Author Topic: 1964 230SL restoration in UK (Read 237979 times)

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #75 on:** November 21, 2014, 08:01:30 »

My VIN plate was riveted onto the B post upside down, that can't be right can it? I did a quick search but couldn't find it. It is also pretty scruffy.

I read that the classic centre will send a replacement. I'll drop them an email.

Garry · « **Reply #76 on:** November 21, 2014, 08:26:59 »

Vin Plate in RHD is on the firewall on LH side. you probably have the holes still there in the firewall.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #77 on:** November 21, 2014, 08:38:47 »

Hi Garry

Mine is a left hand drive USA car originally.

Your engine bay looks lovely.

Jonny B · « **Reply #78 on:** November 21, 2014, 14:31:30 »

The door check strap should be bare, not body color.

I would guess that the dark inside the top case would be the very dark gray. I don't have access to that right now,but I am sure other will be chiming in.

KevinC · « **Reply #79 on:** November 21, 2014, 14:58:23 »

Quote from: Scottcorvette on November 21, 2014, 07:55:22

With regard the colour of the decklid underneath. Mine sure looked like satin black to me, There was a lot of the original paint showing underneath. Same with the trunk, someone has repainted in there but I took the latch off yesterday and it really looks like black, I'll give it a clean and have another look in day light.

Scott, when the body shop painted my 280SL "project car" last year, they ordered flat black paint for the trunk. After some discussion on that I sent them this excerpt from the Tech Manual and they ordered the correct color accordingly...

"The trunk of M-B´s in the 60's (like W113) is actually not black, but a very dark gray. It can be ordered via Mercedes dealerships. Ordering code is 000 986 67 33 - 7164. The "000 986 67 33" is the part number of a one component (not catalyzed) paint sold by MBAG, and the "7164" is the color code for this deep dark gray. It is semi-gloss."

When you see one painted flat black next to one like this, you can tell the difference. I would guess that the soft top compartment would be the same color.

Kevin

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #80 on:** November 22, 2014, 08:15:05 »

Dark grey it is then...I'll order a litre from the MB dealer.

I stripped the door shuts last night which was a pretty unpleasant task, and I'm glad I followed Andy's advice on that one, there is a lot of lead in the shut which the sandblaster would have damaged, I'll tape over it all with a couple of layers of duct tape when they come to do the floor.

As I was stripping I could see what looked like a darker colour to the steel which I guess is the rustproofing Andy was talking about, made me wonder if blasting was such a good idea, and maybe I should hand strip everything to try and preserve this treatment as much as possible.

There was also a lot of factory undercoating on the seam where the upper and lower rocker joins, there were some little rust spots under the paint on the sill, although only surface but I think it has reinforced my feelings that blasting the remainder of the car is the way to go. I'll get them to go over the front door shuts very lightly to de-rust them.

It is pretty unlikely that this car will ever see rain again unless by accident and I will protect the steel pretty well by injecting rust preventer into all the box sections after it is painted. It is also making me think that maybe stripping all the undercoating off is the way to go, but I'll reserve judgement on that one. I also don't think I could cope emotionally with hand stripping the whole shell inside and out.

andyburns · « **Reply #81 on:** November 22, 2014, 09:12:09 »

Scott,

If you take the bead blaster to the door jam make sure you securely cover over the hole that takes the door open switch. The box section behind it is impossible to gain access to unless you get your tin opener into action. Sand and cavity wax dont mix too well. It looks as if you have done a beautiful job of stripping it chemically. Exactly what I did. Why dont you just take some scotch pads soaked with thinners to it. The only area I blasted was the seam welds right at the bottom of the pillars which were a bit rusted and impossible to get to with sand paper or scotch.

Also why do you want to strip the dash. If its sound why don't you just give it a good scotch and sand and over paint. I had the same dilemma but in the end decided against it as I wasn't really gaining anything as its all hidden and also the steel was all in beautiful condition. Again if you blast you risk putting it back in a condition inferior to what you started with. If its solid and you overcoat it with more paint arnt you further protecting it with an even better/thicker barrier. 99% of the interior is covered up so protection must surely take precedence over cosmetics in here.

