Pagoda SL Group
W113 Pagoda SL Group => Body, interior, paint, chrome, and cosmetic items => Topic started by: stickandrudderman on April 03, 2014, 21:34:07
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I've started what I believe to be a fairly unique restoration in that the shell has been acid dipped, no significant repair work found to be needed and then electro-primed.
Since the shell bears several excellent witness marks to build techniques used by the factory I thought I'd take loads of close-up photos as a future reference.
Of particular interest is the remains of the lead used in a few places plus the extraordinarily neat joins at the wings (fenders) with no filling required.
If anyone has any specific requests for close ups not here speak up soon as we'll start to cover all of this up soon!
See here and enjoy!
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/emkqlpj8eahfnvf/PKN859fySx
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That is impressive!
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These photos should go in the Tech Manual. They are great to have on hand. Thank you
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I've made a copy. Stick, any problems with me posting them in the Tech Manual somewhere?
It's quite a hefty sized set of pictures... I may need to expand our hosting space first... :D
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It's there for the group to use freely as required so by all means add it to the tech manual.
However, I do retain copywrite and they are not to be used for any commercial purpose without my written consent.
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Excellent pictures - extremely well preserved body !
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Let me add my thanks for taking and making these photos available, a wonderful reference.
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Thanks for posting those. Picture 19 looks like there might be a crack developing along the spot welds for whatever mounting that is. Might be worth taking a second look.
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The other exciting news is that I've had this shell 3d scanned............... ;)
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Hmmmm........detailed photos............3D scanned - the next step is to convert it to a CAD drawing and loh and behold engineering drawings for manufacture of body shells - - is this where this is heading stick?
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It would also be interesting to weigh the bare shell.
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I have done the same with my 1965 230SL , acid dipped , then all the welding, then dipped again and electophretically plated. Its a huge job to rebuild, but I am nearly there. The car was a bucket of rust.
George
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I notice that you didn't brace the car. Did you put it on a jig to re-build it?
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Yes it was braced before the rust was cut out and all the new parts fitted, whole rear end including chassis legs, floor panels,sills and the rest. To be fair the chaps who dipped it did say they would brace it before dipping. I will post a few more pictures next time.
George
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Stick
Nice pictures. This must have been a Southern California car :-)... I'm surprised that the factory under coating was even bad and worth removing with the good condition of the body. It would be nice to see pictures of the leaded joints between the fender and nose section where they filed the head light notches. Di the acid eat the lead? I hear (and see) that the danger of acid dipping is the remaining acid in the seems of the overlap joints I think it may be worthwhile for you to read my article on what to look out for during the re-paint and how the cars would have likely been painted at the factory.
Good Luck, Tom
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Hi,
Can you show photos of the front wing aft of the wheel by the door/sill area, I'm currently repairing this area on my pagoda.
Cheers brad
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Nearly there but still some way to go!
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Hi Colin,
Great photographs, nice thread and update near the end of the project! Thanks for sharing it with everyone. Was this a project for one of your Customers? Must be satisfying seeing it all get back together and running. :)
Hi Peter,
Did you ever manage to add the photo string of the body shell into the Technical Manual? It be a great reference.
Cheers,
Dieter
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Finally finished.
here's a taster while I sort through the many pictures.....
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And another little taster: The owner spends a lot of time in Spain and couldn't decide whether he wanted a MPH speedo or a KPH one so I gave him both with the help of a vinyl printer..............
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Yum - very neat idea that Colin. Especially with a rally in france coming up though I assume the kph figures you chose are specific to Spain. 50/70/90/110/130 would make more sense for France, for example.
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Bespoke models available! 8)
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I rather walked into that one, didn't I?
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Fantastic!
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And where is the 200 kmh Mark.
Peter
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LOL!
I don't like to encourage irresponsible driving. 8)
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Wow. What a great set of pics for reference. Thank you!
May I ask what you paid to have the car acid dipped? I would love to find such a facility and have that done. Alternatively, is there a good product that might get similar results in my garage (taking my time... section by section)?
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Another little teaser!
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Absolutely beautiful car, Colin.
Please, which year is the car?
US delivery?
Have you got interior photos as well?
Is the interior still the original one.
Best,
Achim
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Colin,
I need one of those vinyl KPH speedo stickers. Did you keep the base print picture to produce them?
Garry
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Garry,
I have a vinyl printer for making labels and spent many hours researching the correct font and getting the size right. I then install each set of numbers (eg "100") individually and use a modellers knife to cut very thin strips of vinyl as the little markers.
It's fiddly and hasn't yet gone right first time every time, in fact who can spot the (accidental) deliberate mistake!
I'm sure there's a better way and if I thought my way was easily repeatable I would happily send you the stickers.
Achim,
She's 1964 and original delivery was to some strange French sounding colony, presumably as some sort of military or diplomatic import process.
I have hundreds of photos and am slowly finding time to sort and compile them into a "start to finish" journey. I will post them eventually.
Colours are original but leather is new. It's from KHM in Germany and is the most expensive hide option in order to get as close to original feel and look as possible.
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I think this is the way I am going to go also when I get chance to get back into the garage workshop to start the strip down...
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Stick please let me know how the car stands long term from being dipped!
I was considering going this route with some personal projects as opposed to shot blasting but I was put off by the horror stories of acid sitting in the seams of panels where they are joined and rusting from the inside out/dripping acid out onto the fresh paint.
I suppose the electroplating gets inside the chassis members where you can't paint?
I've heard good and bad things for dipping but I'm intirguied to hear your take on it, from what I have seen from you so far it's a win win!
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When I bought this project it was already dipped and electro-primed and it had been done some time ago, at least 8 years, without being touched.
You can see from the pictures that there were a few seams that had minor blistering but after all that time without the seams being sealed it's hardly surprising.
We dressed what we could see and sealed it all up but only the next decade will tell if it's a problem or not!
Certainly I believe this car has had much greater attention to detail applied to it than any car that the factory made.