1964 230SL restoration in UK

[mbzse]

.../.... all the pivots that hold the frame together appear to have been staked over at the factory.../...

The special bolts in the soft top frame are secured from factory with a pointed punch.
To disassemble the frame, drill or Dremel the ends of the special screws out, to enable unscrewing them.
Best to replace the screws with new ones; in some cases the screws you removed may be re-usable. I suggest you secure the new screws with lowest grade Loctite.
See also this previous thread:
http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=21308.msg151624#msg151624

[mbzse]

.../...I haven't been able to turn up a good picture of the cylinder arrangement yet.../...

If this is what you refer to, here is a picture of the snap lock för the rear bow (photo courtesy of Alfred E)
The wires left and right serve to avoid that the soft top fabric gets caught in mechanism (and fabric thereby marred)
See also this previous thread:
http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=21178.msg150804#msg150804

[Scottcorvette]

Thanks Stick, I saw they were available from Niemoller, I've emailed Shaun at MB to see what he can supply.

Hans that has saved me another question, I wasn't sure what I was missing off the boltin the first picture but I can see the spring attached to it, or is that some sort of tensioner wire?

I appreciate your input chaps, it really is a great help.

I managed to get most of the screws out of one side but I 'm going to have to drill the rest out, I'm reluctant to drill out the rivets but I think I might have to. I spoke to the plater last night to see if I could leave the rivets in and he said not really, so unless I can find a source for these I'll have to get some made. Ronnis dad restores spitfire airplanes and is a bit good with a rivet gun so he may be able to help me there.

This is where I left it last night, and this dear friends, is the definition of chaos. I got a bit soft top blind and know I was working on the right hand side, but I got the front and rear of the frame separated and then, wait, did I just turn this bit over or not??? Time to stop and go home!

It is doubtful I'll be able to get the rear bow repaired in time to go to the platers unless I can talk my lovely wife into letting me go to work over the Christmas holidays....

[Scottcorvette]

Ok so I'm pretty committed now!

I drilled out the brass rivets that were holding the frame together, after a closer look at the rivet holding the frame rail that sits above the side window it seems there is no need to remove that one, the frame folds back on itself so there should be no blow in the chrome, and the rivet is chromed on that one so can only assume that it was assembled before chroming at the factory.

The others drilled out OK, I also drilled out the rest of the stuck fasteners. So that really is one dismantled soft top frame, I dread to think what the chrome cost is going to be.

I've got a plan of attack for the rear bow, and I've a few little repairs to do on various parts but hopefully I'll be able to get to that soon. For now I'm going to concentrate on getting some seam sealer and primer on the resat of the bare metal bits round the body before we break for the holidays.

I ordered the plungers and wires etc from Mercedes, along with an inner fender and boot floor, and a few other odds and ends

These pagodas sure are an expensive car to rebuild.

[Scottcorvette]

The welcome back to Pagoda restoration in the new year wasn't particularly smooth.  I dropped all my chrome plate off to be done in the new year with the exception of the soft top rear bow as the captive nuts that hold it to the main frame needed repair.

I made an attempt at this yesterday so I can get it shipped to them asap. My plan was to grind out the end of the bow in picture 1, drill out the spot welds holding the captives, fish them out, repair them and then weld them back in. It was all going well up until the 3rd captive which I drilled out and it wouldn't budge, turns out there is a tube in the frame that the soft top wire feeds in to. I didn't want the captive to move so I welded the hole back up and had a think. I tried to get all manner of things in the frame to squeeze the captive cage closed again so the nut wouldn't turn but to no avail.

I figured I could cut out a small section of the outer frame, squeeze the captive cage and then weld it back in. Of course in doing this I cut through the tube....I tried the wire in and out of the tube with a section missing just in case it might work but it kept jamming up so I didn't think I had any other option but to cut out the section that had the pipe brazed to it and replace the pipe in it's entirety. The full extent of my nightmare can be seen in pictures 2 and 3.

Fortunately I had some steel tube the right size and I cut the slash in the end that fits against the underside of the bow and gave it a gentle curve. I had originally planned to weld the pipe to the outer skin and then fit it back in but I think it would have been impossible to have gotten the position absolutely right. I got the pipe into position and drilled a hole in the outer skin and welded the pipe through that. My only concern is that it is going to be strong enough. I have done this in 3 spots and I'll give it a fairly thorough testing before I send it to the platers.

[Scottcorvette]

Anyway after a whole bunch of grief and sulking I got it all back together and cleaned the welds up. Fortunately it is a pretty rough/dull chromed surface, and this section will be covered by the fabric of the soft top, but I'm pretty annoyed with myself for not researching this a bit more before diving in and causing more problems. Had I known the bit of tube was there I would have cut the piece out of the other side of the frame with the captive still attached to it, but then hindsight is a wonderful thing....

