Was it really necessary to capitalize "ugly" twice?

I'm fine with it. It looks better than the torn MB TEX. Besides, once I sit down, I can't see it. I don't have eyes on my back or my butt.

I haven't kept complete track of expenses. It was a project to keep me sane these past 3.5 years. Expenses were relatively low. Most of the project was me welding up the car with my Harbor Freight flux core mig unit and then spraying Rustoleum at it. The interior came out of a parts car that I paid $350 for. This car itself cost $400.

I didn't buy any brand new parts until 2015, and even those were MOSTLY limited to suspension items and brake parts. The running gear is largely refreshed:
-new rear subframe mounts and trailing arm bushings
-new shocks on all 4 corners (in retrospect, probably not necessary - I'm saving the old ones for spares)
-new flex discs and center bearing/carrier
-new brakes (calipers, pads, rotors, metal lines, and rubber lines) on all four corners and new brake master cylinder
-new clutch (including master and slave)
-also replaced thermostat, hoses, belts, water pump

That's really the majority of brand new stuff I threw at the car (I think). I can probably put together a much larger list of smaller items I did.

That I do. She's been really supportive of the project. I also took a few long breaks during the course of the project. I'm putting my wrenches down now for a good long while (aside from maintenance and necessary repairs).

Like I said, the project kept me sane. I'm not going into details, but there have been some deaths in the family in the past few years and this project was largely a way of letting me feel like I was in control of something.

Ooh, I remember you mentioning the memory foam now... must be comfy.

The red really serves the car well. How did you find the painting process in general? Did you paint in your garage or outside? Is there much of a learning curve? I'd love to have a forest green W126 someday...
I've seen his car multiple times while it was in progress, it's definitely the same car. He's just done some amazing work.

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

Actually, I believe the color I chose is much closer to Mercedes Signal Red. Officially, it's Rustoleum Regal Red.

It's not bad. I was hoping the foam would be a little more firm than it is, but there's nothing I can do about that. When all is said and done, I'm not disappointed.

1) The painting process was easy. I painted the door jambs with Rustoleum rattle cans. I left the engine compartment light ivory. For the rest of the body, I had all the trim off. I got quart cans of the same color (Regal Red), thinned it out, and sprayed it with a Wagner electric HVLP paint sprayer.

The paint was a little thicker than it should have been. I thinned it out about 20%. I think if I'd thinned it closer to 40-50%, I would have had less orange peel. I was able to correct many (but not all) of the flaws this past winter with a wet sanding and polishing. There are still a lot of flaws I'm just going to leave in place. The car was never intended to turn out perfectly. In fact, it ended up much nicer than I ever thought it would.

Taping and painting the jambs took a while. The rest of the car, though... I was able to paint it in less than an hour. I'm absolutely sold on this method of painting and would 100% paint a car this way again.

2) I did the paint job in my garage. With the Wagner paint gun, there was no stray paint overspray. Seriously - nothing on the walls or floor of my garage. I just masked off the windows, put on a good respirator, and shot the paint.

3) Learning curve? Not much, really. I watched the official Wagner videos on using their HVLP sprayers and read everything I could on the internet about painting a car with Rustoleum. Did it turn out perfect on my first try? - No. Is it good enough that I'm really happy with it? - You bet. Do I think I can do a better job the next time I paint a car like this? - Absolutely.

Indeed. Jooesppi has seen the project in person a couple of times. JB3 has seen it in person a couple of times, too. So, there are actual, live witness here who can vouch for how real it is.

For anyone who wants to read the complete saga - I did a build thread on another automotive message board over the past 3.5 years. It's 21 pages long, but has hundreds, if not over a thousand photos from start to finish. It's far too much to try to duplicate here on Peachparts:
VWVortex.com - What's got RWD, a manual transmission, and a diesel engine?

Since we are talking paint. Anyone know of the uv holdout additives and availability? I had a look at the net but sources for low quantities where not obvious.

Sherwin Wlliams seems to have them though. There are it seems two distinct types of them and one type that is a combination of the two. Again though their size or quantity seemed too large for my random needs. You add about a four to five ounces per gallon.

I got great southern auto paint out of Kentucky years ago. Best uv performance I ever saw. Even their red was only about 20.00 a gallon. We will never see those times again I suspect. Sunbelt was the label I believe.

No auto enamels are sold up here in Canada anymore. Nor can I get them mailed or shipped through the Canadian border. Two stage is about all that is available here now. With water based bases.

There are non automotive acrylic enamel paints I would seriously consider if I could get uv additives.

Forgive me for my lapse in paint colors as well. That red 240d of mine is signal red not English red as I earlier posted.