280" Concourse; Diary of a layman

[floyd111]

BTW... a milestone!
Went to the workshop today and even though both boss and UK mechanic are abroad, my car finally made it to the body-shop!
Status of the chassis is very encouraging. I only have some rust issues in the rear. One rear fender needs work along the arches, both left and right boot floors are porous and there's a 2 by 2 inch hole on the passenger floor board.
No other issues to be found. That is one hell of a tip-top chassis to start off with.
Photos will follow soon, no doubt, but do not expect to see a resprayed chassis anytime soon. Not with my luck. No doubt somebody is gonna shove an XK120 or E-type into the body-shop soon, and I am back in the doghouse before you know it.

[floyd111]

Another accessory found!

[floyd111]

Sometimes a gamble pays off. This NOS windshield wiper engine was poorly described on ebay, and fell through the cracks. Waited until time ran out and made a 75usd offer. In the bag!

[UTn_boy]

that sure is true, depending on your location, but the problem remains that finding new trim is a bastard, if not impossible.
I had aluminium re-anodized in the past and found the coating pretty fragile. Gorgeous, but fragile.
From my viewpoint, there is no way I would ever undertake an anodizing process at home. Besides the risks involved, what about the massive pieces along the sills, or the front/rear windows? uh-uh. Not me.

Are you sure about the original trim being clear-anodized? The clear-anodized products you speak of do not resemble the trim color on the cars, as far as I can judge. bathroom trim is matt, or bronze, not shiny chrome-color.
My anodizing company also confirmed this to be a different process. They explained that the old-skool aluminum trim was done using chemicals that are now banned in most countries and what we have available now to achieve the same finish is an inferior process from back in the day.
I wish I was a chemist myself, so I would not need to guess..

Yes, I am 200% sure it was clear anodized.  No color added at all.  The chemicals I mentioned previously that are needed to do bright dip anodization are still available, but I think one has to be licensed to buy them. 

I don't understand what you mean about the clear anodization not matching the trim on the car......that's what they were when new.  See, when aluminum is anodized, it's essentially a hardened coating of corrosion that happens the be clear.  The aluminum must be untarnished and shiny underneath to get the desired results. If it were colored, it wouldn't shine like they did  when they were new. 

Different levels of "shinyness", or gloss, are possible when it comes to anodizing aluminum.  The point I was trying to make was that shower door trim is that it's also a "bright dip" process.  I wasn't necessarily referring to the gloss of it. 

And yes, the anodization is very fragile.  To the point that dropping it on the floor can scratch it.  Once it's on the car, it's usually pretty safe.  It does offer superior protection, but the down side of it is that if it's on a car that is used as a daily driver, the anodization will haze over/fog up with in 5-7 years.  It's biggest enemy is letting rain water dry on it sitting out in the sun.  Rain water in city settings is very acidic and mineral heavy.  This is also known as industrial fall out.  It harms trim, paint, glass, and chrome.  The best thing one can do is to make sure that the water is hand dried off after a rain storm.  Otherwise, just drive the car on nice days. 

[floyd111]

Understood. I wasn't making a point as such. I am very used to it that factories, engineers in Asia with 30-40 year experience in their field know fuck-all about their field. Still, I am gullible and coming from the Netherlands, I will never be able to fully understand a professional can be an idiot.

What about the difference today and back then? Would 1972 trim fade as fast as 2016 clear-dipped trim?

[floyd111]

From my new threads, it may be clear that there has been some movement again.
The guys in the bodyshop have been tackling the trunk floor panels, an inner front fender, an outer rear fender and the passenger floor these last 3 weeks. The work is excellent, no doubt about that.
Shame nobody told them that new sheet metal had been bought, stored 1 floor up. Poor sods have spent 3 weeks restoring 3 pieces of metal that should simply have been replaced at 30% of the total part and labor cost.
Luckily, I caught it after 3 weeks, and not after 3 months. Needless to say I won't be paying 70% of those labor costs, since I reminded the boss of exactly this matter, 3 weeks ago.

So, now I am suddenly knee-deep in sheet metal issues. A chapter I had only glanced at till now, confident that those pieces are abundant, and affordable, both OEM and aftermarket. They are, mostly, but I found myself unable to buy and ship such parts, without knowing the condition of the chassis in detail.
I was also rather delusional about the amount of metal I would be needing. The chassis really looked very solid, until the sanders and grinders were put to the metal, exposing a wafer thin boot section, crappy outer sills and porous inner fender corner sections.
It's a W116. It's not as if this should have come as a surprise!
Once more, I really feel overwhelmed. I know I am a confident chap, but it's a slippery slope at this level, with my very limited knowledge about all of this.
And, different from western countries where there are experienced workshops, I am running 90% of this project myself. literally guiding the workshop guys by the hand.
I'll tell you this much. I will never take on a project like this again. Great to do it once, but it isn't right to do such projects without an army of professionals yo assist.
If it hadn't been for the help on this forum, I would have long crashed and burnt down.

