Mercedes R107 SL Restoration

Rear Spoiler Removal

2010-06-04T06:04:00.000-07:00

The black rubbery rear spoiler was never fitted to a 280SL so mine was a retrofit by a previous owner. I had several issues with the spoiler:

- the weight of it made the boot drop down sometimes (original cars had stronger boot springs)
- cars with the spoiler as standard didnt have the chrome handle
- there was a small cut in the rubber on the spoiler
- i dont like the look of them

So, i decided to remove it. The spoiler was held on by the correct fittings which is 6 holes along the edge of the bootlid. After these were undone, the spoiler was removed from the car.

Unfortunatly, along with the expected holes I was also faced with some surface rust which needed removing and treating. I ground back around the area and treated the rust with a rust treatment gel. I then filled the holes with some "hard as steel" type putty, along with some standard bodywork filler:

The boot was then resprayed in Signal Red to finish the job:

Although I am still not 100% sure I prefer it without the spoiler, I think it gives it a cleaner look - and the boot now opens and stays open as intended!

Fitting Rear 3-Point Seat Belts

2010-04-14T05:20:00.001-07:00

The SL came with a pair of lap belts in the optional rear seating of the car. I wanted to upgrade these to 3 point belts for safety reasons.

I enquired from various companies that offer seatbelt retrofit services to classic cars and discovered that two seperate companies fit the belts in the same way, and after seeing another 107 owner's car after a retrofit decided to install these.

The belts I purchased came from http://www.bestautobits.com and are static 3 point belts. They are an excellent match for the original Mercedes items as can be seen in the photo below:

The belts need to be the static type, rather than interia because of the lack of space where the new 3rd mount goes in the soft top area, although it may be possible at a push, I considered static belts to be perfectly adequate and was confident to fit after seeing other installations of identical belts.

In addition to the belts, I also purchased a pair of FIA approved racing harness mounts used for track, race cars and the like. This is a thick piece of metal with the seatbelt bolt welded to it:

The position of the new mount needs to be checked for any rust, remove the rear wheel and check the whole area. Only once this has been verified should the mount hole be drilled.

I removed the 2 seat bases and the centre trim that simply push into place. The seatback needs to be removed to access the lap belt mounts. This is held in with 4 bolts at the very bottom next to where the buckle mounts are (see pic below) - two bolts per side. Un pop the pop studs for the backing material and the seat back slides out of the car.

Now I removed the interior trim which is held on by 3 small screws and also removed the top chrome unit around where the front seat belt feeds into, alomng with the soft top release mechanism arm on the left hand side of the car. This allows the interior trim to be removed from the vehicle. I cleaned it up whilst out of the car.

Once all this is removed I could gain access to the original lap belt mounts. Starting with the buckle mount, I removed this from the car:

Note you can also see in this photo where the two mounts for the backrest are.

Then, starting with one side of the car 1st, I fitted the new belt using the existing bolts, washers. I used a washer from the new kit aswell, but it depends on the kit.

I then moved onto the side bolt:

This was removed in the same way. Once removed from the car I could feed the small plastic interior trim "window" from the belt to reuse on my new belt, making sure I fitted it the correct way so it will clip into the hole in the interior trim once all installed. At this point, i also plugged in the seatbelt to the buckle to ensure that I install it the correct way round without any twists. I then tightened the side mount up. I decided to have the adjustment at the lap part of the belt, but others do install it to the top area. I prefer the adjustment to be in the lap area as adjustment can be made without having to lift the soft top lid all the time. Downside is that the "slack" of the belt is in the way all the time, but I have just fed any slack under the seat squab.

Now its just the final (new) mount that needs installing.

I jacked up the car to create a large gap between the top of the wheel arch and the tyre. I then marked out the position where the belt mount should go based on some photos of another installation, and then drilled a small pilot hole though the arch. This was then finished off with the final hole - just enough to fit the bolt though. I then painted the bare metal of the hole:

I put a smear of sealant on the mount prior to fitting along with some loctite. This should seal the area to stop any water from seeping though the underside of the wheel arch.

Using the bolts and washers that came with the new seatbelts, I fed these though the new hole and into the large harness mount on the underside of the wheel arch and tighten it up:

And finished off with the final black plastic top:

After double checking all torque levels of the belt mount bolts, I re-installed the interior trim and the black plastic trim for the belt needs clipped into the side part where the belt appears out of the interior trim:

Very happy with the finished installation:

Note: I advise anyone who is unsure of this job to consult an experienced seat belt installer. There are many advertised nationwide who will supply and install seatbelts into your classic car.

