Hi! New to the group! Womens point of view reguarding removing the gas tank.

[cruising]

HI! I had a blast listening to my radio working on my "new" 1967 230 Sl. I listened to all your tips, thank you so much! I decided that my tank must be rusted. Drained the gas and bingo, dirt and rust flakes! I struggled removing it until I decided the muffler screws had to be released to give enough space. I pushed down on the muffler with my weight and with my other hand pushed the tank, it finally fell out! It was very similiar to giving birth! I couldn't have been more proud. I used oven cleaner to degrease the outside, worked like a charm, wiped off so easy. I think I will do the rest of the grungy under carriage that way. Is anyone going to look underneath there?
My question is very easy for most of you. I have a black car, black steering wheel with cream center emblem, cream visor, cream seat belts, black seating, grey square carpet, cream head liner. I am thinking that the cream steering wheel emblem and cream seat belts are not original. What do you think? Seems strange to have cream seat belts but then it seems strange to have a cream visor. Thank you!!

[Wolfmann]

I have never seen an original car with anything other than light coloured (cream) sun visors irrespective of the interior upholstery colour (color ?).

I am pretty sure that the cream steering wheel pad/emblem has been added to co-ordinate with the other cream bits you mention, again, I have never seen an original car with a pad or emblem that does not match the steering wheel colour. The cream ones do fade or degrade to a biscuit colour over time though.

I'm no expert on seatbelts although I am pretty sure that your car would never have had inertia reel or retractable belts as standard. All of the original belts I can remember seeing in the UK at least have been grey and I think that fancy coloured belts are a modern fad. They may have been available in black but I have personally only ever seen grey, never cream in the original belts. As I said, I am no expert and will be corrected if wrong.
Unless you are going for 100% originality or concourse and you like the car the way it is then I guess none of the above really matters though !

Great story about oven cleaner - As a mere useless male I paid someone else to do such jobs as petrol tank removal and renovation. I am humbled by your industry !

Steven.

[Bonnyboy]

Miss Cruising,  you may be tempted to use oven cleaner under your car but my suggestion is ...don't.  That stuff is nasty - it will make everything look nice for a while but the corrosion will set in if you can't get it all out and you won't like the results.  Most use a derivative of lye which is just nasty stuff.   You want your rubber hoses to stay like rubber and god forbid you get any on aluminium.    And if you get any on your face or in your eyes - nasty nasty.

For a fuel tank that you remove from the vehicle and can spray off where the splash won't get any paint, maybe.  You would be much better getting products designed for the job you are doing.   I used Simple Green or the Gunk Orange on my car I have no acid burns.   I have used oven cleaner to clean old wheels and motorcycle frames but that's in a work area away from painted surfaces. 

[Garry]

On the sun visrs,

Some words from another member

Achim warns: the sunvisors NEVER match(ed) the interior's color. This was the case for the 190 SL and the 300 SL but NOT for the pagodas. It only indicates a poor restauration where the shop or the owner wanted to go the fast and easy way and didn't spend attention to the original condition. For the 230 and early 250 SL (up to VIN 002979) there were only two colors available: grey and ivory (with the exception of very very early 230 SL coupes-only; some of them had white sunvisors).

For all later 250s and 280s there were three colors: grey, ivory and some sort of light tan or so. I can check if you are interested. The correct color for a red interior is ivory and and for a black (or blue) interior, grey sunvisors are correct. Of course you can dye your visors to the correct color with Leatherique or other vinyl paints. You can clean up your old sunvisors and look for a hidden area where the chrome hinge attaches, you should be able to find a bit of the original color.


For Horn Pad, in your case it would have been black and inertia seat belts were not invented at that time so they would be wrong also.
Have a read here for the Kangol Belt details
http://www.sl113.org/wiki/Interior/Seatbelts

And last but not least, there are lots of data on the forum on restoration of the fuel tank.  Some have been successful and many not depending on the condition of the inside. Again have a read in the tech manual under Fuel and there is a lot of information there but also do a search and have a read of earlier efforts to clean and repair fuel tanks
http://www.sl113.org/wiki/Fuel/Start

Enjoy the ride

Garry

[KevinC]

I certainly agree with what;s been said so far concerning sun visors (I beleive that the color concept was to have them blend in more with the headliner of the hard top than the interior). As far as seatbelts in my '67 model (produced in November '66) there are lap belts with the "Hickok" brand in the clasp.  They look like a light olive or khaki color as opposed to ivory. I would imagine that they did darken over time but unexposed areas still to be that color. I dont know the history of the car but happen to know three other local owners with cars from around that period with the same Hickok belts.

Congrats on your new purchase and use the heck out of the search tool on this site for good info!

[Flyair]

And please do not forget to put the tank back before the next ride, regardless of the sun visors and wheel pad color. Thank you 

[cruising]

Thanks for the photo of the seat lap belt that is what mine looks like, must be original?. Also, I won't use the oven cleaner on the remainder of the under carriage. I will remember to put the gas tank on before I drive it again as suggested although with gas prices I might better to leave it off! Take care everyone! If anyone wants to trade a cream mercedes steering wheel center piece for a black one I would be forever happy!

[GGR]

Regarding gas tank restoration: I took the gage sender unit and bottom plug out, took the tank to a shop to be dipped into acid. This took all the gunk and rust out. I then used the POR-15 linig products, repainted the tank and I've been very happy with the results.

The shop that dipped the tank into acid usually sprays the inside with lubricant to avoid flash rust. I asked them not to as I was going to use the POR-15 products right after.

Some shops do restore tanks by cutting them in half and welding them back together after cleaning/reaparing them. But it's quite expensive.