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Replating question

Started by wbrian63, 01 February 2018, 08:00 AM

wbrian63

As I completely disassembled #521 to its component parts, I carefully bagged and tagged every bracket, nut, bolt, screw and washer so that I will know where they go when it comes time to reassemble the car.

Then I took each bag to the media blast cabinet and carefully cleaned all of the parts, putting each fastener back in its respective bag.

Now comes the time to start thinking about replating/painting/powder coating these stripped items.

The bracketry is easy - most is easily identifiable as to use. The fasteners are another matter.

How in the world am I going to know what bolt goes where?

I most certainly can build a spreadsheet by application with a description of the bolt/washer/nut required.

Needless to say, that's a LOT of work.

How do the "professionals" do this?

Eagerly awaiting suggestions.

Best regards
W. Brian Fogarty

'12 S550 (W221)
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #521
'02 S55 AMG (W220) - sold
'76 450SEL 6.9 Euro #1164 - parted out

"Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people, and most of them seemed to come from Texas..." Casino Royale, Chapter V

ptashek

Quote from: wbrian63 on 01 February 2018, 08:00 AM
How in the world am I going to know what bolt goes where?
I most certainly can build a spreadsheet by application with a description of the bolt/washer/nut required.
Needless to say, that's a LOT of work.
How do the "professionals" do this?

That's exactly what my restorer did.
Each bolt was photographed pre- and post-disassembly in, where possible, its original location. Marked in a "poor man's spreadsheet" (i.e. sheet of paper), and then sent for re-plating in functional batches - front suspension, rear suspension, engine bay etc. I haven't kept most of those images as there was little point to it, but the two below will give you an idea how the process looked like. It no longer is a mystery why restoring a car takes so many man-hours :D





I honestly don't see a way of doing it differently without completely messing up of what goes where - well, unless you're s class or UTn_Boy and know each bolt type and location by heart :)
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

gavin116

#2
Hi Brian

I once saw pieces being kept together by wiring them together with thin piano wire. See the picture below, it'll give you an idea of what I mean.
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]

rumb

yes, pictures like this
'68 250S
'77 6.9 Euro
'91 300SE,
'98 SL500
'14 CLS550,
'16 AMG GTS
'21 E450 Cabrio

oversize

I'm sure it's more cost effective to do it all at once, but it's almost impossible to identify each nut, bolt and washer.  There's no tagging technique that will remain on each part during the whole process.

Taking pix and grouping items into batches is a great idea but make sure you back up the pix.  If your computer dies you're in for trouble.

I bag fasteners for each component into snap-lock bags and number each one in order of removal.  That way I know the order of installation (in reverse order).  There's nothing worse than fitting something carefully, only to find you should've fitted something else first!
1979 6.9 #5541 (Red Bull)
1978 6.9 #4248 (Skye)
1979 6.9 #3686 (Moby Dick)
1978 6.9 #1776 (Dora)
1977 450SEL #7010 white -P
1975 450SEL #8414 gold -P

floyd111

I had planned to photograph batches of parts, spread out on mathematical paper. It may help accuracy in separating/identifying them later. Needless to say I am not comfortable about this whole re-plating business, but it really needs to be overcome somehow.

rumb

documents and photographs and trust will get it done.  I think it is mostly about photographing everything in each part group.


one man's way:
https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=25843.msg185032#msg185032
'68 250S
'77 6.9 Euro
'91 300SE,
'98 SL500
'14 CLS550,
'16 AMG GTS
'21 E450 Cabrio