Hi, lurking here quite often but never had time to introduce myself. I'm Adam, I live in Bradford, I have got a grey hair and wear grey beard too 
I was looking for a set of coilovers for my e28 on ebay when I found this. Still taxed and rolling with a test, 110k miles, full service, a few kilos of papers and invoices along with manuals, etc. Three previous owners, bought it from a decent chap from London.
Drove it back home without any major issues, the temp was holding still tight, when the sun went down I noticed I had no lights, in the cabin too.
A new set of bulbs was installed and road visibility returned. Lights on the dash stayed off though. Driving in these conditions was hmm interesting, guessing what speed I'm driving or how much fuel left was new to me
Back home the car stripping process has begun. As it usually happens when stripping old cars I was finding more and more signs of devastation which was caused by our favourite red haired witch. I've seen much worse cases in my life but the list what need doing wasn't short.
Front wings unusable, bonnet on all edges gone, rear wheel-arches not existing along with inside sections but the floor and sills apart one jacking points were clean! Both corners in the boot air cooled. Chrome trim was very good, needing proper cleaning and slight polishing. I was surprised how good the interior is so not everything was bad about the merc. Mechanically is also strong, carbed engine needed rubber base/washer in between the carb and inlet manifold. Available only from MB dealer, it was sucking air through it so when it's been changed the idle improved massively along with fuel consumption. One day I lost the clutch, found that master slave cylinder was leaking oil. Changed that as well, filled the system with a new fluid, the clutch itself bites good so that's great.
After windscreen and rear window were removed I found the rust too
Cut out all the rust areas bought new pair of front wings, new bonnet and rear wheel-arches. Plugged in my Cebora mig welder and with a help of ArgonShield gas bottle started working on the car.
Front screen frame, passenger corner repaired.
Rear screen both bottom corners repaired.
The rust in the boot was cut out and fabricated panel welded in.
Before I've had to repair both rear wheel-arches. No steps, butt-welded.
Jacking point reinforced, thanks God only one
Then the welds in the boot have been dressed up, sealed with a seam sealer, primed witch an etch and painted factory black.
At the front, the engine bay was nearly rust free well apart from a two little patches caused by bolts holding mud flap/plastic covers in the arches and
another weak point on these cars - battery tray. Every metal parts which I could remove without damaging were shot blasted in the cabinet then primed and all painted in a colour I choose for the car. I decided to keep it blue but give some spark so the paint from MB palette is hellblau
It's got electric sunroof which I think was extra option. I was happy to see that the cassette wasn't that bad, two front water outlet pipes were gone though.
I fixed these by glueing plastic pipes flexible enough to bent and with a bore big enough to go in on existing channels in the A-posts. All aluminium, nickel parts in this area were removed and then cleaned/polished. The cassette was shot blasted then sprayed in epoxy primer, then painted black and clear coated at the end.
I had to spent some time to align properly the front panels. Front wings and bonnet are copies so when they have been fitted the gaps were massive.
A few knocks here and there, a few moves with a file in hand and they lay beautifully now. I had to fabricate accelerate pedal support on the part of the bulkhead but inside the front arch because I found a hole there as well so again, the rust said bye bye and new steel was welded in. The front arches have been cleaned, stone chipped and waxoyled. I will upload pics of these jobs later when I will find them.
I'm a wheel whore, to be honest I restore wheels on daily basis if you want to check my work google zacne wheels. I wanted to see a proper wheel on this car as you know a set of alloys might change the look of any car dramatically doesn't matter what car, I mean make however it depends on the wheel. You might ruin it or make it wow. I was thinking about a staggered set of BBS Mahle 7x16 and 8x16 these would look perfect, actually I refurbished one set recently.
But decided to put them up for sale when I found a super rare alloys in the size I've never seen before - a set of 8x16 MSW OZ.
They will be refurbed with polished lips and the centres exactly as they came up from Italy. The Merc was lowered as well but the front tyres need changing,
due to very low offset of 11mm they are sticking out too much so I hope a stretch of some reasonable sort will help.
