Many Q's - ...that chrome around the windscreen

[Ben]

Guys I have been systematically stripping my '64 of all trim and interior over the last 3 weeks or so, getting it ready to be trailered to the bodyshop for panel replacement, rust repairs and full paint job.

Everything has come apart easily, its fantastic to work on a really well made car that doesn't have fragile clips everywhere !

Anyway i will have lots more questions over the coming months, despite photographing and labelling everything as I went along and my first question relates to the heavy chrome around the windscreen header rail. I have all mine off now but noticed some flaky caulk like stuff under there, aparantly filling the gap between the contours of the rail and the chrome itself !

Does anyone know what this stuff is. Whats its purpose and what do folk use upon reassembly? Can I use silicon sealant of some sort ??

Thanks in anticipation !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[Bearcat]

looking fwd to seeing your merc for the summer season.

david

280SL 1970

[Ben]

Yeah so am I !

I am also concerned about WHICH summer season it'll be !!  

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[Vince Canepa]

I would not use silicone.  It would make any future removal of the chrome nearly impossible without damaging it.  Here in the US 3M makes a material called Strip-Caulk.  It is similar to the factory material.  I used it to "bed" the chrome drip rails on thr hardtop.

Vince Canepa
1967 250SL
113.043-10-001543
568H Signal Red
116 Caviar MB-Tex

[Ben]

Excellent Vince !

I wasn't sure "caulk" was the right word ! I'll go look for it so I have it when needed !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[bjudd]

Ben,

Are you removing the engine?  If not, how will you deal with the engine bay for paint?  What have you done with your engine/trans, etc. before undertaking the paint?  

Do you have a sense of how many hours the chrome removal will take?  

thanks,

bjudd
1969 280 SL 5 sp

[Chad]

I think it depends on how extensive you are dismantling the hardtop, too.

In my experience, it took days... gosh.

[Ben]

Guys I'm leaving the motor in situ. This was done previously in 1989 and doesn't look too bad. I will be removing everything to allow the painter to paint around the chassis legs and inner wings on both sides.

The firewall pad was always missing so this area will be painted before I put on my new one and the rad will be removed as I'm replacing the front panel so the crossmember area can be done too !

At the moment everything has been removed including the window glass, regulator etc and I have spent about 10 hours or so doing that !

I have not touched the hardtop yet, the car itself will go to the bodyshop to alklow me the space I need to start stripping the top. I believe this will be a trcky and labourious job. I painted the hardtop myself a few years back to allow me to use it one winter and look respectable and I tried to remove the chrome trim at that stage with poor results, busted screws, lots of caulk etc. so I left the chrome on and masked it up. You can actually do quite a good job without removing the chrome but obviously for a professional quality paint job it needs to be stripped down completely !

I have Gernolds article and I will study that before I start next month or so !

Wish me luck !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[n/a]

Ben

A couple thoughts on your painting project.  First, if I understand you right you are planning to leave the engine in the car and paint around it.  IMHO the engine removal is not a major job.  You would get a much better paint job than if you try to work around the engine.  You don't need to go as far as I did, removing everything, but the results will be  worth the effort.  

Another thought, the long chrome strip that goes around the bottom of the top where it rests on the top boot cover tends to flex as you drive.  This causes the strip to split in the area near the corners of the  rear window.  You can have your chrome shop weld or braze the split, but I think a better solution is to cut the strip into 3 pieces with the cut being made to line up with the rear window trim.  Of course the ends of the strip would need to be brazed and finished to make it look like a factory job.  Very few people would ever notice the cuts if they were made and finished properly.  They will however notice the splits in the trim when it reappers.  

Good luck on your efforts.  

Iverson

[Ben]

Iverson.........thanks for your comments, I appreciates all these "nuggets" of advice !

I'm still gonna be stubborn and leave the engine though, this wont be a show car I'm always going to use it and the bay looks fine now so getting it even a shade better will do !

I will take a close look at that hardtop chrom though, it makes sense !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[jeffc280sl]

Hi Ben,

I understand leaving the engine in place during the renovations.  Welding floor pans, rails, etc. is optimum with the aid of gravity.  Welding a seam from underneath is difficult.  Your body guy may want to consider a device to turn the car on its side using the axles to help with welding.  If rail sections need to be replaced I would not consider using these pieces to rotate the car.  

