Restoration Difficulty Level

[andyburns]

Windscreen back in the car after a 3 hour vigil. I am soooooo glad I made to call to get the professionals in.  Stood over and watched and definitely could not have got the same result. 

So many tricks and techniques when things start to go South.  I would have stumbled at the first hurdle and more than likely screwed the very expensive brand new polished ali inserts.

In any event I am tickled pink with the result.  Absolutely superb!  Really brought the car to life and given me a huge injection of enthusiasm to push ahead.

One parting piece of advice.... never never never try this at home when for 100 dollars you can get the pros on board.  To many things to go wrong.  Absolutely the right decision to put my pride on the back burner on this one!

One parting piece of advice (part 2)... if you have the option take off all the upper dash panels and instrument cowl cover as well as all the wood.  It makes it much much easier to fit the screen properly and all the pieces can be put back in easily (with a bit of care) after the screen is back in.  No risk, better job.  Already trial fitted all pieces this afternoon to confirm this.

[Peter van Es]

Andy, looks great… fresh rubbers and chrome surrounds..

[andyburns]

Thanks Peter.  Fresh rubbers and chrome surrounds are indeed the flavor of the day.  Highly recommend if you ever have your screen out to take a dose of the same medicine.
.

[Garry]

Andy,

What was the cost of the surround and where did you source it from? Mine is a bit ratty and I wouldn’t mind changing it depending on cost.

Garry

[andyburns]

Garry,  I purchased the inserts about a year ago and from memory they were around 320NZ each.  Not cheap.  The factory rubber was around 220NZD.  You cant replace the inserts without taking the screen out so I would count on 1k to 1.5k to do that job.  The biggest problem I had with my car when I first got it was the screen.  The previous owner had used a very poor aftermarket window rubber and slammed in very tatty looking inserts.  Result was terrible and let the car down big time.  All this has contributed to my excitement of getting it right this time around.  Highly recommend!

[andyburns]

Cracked into all the under dash panels this weekend.  These arn't that critical with only the leading edge being seen from the driver and passenger seated positions.  The flat surface can only really be seen if you get your head down into the footwell and look skyward.  Still I am going to try and get the best possible result.

Started by stripping the old ivory material off.  Again I probably took to much care hoping the foam would be reusable.  I takes quite a bit of effort to put new foam on and anything I dont have to restore is a really good thing. 

Again the foam ripped off with the vinyl. Spent ages cleaning all the foam off and then stripping away the layers of glue to give the new leather the best chance of adhering.  All along I was very careful the factory crayon marks.  If you take cleaning solvent anywhere near crayon it vanishes in milliseconds.  Probably added an extra hour to the job trying to preserve.

Cut and glued up new foam ready for final gluing.

[andyburns]

Choose the leather from the hide with a few imperfections.  I am trying to save the best leather for dash tops and will probably use the piece right down the spine for this.  Not as flexible but is quite consistent in grain and texture.  Just have to carefully shave the hide back.

Cracked into the first piece and carefully worked the leather around the prominent face which is seen from the drivers position.  It still quite challenging to stretch the leather around the outside curve without getting wrinkles or creases.  Just carefully glue bit by bit and often have to undo bits if they have been stretched in the wrong direction.  All very trial and error with a lot of patience thrown in for good measure.  I would hate to think what a professional upholsterer would think if he watched me work.  I am sure there would be a good deal of cringing going on.  But as long as the result is right I don't care how many hours I am burning at this stage.  The one piece I have finished today took me over an hour to get right.  More than likely a pro would have nailed it in five minutes.

[star63]

Excellent work, Andy. Again!

I'm anxiously waiting for pictures of the top side panels.
I found the corner curves of the top panels by far the most difficult to get right. And I used vinyl which I believe is easier than leather...

[andyburns]

More of the same tonight after work.  Quite tricky around the edge but a little patience and I think I have it better than what it was before.  One more under dash panel to go and I will attempt the dash pad again. 

[mdsalemi]

Did you buy yourself a skiving tool, and did you become familiar with its use? Or did you just jump right in?