Radiator Renovation

2009-09-30T04:49:00.000-07:00

Since the car has been put back on the road this summer I've enjoyed many outings in it. However the radiator has always looked on its last legs, but I've not had time to fix it. Unfortunatly a couple of weeks ago, I was forced into it as it burst - luckly when I was less than a mile from my house so I was able to drive it back home before it overheated!

The radiator has always looked tired and has had a small leak since I've owned it - but never worried me due to me only using the car on nice weather days - I just top up the coolant every weekend if it needs it.

Anyway, after enquiring on the price of a brand new Mercedes radiator and quickly disgarding the option after finding out the price is £700 + VAT, I decided to look for a pattern part. These are avaialble for W123's (but no header tank) and for 500SL's but not for the 280 model. 2nd hand options were available but may of been just as bad as mine was before and cost the same as a recore would. So, a recore was the route I decided upon.

I made some enquiries and found a business in Edinburgh called ScotRad. They re-cored by existing radiator for just £115 inc VAT with just a 24 hour turnaround. The job is also guranteed for 12 months.

To remove the radiator i undid the numerous rubber pipes, undid the plastic couling and pulled it as far back as i could to gain access. After consulting with another 280SL owner I decided to attempt to leave the oil cooler in situ as the pipe bolts can break off if they have been on there for 20+ years untouched. My cooler looks brand new anyway so i didnt need to get this re-cored.

To do this, I removed the two bolts that connect the cooler to the rad (these actually sheered off as they were rusted) - so very quick to remove. Then all the pipes were removed via the jublee clips & also undid the ATF oil cooler pipes from the rad and bunge'd them up with some plastic lilo bungs.

The clips on either side then can be unclipped and the rad will lift out - because you're only taking out the rad and not the cooler, you'll need to apply pressure/mallet to the cooler (with care!) to keep the cooler in situ as the rad comes out - i sprayed some WD40 down there to aid it slide out.

Once it was out, I cleaned up all the rubber pipes and also a metal junction pipe. Upon re-install, i put some grease on both sides of the rad so it slid easier down into position and then via two new bolts i purchased (from homebase) i re-joined the cooler to the rad. All jubliee clips were renewed. the rubber pipes looked fine.

Took a couple of hours to remove and the same to refit.

I refilled with Comma Green coolant (50% with water) which is MB spec and a lot cheaper than the genuine stuff! I got 10 litres in there - i guess the other "lost" 2 litres must of been in the heater matrix, engine etc.

I also rechecked the ATF level and topped up a little with genuine MB ATF as some did come out of the pipes and i guess some was sitting in the rad so it was a little lower than usual.

This is how the radiator looked once burst:

Some of the pipes cleaned up with new jubliee clips:

Some photos of the car with the radiator removed:

And finally, the reconditioned radiator, ready to be refitted:

1st Phase Complete

2009-07-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

1st phase of the restoration is complete & the car is now getting used on those summer days :)

Please continue to check back for updates as it will continue as a "rolling restoration" whilst I use it until next winter when it will be removed from the road again for further "in depth" work.

Some pictures:

Convertable Roof Renovation

2009-07-27T05:08:00.001-07:00

The plastic windows on the convertable roof were not too bad but needed a good clean and had started to go milky:

Unfortunatly there are also a small nick on each side window. This isnt big enough to worry me for now, so I dont consider a new roof to be necessary.

In addition I also added new seals on the top of the window frame where the roof clips into. These seal the area to prevent water ingress and often degrade and not replaced - They are only a couple of pounds each from a Mercedes Dealer and well worth fitting. Part number A1076880097 and you need two:

I bought a product called Hindsight () after seeing adverts and recommendations in the various Mercedes magazines.

Hindsight is a polish you work into the cleaned plastic windows;

And this is the final result. A HUGE improvement & I'd recommend this product to anyone.

The actual fabric of the roof was also cleaned to a nice uniform black.

Exhaust

2009-07-22T05:27:00.000-07:00

The previous MOT had an advisary warning of exhaust gasses leaking from around the manifold area. I had also noted this myself.

The Mercedes EPC (Electronic Parts Catalogue) shows a seal ring (N915035000008) in the incorrect place, or atleast a misleading position in the diagram (although it does correcly show that x2 are needed). It shows it as the connecting seal between the exhuast pipe and the collector pipe. It should, infact, be between the collector pipe and the engine manifold. Two seals are needed. These are copper crush seals.

