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.

Videos of trial fitting of parts to completed body

Here are a series of videos showing trial fitting of the front grill etc.

Tour of body during final stages of work

Here is a short video of the body during final stages of work when various brackets etc were being recreated. the body was resandblasted afterwards to remove traces of rust.

Restored carbs

Here is a photo of the restored carbs. Saen replaced gaskets, removed and refitted the butterflies and replated the various parts. The carbs had been replaced on the car at some stage and are the final verion of the ones fitted.

Transmission rebuild

Here are photos of the transmission rebuild.

Driveshaft rebuild

Here are photos of the stripped and rebuilt driveshaft before repaint and installation.

Finished rear axle and transmission

Here are pics of work on the rear axle and it finished prior to instalation along with the finished transmission. here is a link to a video clip about the rebuild of the rear axle:

Diff installed

Here are pictures of the diff installed and with shocks, trailing arms, coil springs and brake lines attached.

Hub caps

Here are a couple of pictures of the hub caps which have been rechromed and now sprayed undernmeath by Will in the correct colour.

Across in Dallas 3

The drivers side heater box is made from a compressed fibre, unfortunately it had a large hole in it which Will telss me tends to happen when owners don't secure the bonnet stay properly and as a result it punctures the casing when the engine is closed. there are ABS plastic replacements available but I set out with some great ideas from Steve on repairing it.

I used fibreglass matting and resin on the underside of the hole to reinforce and then created paper mache to in fill. this was all then covered by 3M rubberised undercoat to cover up the patch. I also reconditioned the passenger side metal cased one as well. Whilst things were apart, we removed the valves and inserted new sealing washers.

Across in Dallas 2

When I have restored cars in the past I have done most of the work myself so the big attraction of going to Will's wasto be involved, learn about the car and feel I have had some input - all of this was achieved with Will's great help and that of his new assistant Steve.

My main tasks were around cleaning and preparing parts for re-installation and observing the re-assembly of the engine. The car has received a new block and head at some time from Mercedes, restamped with the original engine number. Steve thinks that the majority of the internals were retained at that time but a good number were changed this time.

Across in Dallas 1

I spent a week across at Will Samples where the car is being rebuilt. Will is expertly leading the rebuild of the car alongside undertaking the mechanical work and has used the services of Steve Crowley for the bodywork and paint. The big excitement was that the paint was just about finished and the car was scheduled to turn up at Will's part way through theweek which it did and looks stunning.

I changed the colour from Grey\blue to Dark blue (DB332) and am really pleased with the choice. Steve used Glasurit Line 22 paint system for the finish.

Here are some shots of it at Steve's body shop receiving final colour sanding with Steve and John and photos of it finished and back at Will's.