Restoration Difficulty Level

[tel76]

As I will require some high temp adhesive at some stage in the future I tried UK  Ebay, for the ADOS F38  the results were interesting, I feel sure Stan can use some in his picture album.

[andyburns]

Dash Resto Part 5

Got to work covering the ali with foam.  Quite easy, just make sure everything is dead even.  Got a bit of advice from an upholsterer on how to tackle the job.  He suggested stretching leather from one end to the other first and then glue up the edge that is visible from the seating position first and stretch the leather back to the windscreen edge.  Reason being that you have got better control and can get more even pressure over the front lip.  

[andyburns]

Dash Resto - Part 6

Selected the leather from the shank section of the cow as the leather is suppose to be the most subtle here and able to stretch further which is what you need for the hard corner pieces.

Got to work and made pretty quick work of putting the leather on.  Took all the professional advice which made things much easier. 

Got to the tricky part and spent a couple of hours shaving the leather with 60 grit sand paper by hand.  Certainly makes thing much easier when the leather is down to half its original thickness.

And then .........................................

[andyburns]

Dash Resto - Part 7

To much heat or pressure, or both, and the dreaded sound of leather ripping.  This was 3am in the garage.  Am sure the neighbors were woken with strange profanities rolling in out of the darkness.

Will strip the leather off today.  Hopefully I will not need to do the foam again abut am guessing that around the edges some of the glue may have got on the foam in which case it will come away with the leather and I will be starting again from scratch.

Next time I think I will shave the leather before I start.  Will be much easier.  If anyone else can give me any further pointers I would be appreciative.

[andyburns]

Waste Not Want Not

[andyburns]

Dash Resto - Part 8

Worked tonight on the A Pillar moldings.   I reused the leather from the stuffed up dash pad.  Just enough.  Had to clean off a bit of glue or I would have had irregularities but other than that all good.

Unlike the instrument pod I decided not to glue the outward facing surface rather just the leather that hooked behind the molding.   Even though I sprayed the instrument pod with a very even coat of glue you can just start to see the irregularities showing through.  Unless you looked really really hard you wouldn't see but all the less if you know what to look for its an imperfection.

So used the same technique as I described for the dash.  First glued one end off and then stretched the leather end to end and secured the other end.  Then simply worked from the center out.  The front surface is convex so work in well with the technique.  Having no glue under the leading surface has paid off with a really beautiful perfectly uniform look to it.

Really beat myself up over the dash pad failure so can go to bed tonight with a bit of peace of mind.  

Tomorrow I think I will do the leather that runs along the top of the wind screen.  After that I can theoretically put back the screen itself.  On that matter am wondering what you guys think about the blue/green sun strike strips that run along the top of the screens.  I am not sure I like it and am thinking of replacing with a screen without this if its cost effective.  I am wondering if it will look a  bit strange against the silver paint work.  Food for thought and definitely something to consider another day.

Night All. sweet pagoda dreams.

[andyburns]

Dash Resto - Part 9
 
Valentines day today so figured I better pay a bit of attention to the better half for the majority of the day.  I did manage to sneak away this afternoon to start the windscreen frame.   Quite easy after all the dash malarkey. 

One thing I really do want to do is put the screen in.  I am interested in listening to anyone who thinks this a bad idea at this point.  I cant see any difficulties in getting the rest of the dash components in after the screen goes in. 

[Garry]

Andy,

It is normal to put the wood in before the windscreen goes in otherwise it is such a tight fit that often the leather is scratched and it is just much easier working on the dash and down through the speaker hole for the heater items to put in window last.

Garry

[kampala]

Andy,

Keep up the great work.  I think the clocks must run different down under ... based on how much you get done, I think you have more hours in the day and more days in the week than the rest of us ... keep it up.

Everything is looking so perfect ... I hope you're gonna drive it and not want to place it in a glass box.  

beautiful work ... would love to see it one day.

[andyburns]

Garry,  am interested in your experience and want to drill down on a few concerns I still have.  When I trial fit my wood it only leaves a very small 4-5mm gap between the front face of the wood and the windscreen steel lip.  Just looking at it my initial thoughts would be that it would make getting the screen in much more difficult.  I will be more than likely using the old rope technique to get the screen back in and the more clearance around the screen the better to work the rope. 