The seals fit onto the downpipe as shown:

As access is diffult removing this piece (not very much room to turn spanners etc), and that two people are required to replace this (one person in the engine bay, holding a 13mm spanner on the bolt, whilst the other is under the car with a long ratchet on the nut), I decided to also purchase a set of new bolts:

N000931008244 – (x4) screw for collector pipe to manifold
N000933008168 – (x2) screw for exhaust to collector pipe

I reused the existing nuts.

I also applied (for good measure) some exhaust paste around the seal area and also in the join between the collector pipe and the exhaust pipe.

I took this opportunity to fit 4 new exhaust hangers on the car as the old ones were non-genuine and looked past their best; A1074920082 – (x4) exhaust hanger

All bolted back up and no more exhaust leaks :)

finally, the exhaust tip was given a coat of aluminum exhaust paint:

EDIT - Since posting this and using the car, a repair I did to this collector pipe has failed so I have had to fit a new collector pipe. This has made by exhaust 100% leak free.

Post '86 front spoiler

2009-06-16T04:46:00.001-07:00

My car originally was fitted with the earlier black strip along the bottom of the car:

This was fitted to all cars up to 1985 before the final facelift of the 107 range.

The later front spoiler/air dam was added to update the look of the car. This simply bolts onto the front of the car replacing the old spoiler and the lower black grille pieces.

The spoiler, part number A1077900488 new from Mercedes comes in at £275 so I was lucky enough to find a good 2nd hand part that someone had retrofitted to an SLC. Unfortunatly, they had painted the whole item blue, whereas the correct colours should be black for the grille and lower lip and body coloured in the central area.

To begin with, I prepped the existing paint ready for new plastic primer to be sprayed on. This involved flatting old paint runs (I think the previous owner had quickly sprayed it whilst on the car):

Once it was primed all over, I fitted it to the front of the car to ensure correct fitment and make sure everything lined up correctly:

Then, I sprayed black flat stone chip guard onto the grille area and lower lip. This was then overpainted with matt black paint:

Once this was dry, the new black areas were masked off and the remaining area was painted in Signal Red:

Again, once dry, the spoiler was fitted to the car. All existing mountings were used. An additional bracket was fabricated to give support to the lower centre of the spoiler as this is missing from the panel behind on earlier cars:

Finished and on the car:

n/s front wing

2009-06-11T05:26:00.000-07:00

The old n/s front wing was really badly rusted in several places and also previously "bodged" so, although it was a genuine original Mercedes wing, I decided to replace it for a brand new wing.

The pattern wing arrived and looked good:

Luckily it also fitted very well. The wing was fitted as it came out the box to ensure the fit was good before any painting was done.

As described in another post, I have retrofitted the Post-86 side indicator lenses so a hole had to be cut into the new wing:

It was given a key with an abrasive pad and then primed with Etch Primer:

It was then flattened off, and then several coats of Signal Red paint were applied.

Once dry, the underside of the wing was coated in underseal.

Once the retrofitted wheel arch liners were fully fitted and the newly fabricated wing partition panel was added (decided to fabricate one myself rather than pay the £35 it is from Mercedes), the wing was bolted onto the car:

Everything was then masked up and then several nice final coats of Signal Red paint was sprayed onto the wing:

[PICTURE NEEDED]

The various bits of trim were then fixed very carefully to the wing:

And a finished picture:

[PICTURE_NEEDED]

Rear Bumper

2009-06-11T04:53:00.000-07:00

No Doubt your old bolts and screws are rusted. Mercedes do supply a kit for about £70 to replace these, however a similar kit that does the job perfectly can be found here for a fraction of the price:

MERCEDES R107 SL FRONT & REAR BUMPER BOLT REPAIR KIT

The rear bumper didnt look too bad to begin with:

The one main obvious problem with the bumper was a rusty/flakey piece of chrome:

As with many 107's, the inner bumper stiffeners were also badly rusted, so the whole bumper was removed and dismantled down to its individual parts.

This was quite difficult as the bolts on either side of the car had rusted on. A lot of elbow grease later and the bumper was off the car.