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=skiving+tool&tag=mh0b-20&index=aps&hvadid=3527166367&ref=pd_sl_1gbv0b73jm_b

[andyburns]

Hi Michael,  Nope just jumped right in the deep end.  Probably should have started on the under dash panels first rather than the dash pads but didn't realize how tricky the angled ends are before I started.

I did know about the skiving tools.  I think unless you have a machine which cuts the leather to a perfectly consistent thickness you may run into trouble with irregularities using the hand tool which may show through the leather.  Even not putting the foam down perfectly consistently seems to show through.  Also the leather I am using seems very thin to start off with.  I was thinking using the hand tool could result in quite a few mistakes where you ended up going through the leather.  Even holding thin leather while you skive it would probably be challenging.  I am really interested in your experience using one though.  If you can change my mind I will go out and buy one before I attempt my dash again.

For the under dash bits and pieces and the A pillar covers I personally don't think any leather needs to be thinned.  I also think for keeping the leather durable its probably best to keep it at its original thickness as well.  Again interested in everyone thoughts.

I liked the idea of others on the 113 forum who suggested using a belt sander to evenly reduce the thickness.  You can easily control how much material you are taking out by graduating the belt grid.  I started at 200 grit and found it to slow so changed up to 80 grit which worked much better.  I finished up by hand with 150 when I got close.  

Still quite nervous about trying the dash again but quietly confident I will get it right this time around.  Even if I fail miserably I promise I will lay it all bare in here for everyone to have a good giggle at

[andyburns]

Worked today on the final under dash panel.  Hardest out of the lot with the same basic shape, and problems, as the main dash top.  Took quite a few hours to get this one right and almost lost my temper on several occasions.  Managed to do this piece without any leather shaving as well.

Finished this and then discovered that there is one more piece of the under dash set, the pad that clips onto the glove compartment.  Started looking at this and to my dismay discovered quite a mess that the last guy has left me. 

I kind of have been relying on the bit of old upholstery for templates and to give me a cutting/trimming guide around the edges.  Figured the last guy was more than likely a pro so after a life in the industry his way of trimming up would be optimal.  I dont believe this to be the case with the glove box pad.  Take a look!  I am damned interested to get some photos of your cars to see exactly how this was done at the factory or by a top trim guy/girl.

[andyburns]

Dont know why but the glove compartment panel was absolutely smothered in contact adhesive.  Took quite a while to get it all off.  Lots of nooks and crannies.  Like the other two under dash panels this one also bears the recess ends to tuck the leather into.  The only difference this has three recesses rather than the two on the other panels.  I have no idea how to work this and would love a side on view photo of a couple of other glove compartments to compare.  I think the previous guy had it totally wrong.

The panel clean up quite well and like the other had one or two dents which I carefully tapped out to the best of my ability.  Should just make the job that much crisper with nice straight edges.

Will sleep on this one and see if I can come up with a plan of attack.  If anyone can assist with a few pics I would be most appreciative.  Just open your glove compartment and snap this from a 45.

[rutger kohler]

Andy, quite happy to bring my 280SL over if it helps to see how the panel is covered. Give me a ring.

cheers

Rutger

[andyburns]

Had a bit of a crappy day today.  On step forward and 5 back.  Several months ago while I was in the guts of panel work I stepped back on this particular occasion and stepped lightly on the glove compartment door.  Heard a horrible crack and realized that I had broken off the spring arm.  On close inspection it had been broken before and had a pretty shoddy braze job which hadn't taken very well.  Anyway just got around to attending to it today and did a pretty tidy job blasting the arm and hole before wrapping the site in wet rags to stop any heat soak and then mig welding it.

Quite proud of the result until after dressing it back going for a trial fit up and then realizing that I had welding it in 180 degrees in the wrong orientation.  No swear words this time just a lot of deep sighing and wondering how the hell I am going to recover it.

My first thought are to take my dremel to it and try and break the weld.  Now I am wondering if I should simply cut the arm 2cm up and weld it back on in the right orientation.  Any thoughts other than how stupid this mistake is.

Start again tomorrow,

[Larry & Norma]

Wow that's a bugger. We have all done stuff like this, difficult to keep ones cool!
Suggest you do what you are most comfortable with and allows most accurate alignment.
Again that was neat welding

[andyburns]

Cheers for your kind words Larry.  I still feel like a plonker though    Haven't made too many gaffs along the way and I guess it inevitable that one or two blinders like this come into the mix.  The only positive to come out of them is to give you guys a bit a of chuckle.  As the great saying goes 'if you cant laugh at yourself...'
 

