It Has Begun (250CE restoration Thread.)

[JeffreyNMemphis]

Dude! I am sick with jealousy over your garage space!! How many acres of land are you on?

[JiveTurkey]

Heh, Jeff I'm envious of my own garage space because my granddad is letting me use his detached garage for my restoration. I'm a moocher. He's only on about 20 acres, but it's pretty neat land.

I got some more welding done today. The welds still need to be coated with some pinhole filler and a little bondo before they're presentable. I think the fender is coming out pretty well though.

[meltedpanda]

hope you used the NAPA vinly flex paint on the grill ( black ) because, well , been there done that . ( when I didnt) ..

[JiveTurkey]

I used that new Fusion aerosol. I'm hoping it can take the heat. Worst case scenario... I do it all over again. haha.

[JiveTurkey]

Today was spent welding. And grinding. And putting out small highly localized hair and eyebrow fires. I finished the drivers rear quarter. It's nice again. I'll skim coat it with filler tomorrow. Also, tomorrow I'll be shopping for a compressor. And I'm gonna upgrade my HVLP gun to a newer one.

Photo's for the day.







And as a small side update, here's the nose patch. I did my final filler work on it today.





Comments?

[twinockchef]

Wouldn't it be easier to cut the metal patch to fit the space needed than welding in several small pieces. I would think it help out when it came to the finished product. Less bondo and a cleaner job.

[JiveTurkey]

You're quite correct. I havent been able to find anyone with any in stock though. I tried shermanautoparts but they weren't in stock. The other problem? So much of the metal was gone that there wouldn't have been anything for the patch to attach to. Since I already had to build the inner half from scratch, I might as well build the outer part too, rather than try to fit a pre-existing patch to a handcrafted (read: not quite OEM) inner structure.

I figured the bumper will be over most of it, and I'm never selling the car. So now it's structurally sound, looks good, and wasn't expensive to do. The steel I "fabricated" and welded in was 18 guage mild steel from Tractor Supply.

[twinockchef]

You missed the point. Don't use little pieces of metal but one large piece which you would then cut down to the proper size. Mold and shape it then weld it into place. The way your doing it could be viewed as very sloppy.
You keep on saying that "Worst case scenario... I do it all over again. haha" wouldn't it be better to make the best effort 'NOW' and save all the time and 'MONEY' you will spend later to repair the mistakes. Trust me and all of the experts on this forum (I'm not one of the experts). You will spend far less money doing it right the first time than doing it cheap and then repairing the fix.
I plan on taking a welding class this summer so that I can start the restoration of my 70 SL.

[JiveTurkey]

Well Chef, I think for never having done this before in my life I havent done a bad job. I'm sorry if you don't approve of my methods, but I'm pretty sure "sloppy" welds and a little filler is far better than the gaping unattended rusty maw that was there before. None of the welds have pinholes, the metal isn't warped badly, and I can't afford an english wheel. I also don't know how to use one I'm sticking with my "do the best you can with what you got" ethos.

[twinockchef]

Yes it is your first time at welding and I am sure that my first attempt at it would be worse.
Your car is like mine. A grand old beauty, who needs a lot of work to get her back to how she once was. Which I assume is your goal. There were many times while working on my car when I was not completely sure what I was doing, but I always stuck to the tried and true methods.
I want my baby to last thirty or more years of solid daily driving. Which is why I say do it right the first time.
I like the show Gearz, on the speed channel. He is always says that most repair jobs are not that complicated. On one show he worked on a rust repair job, similar to yours, that only required basic body repair tools and a mig. The finished job looked excellent and it did not require any body filler, just paint. Check out the web site. It has many informative videos from the show.
http://www.gearztv.com
Sorry if I sound a little preachy.
Your baby is looking good.
Good Luck

[meltedpanda]

turkeyman
I think she looks fabulous, whats a little bondo among friends..

[wolf_walker]

Originally Posted by meltedpanda

turkeyman
I think she looks fabulous, whats a little bondo among friends..

Ditto.
Mine is probly gonna get fiberglass and POR-15. Maybe with hunks of Carrera GT carbon fiber for the hell of it.

[JiveTurkey]

Thanks Chef. I watch Gearz whenever I catch it on speedTV. I really like that show too, he seems really down to earth. You weren't being preachy, you're just every bit as passionate about Mercedes-Benz vehicles as the rest of us.

Panda and Wolf, thanks guys. I'm really having a blast learning all this stuff, 99% I'm doing solo for the first time. It's kind of weird not having anyone over my shoulder offering pointers. I've sold off almost all my classic Rifles to pay for the tools, but the overall investment hasn't been that bad. Yesterday I upgraded my Air Compressor to one that puts out about 20% more CFM than my HVLP gun requires. I'm psyched to start painting, but I've still got plenty of metal repair and a lot of finish work ahead of me.

For body finish, I'm planning to shoot on one or two coats of a sealer, and then apply three good coats of primer surfacer. I'll then hit the surfacer with a tack coat, and sand her down with the biggest boards I can manage. (Helpful Hint; Get your surfacer in three different colors and record the order you lay them down in so you know roughly how deep your high / low spots are.) I'm planning to take it to 1000 grit before shooting paint. Now that I have a much better compressor (Thanks Lowes!) I might ditch the enamel and grab some Acrylic Urethane from PPG. I think I can use the old compressor to run as my outside air through my positive pressure hood. (Damned glad I managed to hang onto that over all the moves across the country when I wasn't painting.) Since I'm shooting the paint Wilma's probably going to end up painted Arctic White.

As always, watch this space folks

[Mike D]

Don't take it to 1000 grit before you paint. I wouldn't use anything much over 220 on primer maybe 400 for wet sand maximum. The whole idea of the primer/sealer is to give the paint something for adhesion. 1000 is for "color sanding" and final gloss finish/scratch repair.

[meltedpanda]

agree with Mike, the two I have done , I never used below 220 until final sand