Once it was off I could see the extent of the rust that was hidden by the rubber strip:

The car underneath the bumper also had suffered rust. This will be repaired seperatly:

Now the bumper was off the car, it had to be dismantled. This was very difficult as all the bolts and screws had rusted on. The only way was to cut them off with an angle grinder VERY carefully as not to damage any surrounding trim/chrome that I wanted to keep.

The two side stiffeners were non-existant - only the end pieces were still there - it appears they had rusted away and a previous owner had bodged the bumper back together with fibreglass. The rubber was the only thing holding on the side valance panels!! They usually screw onto the stiffener.

Here are some nasty pictures of what I found once the bumper was off the car:

Eventually, I had the bumper in pieces. The only things kept over from the original parts were the centre stiffener (even that required a new metal end welded on), the centre chrome, and the n/s chrome. Everything else had to be replaced with either new parts or good 2nd hand items.

As mentioned, one side chrome was completely rusted though, shown in the picture below:

I explored the possibilities of repairing the rusty chrome, but the cost of a re-chome was more expensive than I managed to source a good 2nd hand part for. All the chrome was then fully cleaned up to shine like new and then treated with POR-15 on the reverse in an aid to prevent any future rust.

The central inner stiffener was ground back to as much good metal as possible and then rust treated and coated with POR-15 after a small repair to one end piece. Replacement left & right side stiffers were purchased, also POR-15'd and then all painted with black hammerite for the factory-fresh look:

to:

to:

The bumpers were then ready to be put back together again. A set of new bolts and fixings were used as all the old ones were rusty and most had to be cut off to be removed.

To begin with, the three sections of inner-stiffener were bolted together:

Then the three chrome pieces were fixed to the stiffeners:

Then the covers that join each chrome piece were added - two of these on the rear bumper:

A brand new genuine Mercedes centre valance panel (A1078850525) was purchased and a set of "as new" side panels purchased. The old panels were too far gone - see pics above!). These were all primed in Etch Primer and the side panels were also coated in POR-15 on the reverse side as these take quite a weathering from the rear wheels.

In progress of being primed:

Then sprayed in Signal Red:

And then bolted onto the bumper stiffeners:

These were treated with POR-15 on the reverse and then coated with underseal to help prevent future rust.

Finally, the rubber strip was fixed on, with a captive bolt on each end to fasten it and the bumper is complete, ready to be bolted onto the rear of the car:

The bumper finished and fitted on the car:

Upper Track Control Arm Repair

2009-06-08T06:14:00.001-07:00

When working on the inner wheel arches I noticed there was excessive play on the o/s/f wheel. The rubber bushes on the upper track control arm were perished. A quick check on the other side of the car revealed the same, although not to such a degree. I decied to change these using the Febi-Bilstien repair kit:

This is how the original bushes looked:

The car was jacked up, wheel removed and supported on axle stands on both sides of the car (so i could turn the steering easy).

The the LCA (lower control arm) was jacked up about 1.5” so that the spring pressure was relieved from the shock absorber and supported with an axle stand.

A spanner on one side and a socket on the other soon removed the bolt. The bolt nearest the front of the car is much easier to get to. Access is tricky with the other one but doable:

Once removed, the arm can be moved around along with the steering to pull it away from the car:

Now the old bushes are accessable, a flat bladed screwdriver was used to prise them out:

This is how the old bushes looked:

The arm was then cleaned out, along with the mounting on the car.

The new bushes were then "wound" into the arm using the old bolt. A smear of washing up liquid on the bush made this easy work:

Once both sides were installed, the arm was offered back in and new bolts supplied with the kit were uses to secure into place (reversal of removal).

Side Indicator Retrofit

2009-06-08T06:01:00.000-07:00

Post 1985 SLs had a side indicator in the wing. Many do prefer the earlier look and consider these additional indicators to spoil the look of the car. However, as I am fitting several "facelift" parts to the car, including the front spoiler and eventually the later flat-face alloys, I have decided to fit these additional indicators to complete the look.

The 1st thing to do of course is create the new holes in the wings for the lense to fit. The measurements for this are as follows (verified by a "proper" 1989 car:

- where it meets the door, to where the rear of the indicator is 152mm.
- from the top of the side trim to the bottom of the indicator is 35mm.

