Author Topic: 1964 230SL restoration in UK (Read 238022 times)

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #525 on:** April 18, 2018, 04:51:08 »

I spent last Saturday cutting out the bad metal out of the soft top box. I also removed a bit of the inner fender where the flange wasn't looking too hot. I started to make a repair piece for it but it wasn't going well so filed that in the skip and will have another go next time...

I have an operation on my eye later on today so probably won't be doing much for a week or so, my overly protective wife says that grinding and welding is not allowed until I am fully healed...

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #526 on:** September 01, 2018, 17:22:11 »

Its been a while since I have done anything to this one. I had a bit of restoration work myself... An eye test revealed the pressure in my eyes was too great so after unsuccessful laser treatment I wound up having cataract surgery in both eyes. Then I got a cancellation for a heart surgery I had been waiting for and that happened the same week... Anyway Im brand new now. Ive been catching up at work the last couple of months and today was the first chance Ive had to get back on the Mercedes. I must admit it was good for my soul to see some progress on this one again so I think I'll make a bit more effort to make more time for it.

I carried on with the soft top box repairs today. I used a bit of left over seat mount repair panel to make the repair piece out of. Once I had gotten the shape right I pressed the tried and tested dimple tool into action to make the dimple for the drain pipe, then it was time for the big weld up... Was a lot easier to put the dimple in before it was welded into the car.

It was quite a relaxing day after a few months of non stop catch up. We have also been working on a new website for the last 18 months or so and that has taken up a huge amount of my time, and still is. See what you think... www.corvettekingdom.co.uk

Anyway its good to be back!

Rolf-Dieter ✝︎ · « **Reply #527 on:** September 01, 2018, 17:48:00 »

Hi Colin.

The link to the 280 SL looks like my 903 H blue. I’ve recieved many compliments and nice comments about this colour.

Best,

Dieter

JamesL · « **Reply #528 on:** September 02, 2018, 06:12:52 »

Look after yourself, Scott. Delighted they have you patched up with some new welds but your health and family are more important than an old car...

JamesL · « **Reply #529 on:** September 04, 2018, 17:38:51 »

Hey
This looks vaguely familiar...
https://www.historics.co.uk/buying/auctions/2018-09-22/cars/ref-89-1973-fiat-130b-coup%C3%A9-by-pininfarina/

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #530 on:** September 05, 2018, 06:28:54 »

Not mine, I just sold mine at the local classic car auction:

https://angliacarauctions.co.uk/classic/saturday-25th-august-2018/1972-fiat-130-coupe-automatic/

A pretty disappointing result but they aren't a particularly well known car, hard to get parts for, and not that desirable it seems... Shame because it really was a lovely thing. I hope they do better than I did!

So I'm down to the Corvette and half a Mercedes now.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #531 on:** September 06, 2018, 06:49:35 »

The new floor mats from, the classic centre arrived yesterday, they look very nice and I ma pleased to have all the rubber mats now for the footwells and for the trunk floor with vertical spare.

JamesL · « **Reply #532 on:** September 06, 2018, 07:45:16 »

Almost finished!

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #533 on:** September 14, 2018, 18:35:42 »

I wish it was....Once again life is getting in the way of some serious Pagoding. We are having an extension built so a lot of my attention and finances are focused there at the moment.

A little bit more progress was made last weekend though and I now have an almost complete soft top box. Im out for a boozy lunch with a friend tomorrow so no Pagoding this weekend either...

In other news new wheel trims arrived today. These are crazy money and I did think about going repro on these but they are such a focal part of the car that I figured either go big or go home....

I had a couple of oak beams turn up too, these suckers are 23 feet long... Been an exciting day!

Shvegel · « **Reply #534 on:** September 15, 2018, 09:07:50 »

"Go big or go home." So many of those moments over the years. I think the one that hurt the most was deciding to buy brand new brake calipers and just be done with it. It wasn't the most expensive but considering it is about $4 worth of cast steel it was a tough one.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #535 on:** September 30, 2018, 18:04:39 »

The further I get into this project the easier it is to 'Go Big'... The most recent 'going big' was the ashtray assembly. I had dismantled mine and had a few parts re-chromed but it was never going to look anything. I saw a post on here from someone who had bought a repro one and the price wasn't significantly different to the genuine item so I figured I'd order one whilst availability was good.

