On engine bay detailing . . .

[Jack the Knife]

Vik, the parts you posted look exceptional. I just got a number of things back from the painter today, actually. No dice on any vapor blasters at all near me, so having the intake manifold and valve cover chemically stripped by my painter.

Just picked up reupholstered sun visors and I'm still not happy with them. It's the stitching. There is clearly a reason Mercedes heat sealed these. It looks the best. I might take my chances on the Turkish aftermarket or else try to do heat sealing myself.

Also, seems your exhaust manifold is for a 280SL?

[VikDasor]

Vik, the parts you posted look exceptional. I just got a number of things back from the painter today, actually. No dice on any vapor blasters at all near me, so having the intake manifold and valve cover chemically stripped by my painter.

Just picked up reupholstered sun visors and I'm still not happy with them. It's the stitching. There is clearly a reason Mercedes heat sealed these. It looks the best. I might take my chances on the Turkish aftermarket or else try to do heat sealing myself.

Also, seems your exhaust manifold is for a 280SL?

My car is 1966 230SL and the exhaust manifolds are different to the early 1963/1964 230SL.

I have seen the Turkish aftermarket sun visors on a car in an event. They look okay from far but they are little hard to touch/feel and look a bit like moulded plastic visors (Just my opinion).

[Jack the Knife]

My car is 1966 230SL and the exhaust manifolds are different to the early 1963/1964 230SL.

I have seen the Turkish aftermarket sun visors on a car in an event. They look okay from far but they are little hard to touch/feel and look a bit like moulded plastic visors (Just my opinion).

Interesting that the switch was made on the later 230s. I wonder if there's a noticable performance difference.

Is there any particular source for visors you'd recommend? Even to send mine off for reupholstering? Hate to lose the originals.

[VikDasor]

Interesting that the switch was made on the later 230s. I wonder if there's a noticable performance difference.

Is there any particular source for visors you'd recommend? Even to send mine off for reupholstering? Hate to lose the originals.

There is company call heritage trim in US. They seem to provide good quality work. When I was planning to have my upholstery done I had contacted them but the cost of shipping and return shipping to UK with customs price added was working out horrendously expensive.

See this link below for the sun visors they upholster, hopefully not too expensive in US for you.

https://vimeo.com/387186773

https://www.heritagetrim.com/mercedes/w113-pagoda-roadster/

I am sure someone in the group may have dealt with them and can give you heads up on the quality they provide.

Most reupholstered sun visors seem to be stitched though. 

[Jack the Knife]

Happy to report I just got my parts back from the plater -- all fuel lines, most throttle linkages, many fasteners and brackets and such... basically most visible things -- $550, guy works on aircraft engines at the Lantana airport. Very pleased with the work.

[mdsalemi]

Happy to report I just got my parts back from the plater -- all fuel lines, most throttle linkages, many fasteners and brackets and such... basically most visible things -- $550, guy works on aircraft engines at the Lantana airport. Very pleased with the work.

Cadmium?

[Leester]

For Jack, is your plater interested in additional work? I'm pretty much finished with plating (unless I begin a new project (chuckling to self)) but others are always looking for reliable vendors.

[Jack the Knife]

Cadmium?

Cadmium! And that included all the prep. It was done by weight.

For Jack, is your plater interested in additional work? I'm pretty much finished with plating (unless I begin a new project (chuckling to self)) but others are always looking for reliable vendors.

I'm sure he is, though this was put together by a friend who is restoring one of his 911s. He previously did this sort of work for his 280SL. I didn't have any direct contact with him.

All said, it was 8-9 weeks.

[mdsalemi]

Glad you went for the real thing.

[johnk]

Don’t walk away from Heritage Upholstry, RUN!!!!

You want to see my crooked seats and all the things they tried to force me to pay for that I didn’t want?  How about the only answer you can get from the owner is him bragging about his trophy wife, car collection and how little he thinks of our club?

[lreppond]

Don’t walk away from Heritage Upholstry, RUN!!!!

You want to see my crooked seats and all the things they tried to force me to pay for that I didn’t want?  How about the only answer you can get from the owner is him bragging about his trophy wife, car collection and how little he thinks of our club?

I couldn’t agree with you more.  The company has a slick website and some nice videos but I feel their products are sub par and overpriced.  Perhaps the most arrogant person I’ve dealt with too. 

[Jack the Knife]

Well all, getting back to it now that I've been back in Florida for almost two weeks...

... headers went away for ceramic coating, which I should receive back in eight or so days, as well as some sprucing up and clear powder coating of the air intake manifold and valve cover.

I managed to get all the rest of the old firewall pad off, and I'm noticing a small bit of surface rust beneath the brake fluid reservoir and all that. Best to take care of that now. Tough to see in this photo, but I have all my nice parts all laid out. Today, I am replacing the crusty (and original) felt around the windows, detailing the entire rather-dusty exterior, and replacing mismatched fasteners in the interior.

[Jack the Knife]

Do you all like to leave the VIN tag on the bulkhead when installing the firewall pad? Considering removing it and storing.

[Jack the Knife]

Now ceramic coated.

[wwheeler]

I ceramic coated the throttle body which made a huge different. You do have to know how to take the throttle plates and shaft apart. I was going to powder coat that, but the porous casting would not allow it. Ceramic was the only way to go. Super easy to keep clean now.

[Jack the Knife]

Making progress!

Installed all the injector lines, air intake manifold, most hard lines, and headers. Also cleaned the fan the best I could. I'm discovering I need to replace a hard line from the heater, as well as some firewall grommets. Should have the radiator back from a recoring this  coming week as well as some rubber mounting pads for it that were missing from my car.

I'm also seeing that "complete clamp sets" and such often aren't. Very frustrating. Also seeing that no matter which way I jack the car, I can't get the engine to tilt to allow the valve cover to go back on. I can't even fit one of the hard lines from the fuel injection pump behind the block since it's too close. I suppose the trans mount and engine mounts are now completely collapsed. Well, just another thing on the to-do list.

[Vander]

It's usually a collapsed trans mount that doesn't allow the valve cover go back on. Keep all 4 wheels of the car on the ground, place the jack on the front of the transmission where it bolts up to the engine. You are essentially jacking the transmission which will tilt the engine forward and allow the valve cover to slide past the hood latch brace.

[Jack the Knife]

It's usually a collapsed trans mount that doesn't allow the valve cover go back on. Keep all 4 wheels of the car on the ground, place the jack on the front of the transmission where it bolts up to the engine. You are essentially jacking the transmission which will tilt the engine forward and allow the valve cover to slide past the hood latch brace.

That is how I got the valve cover off the first time. However, the engine is now sitting closer to the firewall than it was last time. The valve cover would hit the firewall were it on, for sure. I did just try again from both the bell housing and another point on the transmission and it didn't move at all, relative to the firewall.

By the way, do you have any PN on the banjo bolt that fits into the housing for the idle air/fuel mixture screw on the air intake manifold?

[DaveB]

That part is listed in the Nov 1964 parts book as 'hollow screw' 007623 013302 (C13 DIN 7623-6 S DBL 8451-21)

[Jack the Knife]

That part is listed in the Nov 1964 parts book as 'hollow screw' 007623 013302 (C13 DIN 7623-6 S DBL 8451-21)

Thank you very much for finding that for me, Dave! I did find the screw after all, in fact, it was never lost... it just seems a washer got stuck inside the idle air device where the screw goes and I thought it was the wrong sized screw. Got the washer out, and all is well.