I decided to tap into the wires inside the engine bay just before they go through the inner wing. A test lamp on the wires allowed me to find out what wires were the correct ones to tap into. The colours on my car was "black with white stripe" on the n/s and "black with green stripe" on the o/s. I also tapped into the brown earth wire to keep all the wiring in one place. I then insulated the wires again with electricians insulation tape:

The "new" wire was then fed through the inner wing into the thick rubber tube that runs into the headlamp bulb; however a small hole was made in this to allow the new wire to leave:

The bulb holder was then attached to the wiring:

A final test to check all the wiring is complete:

The new wire is then fed over the top of the post-facelift wheel arch liners, that i've also retrofitted, and over the wing partition panel (top is rubber seal so safe) and through the new hole created in the side of the wing.

Post '85 Wheel Arch Liners Retrofit

2009-06-08T05:53:00.000-07:00

A useful update that come with the facelifted models in 1985 to 1989 was the front wheel arches were lined with a plastic cover like modern cars. This protects the top of the wing, the rear of the arch were the sill ends can rot and the behind the headlamps.

These can be fitted easily to earlier cars though. The panels and the associated rubber trim needed are still available from Mercedes. Part numbers A1078840335 (left), A1078840435 (right), and a rubber seal for each side: A1078840198.

Several holes need to be drilled in the inner wing for it to be attached. I then used self-tappers with large washers to secure it to the wing. Caution must be made when drilling these holes - some are sited just were there are wires behind, so drill carefully. Treat these new holes before screwing the trim into place. I found it easier to do these with the wings off, but if they were in place, you could still fit them. Ensure the rubber trim is sealed correctly onto the outer wing afterwards.

Headlamps

2009-06-05T05:16:00.000-07:00

The headlamps, due to their early 70's design are never going to be brilliant. However a common problem with these is dirt on the inside and rust/pitting to the reflector.

I did some research on the Internet and the general opinion seemed to be that if the headlamp reflectors are no longer reflecting the light well, then only a new reflector can fix it.... no repair works.

So, as my luck has it, my headlamps were pitted :(

The o/s reflector actually wasnt that bad - minor pitting but still reflected the light well:

The n/s one was much worse:

So, I found some foil tape which is 100% foil and is self-adheisive. A lot of foil tape often has a paper element to it which is no good.

I used this tape to cover the badly browned areas of the reflectors. Mainly the top and bottom of the lights on both sides and a few areas on the n/s. OK, its not going to be as good as new but a test has revealed it is better. Once the car is returned to the road and I can test it long-term I may consider fully coating the reflector in this tape:

I also gave the clips that hold the glass lense on and the black bulb covers a coating of rust-remedy primer and a top coat of satin black to bring them back to new:

Once, the lenses had a good clean, everything was clipped back together:

Real use of the headlamps will proove whether my reflector repairs are good or not. Time will tell!

In the meantime, I will keep on checking my sources for some "as new" reflectors.

o/s sill repair

2009-05-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Much like the passenger side sill, the drivers sill was also rotted and had been repaired at some point in the past aswell. The previous repairs were rotted through.

As you can see, once the initial metal had been removed, you can see the patch of metal that had been welded on in the past:

The end of the sills were also rotted:

Started to remove the old rusty previous repair patches:

This was all cut out until there was clean metal all around:

A new panel was welded in place - this was tricky as the top of the sill where the wing bolts to was also rusted. This area had to be repaired and the new sill patch was welded to it.

Getting the panel correct was quite tricky due to the shape and here are a couple of shots of the progress of this. Eventually the top of the sill was recessed in and went under the original top of the sill:

After some fettling, it was eventually welded on and treated with POR-15 and also some resin for extra coating:

The whole area was then smoothed off with some metal-based filler, primed and painted with Stone Guard:

The inner wing area here was pretty bad, revealing several holes into the drivers footwell area that were patched up before the new end of sill was repaired.

The whole end of the sill area was then undersealed along with the rest of the inner wing:

n/s sill repair

2009-05-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

The front of the n/s sill was in poor condition. It appeared OK from first glance but it was rotted through and also patched with what appeared to be fibreglass at some point. It also had a patch welded on at the previous MOT:

The top of the sill where the wing bolts to was rusted but after a good rub down to clean metal, this area was rust treated.

All the completely flakey metal was removed to leave just solid metal. This was then rust treated to remove further rust so I had shiney metal to weld to:

As with the driver's inner wing there were some holes into the interior that needed to be patched once took back to good metal. This was done, and then the sill repair panels were welded in place. This took the form of two parts. One up to the jack point hole, and one to finish the remainder of the sill:

The end piece was then welded in, after a good coating of waxoil and rust remedy was sprayed into the sill. Then the whole repair was POR-15'd and coated in resin.