The other thing I have learned since starting this project is 'Grab it while you can'... When I started this the Mercedes grille star was available but eye watering, now they are unobtainable I had to pay similar money for a rechromed item which was always a bit of a gamble.

We are fortunate though that a lot of these parts are available as genuine items, and my findings up to this point is that is a significant difference in quality between genuine and reproduction.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #536 on:** October 01, 2018, 23:35:15 »

I carried on with trimming and trial fitting the right hand inner and outer fenders on Saturday, still a few little tweaks to make here and there but they are fitting pretty well so far. I left a piece of the old inner fender attached at the rear this time so I don't have to make a new section to compensate for the early/late inner fender differences that caught me out last time - Catch me once Mercedes....

Thought I'd triple check my fitment by trying the new rocker moulding on, imagine my surprise when it was 1/4" too long just like the other side was with my original rocker moulding. I measured the wing and they were both 7 1/2" door to wheel well. I measured the rocker moulding and the left side is 63", the right side 63 1/4"

I packed up and went home at this point, I tried calling Mercedes but my guy is on vacation so I'll call next week. Im wondering if there are two part numbers available for the right side rocker moulding (early/late) and only one for the left side. Anyway looks like I might be back to square one and having to trim the rocker moulding to fit.

I must have been bad in a previous life to deserve this...

I also melted a chunk of lead out of the panel between the decklid and trunk lid, it must have been over 1/8" thick, I thought it was a factory lead seam where the panels are joined but it revealed some previous damage between the two panels, just goes to show what lurks under the paint on some of these cars.

lowpad · « **Reply #537 on:** October 03, 2018, 22:20:59 »

Scott,

It's been following your restoration. I had my '66 230SL restored about a decade ago and it's fun to see how you have dealt with various challenges and problems. I didn't read the entire thread -- did you go Tex or leather on the seats? I could never find good Tex seatcovers that came anything close to my originals, so I just replaced the springs and horsehair and had my upholsterer put the old covers back on. They look nearly new now.

Also, how did you trim the rubber floor mats? I'm kind of amazed that the Classic Center (nor any of the private vendors) sell these pretrimmed for the dimmer, accelerator etc. Seems like a bit of pain.

Regards,

Lowell

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #538 on:** October 27, 2018, 04:25:19 »

Lowell Im a long way off both those stages at the moment. I am planning on leather for the interior even though it was originally MBTex.

Have been making a little more progress, the inner fender is now fully welded on and went quite smoothly. I have been regularly offering up the outer fender to make sure everything is aligned, I also trial fitted the tail light surround to make sure it was all good. Once that alignment was checked I welded in the outer section of the boot floor. It has all fitted together very nicely and I am pleased with the way it is turning out.

Check out the monster I found living in the manky old swamp that is the area underneath our compressor. I like to think he's been there forever...

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #539 on:** October 27, 2018, 04:33:51 »

Since that portion of the welding was over I seam sealed everything with polyurethane and then re-primed it all, once that had dried I went over the hidden seams with a brushable seam sealer and primed again, then 2 coats of topcoat over the inner fender and the backsides of the outer fender in the mushroom and Mercedes black/grey colours.

The area inside the trunk will get flatted down and repainted again when I do the inside of the trunk proper, the idea here was to get protection on the backside of all the sheetmetal before it gets welded in. The mating surfaces have all been coated with a weld thru primer so I figure the protection is about as good as I can get it.

I think it all looks very nice. I did the same on the other side and if you shine a torch up inside the wing it's pretty cool seeing its all the proper colour in there..

neelyrc · « **Reply #540 on:** October 27, 2018, 05:49:55 »

Looking very, very nice Scott. Beautiful workmanship!

Jonny B · « **Reply #541 on:** October 27, 2018, 17:08:46 »

Indeed, Pagoda restoration as art! Awesome stuff.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #542 on:** October 28, 2018, 04:25:35 »

Thank you both, you're very kind.

