Pagoda SL Group

W113 Pagoda SL Group => General Discussion => Topic started by: Ed Cave on September 01, 2004, 21:13:00

Title: Air Conditioner Aesthetics
Post by: Ed Cave on September 01, 2004, 21:13:00

Has anyone had experience restoring the aesthetics of the typical underdash FrigiKing unit? Many I have seen have lost some of the silver paint on the diffusers and look less than wonderful in other ways (bad knobs - flat silver insert plates may look bad, etc.)

Can you get the diffussers out and paint them? Is that often successful? Would they be completely silver?

Any experience overcoming these minor but noticable eyesores? Any help is appreciated.

Ed Cave
Atlanta, GA

1964 356C
1971 280SL

Title: Re: Air Conditioner Aesthetics
Post by: hauser on September 01, 2004, 22:43:59

Ed pick up a copy of Hemmings and you'll find listings for plastic chrome plating.  I don't know how good it will turn out but it might be worth a try.

1969 280sl 5 spd        1999 ML320          Gainesville,Fl.

Title: Re: Air Conditioner Aesthetics
Post by: Douglas on September 01, 2004, 23:27:48

I have a friend who re-plated his Pagoda's a/c vents and it turned out great. His car was a consistent National-level concours winner.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
280 SL #016220

Title: Re: Air Conditioner Aesthetics
Post by: n/a on September 02, 2004, 22:22:45

I took my front-end apart, and cleaned all the vents, then spray painted them with Chrome Paint. It doesn't look as nice as new, but much nicer than it was. I also would like to re-new mine, since all the interior was re-done.

Title: Re: Air Conditioner Aesthetics
Post by: Ed Cave on September 03, 2004, 07:33:26

Doug: When you say re-plated, I assume you mean chrome plated, just like you would do to a bumper? And again, that would be the entire diffuser piece?

SD: Were the diffuser pieces hard to remove?

Sorry some of my questions probably seem stupid but when you consider I have never owned a 113, I'm in Atlanta, the car I am restoring is in San Diego and I generally don't have the part in question to refer to, mybe it is more understandable.

And finally, I found a forum message from June '03 where someone asked, "Does anyone have a source for old Frigiking parts?" but saw no replys so with this, the question is asked once again....

Ed Cave

Title: Re: Air Conditioner Aesthetics
Post by: n/a on September 04, 2004, 17:26:19

Ed,
Disassembling the vents is not hard, just time consuming, and you need alot of patience. I broke two pieces, but was abl to epoxy them together like new.
I think a plastic primer is best to use prior to spraying with the chrome.
I used to do OEM re-chroming of plastic in a vacuum chamber, but can not find out where it can be done now.

Title: Re: Air Conditioner Aesthetics
Post by: hauser on September 04, 2004, 17:41:22

Pick up a copy of Hemminggs Motor News and you will find a few ads for this chroming process.

1969 280sl 5 spd        1999 ML320          Gainesville,Fl.