[Malaysian]

Wisely put that last bit..

[ptashek]

If it hadn't been for the help on this forum, I would have long crashed and burnt down.

Hear, Hear!
We have your back Stan

[Malaysian]

Its true. Some of the chaps here have deep and profound knowledge of these cars to a point unheard off.

To all of them who have given us guidance even as far as baby steps go and handholding, we thank you.

[floyd111]

Time for some optimism.
Some 4 months ago, I received a list with 7500 NOS parts for W116, a list with 200 parts from another source, a list with 400 parts from a third party.
Those all arrived in my mailbox at the end of a near 2-year stretch where I had to learn about nearly every part on a W116, and a way to track those down twice, cheaply, globally, new-in-the-box.
A burn-out was inevitable.
A new baby coming, a new bedroom had to be built/attached to the tiny house, Ohlins needed daily attending to and then there was this movie I was working on for nearly 3 years. In the background there is this mountain property that requires paperwork and development and I have been working on a groundbreaking building material that will enable to poorest to build durable houses that will stand for 100 years.
O yes,  one needs to eat and sleep as well, at least once a day.
Add a 2-car restoration on top of all that, and you have a potential recipe for mental breakdown.
Still, light at the end of the tunnel.
The company is doing fine, the bedroom is built, the movie is finished, the baby is here and the mountain building permit is in the mail.
Last but not least, my NOS-search has come to a 99% completion. All those lists with part numbers checked, verified, priced, compared, selected and ordered.
It is now just a matter of paying and shipping, leaving me with an actual start-date to re-assemble the first car after it comes out of the body-shop in a week or 6.

No doubt there will be parts that I missed, but the work involved in tracking, ordering and shipping those will be a walk in the park.
Few things I have not been able to get my hands on till now:The central console ammeter, Euro Catalog C, the smallest Hepco out of the original W116 suitcase set and window curtains.
I really hope someone in this forum can lead me to these parts.
There are w116's being dumped at car lots that some of have these items built in without anyone caring for them. Had a case like it this very week, and missed out on them by a hair.
Someone out there must have a lead. If only we had car dumps with German cars in Taiwan.. Best/oldest available here is -maybe- an 80's 3-series BMW without doors.
Back in the US, there are  scores of those car dumps, and no doubt some of them have this a car meter in the console, covered in dust and fungus.
Ah well, I keep searching and hoping.

On the goodies front..found another item to add to the 1975 W116 accessories cabinet.. An NOS/original W116 Oris roof rack!
Guess that somewhere this year I need to ask my carpenter to build me a copy of such a 1975 W116-dealer accessories cabinet..

[rumb]

Good to hear of your progress.  Yes, you need to build a replica dealer showroom in the future to display your cars and accessories. Then you can hunt down vintage furniture and sales brochures.

[floyd111]

Vintage furniture.. There's a thought! Would the MB furniture in showrooms those days be standardized?
Guess the Classic Center is gonna blacklist my email if I dare ask them. 

No, I'm gonna stop at cabinet-level, or I'm gonna end up building  70's commercial buildings next.

[Peter]

Hi again Stan are you still looking for curtains http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mercedes-w116-sel-gardinen-curtain-/282090012844?hash=item41ade000ac:g:RN8AAOSwEjFXfrqktan   a little expensive

[Will]

Stan, I've been reading this thread on the way home from work over the past few nights and I am almost up to date!  Your dedication to the w116 cause is outstanding, and I'm sure it will pay off handsomely in the end.  I am in awe over the way you have been able to source amazingly rare parts from all over the world (as well as your financial fire power  )

In some ways I wish I hadn't read your thread, because what was going to be a little tidy-up for my new 450sel may end up turning into something more involved...

Anyway, keep up the good work, as I'm sure I'm not the only one who is keen to see the finished products.

[floyd111]

Thanks for the nice comments~ I suggest you may not want to try this at home.

Bumped into a few nice gadgets this month.
The original  Burgundy Key fob, a Webasto manual, the NLA brake pads from back in the day and the Schlepp-matic, as supplied by MB dealers back in the 70's. (roll-up tow-cable) That one took forever to find. Lots of them around still, but none of them the right version. This is the one, and it even has it's original box!

At the same time I think I cracked the center console ammeter mystery.
1. it is a 52mm version, and not a 60mm like some suggested.
2. VDO never made 60mm ammeters
3. it is actually a 80A ammeter, disguised as a 70A ammeter. The location/position of the 70A number is suspect, and convincing.
4. VDO never made 70A models
5. The classic models all had black bezels as a standard, but VDO supplied chrome upgrade bezels as well.
6. The 70A ammeters were a gimmick, seemingly a unique VDO/MB product, but in the end, VDO cut corners to get the job done, and supplied a regular 80A, off-the-shelf ammeter with a different bezel and a different front plate to make it look like an unique 70A MB/VDO part

Now I would really like to get my hands on a part number, or ANY number on that ammeter.