W201FTW

I was working on one of my later model M104s earlier in the year and realized that the harmonic balancer is a different design and lighter than the one I was using on my early CIS M104. I looked it up in the factory manual and was able to confirm that it is a newer design and is lighter.

I went to the junkyard and pulled one from a W140 S320 1997. Cleaned it up in the ultrasonic and gave it a fresh coat of paint.

I figure since I'm down here dealing with the fan bearing bracket, not much more work to change out the harmonic balancer.

Let the part cure overnight with the new clearcoat. Admired the new finish and reinstalled the part. Came out really nice.

The paint on my M104 spark plug wire cover was falling apart and I wanted to repaint it with some higher quality material and a better process than what I did 8 years ago or so.

I started by stripping the paint off and neutralizing/cleaning the part with some water. I used a scuff paste to help get all of the corners and edges of the letters ready for paint.

Adhesion promoter was applied to the sanded plastic surface followed up by a 2k primer.

To get the painted letter effect, I tried a new method. I sprayed my silver (DB735) and clear coated the part letting it cure overnight. The next day, scuff it up with 800 grit / gray scuffing pad with the scuffing paste and then spray the black basecoat (DB040). After letting the basecoat fully dry, wipe the black basecoat with some lacquer thinner to expose the silver protected by the first layer of clear.

Afterwards, clear the entire part and let cure overnight again.

Been a while since I've been to a Saturday morning car meet.