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The "Goldilocks" restoration thread

Started by ptashek, 28 March 2014, 07:56 AM

floyd111

Well, almost a year has passed.. What is it like, was it like, driving this car regularly? What has changed, stayed the same?

ptashek

Quote from: floyd111 on 22 April 2017, 06:32 PM
Well, almost a year has passed.. What is it like, was it like, driving this car regularly? What has changed, stayed the same?

I get in, close the door, turn the key and have an automatic stupid grin on my face. That's how it feels from day one I had the car. Nothing has changed :)
She's still driving like a new car, and drives as often as I find the time and the insurance policy lets me. I'm staying true to my word -  she ain't a garage princess, or a so-called investment.

Issues so far:

- Coolant leak at that über-expensive short rubber hose - fixed with clamp adjustment

- Warm start issues down to ethanol content in our fuel. It causes vapour lock on a hot engine a few minutes after stopping. There's nothing that can be done about it.

- Both anti-squat links had to be replaced, as the rubber bushing came loose in the encasing metal bracket. No issues since.

- One of the dash mounting bolts loosened and jingles, annoying me to bits. It'll need taking care of soon.

A few things done as regular servicing:

- new oil and filter - I've gone back to Castrol Magnatec 15w40, after testing Liqui-Moly MoS2 10w40. I somehow didn't like the sound of the engine on the lighter grade.

- lubricated sun roof rails, and made sure drains are clear

- re-glued the trunk seal in a couple spots at the bottom edge

- installed new trunk edge plastic garnish, which I forgot to ship to my restorer

- lubricated throttle linkage

- adjusted idle speed a bit

- checked all wheel bolts with a torque wrench

- checked fluid levels / state in transmission and power steering

- waxed the paintwork a few times

- kept the tank full :D

A few observations:

- Keeping the engine bay clean is a major pain, and I may need to spend some serious time on it soon.

- Alloys are only nice for a short time. They're an absolute "ding and chip" magnet, regardless of how much care you take. Expect to re-coat them on a semi-regular basis in normal use.

- The new, environment and eco-terrorist friendly, yellow passivated zinc plating process is utter shit. I have no expectations for it to last more than 2-3 years. Go the old cadmium way if you can. Export your stuff for plating if you need to. With hindsight, this is one thing I really regret not doing.

- I should have gone for a custom stainless steel exhaust, or at least the downpipes. The OEM ones are already rusting! I'll be getting rid of these by the end of this year.

- The fancy ceramic coating on my exhaust manifolds is holding up nice, except in the hot-spots (bends), where it's starting to "crust". The guys said it may not last long on a hot running engine. I'm OK with that.

Here's a pic of her from about two weeks ago.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

daantjie

That gold pops nicely...fantastic stuff well done!
Daniel
1977 450 SEL 6.9 - Astralsilber

Peter

My new favorite color for a W116.

floyd111


Will


gavin116

Hi Lucas


Must say, your car looks stunning. It really does look like a new car, and wow, does that colour pop! Wish my car lived closer to home, but it's 50 miles away in the storage facility (no garage here in London).


Makes me think I must try organise a W116.org get together. I see there are quite a number of new UK members too, and it would be great to all meet up.


Keep on enjoying ;D !

1979 450SE "Mrs White"
2022 Touareg-R 3.0TSi Hybrid
[url="http://forum.w116.org/test-drive/my-first-w116-here-at-last/"]http://forum.w116.org/test-drive/my-first-w116-here-at-last/[/url]
[url="http://forum.w116.org/the-org/british-near-london-meet/msg97613/#msg97613"]http://forum.w116.org/the-org/british-near-london-meet/msg97613/#msg97613[/url]

Will

I'd be up for the meetup - all being well I'll have mine back on Friday.  My silver will never have as a good a pop as gold though!

johnnyw116

Looks Really über cool ! 

greetings : john           
JohnnyW116

marku

The car is a real achievement I can only wish that my 450 will ever reach such a standard. A truly great piece of work I don't think jealous or envious even begin to describe it.
1974 450SE silver green/bamboo velour/green vinyl roof

karmann_20v

Looking great there, Lucas. Happy that you are enjoying the car (as you should!).