The main dash pad components seem to slip in from the front so I dont think these are an issue at all.  Just how tight the wood is to get in being the big question.  The W108 wood is a complete nightmare with only one piece of wood reaching the whole way across the dash.  To get it in you have to put a hideous amount of bow to clear the A pillar.  Almost stops my heart each time I have done it.  Especially so after you spend so much time restoring the wood.

The 113 wood in two pieces seems like a piece of cake in comparison.  I may however be missing something and would love a better detailed explanation of exactly what the clearance difficulties are.

Kampala,  I love your compliments.  I think if you were here in person and could see the work up close you wouldn't be so complimentary!  Some of it is very DIY.  I am struggling with time after getting back to work again.  Last thing you feel like doing after 8 hours in front of a computer is another 3-4 hours of grind on the car.  Being crook this week has however given me a bit of a cheeky opportunity to 'catch up'.  Hopefully the arthristis will abate and let me put some more acid on the project.  I am actually getting quite frustrated with the lack of progress.  I was reading back through some of my early posts and noted a goal of having the car back on the road in 6 months.  That was over 12 months ago!

[Garry]

Having heard all the terrible stories of trying to get the wood in after fitting the windscreen, it was just about the last item that I fitted.  I actually drove it to a windscreen replacement workshop with out the windscreen in and paid $600 for a new screen supplied and fitted. I supplied the rubber seal that was an OEM item after they refused to use the non OEM seal I had.

I have used the same repair facility to fit a new screen in my 230SL for a little bit more last year.

[andyburns]

Garry you have my attention.  I also have a OEM rubber.  The one that came with the car was terrible.   I dont actually have good enough wood to put back in the car at present.  Have to figure out if mine is repairable or I should get another entire set.  I would dearly love to keep as much stuff original but one of the previous owners sanded the **** out of them and painted them a very dark color to hide up the atrocity.

Just want to keep the resto rolling and would be great to get the screen off the back wall!  Best listen to you advice and practice a bit of patience.

[Garry]

On the wood, mine was in a similar state and very warped so I took the plunge and purchased just the dash wood from SLS and had it fitted whilst the screen was out.

[andyburns]

Garry, how much for new wood.  I am picking it would be north of 1k?  I am wondering if mine is repairable.  Its just gone through the veneer in a couple of place otherwise is mint.  Frustrating.  I have restored quite a few W108 dash wood pieces with awesome results.  But when it comes to damage to the veneer I am right out of my depths.  Contacted a few fine furniture makers in Auckland and none are interested.   The curves to bend new veneer around make the eyes waters.  I think it would make the dash recover look like a walk in the park!

Another point of interest to me is also the thinning of the leather before fitting.  After fitting up the screen leather today I am wondering if the thickness of the leather curled over the same surface the screen rubber seats on would effect things at all.  I am picking not.  The material I removed would be around .6 to .8mm where the leather is around 2mm.  So only 2mm the difference.  I agree the leather needs to be thinned to stretch it around the dash but am wondering exactly where else on the car this 'thinning' process is required. 

[Larry & Norma]

Hi Andy, I don't want to cause confusion here but like you suggested it is much easier to
put the windscreen in without the wood in place. Fitting the wood after is a bit fiddly but
not too difficult especially when your dash is completely stripped. I agree that it is easier to fit
some of the heater controls etc without the screen in place.

[andyburns]

Hi Larry,   I have totally sorted all the heater control  they all move as if 'buttered'.  Also spent ages adjusting the cables so all the levers home perfectly on the left and right stops in conjunction to one another.  Dont think I will have to pull them out for quite some time.  Have you put the screen in yourself.  I intend to give it a crack myself.  I do have an experienced installer available but he wants 200 for the job which will take no more than an hour.  I am in the wrong profession!

[Garry]

Andy,

I see the wood for dash excluding speaker is 351Euro or all pieces (4) for 529Euro. (plus shipping) from SLS.  I just purchased the front two items and then reworked the speaker wood to their colour.

As Larry has had experience with fitting his own wood and windscreen and you are planning to do the same then his comments are more appropriate than mine as I just gave it to the Windscreen replacement shop for the windscreen after I had done the dash and had a price quoted that they stuck with. I suspect they probably cursed but then again, it was the second one they had done for me so has some experience.

Another area where shaving/thinning works is the steering hub which you have already done and also around the edges to the door cards so that they fit back into the chrome edge trims. If too thick then the cards will not fit back into the chrome.

