[mbz180]

A few updates on my car’s progress till last week:

Body being stripped of earlier primer etc. for fresh prep work and individual panels, starting with the roof, are being painted black to highlight all flaws prior to final prep/painting.

Underside of fenders, inner fenders have been painted in the actual colour – dark blue. The odd outer panel was also painted to see how the finished paint is likely to look.

Prop shaft, transmission, steering assembly and sub-frame was installed.

The previously procured steering damper turned out to be incorrect. Thankfully the OE manufacturer, 'Stabilus', still makes these dampers specific to Pontons and 190SL’s and the correct part has now been fitted (pictured).

After this, the engine was dropped in and it has currently been installed on older unused mountings. But after 2 decades of storage, these mountings can collapse under load without warning so I’ve ordered fresh mounts which should be here this week.

As I mentioned in my last update, we had the exhaust manifold sandblasted.

Freshly sand blasted

I then experimented with the ‘High Temp’ paint from the US.

I think the manifold now looks pretty neat but I wonder how the paint will hold up during actual use.

Warning: After applying this paint you have to let it dry naturally for 24 hours and then cure it by either baking the item at 150 deg C for 15 minutes or else you can cure it direct with the exhaust heat once the manifold is fitted to the car. I would strongly suggest the latter route as heating this paint even after 24 hours of drying in a home oven stinks up the whole house real bad. As a bonus, you’ll probably have to get rid of the oven too as the fumes are definitely toxic. Trust me, I know this from personal experience

Though not shown in detail here, ancillaries such as the dynamo, starter motor, brake booster etc. are being rebuilt/serviced (face-plate of brake booster pictured).

Smaller parts required continue to stream in from tiny lock clips for gear shift linkages , nuts for the exhaust manifold to correct bolts for the engine area; just too many things to list here.

Out of the larger parts to arrive recently, the new press stamped lower half ‘skins’ for the rear doors are the largest. Although yet to be installed, comparing the current panels (fabricated on the basis of photos some 10 years ago) against the new factory type stamped panels brings out visible differences in the crease lines.

New door ‘skins’ should make a big difference to the final look of the car

Will update once I have more to!


Regards,

mbz180

[Jeevith]

Hey,

Any progress on your car? One would assume this would have been restored by now.