To get the repair nice and smooth some metal-based filler was used, then primed and POR-15'd again:

Then a good coating of waxoil all over the inner wing, including the end of the sill, and stone chip guard sprayed all along the sill:

Drain points were added at either end of the sill and the hole that should allow drainage into the sill was sealed as we dont want to invite water into the sills if we can avoid it!! The original design was to have a channel for water that went through this hole and out a hole at the bottom of the sill, but this just helps rust. The two holes at either end of the sill should allow water to escape if it does get in. The sill was waxoiled via the access holes that are inside the car (under the carpet trim) and along the bottom of the sills.

Some minor repair was also needed to the edge of the floor here. A flat metal piece was welded in here and sealed up, before covering in POR-15 and eventually underseal.

o/s front inner wing repair

2009-05-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

The only really bad area of the drivers inner wing was at the end of the sill and where the wheel arch meets the floor (just behind where the pedals are in the car). This is an image showing how the o/s inner arch looked once the wing was removed:

As part of the o/s sill repair, the small panel at the end of the sill was removed. There had already been a patch welded here at some point in the past - which had rotted through. This patch was removed, revealing two holes into the inside of the car!

The rest of the area here was treated and then two new bits of metal added in to recover these holes. You can see this int the picture below:

Once these holes were repaired, along with the o/s sill, a new end piece was welded in place.

Luckily, the rest of the inner wing was rust free. A small patch was welded at the front chassis leg, and also a minor piece was needed at the top of the wing where the outer wing is bolted on.

All box sections here were then treated with waxoil.

The newly welded panels were then treated and POR-15'd before coating with underseal:

Completed:

n/s front crossmember replacement

2009-05-22T05:01:00.000-07:00

One thing that was obvious when I purchased the car was the front crossmemember was completely corroded. The front bumper bolts onto here but as the crossmember didnt actually exist anymore, the bumper bracket was just hanging at the side of the car! not ideal, and the extent of rust was also an advisary on previous MOT's.

I decided to completely cut away the whole section as it was really too far gone to be able to weld onto good metal.

This is the extent of the rust here:

The whole thing was rotted, so it was cut off at the nearest piece of good, sound metal:

I then used the old front piece as a template to cut my own new part:

And this was welded on in the exact same place as the old one so the wing and bumper mounts will align:

I then continued to create the box section by adding a "floor". I also added an access point here in order for waxoil to be added:

Then, using the opposite side as a template, I welded two nuts onto the new metal in order for the bumper to bolt onto and this was welded in place:

Then after a small amount of shaping a curve at the end with the faithful angle grinder, I added the end piece to the new box section:

With this complete and smoothed and finished off, the whole area was POR-15'd. The front was primed and painted in the body colour for a OEM look.

UPDATE (09/05/09): Now the new front wing is fitted, I had the opportunity to fit the bumper bracket to the new crossmember. Fortunatly my measurements must have been spot on as the bumper bracket fits perfectly in the correct place for the bumper to bolt onto and be spaced from the side of the car:

n/s front inner wing repair

2009-05-22T04:47:00.000-07:00

The passenger side inner wing wasnt in good condition and appears to of never been removed from the car.

Once the wing was removed I could see the extent of the rust here:

So I began by grinding down the rust, treating, adding new metal where needed and priming:

A previous repair was cleaned up and then treated:

The box section at the rear of the wheel arch had several patches of bad rust. These were cut out and then new metal welded in place. The actual inside of this box section also contained quite a lot of dirt. This was all cleaned out prior to repair - the rust holes helping access!!

Then fully treated with POR-15:

The front of the inner arch was also badly rusted so I cut it all out in one go. This meant the airbox had to be removed from behind but also allowed me to gain access to the metal underneath this for further treatment:

Once a new patch was welded in place, the whole area was treated to a covering of POR-15, concluding the repairs needed to the inner wing.

The sill was then prepared to be fully undersealed using "Hammerite with Added Waxoil", brushed on:

Complete:

Front bumper

2009-05-07T04:57:00.000-07:00

The front bumper easily unbolted from the front of the car. The drivers side crossmember (as repaired in another post) was completely rotted away, so one side of the bumper wasnt even bolted on!

The front bumper had rusted very slightly on the corner of the chrome. this piece was replaced with a new chrome section. the whole bumper was dismantled into its parts, cleaned up, rust proofed and POR-15'd, then black hammerite. The bumper was then re-assembled with all new bolts and fixings and is now ready to bolt back onto the car when the rest of the frontend work is complete.

