W116.org

This thread's getting too long but finally, I think we can call the painting finished.  On monday all the bits will go back on.  I've been hampered due to the amount of pollen that covered everything.  A windy few days and Spring doing its thing has made less than perfect conditions for spraying.  So it got washed again late last night (midnightish) then tacked this morning. Unfortunately there was still a bit of dust about and lint from my new lint free rags.  The prepwash I have is for bare metal only, that's why it dissolves the paint so I didn't use it.  Just plain water.  Anyway, the surface seemed clean.  There were still imperfections, runs I hadn't sanded down far enough plus those divots but all's ended well.  I've learnt a lot though.  Just wish I had bought the good gun sooner.


Anyway, the end result, straight from Thunder Road, "Grease Povo"



Couldn't help myself, the kids were watching the movie yesterday.

So seriously, here it is -
Most of the car looks like this, the odd bit of dust and divot but generally looks good.  Too much orange peel on the boot.  I ran out of paint and went and bought another tin.  4 litres just in case    All up I've used 7 litres of topcoat   

Oscar, povo's looking awesome.
Once you've got the trim back on it's going to look brilliant.

Tim

Thanks TJ.  I'm looking forward to lining up both povo and the 350 for a photo.  They'll look identical.   Though povo will take on a Shwarzenegger accent and say "My name is Povo and I am your twin bruzzer"    As far as the 350's concerned, it doesn't talk, it's a car.

HAhahaha.... love it!!  "Get doooowwwwnn.."

Lookin' shmicko Oscar!!!!  Great work.  Cant' wait to see it with the trim back on...

Cam.

PS.  Grease Povo??  not bad... you'll need to post up the you tube clips of you and the lad's building it / singing at the same time. 

Well done Oscar. Regardless of extra paint or imperfections etc, you have got valuable experience that you wont ever get from a text book or talking to others.

Water trap wise, I have only got what you have and don't have probs. The only extra thing I do is use the drain on the tank of the compressor to blow off water before, during and after using it.

Sandpaper wise, I don't know if I have ever read a definitive guide to what to use. I probably have gone OTT but while I have used mechanical sanders to get paint back, I have always wet rubbed with 400 before and between coats of primer and wet 600 before the top coat. I think that came from seeing dads car professionaly crash repaired and seeing orbital marks always coming back through the paint.

Perhaps you have a definitive guide for us Michel?

Well, over the past few days I’ve finally put povo back together again taking much longer than I expected.  It was supposed to be finished two days ago.  All fasteners ended up in one bucket during dismantling and it’s been a nightmare wading through them trying to remember which one goes on where.  Some small improvements on the way have included exhaust mounts where one mount was replaced and all rubber donuts were replaced, all with figure of eights except the middle mount I used round ones.   The sills were repainted black too.





Lots of water in the carpets thanks to my careless pressure washing so whilst the carpets are drying, the interior will be stripped over time.


Unfortunately, whilst attaching the speedo cable to the instrument cluster I pulled the end off.  After 2 and a half hours I had replaced it with the one off the Milan brown 280.  But whilst under the car I was checking out the transmission and noticed that the linkages had no bushes left.  It was metal on metal basically.  Craigb, did you have the same problem?  Can you get the bushes still?



The front left corner caused a few headaches.  Everything was just tight and a bit of bending here and there was needed to make everything fit.  There’s my original weld job which may have been short by a few mm  and every panel I’ve used as replacements which I originally thought were straight I soon found out whilst stripping them that they had been bent and dented previously and filled.  But the end result although a little crooked is satisfactory considering.
So, there she is, all back together.  Now it’s time to race prep it because after all this time, it’s no different to any other road going w116.

That's looking spectacular. What's first on the list regarding improvements for the track?

Tim

Looks fantastic

Love the woolly seat coveres - are you going to leave those installed for aerodynamics ?

Leaving the covers on for a comfort ride around the racetrack.  I may not be the fastest so I might as well enjoy the trip round

Regarding improvements TJ - Discounting a some fixes to do like the gear selector bushes and a few other things, in no particular order;

- the woolies will go, interior stripped, replaced with two race seats with harnesses.
- leather steering wheel which I got not long ago
- 17 x 8.5 wheels are coming and will be reshod with I don't know what yet.
- brakes and suspension.  A big topic itself, I have to get race pads and basically lower and stiffen the car.  Initially I'll cut springs.
- large fat wheels and lowered suspension may require some panel work.
- some kind of modded cold air intake and filter.  Possibly a discrete scoop in the bonnet on the left feeding the carb.
- weight loss, another big subject. I want the bumpers to stay and they're light without all the iron bracing and mounts so I'll eventually build a set with simple custom mounts.  This will be an ongoing quest to lighten her up a bit.

