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.