[Larry & Norma]

Hi Andy, I helped a more experienced guy put my windscreen in, he got me to remove the wood,
not much fun with an intact dash! He used the rope method, all over in minutes.
Most time was spent fitting the rubber to the screen before hand. The aluminium insert is fitted
before fitting screen to the car.
I think if not experienced then two pairs of hands might be the best.
You don't want to damage that new paint :'(

[Larry & Norma]

Also he used plenty of lube, not sure what it was, definitely NOT washing up liquid

[hkollan]

Hi,

I concur completely with Larry, having been through this excersize the last months myself.
Did the windshield myself after installing the leather covered dash paddings first.
Used the rope method with lots of glycerine soap to lube and no wood in the way.
Biggest hassle was to get the rubber sel and aluminium trim pieces properly in place before the installation of the WS.
Installing the WS with the wood in the car is possible, but you risk damaging the wood and you have no visual control that the seal
Is properly seated at the bottom when pulling the seal-lip over the edge.
I opted to have all the dash padding professionally done by my German upholstry guy, and it turned out very well.
As some have said, it is very important to have all leather that is used for these parts professionally shaved down, I think the shaved leather was less than half the thickness of the original unshaved hide.
Installed the wood with some protective towels on the dash, and some isolation tape on the screw threads to avoid damage to the leather parts, all went in with no big problems.

Hans

[andyburns]

Dash Resto Part 9

Been working on the top of the screen again.  Turned out to be much harder than I thought.  After everything was glued up I discovered that all the chrome trim was a very very tight fit over the new leather.  Again another place where the leather had to be shaved to get things right.  Off it all came again and out with the sand paper.  This time I was a bit better prepared in terms of knowledge.  It paid off and it all went back on with not much fuss as all.  Good to have everything ready for the screen to go back in which i will do this week.  The brand new oem rubber will pull the leather tight further after installation.  I have hopefully left just enough slack in the leather for it to pull up nice and even.  Fingers crossed.
 
In regards to the dash pad I have decided after careful examination to leave this off as well while the screen is going in.  I can be slid in from the front of the car and leaving it in place will just risk damaging it.  Also give me a bit of wriggle room on when I have to actually do the leather work on it. 

[andyburns]

I have the screen guy booked to help put the glass back in.  Sixty dollars cash which given the cost of all the materials involved I figure is very cheap insurance.    The risk that I might damage something is much higher and the guy I have got coming is a specialist in old school rubber installs.  As much as I would love to do it myself pride does come before a fall as they say.

Does anyone out there think that I wont be able to fit my dash pads after the glass is in?  Its quite major to me at the moment.  From the looks of it the pad should slide in from the front but I would still love confirmation from someone who has removed and reinstalled the pad with the screen in.

[Larry & Norma]

Hi Andy, yes it is possible but like most things on this car, a bit of a challenge!
Mostly it is a case of getting the angles right when manoeuvring the parts so
nothing should be forced. Stripped mine when I re sprayed the dash.
Hope this helps.

[andyburns]

Thanks Larry, that is all I need and confirms what I thought.  Having just one person ratifying your thoughts is sometimes very soothing to the soul 

[andyburns]

Have the windscreen guy coming in the morning.  Frantically cleaned up the screen this afternoon when I got home from work.  I promised him everything would be ready to go and all components nice and clean.  He didn't sound to enthralled about the job.  We live a little bit off the beaten track and its outside his normal area. 

While cleaning the screen I found some quite old neat window stickers that by law people had to display in the early 80's to indicate which day of the week you couldn't drive your car.  Called 'car less days' they were something to do with saving the economy are the oil crisis of the 70's.  I was to young to really remember well.  I have left them on for the time being until I decide if they should stay or not.

Once I got the screen cleaned up I had to apply the paint around the air vents.  Mixed up 250ml of 2k satin black and applied it with a paint brush to the metal surfaces surround the dash and around the speaker grill.  I am almost certain that this is how it was applied at the factory after reviewing some of the dismantling photos and finding very rough brush strokes.  Dare say my paint was applied with a bit more care than at the factory.

While I had the paint mixed I gave the front nose cone bits a first coat as well.  These were also brushed on as well.  Looks quite perculiar up against the pristine silver paint but that's how they rolled at the big MB  HQ

All screen parts all laid out and waiting for my new best friend.