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The "Goldilocks" restoration thread

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

ptashek

Some of you already know Goldilocks, my 1979 RHD euro 450SE. It's been a long time coming, but she's finally getting restored to her former glory, with works starting around mid / end of April. I already have most of the parts known to be needed at this stage. The workshop has finally found a spot in their queue (currently also working on a 1963 220SE W111, a Tatra 603 and an Iso Grifo). The engine, transmission and drive train in general - beyond some essential maintenance - won't be touched at all, because there's no need to (she's in great shape in that regard!).

I hope this will become a useful resource for others, like all the other restoration threads have helped me figuring out what I want to have done, and where to set my expectations for quality and budget.

Pics will follow as they come in :)
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

adamb

Ptashek, looking forward to your restoration pics.

ptashek

Goldie got shipped to the workshop today. It's serious business now...
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

ptashek

Some first shots of the restoration effort. The much dreaded disassembly and "how bad is the rust" part. The shop owner tells me, the body is in a pretty good shape (for a UK/Irish car, that means a lot!)



1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

w116john


exciting times ptashek, looking forward to seeing it  progress.

best of luck with it

gavin116

Hi Lucas


Wow, the car's already disassembled!  No going back now, just onward and upward.  I see the car is being restored in Poland.  I presume you're going to do a bare-metal re-spray?  What method are your restorers using, are they chemical stripping, soda blasting or dipping?  Is Goldie still going to be Gold?  How long is it going to take more or less?


Our cars are quite similar, good interior, good engine and drive trains.  The body problems are the same, even down to the rust on the passenger side fire wall, the chassis legs and the wheel arches.  I'm still not sure if I want to do an in-depth restoration, a functional remove as much rust as possible restoration, or just to walk away from the car if the rust is found to be too bad.  That would be a sad day indeed.  I have notice that there is some bubbling on my RHS suspension turret, and frankly I was too scared to rub away the rust and take a closer look... :-[


One thing is certain, there is no such thing as a rust free W116 (or any classic car for that fact).  If I could afford it, I'd send my car to Schad. (http://www.schad-mercedes-oldtimer.de/schad-oldtimer-mercedes-benz-restauration/)


Good luck, and keep us posted with regular updates.
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]
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ptashek

Quote from: gavin116 on 23 June 2014, 04:53 PM
Wow, the car's already disassembled!  No going back now, just onward and upward.  I see the car is being restored in Poland.  I presume you're going to do a bare-metal re-spray?  What method are your restorers using, are they chemical stripping, soda blasting or dipping?  Is Goldie still going to be Gold?  How long is it going to take more or less?

Yeah, I was surprised they managed to take it apart this quick. They sort and label all the parts as they go along, and store them in a dedicated 20ft freight container - so it's even more amazing they did it within two weeks. The car is being restored in Poland, mostly because of the labour rates Irish shops are asking for (north of 65EUR/hour), and labour is where a project like this gets very expensive very quickly.

The plan is to have the car dry-ice blasted to bare metal all over, do the sheet metal work as appropriate using tin instead of filler, and then have it shipped to Dresden, Germany for chemical stripping, passivation and cataphoretic coating. The restorer tells me not much worse result can be achieved with modern epoxy primers at a much smaller cost - so I haven't decided on that last step yet. Then it will be painted in its original DB419 Icon Gold colour, and the interior will be restored in DB906 Moss Green velours. I don't really have any time constraints set around it, but it'll likely take a good part of 12 months. It's an ambitious plan which has a set of must-do items, and many shall-do items. It'll develop as work and budget-burn progress.

Quote
I'm still not sure if I want to do an in-depth restoration, a functional remove as much rust as possible restoration, or just to walk away from the car if the rust is found to be too bad.

I guess it's a question of what your plan is for the car. If you want to drive it for as long as it's technically possible, restoration effort (and cost) is less of an issue. If you plan to sell it at some stage, you probably should not spend more on the car than it's current or potential resale value - and our ordinary 450s are really worth much as it is, and are unlikely to ever be a collectors item.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

ptashek

A few more shots. The car is down to bare chassis now, and getting stripped to metal. The full extent of rust is visible now, there's a lot of it, but no nasty surprises yet. It's all where it was expected (on a UK/Irish car). Click for full-res version.

Rear subframe mount point


Driver side sill and floor






Front torsion bar mount




Fuse box corner


Sun roof edges




Rear end (and a view of a previous butcher-like repair to the trunk floor)




1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

adamb

Gosh, makes me realise how much less rust there was on my ex-Hong Kong car. The UK/Irish climate is a real killer.

nathan

holy crap.
reminds me of our own 'goldie'
have you bought another donor car for the workers to cut panels off and weld/graft on. much simpler than than custom fabricating everything which wont necessarily fit as well?!
keep us informed, great effort
1979 116 6.9 #6436
2018 213 e63
2011 212 e63
2011 463 g55
2007 211 e500 wagen
1995 124 e320 cabriolet
1983 460 300gd
1981 123 280te

gavin116

Hi Lucas


The car has come a long way.  Your floors look really good, must have been a pig of a job to remove that stone-guard layer.  Sills and wheel tubs are always rusty, and jacking points too, but at least you are able to deal with it properly now.  That old repair on the rear arch/sill is quite something... 


I'm still waiting on my quotations for my job, which I hope to start in September/October.


Keep us updated,


Gavin
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]

ptashek

Quote from: nathan on 26 July 2014, 10:14 PM
holy crap.
reminds me of our own 'goldie'
have you bought another donor car for the workers to cut panels off and weld/graft on. much simpler than than custom fabricating everything which wont necessarily fit as well?!
keep us informed, great effort

I have bought replacement panels, new and used both OEM and 3rd party, where it made sense (or availability was not a problem). The rest will be repaired, and having seen a few of their jobs I'm not worried about fit.
I'll be 3D printing a few non-critical plastic parts, and I plan to release the CAD drawings on Thingiverse - if it's possible without MB suing me for breaching any copyright/patent laws.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

ptashek

Quote from: gavin116 on 27 July 2014, 02:35 AM
must have been a pig of a job to remove that stone-guard layer

It was an absolute pig; took them a couple days to get this crap off of the underside.
I'm actually thinking of having it sealed with some heavy-duty urethane paint (e.g. Miracle Paint, or POR15), and then just sprayed with a very light top-coat of chip-guard.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE

adamb

Quote from: ptashek on 28 July 2014, 02:37 AM

I'll be 3D printing a few non-critical plastic parts, and I plan to release the CAD drawings on Thingiverse - if it's possible without MB suing me for breaching any copyright/patent laws.

Going forward being able to refabricate plastic parts will be invaluable. There's room for 3D printing parts like seat handles which snap off far too easily. I need to replace 2 on mine.

ptashek

Just seen the car in person for the first time since last August, and it looks rather sorry dismantled all the way. Not much rust but some previous butcher-like repairs, with lots of filler that will need to be made right. The restorer is positive though saying it'll need less work than he anticipated initially. They're currently sandblasting the body in the worst spots in prep for body work, which should be done by September. Then it's off to Germany for a dip.

In the meantime the engine will get new timing chain, all guides, tensioner, crank/camshaft sprockets, and injectors with seals and sockets.

They've tried the Van Wezel fenders on and are happy with fit, but lines may need to be adjusted slightly to match originals. They'll do those with brass, which will also be used on the sunroof frame to fill in gaps in the rusted metal.

So far I'm satisfied with both progress and cost, and it's all working out rather well. I hope it'll continue this way.
1993 "Pearl Blue" W124 280TE
1988 "Arctic White" W124 200T
1979 "Icon Gold" W116 450SE