After a fair chunk of the day dealing with this I am back where I started, all the captives are out and repaired and ready to weld back in. Fortunately the third one in the other side was OK and didn't need any repair. There was also an extra captive nut that dropped out the rear bow, no idea where that came from...

The only other issue that I have, and it may or may not be a problem, but I'd appreciate it if someone could check their car and let me know. I can't push the rod in as far on the side I have repaired as the other side. There is 4 5/8" of rod sticking out one side and only 4" on the other. I don't know how much rod sticks out of the rear bow when it is folded up. Maybe one of you guys could take a look for me.

Here's to a trouble free 2017!

[Shvegel]

The only saving grace of having my car under restoration for over 10 years now is that I bought 90 percent of the parts 10 years ago.  Euro headlights were $450 each then and $1400 each now.  Sheet metal had doubled at least and fuel pumps have tripled.

[Scottcorvette]

I could have bought a half decent driver for what I have in this car now!

[andyburns]

But it wouldn't be your car.

[Scottcorvette]

That's true Andy, I had originally planned to just give this car a quick tidy up, use it for a bit and then sell it on, hopefully for a small profit. But, the old thing got under my skin and you guys know the rest.

I got the soft top frame repairs finished last Saturday so the rest of the frame could go off to be chromed. First up was to weld the captive nut cages back in, then make new end plates and weld those in and give it all a clean up. I'm quite happy with the results and they function as they should so all is well.

[Scottcorvette]

Once the rear bow was finished I turned my attention to the vertical rails that the cables attach to, one of these had a broken stud and the cable had been attached to the rail with a self tapper. The rail is double skinned with I guess the head of the stud between the two skins, I had been freaking out about how to do this a little bit and couldn't come up with a plan so figured I may as well wing it. I drilled the old stud out and cut a thread in the rail. I then cut a metric bolt down and drilled a hole in it for the cable to pass through.

Once that was done I wound the stud half way into the rail and filled it with weld from the other side and ground it smooth. It seems to hold up pretty well and as long as I don't have the jolly green giant fit the soft top I think it will be fine.

Thought I'd show you my almost clinical working conditions, eat your heart out McLaren......

[Scottcorvette]

And today normal service was resumed and I was back on with the floorpans...

I've finally got the last floor in so I no longer have a Flintstone car. it all went pretty smoothly after a bit of jiggling round. On the other side I had had some trouble using just the spot welder, so on this side I plug welded it in then ground the welds smooth and went around it with the spot welder just for cosmetics sake, it went a lot easier this way round although did take longer.

I also made a start on fitting the centre floor section, this has taken a bit of persuasion to get into place but is pulling in nicely using sheet metal screws. I will use the spot welder to hold it all in place then remove the screws one at a time and plug weld those holes. I was hoping to have gotten this all in today but as usual it all takes longer than one would expect. I'm pretty happy with the way it is all coming though, I think next week should see the floors finished.

[Scottcorvette]

Getting the floor centre section in took longer than expected, I seem to recall that was the case on the other side. It was all I managed to do last Saturday as I had to go into town in the afternoon. it was one of those days where everything seemed to be just a bit harder work than it should have been.

I used the spot welder in between each of the sheet metal screws and then plug welded those holes up and then used the spot welder to make dummy welds, its all pretty laborious. I also stitch welded the couple of areas where the floors meet in the curved sections as they were before. I need to seam seal those areas which I'll maybe do tonight and at the weekend I'll get the main floor reinforcement in and the seat runner and trailing arm mounts.

I was hoping to get the floor completed last weekend but it was not to be.

[Scottcorvette]

Been a while since I have posted anything to this thread....We have been extremely busy at work and so I haven't had time to do anything to the Mercedes.
The last thing I did was to install the seat runner brackets, nut for the trailing arm retainer bolt, and the front floor pan reinforcement, that was all done around March this year, since then I haven't been able to do anything.....

[Scottcorvette]

....Until now that is!

Last Saturday was a gentle reintroduction to Pagoding. I had a customer calling in in the morning but was able to have the afternoon and carry on with the last couple of bits in the floor.

The last thing to do in the main floorpan was the area underneath the rear seat area. The replacement pieces I bought are completely the wrong shape so I am having to make the repair section. I had already made the template but getting all the curves and angles in the right place was proving too much for my limited abilities so I decided to make the repair section in 2 pieces. Something I was trying to avoid, but it is what it is.

[Scottcorvette]

Whilst the weld through primer was drying on that I decided to start removing the boot floor. Nothing like a bit of destruction to prepare oneself for the weekend...

[Scottcorvette]

I collected the chrome from Colonnade last weekend, along with a lot of Corvette parts. They have done a much nicer job than JD Wyatts had ever done for us so it is all very positive.

