Popular Post Evan Posted February 27, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2018 Kia Ora A couple of people have asked where the build thread for my car is because they want to watch, there hasn't been much building - mainly de-building up to this stage but here goes. As part of my daily quest to be more like UJ about 6, 8 or 10 months back I was trawling trademe as I regularly do, seeing what's new.There was a fresh ad up for a Fintail Mercedes Sedan with the usual 3 shitty photos.This was right around the time I brought the v12 Jag motor discussed elsewhere, I mean one hobby is good but twos better right? This thing is also the reason progress on the V12 has stopped because I've been spending spare time swimming and getting the ball rolling on this. Anyway the ad as mentioned had 3 shitty photos on it, one of which was of a grainy pic of a not-so-Mercedes Falcon motor that it was fitted with. As a result of the Falcon motor the guy who owned it was getting all sorts of grief about it not having a Merc motor. Bugger that I thought, I'll go have a look. Long story short the guy wanted rid of it as it was a project he and his Son who's since left home had that never got anywhere and he just wanted the shed space, he didn't care what he got for it and couldn't be bothered dealing with the whinging people on trademe. So I bought it then and there. This is what it looked like when I got it, forever known as the OTP mobile. It's a 1965 Mercedes Benz 220Seb (W111 Chassis for those that care) in black, just like UJ, sort of. From what I understand 220 is the engine size (pretty obvious 2.2 litre), S is the bling model, b means its a fintail (the predecessor to this shape was also called a 220), and E, I believe, means it was a factory injected car but I'm probably wrong on that. It doesn't matter as it has the aforementioned Falcon 6 weighing the front down now. It appears to be complete, everything that is missing in the above photos is in the boot. When it was listed it was listed the guy said it was deregistered, a quick carjam report said that it wasn't deregistered, that it had simply lapsed and was due to deregister 2 weeks after I brought it, so I quickly put it back on hold after I picked it up. Live reg = Whoop. Props go to Sentra for tow car supply and Archetype for Storage. 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 So that was roughtly June/July last year, the car sat in Archetype shed until the new year where I spent a week commuting back and forth to his house to pull it apart over the xmas break. I don't understand how some people can live in Hamilton and commute to Auckland for work - it's the worst drive in the world. It all came apart reasonably easy except for a bit of dicking around with the heater core and a bit of lost sweat trying to get the dash pad out. The floors got the dry ice and hammer treatment to get the sound deadening out. This revealed what I suspected when I pick up the car originally, that the front left floor pan/sill area was junk. The front left door flexed a bit when the strop was slammed in it when it was on the trailer, which suggested the area was a bit soft. you can kind of make out a bit of daylight through the passenger floorwell in the above photo. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 The big push for it to all be apart in a week was because it had a booking with Autoblast in Glenfield to get blasted and primed. after 6 months sitting and a week of bashing away on it, it left Brents. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted February 27, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2018 It spent a week at Autoblast getting blasted all over with the exception of the underside of the roof, dash, and trans tunnel. before being coated in primer. I definitely recommend the service Dave and his guys at Autoblast do and the care they take not to warp anything. Came back looking like this: Originally I was going to scrape what underseal was on it off before sending it to be blasted. However I ran out of time/CBF with it any more so sent it out as it was, giving them the instructions to hit it and if it doesn't come off with 260PSI of air/garnet attacking it, it can stay, which is why you can see some primered over underseal in the wheel arch area. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 It turned out to be a bit holy-er than I thought it was. We will start with the Good - the roof! Apart from a small dent above the right rear door it might as well be brand new! You can semi make out in the bottom right corner of that second photo and the top of the next photo some cut marks around the upper lip of the parcel shelf. The previous owner has cut chunks out of that entire lip all the way around, which is going to be a pain to correct The Engine bay isn't bad either, a few pin holes around where the brake master cylinder bolts up, but no rust under the battery mount. