success, the improvements to this have been big, and it managed 1300km of reliable driving, which I am happy about.

So that's all from this thread this year, a big thank you to everyone who has helped me when I've needed it and to all of you who have read the thread let's see what 2024 brings.

Have a good new year! 
Hopefully you’ll be able to use the car much more in 24 instead of repairs and maintenance.👍    
Roll on spring time!

[Matty]

6 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

A little update here since it's been a while.

I have had several attempts to make new bushings for the alternator mount  and failed so the plan is that at the end of January or in February to find someone with a lathe to make me some in metal, that will solve this problem forever.

In February and March I will probably start and do some work on this, as there are a number of things that need to be done before it hits the road again in April. So it will probably happen more here in those times.

This year is almost over and has been demanding, it has needed a lot this year and it has been disastrous financially but it has come a long way now and I believe and hope that next year will be better. But despite this, I would say that 2023 has been a success, the improvements to this have been big, and it managed 1300km of reliable driving, which I am happy about.

So that's all from this thread this year, a big thank you to everyone who has helped me when I've needed it and to all of you who have read the thread let's see what 2024 brings.

You've every reason to feel confident and look forward to the spring. Look at what you've accomplished with it so far!

[Dyslexic Viking]

10 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

Have a good new year! 

Thank you and good new year to you too!

[mat_the_cat]

I've missed a few updates, but to answer your query about the W terminal on the alternator - this is an output to drive a rev counter when fitted to a diesel engine.

Regarding the mountings, in your position I would also be inclined to make out of metal. Although I have made similar in the past using appropriate diameters of rubber hose (sleeved in another hose if needed) and then drilled out to suit.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I had one of those rare cases today where my brain bothered to function properly so I came up with a plan for to make the bushings for the alternator mount.

I took a 13mm socket and made 2 new bushings out of it. And it worked! Now the alternator mout is fixed properly. Next challenge is the alternator the new one I have bought is not working as well as I thought so have another one I want to try instead and hoping it will fit better.

[Dyslexic Viking]

I'm struggling a bit to find an alternator that will fit but have found one that I think works but there are some challenges. The mounting point on this is 58mm, the alternator mount I have is 56mm, but I should easily be able to cut off 2mm of the alternator to make it fit.

The second and major problem is wiring. This has 3 wires, not sure if they all have to be connected, but IG must be ignition, but then there are L and S, I'm going to guess, L is light and S is signal? One is for a charging lamp, but I'm not sure which one but i guess L?.

I'm pretty sure that B+ is the outlet for the charging. And power when ignition is on I should be able to find in all the cut wires nearby I hope.

And converting this back to original is no longer easy as all the wires to it have been cut and I think this originally had a generator, which I don't want.

So does anyone have any advice or could help with this?

[Mr Pastry]

Found this on a quick Google of "alternator wiring diagrams".  It looks like you may need a relay for the charge warning light but I think it's safe to assume that the markings on the terminals are the same as yours.

  

[Mr Pastry]

A