Since I'm in the middle of stripping my 67 Italian 230SL for restoration, I wanted to remove everything that would make strip and repaint difficult. Therefore, I did a substantial search of the forum for how to remove the trunk hinge torsion rods. There did not seem to be enough in the forum or in the Technical Manual to help me so I bit the bullet and learned by doing.
Along the way, I documented the function and disassembly of the soft top cover/trunk lid hinge assemblies, including the torsion rods. I had to make a tool to do it safely.
I have written a six-page (with annotated photographs) description of the system function, tool fabrication, and disassembly. It's a 1.1 megabyte Word document that I can email to a few people who would like to understand better what's involved in removing the soft top cover, the trunk lid, the torsion rods, and the hinges.
My original intent was to put it in the Technical Manual, but I have realized that it was easier for me to learn how to disassemble the car than to learn how to add a six page white-paper with photographs to the Technical Manual. It's also too big to post in the forum.
If someone wants to put it in the Technical Manual, feel free to do that. In fact, it would minimize my emailing copies, so please do. My philosophy is that life is too short to be jealous of knowledge. I appreciate the help I receive and would like to help others if possible. I would also appreciate a critique of the paper. Does it make sense? Was it helpful? Should it be in the Technical Manual? Etc.
If anyone would like an electronic copy, just email me at thomas.kizer@live.ca, and I'll return an email with it attached.
Tom Kizer