[Bonnyboy]

Personally I would cut the arm lower than 2cm and reweld.   You could always put a pin in the center of the rod (drill 2 holes and pin it and then weld. Cut into the material a bit so you get a good weld even after grinding down to make smooth.  who knows what kind of issues you will have if you start getting into the sheetmetal of the door.

I just did a similar thing welding my neighbour's rusty wheelbarrow together last week.  I welded the handle upside down.  We had a great chuckle.

[stickandrudderman]

Its not the mistakes you make that define you, its how you deal with them.
Here endeth today's lesson

[andyburns]

I like it Stick! Sounds as if you have a bit of poet/philosopher blood in you.  Also agree with Bonnyboy after a nights reflection.  Everything RHD is so hard to come by.  I went to massive lengths to protect the thin sheet metal during the weld process and just don't want to risk distorting the front panel again.  I can always get another arm off a LHD door and modify it to suit. 

Problem I have now is that yesterday I used every last ounce of my argon shield.  Turn up the gas to full bore to try and keep the weld cool.  Now have to turn around and go and refill all the way back in town.   Wish I had a bigger bottle!

[andyburns]

Went and picked up some more argon shield this morning.  Then set about cutting and dressing the arm for the repair.  Once I managed to get going the entire job only took 40 minutes. 

Used the mig welder on almost it minimum setting of around 17v to ensure I didn't overwhelm the joint with infill material.  One lesson I have learn t the hard way it that it takes an awful amount of time and effort to remove excess melted rod if your feed is up too high.  And give the lack of access to the site and the 'delicate' nature of the arm I really didn't want to have to take a large quick grinder anywhere near it.

Lots of wet rags again draped around the base of the weld to ensure I didn't get too much heat into the sheet metal.

This tactics paid off and it only took 15 minute with the dremel and a fine grind stone to clean back the site.  Not perfect but once I paint it up it shouldn't be too noticeable.  Unlike Brabus I am not going to claim this is as good as when it left the factory 

[andyburns]

Proof of concept

Have had a minor breakthrough today with the upholstery.  Discovered that our old 40 year old Elna sewing machine is quite capable of sewing the leather bits and pieces I thought were out of my reach and in the realms of an expensive auto trim guy.   I wont be doing any of the critical stuff but things like the lining of the glove compartment and suddenly back on the table.

I pulled the old lining out of the glove box and deconstructed the stitch lines to see how the last guy had sewn it.  Don't know if this is how it was done at the factory but it looks really professional and tidy so have decided to copy it.

Only had white thread in the machine a present which sort of worked in my favor as you can clearly see exactly how the stitching will look in its final form.  Sewed up a couple of test pieces which look really good.  Once all the leather is glued in place the joints wont be taking any load so pretty much there for cosmetic reasons only.  So whats been done here is well good enough.

Also had a parcel arrive in the post this morning from Garry in Australia.  He has kindly sent me a door lock barrel to see if it will overcome my current problems.  Actually he has sent me three now but the first two went missing in the post.  The kids have been racing each other every morning for the last two week to get to the mailbox to see if the package had arrived.

Unfortunately the one remaing barrel is the wrong type for my key.  Stinking bad luck as I think there are only two types so had a 50 50 chance of nailing it. 

Massive shout out to Garry for his generosity and help. Simply fantastic!   Really appreciate it Garry.  Let me know if I can ever return the favor. 

[Garry]

Andy,

A chalk line on the leather helps heaps to keep a straight line whilst sewing.

Really shame about the lock barrel. well we tried.  One day just after you finally get the right one, the first two will turn up

Hang on to the barrel, someone else may use it in future.

Garry

[andyburns]

Garry, thanks a million again.  If anyone else needs a barrel let me know and I will happily keep the 113 parts merry go round in action.

[rutger kohler]

Andy, thanks for taking time out of your already frantic schedule to bead blast my rocker cover, and all the other many bits for my car today.

cheers

Rutger K