it's been awhile...
 

its been awhile since i posted last on this forum.....been busy, and i didnt have room to work on the car........anyway....i got a small garage to work in now and want to begin work on the car again.....i want to work on the interior starting from top to bottom.......so heres the first question of many to come......has anyone installed a headliner in a 60's MB?.....i got a 67 250se coupe.....i hope there are still pics in this forum from my past posts.....cheers

grez

no one has replaced a headliner on their own?

i pulled the front window wood trim. had the wood stripped to base wood, after scraping the veneer off. before u say i am crazy, the wood was broken in multiple pieces and rotted at the corners. salvageable only to a degree. repairs that i have made now involve gluing the pieces back and filling gaps and spaces with filler. my plan is to made copies of the wood trim and save the originals......or whats left of them. the copies will be molded in fiberglass.....i apologize to the purest out there who have to have original parts, but....its hard enough to find parts.

theres a few other additions and ideas i want to make to the car as i move along in this project....but it will be in good taste....i hope. cheers.

grez

this might help although you probably already found it. I have no expirience with headliners just like surfing the web

http://www.mbzponton.org/valueadded/maintenance/headlnr.htm

thanks for the link DILLONKBASE....i havent read thru it yet, but im sure i will help....thanks.


i got the passenger door panel off and pretty much took it all apart. bad bad water damage thru the years from bad seals on the vent.....come to think of it......all the way around.....in any case.....i really have to comment on the work that was done to build this car.......u really dont see this kinda stuff anymore.......i dont know who here has taken there car apart and worked on it....i am sure a few.....but, WOW.......just working with the wood trim around the windshied and the door panel....its really is amazing the workmanship....craftsmanship, time and engineering.......the materials.....i can only squint and picture this thing new on the showroom......but every piece i take apart to redo, the more i hear myself say....wow, damn....details......details .....details.....the fit along the edges where the wood meets the pillar......the 2 piece armrest thats held together with a screw and slot.....the original leather wrap that was hand nailed.....i am sure i can go on and on just talking about the window trim and door panel.....i even noticed the electrical connectors in the engine bay....they remind me of connectors on planes....those connectors are 40 years old and they are still holding strong.....solid......unlike some plastic connectors u might find in any car today that crumble when u try to disconnect it, they are just baked to brittle....but this car.....damnnnnn.......i almost sure some degreaser and a rag.......shes brand new.......my hats off to those guys who built this thing.......i dont know what to find as i pick this thing apart, but......i really cant wait either......its the little surprises and details that amaze me.....cheers

grez

the stuff you are working with is pretty much all hand made stuff.

i have never been into a coupe of that era, but the sedans are pretty impressive.....the coupes of course are much much more hand made.

on the one hand the parts are unavailable...on the other hand since it is hand made anyway you can actually make the parts by hand now.

tom w

t walgamuth.....i have never been in a sedan from the same era myself........why do u say that coupes had more hands on than a sedan? wouldnt it have been built with the same respects.....as far as making the parts by hand....thats a whole other animal.......monster comes to mind.......my mind has already set on mold and casting the wood trim in fiberglass.....i wouldnt know where to start on hand crafting the same pieces.......then again i am no woodworker.....put up a few walls and some roofing.....couple book shelves and routed some round corners on stock.......but trim for this thing????.....uhhhhh........wellllllll.........the thing is.....................hmmmm.........i cant.....i wouldnt know where to begin......i wonder what was the build time for one of these cars....a couple of weeks? month?......the really cool thing i found was on the back of the trim....penciled numbers and some sort of sribble.....i assume initals or maybe a signature.........for all i know it could be scribble to cover a wrong number.....who ever wrote it left something for me to admire.....wonder if anyone else found a mark left behind....

today after work im gonna sand down the trim and make ready for the mold making........my meager half ass taking the easy way out cheating shameful pathetic lowest of the low attempt to hand make a replacement..........pitiful......comparison.........(sigh)........i might trim up my door panels too.....i made a template in plexi and transferred to aluminum.....the core for the panels will be in sheet aluminum........another shameful attempt.........cheers

grez

ok...all the wood is removed from the dash....and window surround.....bad news.....the edges of the wood near the windows had gotten water damage in the past some time......a couple tabs were broken off...2 on the cluster bubble and 2 on the glove box itself......all of the exposed varnish is gone....all cracked, flaked and in some areas the veneer came off with the varnish........the metal surround is ok except of one piece......the far left corner piece next to the cluster bubble has a dent in it.....all of the leather wrap that was on the metal surrounds are gone......it breaks up when u touch it.....almost like compact dust.......the speaker louver is coming apart as well.......glue is giving away.......all the chrome trim is good.....no pits or bends, just dirty and pieces of leather stuck to it.....had a ***** of a time pulling out the center instrument cluster.....thought i was gonna snap the oil pressure fitting.....plus the temp bulb sensor was tough...thought i was gonna snap that one too.....but it all came out.....got a kink in the temp line tho.....i guess next is to work on all this wood.....i snapped pics but just havent got to posting......ill work on that.......there is A LOT OF WORK!!!.....theres no way for me to even try to fabricate reproductions in wood like the originals......i wish i knew more about how it was all made.....my only resort is to copy in fiberglass.......its the easiest way i know how......as for the door panel, i got it backed with neoprene, 2mm.....another 2mm will cover the face and the old covering will go back on.....the panel is already on for trial fit.....i just need to shape up the door pocket and mount that to the panel......was thinking of copying the pocket too......since the pocket has surface rust.....i dont know.....im not there yet......anyone suggest some good rust stuff......i need to clean and seal the steel on this thing.....thanks........ill post pics soon.

grez

i have not had a coupe that old, but i used to have a 500sec and i have a 300cd. many of the two door parts are either hand made or are sedan parts modified with hand work.

tom w

sorry bout the pics.......its too hard to shrink pics in this forum.......its posted in the other MB forum....check them out if anyone is the least bit curious...............grez