I blew about three good coats of zinc rich 2k epoxy all up under the dash and all over the floor pans and firmly believe that I have something now that was far better than when it left the factory.

I am the same as you in that i can not stand to work on a car where you look under the dash or inside the door and its a completely different color. I am also a believer in that if a coating has been on for almost 50 years and shows no sign of deterioration that its better left alone. Am interested to here your thoughts on it. My judgment is based on speculation and logic where your is on practice which is often far more valuable and accurate.

I am also interested in the coating your putting on your external panels. I have been using POR15 metal ready to replace or enhance the factory zinc coating. I actually was amazed how well it protects bare steel with no other coatings. I left test pieces exposed for weeks with no sign of rust. Guess your using something similar.

andyburns · « **Reply #82 on:** November 22, 2014, 09:36:40 »

Another mistake I made when doing this part of the car was to not pay attention to all the small screw holes that hold on the chrome and ali garnish. Quite a few of them over the years have been butchered and over sized especially around the doors and windscreen. Some of the screws were rusted in when I took stuff apart and I had to drill them out.

It was pretty gutting when I came to put everything back together to find this sort of stuff which is so easily welded up and re-drilled. Luckily it only caught me on two or three screws but enough to make me swear. Its really difficult to find screws with slightly larger thread with the same smaller head to match everything else. I thought I would just point it out in case your screw extraction went worse than mine.

stickandrudderman · « **Reply #83 on:** November 22, 2014, 20:18:26 »

A tip:
When you are dis=assembling a car and you come across a seized or broken screw or bolt or stud or a misalignment of some kind, attend to that problem NOW and re-assemble the part to your satisfaction. It's much better to do this stuff in the early stages so that when you come to re-assemble with your new interior, new chrome and new paint everything goes smoothly.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #84 on:** November 23, 2014, 13:16:50 »

Yes that's all good advice. I always build up a car with all its trim once the body work is done before it goes to paint. That way any oversize or misaligned holes can be rectified, also any poor trim fit can be dealt with. This is a photo of the mustang part way through its paint preparation getting the trim pre fitted.

The only grief I had with screws were the chrome strips along the bottom of the car, everything else came off real easy.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #85 on:** November 23, 2014, 13:48:10 »

Andy the coating I am using Is Hammerite kurust, it just protects the metal whilst it is bare, it can be painted over but the bulk of it gets sanded off.

There are quite a few areas on this car that are starting to get a it rusty so I would feel happier getting the floor and structure blasted. I'm with you on keeping existing protection if it is good, but it isn't good enough on this car to leave it.

stickandrudderman · « **Reply #86 on:** November 23, 2014, 17:39:33 »

The 4th image is a really common sight. I drill a drain hole in that corner to prevent water accumulating there.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #87 on:** November 23, 2014, 17:46:24 »

Thank you, yes that's a good idea. I'll do that.

GGR · « **Reply #88 on:** November 23, 2014, 20:07:03 »

Quote from: stickandrudderman on November 23, 2014, 17:39:33

The 4th image is a really common sight. I drill a drain hole in that corner to prevent water accumulating there.

It is indeed a common sight, but I fail to understand where the water is coming from. Same thing in the trunk: I always find the trunk floor wet under the carpet after it rained. I can't figure out where the water is entering.

jameshoward · « **Reply #89 on:** November 23, 2014, 23:09:53 »

Have you checked the drainage from the soft top box? Pour water down the drain holes and it should come out at the sills. If not, that could be part of the problem.

GGR · « **Reply #90 on:** November 23, 2014, 23:21:52 »

Quote from: jameshoward on November 23, 2014, 23:09:53

Have you checked the drainage from the soft top box? Pour water down the drain holes and it should come out at the sills. If not, that could be part of the problem.