Thats about it. Not going to touch the motor or carb just yet.  Need to learn how it handles as is for a while.  I also got a tube of that loctite blumaxx that craigb used and will seal around the cam box.  There's just a slight leak which may cause attention.

Decals etc still to come.

edit:  I forgot - a locked diff eventually too.

Yes the bushes are available. I also had probs with the gearlever arangement itself and got those also, but they were a bit pricey. I thought I saw those bushes on Autohaus but can't see them now, just the clips on the end.

Car looks fantastic.

Interesting about the diff, I thought it would be a problem, but with our power to weight, with a grippy tyre, and the great suspension that I can see from the video keeps the wheels nicely on the ground, didn't seem a major problem at Mallala. My Alfa used to lift a rear wheel until I removed the rear swaybar, but obviously its 'vintage' live axle is no comparison to the independent benz.

That is very interesting Craigb.  I was always going to try the diff as is first but assumed the gearing and diff ratio would lend itself to spinning the inside wheel.  If I don't need to do it I wont.  We'll see how I go.  I'll have a look for the bushes online but I might just make a few calls tomorrow.

Four used rims arrived today, two with good Falken tyres, or good enough to mount those two Falken rims on the front and check Falken clearances then take povo for a Falken spin


So, the specs.  Fondmetal rims made in Italy 17" x 8.5" wide and an offset of 13.  They look like monsters compared to bundts or steelies.  The two tyres are Falken G something 235/45/17 and look like they have the same rolling diameter or close enough to the stock 205/70/14's.  Standard Lug bolts for bundts were used also.

I was a bit worried how close these things might come to fouling the suspension and other bits but it was good.  At full lock there can be some contact with springs when the car was suspended but after taking it for a ride I didn't notice any scrubbing when I came back.  Still haven't tried putting them on the rear but i can't imagine there'd be a problem.




Yeah I forgot to inflate the tyres before taking photos but how did they handle. Woeful, just like the 14" rims mind you.  Only because my steering is up the creek with an alignment still pending, (there's still toe out and positive camber to fix), plus there's freeplay and a leaking steering box, so the box needs swapping out.  But full points for clearance.  I can imagine though that with a suspension upgrad and a couple inches lower the front fenders will need cutting like selfor50's car was or a widebody modification which would be uber cool.

Been over a month since the last update but in that time I got a boxful of parts then some.  Most are little easy bits but out of all the things to be done, today was eventful with new tyres and and wheel alignment done.  My only disappointment is that the steering in a straight line is still very floaty.  The more I played with things tonight made me realise it's the play in  the steering box.  Way too much movement.  Whilst I've got a kit to reseal the box I think I'll just swap it out if I can't adjust it in situ.

Here's what else has been done. 

Bushes for transmission levers.  There was nothing left of the old ones.  Before and after shot. Still have to change gear oil to a thinner one.





If you look further up the page there's a pic of the interior with wooden gear lever and collapsed covering.  I preferred something more grippy so I just bought original.




Left upper control arm was suspect.  Inner bush was rooted and the ball joint had a bit of play.  Replacing this arm alone led to a big improvement in stability whilst driving.







Lastly, new tyres.  Whilst I wanted r-specs then was going to get Yokohama S-Drives on account of affordability but I was severely accidentally underquoted for the S-Drives.  Then these Pirellis came along.  The Pirellis are virtually unused (600-700km travelled) off a new car that ended up with Michelins.  These tyres are Pirelli P Zero Nero 235/40ZR17 (90Y), all four for $640AUD.  I was originally going for 45 series Yoko S-Drives but figured a 40 series tyre would give just a tad more acceleration.   It didn't feel too different to be honest.  (Maybe I should use the accelerator more ). You can see the difference in height from a 14" tyre below.  45 series on the other hand have virtually the same diameter as the stock 14"s.

Interesting stuff Oscar. I haven't adjusted one of these boxes, but just be careful that by removing the straight line play doesn't make it stiff when turning.

You have me thinking about the tyres though. The problem is you can't try before you buy, but buying secondhand (even though I know yours are nearly new) might give me a chance to cheaply try something else. At Mallala I have way too long legs, so I was thinking about going as low profile as I can on the 14's. This may help the acceleration and better use of the gearbox but will it upset the geometry for the suspension designed around a larger radius? Of course I will share any findings.

There's more to the story with trying these 40 series 17" tyres out.  Although I say they don't feel faster something else has happened, I've got no full throttle.  At the moment when I accelerate I get to a certain point where I think the secondaries are opening but the car sounds like I'm applying a jake brake from a truck.  I put a bit more fuel in coz it was getting low but still no joy.  I have to read my manual about the solex to see what's going on but in the mean time, see what you think.

280S with Jake Brake   the sound is a tiny bit out of whack but any time I push the pedal to the floor it looses power.

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