No Doubt your old bolts and screws are rusted. Mercedes do supply a kit for about £70 to replace these, however a similar kit that does the job perfectly can be found here for a fraction of the price:

MERCEDES R107 SL FRONT & REAR BUMPER BOLT REPAIR KIT

Before:

Parts ready to be treated and painted:

The underside of all the chrome, was treated with POR-15 to prevent any rust.

Stiffeners were POR-15'd and then a coating of Hammerite Smooth matt black:

The inside of the chrome was also treated and POR-15'd to prevent any new rust as these bumpers are a water trap. Then, it was ready for re-assembly:

Stiffeners bolted together:

Chrome added:

Chrome centre covering added:

The rubber is originally held on at each end with captive bolts. These were rusted so when I dismantled the bumper I carefully peeled the bolts from the rubber. This allowed me to buy large-headed bolts and re-insert them into the rubber as so:

The three sections of rubber trim were then clipped/bolted onto the bumper:

[PICTURE_TO_BE_ADDED!]

Then the bumper was ready to be bolted back onto the car. The two bumper brackets had to be bolted onto the front crossmember. The passenger side crossmember has been replaced so I had all my fingers and toes crossed that the new bracket would (a) fit through the hole in the new wing and (b) allow the bumper to align up correctly. Luckily all my measuring paid off and its fine:

Drivers wing - completed

2009-05-07T04:53:00.000-07:00

All the repair work now finished on the drivers wing. This includes fitting the side indicators as found on post 85 models.

pics:

Car started up after 2 months

2009-04-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

As I plan on starting the driver-side sill repair this week, I decided to move the car nearer the corner of my garage to allow more space on the drivers side for tools etc.

I re-connected the battery and the car fired up 1st time. I was very impressed!!

Restoring the headlamp Wash/Wipe system

2009-04-07T03:53:00.000-07:00

The unit is powered from a motor mounted inside the driver's wing. This pushes a rod through a metal channel that in turn moves each wiper. The whole lot was seized up on mine - probably for years.

This is how it looked siezed on my car:

I removed the whole unit from the car and went to test it with Red to Pos but the motor just appeared dead - no sound or anything. even if it was siezed i'd expect to hear something happening, so I decieded to dismantle the motor. To do this you need to remove all the bolts that hold the plastic cover on and then an addition two Torx-20 bolts to dismantle the motor itself.

I then completely dismantled the whole unit and cleaned up all the contacts and now the motor works! All the bits of metal have been rust treated and are now shining like new!

Some pics of how it was inside the mechanisms:

and after a degrease, some of the parts ready to be re-assembed (with new grease):

Once everything had been cleaned up and treated where necessary, the outer casings were primed and painted in satin black for a nice finish and then everything was re-attached to the car.

Re-assembing the motor part is relatively straight-forward if you've took it apart. Make sure you re-grease parts where needed. Also underseal may of covered the little holes in the motor casing that the nuts slide into in order for it to be bolted back together. i scratched my head over how they fitted back in for a while!!! scrape back the underseal and you will see a slot on each side of the motor casing.

Now, once the motor is back together and the earth is re-attached, along with the main (larger length) of cable attached, check it all moves correctly by connecting it direct to 12v.

Now you can attach the motor back onto the inner wing with the 3 bolts, and feed the wires back through the hole into the engine bay:

again using direct to 12v you can adjust the cable to the correct extreeme to attach the driver's side wiper "cog" unit. make sure you angle the cog correctly so the wiper will move in the correct direction. dont screw it onto the crossmember yet though, or clip the back plate on. put a bit of grease in before you slide the cog in place.

once you are happy with the position etc (by testing again with 12v) add the centre pipe section and screw into the drivers side cog unit. cover the cable in grease 1st though. its important you *almost* tighten it back up but enough for correct placement on the crossmember but still allow the units to turn/move in their placement for now.

add the smaller cable into the centre pipe now. cover it in grease 1st. mine was chewed up a bit on the very end so i made it *just* fit so there was actually extra amount at the passenger side. you may/may not need to do this. the cable is NLA so no option.

then push the cog in. this is where it all went wrong for me - i put it in wrong and couldnt get the cog back out and ended up breaking the centre section so had to remove it and weld it back together :(. all is well now though.

check again with 12v that everything is moving well.

now add the passenger side cog unit and screw into centre place (to ensure correct placement on crossmember).

add the end piece. because i had the extra cable here i cut the end off where it was previously sheard.

check again with 12v that everything is moving well, and the wipers are going to move in the correct direction.

now, fill/cover with grease and fix the backs on the three cog units. you have to make sure they clip into the little lips at the back. i found slightly bending the back and then pushing down did the trick.

screw onto crossmember. i used new screws.

tighten all the pipe ends with 13mm spanner.

put the rubber end bits back on and check operation again with 12v.