I was hoping to get the fender welded in place yesterday but I wanted to get all the rear panels trims etc pre-fitted before the rear panel was welded on so I could take it off again to clean out any swarf left over from drilling, and clean up and paint the backs of the holes. I didn't think Id be able to get the rear panel off with the other fender in place so I figured I'd better get on that now.

It took a while to get the licence plate straight and centred and mark out the holes for the rear panel trim. I deliberated a bit between UK plates with trim or USA size plates with no trim, UK number plates are a bit big really but I quite like the look of the euro trim and I am fitting euro style headlights so figured it made sense. I wasn't too impressed with the fit of the trim. I figured it would follow the curve of the rear light panel but it doesn't really. It is a genuine MB item so I guess it is what it is.

It was nice to see the rear end with a bit of ornamentation on there. I also marked out and drilled the holes for the fuel vapour canister line clips whilst I was in there and had good access with the fender off.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #543 on:** October 28, 2018, 04:42:22 »

By the time I was through with all that it was getting a bit late in the day to start welding so I knocked it on the head and finished up some Corvette trailing arms I had been building up for stock. Ive just built 6 of these up from scratch and am now officially sick of Corvette trailing arms....

In other news the mystery of the oversize rocker moulding has finally been resolved once and for all. Seems there are two Mercedes part numbers for the RH rocker mouldings, the one I was sent was 113 883 02 01 which is suitable for cars up to some point in 1965 whenever the fender design was changed, and this would have been correct for mine had it still had its original fender, then there is 113 883 04 01 for cars after 1965, which is also the one needed for a car that has had replacement rear fenders. Sandown Mercedes took the original one back and sent me the replacement and it fits perfectly. So keep that in mind if you are replacing your wing!

In other other news I have just bought myself a 66 Corvette coupe. We did a body off and respray on this 12 years ago for a customer and this is the first time we have had it back since, it still looks very nice. He decided he didn't use it enough and wanted to sell. I have fancied one of these for a while and nearly kept the last one we had but it needed too much work. This needs a little bit of fettling now but nothing too dramatic. I really like the look of these mid year coupes so am looking forward to getting it on the road.

James · « **Reply #544 on:** October 28, 2018, 04:50:47 »

Hi Scott,
i have read your posts with interest.
Did you fix the brake booster?
If so, how?
My car is a 1965 RHD 230 SL and the internal bakelite componentry has failed and it is no longer made.
Any pointers?
James

Jonny B · « **Reply #545 on:** October 28, 2018, 15:42:57 »

Okay, off topic - but love the mid-year Vettes. And the turbine wheels are the icing on the cake - gorgeous.

andyburns · « **Reply #546 on:** October 28, 2020, 05:42:44 »

Whats happened to this link? Loved reading the updates.

Scottcorvette · « **Reply #547 on:** January 19, 2021, 20:16:50 »

I'm still here but I haven't touched the Mercedes in over two years! The last thing I did to it was in November 2018, I was spot welding the tail light panel in to place and the spot welder quit working so that went in for repair, by the time it came back I was busy with work and couldn't spare any time, then building work on the house got in the way which took forever, then I started working on the 66 Corvette and that turned in to a bigger project than I had planned, and I am currently getting ready for an engine and transmission swap in that so the poor old Pagoda has taken something of a back seat, although not intentionally.

I'm not really sure what to do with it now, I have got a bit stalled with it and don't know if I really have the chops to get back into it again. I keep blowing hot and cold about selling it but the car is so in pieces I think that would be easier said than done. I figure I'll get my other jobs out the way and then see how I feel.

This is how it was left, the rear fender is on but needs finishing touches, it looks exactly the same two years on but dustier..

johnk · « **Reply #548 on:** January 20, 2021, 00:51:32 »

I enjoyed your posts as well Scott. Plus they were very helpful in guiding me on how to do some of my own chassis repair.

Good luck and hope to see the posts start up again in the future.

John

Cees Klumper · « **Reply #549 on:** January 20, 2021, 02:54:47 »

You know, as these cars are getting more expensive (partly because of rapid parts price increases), your car will appreciate - the longer it takes you to finish it, the more it will be worth when it's done. So take your time, no stress, just enjoy working on it, and it will pay you back once you finish it. But especially if you finish it!

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Author Topic: 1964 230SL restoration in UK (Read 238022 times)