Hello family,
After years of gathering parts for my Pagoda, the time has come finally to tackle this project. It is a matching numbers Papyrus white with black soft top and dark blue interior (or Kaviar MB-Tex).
After 13 years in waiting and hunting bits here and there, not to mention life throwing a painful curve-ball that took some time for me to get over, I can confidently say that I have enough resources and parts to initiate my restoration:
1- Parts (pictures soon):
Body/Chassis: 95% of the sheet metal are OE Mercedes: Front and rear fenders, passenger side entire frame piece, chassis frame pieces, trunk, rear, fuel tank, etc... What will remain is the tunnel, dash, soft top area and a part of the driver side frame. Just a few bits are sourced from K&K.
Engine: I sourced everything of standard size and I finally have everything mostly brand new: Crankshaft assembly (x2), camshaft, bearings, valves, pistons, rings, lifters, springs, oil pump, guides, chain, seals, head, etc....
Mechanical pump: refurbished recently by H&R
Fuel pump: older full restoration (new) + additional used fuel pump with an overhaul kit.
Horns: NOS
Tranny: All new or refurbished: brake bands, seals, discs, etc...
Rear diff: lower ratio pinion & ring (VEP), all new bearings, seals, springs, etc...
Suspension: all new, king pins, joints, shocks, springs (NOS), arms, bushings, etc...
Brakes: All NOS, booster, lines, master cylinder, calipers, discs, rear distributor, etc...
Chrome: Will be mostly refurbished, but a lot of parts I sourced as NOS or new. Finally found a local fantastic shop who is doing miracles out of the rustiest parts.
Interior: Soft top, leather and carpet all sourced years ago with 4 extra hides. As someone who is obsessed with this car and trying his best to keep it as stock as possible, I am ashamed to say that I picked a dark red soft top/carpet and a red interior instead. The original color combination has simply no character, but this is at least easily reversible.
Others: I simply can't list everything, but you can imagine the result of my 13 year parts hoarding obsession.
Being international came with a lot of challenges in terms of sourcing parts, paying international shipping, customs, some items like fenders are based on volumetric weight, etc... Found a way to have those shipped in cars being exported from the US. I still have a good list of parts needed for my project.
2- Body:
Rusty, twisted and bad. Yes some will mention Celette, but that is not available unfortunately. I might have an alternative, still working it out.
3- Material:
I am currently living between Dubai-UAE and Riyadh-KSA. I have access to a ton of excellent international paint products, not to mention the existing suppliers where the car is (Lebanon). But I will need recommendations help from the good folks around here at each step for sure.
Some of this material is PPG, DuPont, Eastwood and Glasurit (thinking about that paint brand when the time comes).
4- Skill:
With the abundance of skill and lack of proper equipment in shops in Lebanon, my plan was to purchase a spot welder and give it to a local shop to do the work under my supervision. Then I was shocked by one picture over facebook showing a guy spot welding a tilted Pagoda on a rotisserie in his shop. What better sign could I ask for? Dived deeper into his profile and finally realized that he doesn't work on volume, rather than on a car by car basis and takes pride in his accuracy and work. He also hates bondo.
So guys please wish me luck, quite nervous about overhauling my rusty twisted chassis. Not worried much about the rest.
