Another DIY restoration

[star63]

My Pagoda was finally back on the road last summer after a 4-year "restoration" and even made it to Willingen in August.
To me, it was a big project and I wanted to retroactively share some photos here. I only worked on the project during winters and when I had time.

This was the starting point. I bought my 1967 250SL from Detroit via ebay in 2009. I didin't travel to see the car (a big mistake!) but I received some photos, though. And accordig to the seller this little beauty was absolutely rust free.





The car actually looked quite solid at first but after digging a little deeper I started to realize that it needed more work than I had anticipated.
I thought that I would fix it during the winter and would be ready for the next season. Just how wrong was I...


At least the engine bay looked decent...




...but under that matt black paint the inner fenders were soft as well as the longitudinal stiffeners.


At some point before 1984 a 280 engine had found its way under the hood.

[star63]

The dash (except paint) and the door boards were still original.




I started the disassembly by cutting the front fenders off. This car had been patched at least twice before.




I found a mouse nest in the top corner of the fender stiffener and later the mummy mouse himself inside the heater housing (no pictures).


The trunk didn't look that bad at all...




...but after puncturing my screw driver through the floor a few times I ended up cutting it all out as well.





Since all the fenders in Pagoda are welded (not bolted) on, I decided to open every enclosure and address any corrosion I could find before welding the fenders back.

Before more cutting I took the car to a soda blaster.

[star63]

The soda blasting took the whole day even though we didn't blast areas where I didn't suspect any rust or bondo.





We didn't waste time either in blasting areas that I knew I would remove and replace anyway.





The spot welds are nicely exposed for drilling.

[star63]

At this point the project seemed a bit depressing.

[jameshoward]

Er, wow.

May I ask what you paid originally?

[Flyair]

and what was your restoration budget so far and what's remains to do?

[kampala]

Star63,

What a journey ... thats a huge amount of work ...  at least we know (or think) the story has a happy ending since you said you took it to Willingen.  

Look forward to the rest of the chapters of this restoration.  

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

star63 ,

Thanks for sharing the photos. I can understand how you must have felt when you got the car and how much time and effort you devoted. Well done!

May I be so bold and ask what you paid for the car and what added costs you had to get it shipped to Finland?

I was lucky to find mine only 10 KM from my house, having been stored some years in a well heated and air condishioned garage for many years I found this car indeed without a spec of rust. I also had the good fortune to inspect the car from top to bottom before agreeing to the purchase price of $42,000- CaNADIAN (about 28,000- Euros).

Funny story I may add, when I returned the owners plates (the Gentleman is 85 years old) he said "Dieter you gave me the downpayment, now where is the rest of the money?" He looked quite serious when he sad that and got up to look for something .... mumbling "I know I saved it I put it some place" I was thinking at that moment oh may he may have lost his marvels. I told him I payed you in full and you do have the copy of our Bill of Sale!

However, then he started to sit back down and said smiling "No I am pulling your leg, I saw an article and a car just like your's it sold for $68,000- American that is why I said this"

[star63]

Rolf-Dieter,
You really have been lucky to find your Pagoda so near and for such a great price.

I paid about 15.000 euros with taxes (no hard top). Ro-Ro shipping was about 900 euros.
I decided not to count hours or money spent. According to my wife way too much of the both.

------------------------

There was soda powder everywhere but better soda than sand. I didn't hurry to clean it off because it prevented the surface rust from forming while the car sat in my garage.

I opened the sills next. The top part was still ok so I replaced only the bottom halves.





A tiny paint bubble turned out to be a previous patch in the both outer and inner rear fender.




I found more rust and too many improperly made weldings. Decided to cut off the rear quarter panels and replace them.






The air intake's water drainage pipes had leaked and the floor pans had to go, too.

[star63]

I just couldn't sleep well until all the corroded steel was cut off.







This is the front connecting point of the trailing arm. It wasn't easy to see how badly it was rusted without opening the box above it.






The same place after welding. Had to do the passenger side also.





In this picture, the driver's side floor pans and rocker panel have already been replaced and the cross beams welded back in place.





These cross boxes were badly rusted from inside. The pipes that should drain the rain water from the air intake chamber had probably leaked inside the boxes.




I made new drain pipes out of stainless steel. Just in case...




The driver's side coming together:

[star63]

The inner front fenders were only available for the later style Pagoda (with ventilation holes).




After a caustic bath the paint came off easily. I welded the longitudinal stiffener in place as well as all the small brackets.




After welding I took the parts to be dipped in zinc. I was a bit concerned about the straightness of the parts after a 400 deg heat treatment and tested first with a floorpan.