A couple comments to your observations:

Alloys - I have read nothing but good things on a few different forums about the Wurth rim paint, if you ever refinish the Bundts consider going this route. Also prepping is very important but I'm sure you already know that. Here is a link to the paint (shouldn't be too hard to find in your neck of the woods):
http://www.autogeek.net/wurth-silver-paint.html

Exhaust - are you considering a SS complete exhaust, or just the down pipes? I will most likely need a full 450SEL exhaust as well and was considering a couple different options, but would like to hear what direction will you take.

robertd

116   1978 450SEL 6.9 #  4848
116   1979 450SEL  6.9 # 5884
116   1979 450SEL  6.9 # 6225  SOLD
116   1978 450SEL  6.9 # 5128  SOLD
116   1979 450SEL  6.9 # 5884  SOLD
116   1974 450SEL  DJet

UTn_boy

Lucas, shouldn't you be using a 20W/50 oil with zinc in it?   These V-8 engines hate 10W-30 and 10/15W-40 oils.  They're extremely noisy with thin oils.
1966 250se coupe`,black/dark green leather
1970 600 midnight blue/parchment leather
1971 300sel 6.3,papyrus white/dark red leather
1975 450se, pine green metallic/green leather
1973 300sel 4.5,silver blue metallic/blue leather
1979 450sel 516 red/bamboo

ptashek

Thanks everyone for the kind words.
As promised earlier, I've picked a few restoration pics from my archive and made them available in a simple gallery.

@UTn_boy
I'm using what the owners manual suggests for our climate, which has an annual average of just 16*C - 20W/50 is just to thick. I don't think the engine runs any noisier than other W116s I've heard. Modern oils are fine in our V8s, including gaskets and other non-metallic elements. The old-age ZDDP has been replaced with other additives, and we have hardened valve seats as well. Of the 15k miles under my ownership I've used 15W/40 from Castrol for 13k. I had the cams checked, and there's no excessive wear or anything else wrong with them. The engine runs well, there's zero leaks as well. I guess only time will show.

@karmann_20v
The 15s I have on now were bought already restored, so it's hard to tell how it was done exactly. They do look well prepped, and powder coated.
Thanks for the tip, I'll have a look next time I'll get them re-done.

As for the exhaust, except for the downpipes every element is new. I've bought new downpipes from MB, but they didn't fit (to short!). The old downpipes were sand blasted clean (oh, how nice they looked!) and then painted with a specialised high-temperature ceramic paint (~800*C range). But our V8s run so hot, the paint started to micro-crack and there's surface rust creeping all over the pipes already. So first, I'll get these replaced with stainless, and then the rest a few years down the line depending on how it ages. Stephen (Type17 on the forum) has a full SS exhaust on his car, and while it sounds nice, it no longer sounds like the OEM setup. Much deeper, a bit louder and throatier rumble.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

UTn_boy

20W-50 is ok to use down to about 5 degrees C, and is used year round in my area, which sees temps at and below 0 C often during the winter.  Modern oils do have different additives in them, but lack the proper amount of Zinc that the older V-8 engines need.  At least buy some zinc additive.  What weight oil you use is less important than making sure that it has the proper amount of zinc in it.  The valve seats have nothing to do with zinc in the oil.  It's the guides that get eaten up quicker without the zinc. 
1966 250se coupe`,black/dark green leather
1970 600 midnight blue/parchment leather
1971 300sel 6.3,papyrus white/dark red leather
1975 450se, pine green metallic/green leather
1973 300sel 4.5,silver blue metallic/blue leather
1979 450sel 516 red/bamboo