November activity 6 - On the road

Well, both Theresa and I managed to drive the car around the lake next to where Will lives.  Neither the lack of windscreen or doors and front bonnet deterred us or the lack of passenger seat for Steve to sit on.  You couldn't get awat with this in the UK and even the passing police patrol cars took no notice..... which was lucky.  A fantastic experience and the car drove beautifully and Theresa thought it was dead easy to drive which is great news.  Here is a photo of Theresa in the car and also a video clip of us each driving it.

 

November activity 5 - Trim

The rear jump seat is ready to be fitted and has the correct brackets etc waiting. For the front seats I have ordered some new pieces to replace broken elements of the chromed seat side adjusters and the plastic centre plugs from Chromeshraub in Germany. Theresa cleaned up the original sun visors and we will see what they look like when fitted to the car before deciding it they need recolouring - definately too good to replace. I fitted the rear retainers for the hard top in place and also for the hood cable retainers.  I have aso taken the plunge and asked Will to order anew 7 piece rubber matting kit for the car from K&K.  Additionally I am going to investigate ordering a cocoa mat carpet set for the front of the car from Cocoamat.co as I have these in other early 60s German cars and really like them.

November activity 4 - Lights and front grill

The front grill was rechromed locally in Dallas and unfortunately the finish was not as good as we hoped.  I opted to buy a new 2 piece surround and wings in Stainless steel from Harringtons who produce them out in Vietnam. The grill fits well and looks much better than the original - I will keep it and see eventually if I can get a better job done in the UK or sell on. The barrel for the star has yet to be finished with the correct blue translucent hue.  I had shipped a pair of European spec headlights across to Will for fitting, the car has always had US spec ones fitted and whilst I got them to fit much better there may be some remedial work to do on the locting hooks for light unit and trim ring to get a better end result.  The amber indicator lenses were swapped back to clear ones with amber bulbs to help in ensuring that the electrics comply to UK regulations.

November activity 3 - Convertible top

We have agreed on a black convertible top as was originally fitted to the car.  The one on the frame at present is excellent, except for where the mice chewed a large hole through the rear whilst the hood was stored folded down with the hard top fitted before I bought it. Theresa concentrated on cleaning up the hood frame and removing all the aged lacquer which combined with cigarette smoke left it looking a brown colour.  It was tackled with fine wire wool and paint thinners to remove the laquer and get it back to its original un anodised aluminium finish.  Will advised that a new coat of laquer will be needed to stop any marking of the new hood happening as a result of contact with the frame. So next up will be fitting of the new top and all rubber seals etc.

November activity 2 - doors

An area of focus for me was the reassembly of the doors. The insides were cleaned out to reveal the nice original paint inside them; this was however covered up with Dynamat to give some additional sound insulation. The small interior chrome lock latch was replaced with a new one as one of the locating tabs had broken off. The window winder regulator was degreased and then lubed up before re-installation. New rubber gromets etc. were used to connect the regulator to the glass. The check strap, external door handle and locking mechanism were installed before the regulator\glass were fitted and finally the two external shoulder trims were fitted along with new felt and clips.

November activity 1 - Engine

Myself and Theresa had another trip out to see Will and the car in Dallas in November with the hope that it would be nearing completion or at least driveable. Whilst the final body work and trim has not been completed the car was driveable and there were also still things that I was able to do on the car myself.
Here is a shot of the installed engine just awaiting the air cleaner, transfers and choke cable to be fitted, it runs very smoothly and is a joy when driving the car.

Dash instruments

The dash instruments have just arrived back from refurbishing - a general clean and touch up of the faces, check and overhaul of the interals and new glass and bezels - they look great.  The clock still needs to be sent for repair.

Rear end work

Once the wiring loom was in place the reflectors for the rear light units were treated to some chrome spray and then fitted along with the lenses.  The fittings for the rear booit lid were then added and the boot lid was attached to the car - if you block out the view of the front car then it almosts looks like a completed car.  Other external work ioncluding fitting the detachable sills\rockers and spacers was also carried out.

Front end work

The eyebrows above the wheel arches were all in very good condition and have been refitted. A new red tip ariel was fitted with bracing bracket and the closing panels for the front innet wings were then put in place along with new rubbers.

Air cleaner restoration

The snorkle on the air cleaner was very battered.  Will showed me an clever fix - a replacement snorkle that you insert from inside the air cleaner once you have sawn off the old one.  I removed the old one, cut the new one to size and it was then brazed in place.  The whole assembly was blasted and then primed for paint.  I also cut out enough of the mesh holding the old horsehair filter to allow a new modern style one to be fitted and the msh to be wired back in place.

Floor insulation

The old floor insulation was stripped out during the body restoration.  I fitted new modern equivalent to the floor area and will probably need to add more to the tunnel and bulk head.

Something lurking in the cylinder

Steve and Will had replaced the timing chains and sprockets to the engine last time I was over along with bearings and other items.  We hadn't thought it necessary to do major work on the cylinders or head.  Steve had the engine on the test stand and decided it would be good to start it up.  Unfortunately it wouldn't start and it turned out that there was a foreign body in one of the cylinders and that it was part of a carb linkage.  The engine had been run previously on the test stand and there wasn't any opportunity for the foreign body to get into the engine during the work done so vey strange but glad we found it.  Good news is no serious harm was done and we had scheduled to replace the cylinder head gasket any way.  This was done and the engine now runs very strongly.  I also took the recored radiator, blasted it an sprayed it semi gloss black.

Fuel tank and lines

The fuel tank had been blasted and sprayed outside and still needed internal treatment.  I used the POR15 treatment system and once that was complete the tank and fuel lines were installed along with the body for the fuel filter

Wiring and rear boot

The wiring harness had suffered some abuse over the years, Steve carried out various repairs and Will and I inserted it into the car.  I fitted it into the rear boot and then moved on to installing the rear boot rubber and other boot fixings and floor mats.  The floor mats need replacing at some stage but we will see how far funds stretch before doing that.  New grommets for the wiring were fitted to the front bulkhead.

2012 Texas trip

I spent another week with Will and Steve in Dallas working on the 190SL and had good fun and made some more progress. The trimmer, Manuel, has done a fantastic job of the dashboard and trimming the rear area as well.  I fitted the screen  pillars with the correct gaskets at their base, we had wanted to fit the screen but the chromers had done a poor  job of finishing the frame so we had to leave it until it has been refinished.

I also installed the rear trim that holds the trailing edge of the hood in place, shame you don't see it once the hood is fitted.