Even with the hard top on? I end up with water in trunk even with the hard top on. Trunk seal is new, properly positioned and glued.

Garry · « **Reply #91 on:** November 24, 2014, 01:27:19 »

You can get water in from around the B pillar caps, even with the hard top on that goes into the soft top box and then leaking out bad drain pipes into the trunk.

I also suspect perished front rubber hose of the drains from the air intake and the soft top box drains at the rear are the two biggest areas where water will access either trunk or front floor.

jameshoward · « **Reply #92 on:** November 24, 2014, 07:36:42 »

Quote from: Garry on November 24, 2014, 01:27:19

You can get water in from around the B pillar caps, even with the hard top on that goes into the soft top box and then leaking out bad drain pipes into the trunk.

I also suspect perished front rubber hose of the drains from the air intake and the soft top box drains at the rear are the two biggest areas where water will access either trunk or front floor.

My experience supports Garry's comments completely. Hard top or no hard top. Don't forget the way that negative pressure changes water flow on a car moving quickly in the rain.

GGR · « **Reply #93 on:** November 24, 2014, 08:53:07 »

OK, I will check. Thanks for the tip.

Jonny B · « **Reply #94 on:** November 24, 2014, 16:54:40 »

Another place for entry to the trunk is from a bad/poor seal on the tail lights. My mechanic mentioned this to me after he finished all the re-assembly work on my 250 SL this summer.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #95 on:** November 27, 2014, 07:51:08 »

Stripped the underside of the hood and trunk lid yesterday. I have ordered a new body cart for the shell to sit on that will mount to our rotisserie, that won't be here for a few weeks but I may strip the suspension off this weekend. Depends on weather as I have a few jobs to do at home and it's rained every Sunday for ages here so I may have to sacrifice a Saturday at work.

What's the best way here. Am I better to remove the subframes as a whole and then strip them or is it easier to dismantle the suspension piece by piece on the car? I have a four post lift and jacks so access isn't really a problem. What I don't have though is anything that will hold a subframe solidly to work on. Don't really need anything like that with Corvettes. The only thing I can think of is to strap the crossmember to one of the ramp runners.

On another note, my left hand inside door handle is broken, anyone have one? I just need the chrome part.

GGR · « **Reply #96 on:** November 27, 2014, 11:47:26 »

I usually take the suspension springs out by fitting a jack under the control arm, undoing the bolts and lowering gently the jack. This works when the car is complete by using all its weight. In your case, you may want to strap the body down.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #97 on:** November 28, 2014, 08:28:42 »

That's the method I would normally use on a Corvette so that's what I went with, just as well I did, those lower A arm bolts are tight!!

Got the body on jack stands and lowered the jack to get to the A arms and the subframe came down with the jack, the subframe mounts were completely shot, a quick tour round the technical manual shows this to be a common problem. I will replace/rebuild all of the suspension components anyway.

Up to now the car has come apart pretty easy but she's starting to bite me now. I started on the rear but can't get the shocks off so will need heat on those, same with the muffler heat shield, so I have to wait until there is someone else at the shop to give me a hand. I do this in the evenings after work and I don't use heat/sparks/weld if no one is going to be there for at least an hour.

Also to revisit an earlier topic, now pretty much everything is off the car and it is all clean, I think I will remove all the original undercoating. It isn't in as good a shape as I first thought. There are too many patches where it needs to come off that I think I will. Dipping is starting to look more attractive now!

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #98 on:** November 28, 2014, 08:32:53 »

Couple of the wheel wells.

Jonny B · « **Reply #99 on:** November 28, 2014, 16:30:08 »

Looks like great progress. Curious, was the front cross member (red bar under the grill opening) replaced? That is a spot prone to rusting, and in the photo looks to be in very good condition.

Wheel wells also look pretty clean.

Remember, whatever color you ultimately choose, the wheel wells are painted in body color.

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Author Topic: 1964 230SL restoration in UK (Read 237979 times)

KevinC