So what's everyone doing for thanksgiving?

[alabbasi]

I remember that thread, I also went and tracked down the thread for my first 6.9 restoration. There was a lot of people telling me not to do it!

6point9 Restoration

[meltedpanda]

badge of courage, nothing ventured , nothing gained comes to mind.
Hmmmmm - nuts, crazy...

I with you Al, I must admit I was over my head, but now a lot more comfortable around these fixer ups. I certainly can give some insight which has been a real joy because my current 73 450SL needs very little if anything now that I have restored the engine. I really am looking for a finny project, I have my buddies 65 Rolls, but I am just not connected to it as I am the MB's.
I actually met with a restorer today to set a date to send it off. My buddy has deep enough pockets to bring it back to the Glory it deserves. I certainly have had fun driving it

[todds]

Hey man,

Nice job so far, that w116 looks wicked cool without the bumpers! It looks cleaner and the lights/glass stand out more. I guess the euro bumpers were much smaller than the US ones..?

[alabbasi]

This one is a US bumper car (with the bumpers off)
This is what it looked like when i got it.



I have a Euro 6.9 which has much smaller bumpers

[todds]

Is there a big weight difference? I remember in my old alfa spider, I ran around the block without any bumpers and I could easily feel the difference in the PEDAL! Of course, that car was only around 2200lbs even with the federal bumpers although those big rubber things definitely made parallel parking worry free. Thanks for the picture, I dig the euro bumpers.

[alabbasi]

The Euro bumpers are lighter. But as this car has an almost 7 liter engine, i don't think that removing the US bumpers would have that huge of an impact on performance.

[alabbasi]

We put the car back together for the most part. With only the covers that go over the A Pillar still off the car. I need that off in order for the Windshield installer to finish his work. He's coming back something this week or next to take care of it.

The paint looks pretty decent for the most part, there are some areas that need touching up but that could be done with a touch up brush and clear coat.

The shine is amazing.

I havent washed it and I plan to buff it one last time to get all the imperfections out but I must say, I got a fantastic paint job for less then $1000 which is more then I can ask for.

Here are some pictures:













I used new fasteners (the red ones) for the moldings because a lot of the old fasteners came out with the molding when I removed them during the strip down. The new fasteners make a world of difference. I also replaced a number of these fasteners on my other 6.9 as some of the molding started to lift on the door trim.

I need to figure out what happened to the lights, the indicator lights stopped working and so did the rear brake light. I'll work on that next week.

For some others who are interested, here's a video of the 6.9 smoking it's tires.

http://www.w108.org/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=AlAbbasi8069&id=IMGP0115

[todds]

What is that big circular structure behind the storage facility? It looks like an oversized "swings" ride.

What size storage is that and how much is it if you don't mind my asking Do they explicitly allow repairs?

Finding "work" garage space is very difficult around here, which is a shame considering this is the home of click n' clack.

[alabbasi]

That big structure in the back is a radio antenna that's used by Dallas Love Field Airport.
The Garage is 1000SQ/Ft and runs for about $450/month. They do not allow car repair shops but as I am not a commercial business , they consider it as a hobby shop.

The big concern is people leaving half assembled parts cars outside.. I leave nothing outside at the end of the day.