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted February 27, 2018 Author Share Posted February 27, 2018 The not so good: mainly seems to be contained in the LHS and boot, with the boot and spare wheel wells shown here: 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted February 27, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 27, 2018 And the LHS shown here There's other bits an pieces (holes) all over but that's the worst of it. I'm not sure if it has had work done in the past or whether it could be from the factory but there are a number of parts on the car that are lead filled/patched (how bad ass is that!?) Anyway, I've been trawling Ebay.de and niemoeller.de ordering repair panels, still need to get the big ones through (left sill and boot floor). You can get quite a lot for these cars from Germany which is good. Standby for more. Shoulda just bought UJs one. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted May 27, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 27, 2018 Hello, Have skipped forward 756 steps and made a start on tarting up the wood interior pieces (wood interior, daaaaaaaamn). The original varnish has faded/cracked/gone yuck after 50+ years so I thought we can't have that. These photos are a bit out of whack but give a comparison: Before, as you can see - yuck. After 3 applications of paint stripper/scrapping parts came out like so: I took a trip to Bunnings to find some new varnish/stain. After 10 minutes staring at the shelf wondering 'do you get interior stain because it's for inside the car, or exterior stain because the car is outside in the sun...????' I walked out with a pot of Cabots interior stain and proceeded to throw 3 coats on things New vs OG: Ta da, photos are a bit weird, they make the pieces look like they're rough textured or has a bit of grit in the stain, but they don't they're smooth and look choice in person. Have a couple more pieces to do then that's done. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted May 27, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 27, 2018 In other news I've received the first of the panels from Germany, first photo shows a new lower door frame for front left door, front left inner sill section, LHS spare wheel well. Second photo shows new boot floor, RHS spare wheel well and vertical panel that connects boot floor to the LHS spare wheel well, you can see stickers on these pieces, they're all Genuine Mercedes panels that you can still get new, whoop! Have just put through an order for lower door skins, Lower drivers door frame and patch panels for the bottom of both rear 3/4 panels. Hopefully this order doesn't bounce back, have found some of the overseas merchants list items on their websites that when you hit buy now they come back saying 'sorry these are NLA'. It should work out cheaper to import these pieces rather than have them made here. The car went to the panel beaters last weekend so hopefully will have more progress to report reasonably soon. 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted June 13, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 13, 2018 Another couple of boxes arrived from Germany, containing lower door skins for all 4 doors, lower frame for the drivers door and new pieces for the bottoms of the rear 3/4 panels. Also the Panel beater has made a start, hopefully have more photos after the weekend. this corner was a bit worse than it originally appeared. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted June 24, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 24, 2018 Went and had a look yesterday, the doors are now less self draining than they were before, with the lower door skins having been fitted and the lower frames replaced on the front 2 doors. However the self draining capabilities of the boot floor have increased substantially since last featured Have new sills on their way from Germany at the moment, I think they will be the last repair panels I'll buy in, everything else that's needed will need to be made here. Also I got called out the other night with who I have/haven't given thanks to in previous posts. An Honorary mention must be made to @Ned for storing the car for the 4-5 month period between it getting blasted and going to the panel beaters. 15 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted June 29, 2018 Author Share Posted June 29, 2018 Some progress pics 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted June 29, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 29, 2018 These photos are hot off the press from the panel beater, received these this evening, haven't seen this in person yet. And what I reckon is the best bit.. A FLOOR! Left hand side: Right hand side (spare wheel well) Have asked them to take a break on it for a couple of weeks while I wait for the new sills to arrive, and to give my bank balance a breather so will have more in a month or so. 26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted July 16, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 16, 2018 Did you know it takes 2 weeks to get sills through Customs in this country? TWO WEEKS. 10 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Some more cutting and welding has taken place, this time in the rear seat/ C pillar area. I haven't got any photos of these bits all sealed up but they aren't holes anymore. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted August 4, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 4, 2018 Also the new sills have been fitted to both sides, both front jacking supports were replaced while they were off along with new inner front sill sections. Repairs have also been made to the front right corner of the drivers floor pan, left hand side of the front passenger floor pan and replacement of the whole rear left floor pan The next step is to fix this gem. The previous owner had begun cutting out sections of the rear parcel shelf/bottom of rear windscreen area including the lip that the rear windscreen seal sits on. Originally I thought I could still get these panels new from Mercedes like I did the boot floor which would of meant a simple(r) case of drilling out spot welds and welding in a whole new panel. Turns out I was wrong on the availability of replacement panels and this guy is going to need to be repaired, oh yay. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted August 18, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 18, 2018 Ta da! That's the last bit of rust on the shell taken care of, you can see some pitting on the parcel shelf but meh, it'll be ok. The whole thing is in primer now and at home while I save some more money before having the actual panel and paint done. 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted January 5, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 5, 2019 Kia Ora, I decided to pull the diff apart a couple of months ago is it was 5 star manky and the rubber bush on the pivot rod and boot that joins the two halves were perished. If you ever hear of anyone saying they're going to pull apart a Mercedes swing axle stop them immediately; they're the biggest pain in the ass to take apart and an even larger one to get back together. Way back when I got the car I put an order through to Pelican parts and brought a load of new seals and bearings (along with shocks and bushes etc). I raided this stash for a new pinion seal. The pinion nut on these is some stupid castle nut thing, which the Special Mercedes tool for costs something like $120 from the states, flagging that idea I picked up one of these from Aliexpress for approximately $7, it's for removing some motorcycle clutch or something but it just so happens to be the right size and did the job, fingers and toes are crossed that the preload on the pinion bearing is right, I think it's close enough. the bearings inside all looked ok. Regreased everything and smushed it back together with some new bits, it's now far tidier - but hasn't gotten any lighter. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted January 5, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 5, 2019 Awhile back I picked up a pair of Slam Specialties RE6s for the back and set about drawing some circles on the computer and getting them laser cut, then I countersunk some holes into them so they can be bolted to the rear arms via the two threads you can see sticking out below I loosely put the diff back in the car today and tricked Dave into coming around by promising him a swim. Put one of the original 13in wheels on it and mounted the bag to the lower arm then dicked around with bits of wood as spacers to work out how tall the cups for the top mounts were going to need to be. Came up with a number but turns out the tube I purchased is too small in diameter to fit over the upper springs perch - must have been holding the wrong end of the ruler or something. Anyway will come up with a work around tomorrow. I won't be running the 13s, I've got some 14in steels from a W108 Mercedes which run the (IMO) better looking single piece hubcap apposed to the 2 piece items that 13in rims run, but the 14s don't have tyres on them so for measuring purposes the 13s will have to suffice etc. will muck around with it some more tomorrow. 28 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Evan Posted February 6, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 6, 2019 A couple of weeks ago I was window shopping for a welder, it was one of those things I'd been putting off in favour of paying/bribing someone else to do it. Anyway after scrolling through various brochures there was a Weldtech unit I was going to go purchase, Coincidentally I caught wind of one of the guys in the workshop at work had just purchased the same unit along with an additional tig torch for doing his own tig welding; however after he got it he realised it didn't do AC Tig so was no good for the Aluminium welding he was wanting to do. So he offloaded it to me along with a trolley and tig torch for less than the retail cost of the unit itself, score I thought considering he had only turned it on twice and the mig torch was still in the box. So with some larger diameter tube, the aforementioned welder, a new helmet, gloves and bunnings gas bottle I was more or less able to finish off the top mounts for the rear bags Bolted everything together for a test fit I just need to drill a hole through the side of the top mounts for the airline and a hole in each of the 3 tabs you see at the top of the mounts, these slot into 3 recesses in the factory spring perches on the car, by drilling a hole through the spring perch and fitting a rivnut the entire rear bag setup is a bolt in affair, no cutting or welding to the body necessary - which means it can be swapped back to coils at the drop of a hat. Now for the fronts.... 21 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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