It's nearly ready for a new paint. I will try to keep this thread alive, see you soon
I was looking for a set of coilovers for my e28 on ebay when I found this. Still taxed and rolling with a test, 110k miles, full service, a few kilos of papers and invoices along with manuals, etc. Three previous owners, bought it from a decent chap from London.
Drove it back home without any major issues, the temp was holding still tight, when the sun went down I noticed I had no lights, in the cabin too.
A new set of bulbs was installed and road visibility returned. Lights on the dash stayed off though. Driving in these conditions was hmm interesting, guessing what speed I'm driving or how much fuel left was new to me
Back home the car stripping process has begun. As it usually happens when stripping old cars I was finding more and more signs of devastation which was caused by our favourite red haired witch. I've seen much worse cases in my life but the list what need doing wasn't short.
Front wings unusable, bonnet on all edges gone, rear wheel-arches not existing along with inside sections but the floor and sills apart one jacking points were clean! Both corners in the boot air cooled. Chrome trim was very good, needing proper cleaning and slight polishing. I was surprised how good the interior is so not everything was bad about the merc. Mechanically is also strong, carbed engine needed rubber base/washer in between the carb and inlet manifold. Available only from MB dealer, it was sucking air through it so when it's been changed the idle improved massively along with fuel consumption. One day I lost the clutch, found that master slave cylinder was leaking oil. Changed that as well, filled the system with a new fluid, the clutch itself bites good so that's great.
After windscreen and rear window were removed I found the rust too
Cut out all the rust areas bought new pair of front wings, new bonnet and rear wheel-arches. Plugged in my Cebora mig welder and with a help of ArgonShield gas bottle started working on the car.
Front screen frame, passenger corner repaired.
Rear screen both bottom corners repaired.
The rust in the boot was cut out and fabricated panel welded in.
Before I've had to repair both rear wheel-arches. No steps, butt-welded.
Jacking point reinforced, thanks God only one
Then the welds in the boot have been dressed up, sealed with a seam sealer, primed witch an etch and painted factory black.
At the front, the engine bay was nearly rust free well apart from a two little patches caused by bolts holding mud flap/plastic covers in the arches and
another weak point on these cars - battery tray. Every metal parts which I could remove without damaging were shot blasted in the cabinet then primed and all painted in a colour I choose for the car. I decided to keep it blue but give some spark so the paint from MB palette is hellblau
It's got electric sunroof which I think was extra option. I was happy to see that the cassette wasn't that bad, two front water outlet pipes were gone though.
I fixed these by glueing plastic pipes flexible enough to bent and with a bore big enough to go in on existing channels in the A-posts. All aluminium, nickel parts in this area were removed and then cleaned/polished. The cassette was shot blasted then sprayed in epoxy primer, then painted black and clear coated at the end.
I had to spent some time to align properly the front panels. Front wings and bonnet are copies so when they have been fitted the gaps were massive.
A few knocks here and there, a few moves with a file in hand and they lay beautifully now. I had to fabricate accelerate pedal support on the part of the bulkhead but inside the front arch because I found a hole there as well so again, the rust said bye bye and new steel was welded in. The front arches have been cleaned, stone chipped and waxoyled. I will upload pics of these jobs later when I will find them.
I'm a wheel whore, to be honest I restore wheels on daily basis if you want to check my work google zacne wheels. I wanted to see a proper wheel on this car as you know a set of alloys might change the look of any car dramatically doesn't matter what car, I mean make however it depends on the wheel. You might ruin it or make it wow. I was thinking about a staggered set of BBS Mahle 7x16 and 8x16 these would look perfect, actually I refurbished one set recently.
But decided to put them up for sale when I found a super rare alloys in the size I've never seen before - a set of 8x16 MSW OZ.
They will be refurbed with polished lips and the centres exactly as they came up from Italy. The Merc was lowered as well but the front tyres need changing,
due to very low offset of 11mm they are sticking out too much so I hope a stretch of some reasonable sort will help.
It's nearly ready for a new paint. I will try to keep this thread alive, see you soon