Eventually, the following parts received the zinc treatment:

- inner front fenders
- all the floorpans
- all the trunk floor pieces
- front cross beam
- fuel pump cover
- battery holder
- exhaust pipe hangers
- removable covers over the rocker panels

[star63]

The front side of the car is coming together. The inner fenders already welded in place.
The other parts I painted with 2-K epoxy primer.




Fitting the outer fenders...




The front fenders had already been replaced at some point. After sand blasting the inside surface I found them still useable. Only the bottom section had to be renewed.
I was not impressed with the dimensioning accuracy of the aftermarket panels. It required some cutting and welding to correct the headlight bowl alignment.

[Larry & Norma]

This is coming on great and should reassure anyone that all is possible!

I wish I could weld half as neatly as you

[star63]

Thank you Larry for your kind words!

I must say that after using 17 kg of welding wire on this car the last welds looked much better than the first ones.
Luckily, the last welds are the only visible ones 

[star63]

After welding, I sealed every exterior seam with lead (actually more tin than lead) to ensure that no moisture gets through the weld.




I spent a lot of hours fitting the front fenders. It wasn't easy to get all the panel gaps correct around the hood and simultaneously between doors and fenders.




...and the driver's side

[andyburns]

Hi Petri,

Looks as if you are doing an awesome job!   Your welding looks really tidy.  I know when I started mine was a total mess.  By the end I had improved and then looked back on some of the first stuff and just had to do it again it looked so ugly.  Amazing how much a couple of days practicing can make.  Do you do this sort of stuff for a living to get that good?    Also interested in your welding gear.  I am assuming its all mig welded.  What thickness core and how many amps were you running to deal with all the thicker chassis steel.  Think it was about 2.4mm from memory.

In any event I love your work and keep on posting.  Bet your looking forward to moving on to the paint phase!

[star63]

Cheers Andy!

And thanks for the compliment. My welding is far from good and luckily my daily bread is not depending on it

The mig welder I use is a portable device and is based on PFC power source technology. MinarcMig is made in Finland by Kemppi.
I use 0.8 mm wire and only have to select the plate thickness. The wire speed and amps will be automatically adjusted accordingly. There is a knob for fine-tuning the "thickness" of the weld, though.
Really, an excellent piece of machinery!

http://www.kemppi.com/inet/kemppi/kit.nsf/0/A051719B838DCB6CC22578730048CF85?opendocument

I've been following your thread and your work is amazing!

(as I explained in my first post, my Pagoda was already back on the road last summer after a 4-year refurbishment)

- Petri

[star63]

The quarter panels welded. The horizontal weld is still waiting for lead.





...and the other side

[star63]

Finally, the car was ready to be taken to a paint shop.





The rear panel looked good outside but the bottom part was heavily rusted inside so I replaced it, too

Not that beautiful yet...but I had now opened every "box structure" of this car and replaced all the corroded sections with new sheet metal.
I was now able to focus on interior parts and bright work, knowing that there were no surprises hidden anywhere in the car body.
(I would just hate to see a rust bubble on the finished paint job a few years after "restoration"...)

[Rodolfo]

Former Belgian car? You bought it in Belgium?

[star63]

The car was originally delivered in Germany and I bought it from Detroit, Michigan.
It seems that it has spent some time in Belgium, too

[star63]

I sent these and a few other parts to Poland for re-chroming:





...and these went to a local shop to be zinc-plated (gold passivation). Cadmium plating is not available in Europe anymore.

[star63]

While the car was in the paint shop I had time to work on the smaller items.

The previous owner had bought a new gas tank. It was good otherwise but the paint came off very easily (painted on greasy surface...?)
I stripped the tank and used tank sealer to give it a longer life (I hope)




The outside I painted with POR15 and Chassis Black.





Also stripped the horns...





...the horns re-painted:

[star63]

Since I already had my hands dirty, I cleaned and painted the air filter housing, expansion tank and the brake booster. 2-K epoxy primer + satin gray, very dark.






Before painting the heater core, I had to make and solder a new bracket to it. The original had got lost at some point. I also replaced the valve o-ring.

[star63]

The interior was original except the seat covers and carpet that had been done by the PO.
I started my upholstery work from the dash. I practiced with the under dash pieces and moved towards more visible panels.

Here, I'm gluing a foam layer to A-pillar covers and the main dash pieces prior to "MB-Tex".





The door cards were in bad shape due to moisture damage so I had to buy new cards. The aluminum top piece was taken from the old cards and riveted to the new ones.





The door pockets were still original.








The finished door panel from the back...





...and the front side: