OT: 914's are not the only thing that rust, This is in my garage Options

[rick 918-S]

I started out to help a friend with some rust repair on his Mercedes. Things got a little out of hand.

I started on this car last year but had to put it on hold. I worked all summer, fall and early winter out of town.

[richardmosselman]

190 SL? R

[rick 918-S]

So I'm back at it now.

[rick 918-S]

rear frame rail

[ws91420]

Hey Rick did you finish the Healy w/ the Suzuki drivetrain?

[rick 918-S]

Hey Rick did you finish the Healy w/ the Suzuki drivetrain?

Sadly, another project on hold for work.

[rick 918-S]

Repaired the lower inner wheel house put the spot welds back on the lower edge as they were.

Fit to the new outer wheel house ready for the frame rail install.

[rick 918-S]

190 SL? R

1970 280 SL

[r_towle]

did you make the hammer stand? If so, please explain.
And its use.
IC you use a torch, why?
I got more, but I will keep it short for now.

Rich

[iamchappy]

You are sick............

[rick 918-S]

did you make the hammer stand? If so, please explain.
And its use.
IC you use a torch, why?
I got more, but I will keep it short for now.

Rich

The stand you are refering to is a planishing hammer sold by harbor frieght. The lower anvils that come with the unit have verying radius' for curving sheet metel. I also cut the head off a shrinking hammer and use it in the planisher to flatten stuff out.

Torch is for shrinking, anniling and gas welding. Sometimes the metal will work harden so you need to soften it back up. Some of the panels on this car have obvious gas welds on them. I have to replicate the look.


Ask away.

BTW: once the rails (the rockers in this car are actually the structural rails) are back in the rest of the car comes apart to the shell for blasting. I have it set up on a jig now so I have to get the rails back in before it comes off the jig.

This car had the front shroud (fenders,nose panel, and wiper panel) as well as both quarters replaced probably when it was near new. they were brazed back on. Every place where the brazing was done rusted real bad!


This is the front... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif) It's getting new inner structure. I had to assemble the inner panel and the upper boxed rail. I have a spot welder to replicate the factory welds. I transfered the shock mount from the old panel to the new. Notice the weld bead across the top like the factory and the spot welds on the verticals.

[JmuRiz]

190 SL? R

1970 280 SL

OK now I'm scared to start digging into my '74 280C...thanks a lot for making me nervous, haha.

[rick 918-S]

190 SL? R

1970 280 SL

OK now I'm scared to start digging into my '74 280C...thanks a lot for making me nervous, haha.

These old Mercedes rust worse than any 914. And their method of assembly is less than friendly. In order to drop the engine out the bottom still bolted to the "K" member, you still need to dis-assemble the top end of the engine. You have to remove so many parts you may as well strip everything out and start from scratch. Even the transmission mounts have a certain way they need to be dis-assembled in order to access the shifter and drive shaft.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif) Imagine Rube Goldberg building a ship in a bottle... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/screwy.gif)

[r_towle]

The jig that you built.

Is that custom built for that car, or is it a universal table that can be reset for different sizes?

Here is my dilema.
I have a 356 that the front suspension was cut out.
The rear torsion tube was cut out.
I have both parts and all the chassis measurements.
I want to build a "jig" that I can pull down and push up the unibody with so I can get it and keep it square as I weld all the stuff back in.

I like the use of threaded rod, same Idea I was going to use.
At the end of the day, I would like it on rollers, so I will be building the lower portion of the jig similar to a steel truss to make it super rigid and strong enough to pull the car down and push it up...hopefully.

I guess I would rather not build a jig that is specific for this car because as you know I have a few ideas and projects that are on deck and a decent universal jig would be a better investment of my time in the long run.

So, any suggestions?

Rich

[neo914-6]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif) great work Rick!

I wanted to buy an English Wheel (<$300) at HF but I have no room and limited funds... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

[rick 918-S]

The jig that you built.

Is that custom built for that car, or is it a universal table that can be reset for different sizes?

Here is my dilema.
I have a 356 that the front suspension was cut out.
The rear torsion tube was cut out.
I have both parts and all the chassis measurements.
I want to build a "jig" that I can pull down and push up the unibody with so I can get it and keep it square as I weld all the stuff back in.

I like the use of threaded rod, same Idea I was going to use.
At the end of the day, I would like it on rollers, so I will be building the lower portion of the jig similar to a steel truss to make it super rigid and strong enough to pull the car down and push it up...hopefully.

I guess I would rather not build a jig that is specific for this car because as you know I have a few ideas and projects that are on deck and a decent universal jig would be a better investment of my time in the long run.

So, any suggestions?

Rich

This jig is only for this car. It has very limited push/pull capability, really only a support system to prevent sag.

You should see if anyone has an old Cellette bench collection dust near you. There is one here local to me but I don't have a barn.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/idea.gif) ...yet.

You could always build a simple chassis jig from a couple of salvage "I" beams. More than one way to skin a car.

[scotty b]

You ain't kidding brother ! This is a customers 230 SEL I did a couple years ago. When I called him over to see what I fopund the look on his face was....well obvious. His wife had been driving on this for 25+ years.All the shiney is NEW metal. The whole frame rail was GONE and had been "repaired " with coat hanger and bondo in the 70's. First is the inside of the rear wheel well when I got started. Also note this car had already been smoothed and painted, so I had to do this plus replace front floor pans on a show winner that was otherwise DONE.

[scotty b]

Dr side cut out and etched and new piece in

[scotty b]

Passenger side was not much better

[scotty b]

This is the only pic I have of the top side, and this was BEFORE I started the repair. Sorry to hi-jack Rick. I thought it was appropriate though (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)