Good luck,

Jeff

Jeff C.
1970 280SL 4-speed

[Ben]

Hi Jeff,
   I still have to remove those sill covers to reveal exactly what my sills are like. That will happen tomorrow hopefully.

I know my shop has a series of 4 post lifts so that may be suitable, I'll have a chat with him again next week when I know what the hell I'm talking about !!

Now the only things left to strip are the entire soft top mechanism and...................and..............the dreaded dash !!!

My wood is in bits and I want the dash painted ! ( Wish me luck !)  :evil:

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[jeffc280sl]

Good luck Ben!

The side rails have three covers which are screwed in place.  The top center cover has a channel on the inside edge that is compressed on to the carpet edge to hold it in place.  Gently pry open this seam and remove the carpet.  You will see a 6 or so counter sunk screws which hold the carpet channel/seam cover in place.  As you move to the exterior top edge you a trim piece which secures and covers the outer edge of the plastic door sill cover.  It is also held in place by 5 or 6 screws.  Finally you have the outer rail cover.  It is held in place on the bottom edge by 6 or so screws.  These bottom edge screws may be difficult to remove due to rust in the bottom of the rail.  The top screws are not so badly rusted.  Pay attention to removal of all of these screws.  You can easily strip the phillips head screw. If so you have a problem grinding off the head and extracting what is left over in the hole.  Some of the screws were case hardened and very difficult to drill out even with new titanium bits.  Take your time and try to remove the entire screw.  Most of my screws were wrecked/dirty/rusted somehow so I replaced them all with stainless steel screws from the local hardware store.  I used under coating spray to "paint" the screws which show.

Jeff

Jeff C.
1970 280SL 4-speed

[n/a]

quote:Originally posted by Ben

Hi Jeff,
   I still have to remove those sill covers to reveal exactly what my sills are like. That will happen tomorrow hopefully.

I know my shop has a series of 4 post lifts so that may be suitable, I'll have a chat with him again next week when I know what the hell I'm talking about !!

Now the only things left to strip are the entire soft top mechanism and...................and..............the dreaded dash !!!

My wood is in bits and I want the dash painted ! ( Wish me luck !)  :evil:

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

Esseller

[n/a]

Hey Ben.. I'm not sure if this forum is working for me just yet...I just wanted to ask how the removal of the wood trim on the dash went.  How did you access the nuts under the dash metal to remove the strips and grille.  Thanks.

quote:Originally posted by Lax882@aol.com

Hi Ben,

I understand leaving the engine in place during the renovations.  Welding floor pans, rails, etc. is optimum with the aid of gravity.  Welding a seam from underneath is difficult.  Your body guy may want to consider a device to turn the car on its side using the axles to help with welding.  If rail sections need to be replaced I would not consider using these pieces to rotate the car.  

Good luck,

Jeff

Jeff C.
1970 280SL 4-speed

Esseller

[Ben]

Thanks Jeff for the info. I started this on Saturday, managed to remove the sill carpet coverings without damage and removed the chrome trim on one side. You were right the little philips heads were tough to get out and I had to drill several.The exterior screws came out easier than expected, still had to drill a few. I havent looked at the other side yet, just managed to apply some penetrating oil for now !

I never got near the wood trim at all !

To be honest I had thought about leaving it but its quite bad and I really would like to have the dashboard metal painted !

Ahh well........in for a penny .......in for a pound !!

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.

[andre_morcos]

Hi Ben,
Concerning the " flaky caulk like stuff" around the winshield chrome rails, I guess you can use a rubber based sealent made by VABER. I used it my self when I was restoring my SL. It's very easy to apply as it comes in a tube, and it isolates the widshield contour from water. This way you won't have rust build-up in the future, especially where u can't see it.
Regards

Andre Morcos(UAE)
1964 230 SL
!960 220 Seb

aramouny

[Ben]

So I eventually got my sill covers off, my thanks to Jeff for his encouragement offline !

I soaked the screws with penetrating oil for a day or two, most cam out but I had to dremel off about 5 in total at the extremities, which gave me a clue what I might find !

Well I was happy to find only minimal corrosion at each corner, with the sills themselves being 98% perfect. Thank you Waxoyl !!

So I'll have a small amount of cutting and welding to do here !

Strangely this area was welded before, and obviously done when the car was in the USA (pre 1989) as the dealer stickers were still on the sill covers !  Seems odd that they didn't paint the inside of the sill covers though !

Still I'm happy !

Regards,
Ben in Ireland.
'64 230SL 4sp.