I am very pleased with the convertible top frame. I had asked for it to be left in a dull finish to match the original finish and I think they have got it just about perfect. Im also very pleased that my repairs are not visible after the chrome plate.

[Scottcorvette]

I was also very pleased that they had managed to rechrome the ends of my wiper arms successfully. I had to get a lot of the parts redone that Wyatts had screwed up. It is frustrating to have to pay twice to get the parts done but all I can really do is suck it up, I just don't have the energy to take Waytts to court and I want this car to be as nice as I can make it so it is what it is.

I had them plate the window regulators which were looking scruffy, They did them in silver zinc first but apparently they didn't look good so they redid them in nickel. Not original I know but they were looking pretty scruffy and I couldn't think of a satisfactory alternative  for  them.

I am very happy with everything Colonnade has dozen so thanks to Colin for the tip. It has rekindled my enthusiasm for the project a little.

[Scottcorvette]

They also redid the nuts and bolts that Wyatts got wrong so I have spent the evenings this week going through my lists and trying to get the fasteners back into some semblance of order. Not an easy task. but one I enjoy none the less. Theres a lot of bolts in these cars.....

The downside is that the yellow zinc is a lot more like cad plate than the stuff Wyatts did, which is what I wanted at the outset but it does mean that I will have to get all the engine bay components done again so that they all match.....

Its a good job I like the old thing eh!

[Scottcorvette]

I carried on with the rear seat floor area today. I had started on this a couple of weeks back but was struggling to get the shape right on the replacement part. I had got the bottom part where I wanted it but the top section didn't want to play ball. Rather than remake the entire section I used the lower piece and made a new piece for the top. Not ideal but I figured it would be ok.

I was feeling a bit lazy so had a route through my box of scrap steel to see if there was anything suitable to make this piece from rather than cutting it out of a new piece of sheet. There was a piece left over from a new panel from Ronni's Karmann Ghia that had the perfect curve so I made use of that!

The second picture is of the old and new parts together, and the third is the new piece in position ready to weld in. The gap between the repair and the car is more than I would have liked so I put a piece of aluminium behind to act as a heat sink and try and prevent it blowing through so easily.

I faffed around a bit here but couldn't delay it any longer....

[Scottcorvette]

It was pretty awkward to weld in but it all went ok. I would have liked it to have looked a bit neater but there you go. It has done the job and is a good strong repair.

Whats most important though is that I had an enjoyable day, and thats almost an end to floorpans....

[Howard Long]

Dear Scott,

It had been a while since I followed your project.  We seem to do some things at about the same time.

I find that I have had to deal with the same thorny problem in the floor behind the seats.  I agree that these little pieces are a real challenge but they can be done.  I have competed my work on the passenger side (LHD) and I have 2 photos of that in primer.  On the Drivers Side(LHD), I have completed the welding but I still have a bunch of grinding to do.  2 photos of work in progress on that side.  Like you said a little difficult to weld and hard to be proud of the job as you go along.  However after a little work with the grinders it looks ok and will do the job.  If I had to pay for my time, it would make sense to buy the replacement sheetmetal part for that section for less than $100 per side but that would take part of the fun out of it. 

I have been the last few months on the front wheelhouses and the reinforcement struts.  I will be glad to get it done up there and back to the finish the left floor..

Howard

[PeterW113]

I can only marvel at the skill and resources you guys have,  I am six years into my Elan +2 light recommissioning and only just getting there.

Keep up the excellent reports and updates, it helps keep me going.

Peter

[Scottcorvette]

You're very kind Peter. Hard to believe it is almost 4 years ago that I got this car!

I spent the last couple of Saturdays going over old ground which was a bit frustrating. When I put the LH floor pan in I had intended to replace the LH toe board but once I got the floor out it didn't seem bad enough to warrant replacement, and the replacement part looked like not a particularly good part so I opted to stick with original. Obviously that was a mistake as I had seen an orange spot showing through the primer.....

Anyway I started to grind it out to have a closer look. Fortunately it was only a small spot. I had visions of having to remove that front floorpan again. Instead I cut that piece out and cut the matching piece off the new toe board.

Such a little thing but it took me all day to get it to fit.

[Scottcorvette]

And today I have been finalising the floor repairs. There were a couple of spot welds that I wasn't happy with so I cleaned those out and plug welded them and then made the dummy spots again. I then finished up seam sealing the repairs so far and will spot prime the repairs early next week. That my friends will see the floorpans finished....

Hurrah!

Just got boot floor, inner wings, rear wings, one inner front wing, and nose panel to do, then the trial fitting can start. Im glad this part of it is about over though, its been a real struggle.

Ive also been going through all my nuts and bolts and trying to get them back into some sort of order. I am pretty much there. Theres a few that I need to replace that have either gotten lost by my original platers or aren't good enough to go again. I am going to have to have some of it redone so the colour matches the second batch of yellow zinc.....Will it ever end?