The wiper rubbers have also been replaced. All that is left to do is give the motor a coating of underseal for protection.

Completed pictures:

Finally, the motor waxoiled up and finished:

Drivers wing... Continued... (18th March 2009)

2009-04-07T03:01:00.000-07:00

Minor update. I've been patching up the wing. I've tackled the surface rust on the top of the passenger wing - grinding down to good metal (and removing/grinding off someone's previous poor attempt at welding new metal ontop of rust) and then a good coating of POR-15. This wing is still on the car and i'll tackle the rest of the rust once i've got the wing off.

the drivers wing is already off the car and i've cut two great big holes in the side of it - it was completely rotton around where the side trim bolts onto, so about 3" square section has been cut out of it and a new piece of metal welded into place. As its my 1st proper weld job on the car i'm pretty happy with the result now its sanded down. I plan on treating the whole repair patch to a thin coating of POR-15 on both sides and then a little thin layer of filler to even it all out, then it should be ready to paint. Luckily the amount i needed to cut out didnt go too much into the wheel arch curve.

After i've finished this, i have a few other small bits of metal to weld in where rot has been cut out and the wing will be rust free.

i'm amazed by the thickness of the genuine MB wing. Its about 1.6mm thick.

Pics of work in progress:

pics of the rot cut out:

new metal going in an treated, and coated with Por-15 ready for filling:

I was repairing the wings on the view i will replace with new wings at some point in the future - but after doing the work i'm hoping that the repairs should last well. They are genuine wings on there aswell so worth keeping vs pattern parts.

as you can probably see in the pics, i did use some glass fibre repairs on some small holes that had rusted through that were on curvy inner parts of the wing that would be hard to weld metal to and still keep the correct shape. I'm putting in new metal where i can though.

I plan on coating the whole of the inside of the wing with thick a underseal before putting back on the car. i also have obtained a pair of genuine Post-1985 wheel arch liners that should also protect the wings from the road grime.

Drivers wing removed (23rd Feb 2009)

2009-04-07T03:00:00.001-07:00

Drivers side wing removed.

Good news; 90% of it looks good under there. I'll be welding a little bit of metal onto the top of the inner wing where the wing bolts to as it looks like its been repaired before (quite well) but the new repair has rusted a little at the very top.

Bad news; when the wing was removed, I started poking around by the ends of the sills and my screwdriver went through! I plan to cut out the rot here and weld in new metal. after the jacking point, the sills look fine so i think the rust is only in this area.... again it appears its been repaired before with new metal to a decent standard but rust has started to kick in again.

The car as i bought it (14th January 2009)

2009-04-07T02:41:00.000-07:00

I've bought a R107.

I've always admired this particular model, mainly for its looks. Hopefully if its a good one it will stay in the family for a long time. I'm pretty sure it has the basics of a good, sound 107. It does need some TLC though.Its a 1985 model in Mercedes Signal Red with Pebble leather interior. Its an ex-SL Shop specialist car. The previous owner purchased it from them about 2 years ago. Previous to that, it was owned by a MOC member.Its had some structural work done on it for its last MOT, and has a mostly complete service history, with Mercedes dealers up to about 40k ago. Its done 170k now.Bodywork is pretty good, but comes with some rusty areas that need attending to. All should be easy enough to do.Interior has already had a full clean. All the carpet bar a few pieces have been removed and washed in the washing machine and the rest shampoo'd in situ. The leather has been cleaned with water, cleaned again with leather cleaner and then treated to some leather feed & conditioner. It has come out very well, although the drivers seat has the usual bolster wear and is a little saggy with age, but can live with it for now. Rest of the interior just required a clean up and maybe a few new screws into place.It comes with a hard top, the soft top is also in very good condition, a 1 cm nick in the side window parts on each side, fixed by some clear sealant. I've ordered some Hindsight plastic restorer to bring back the windows to a clean look.I need to replace a few wheel bolts that are the wrong type.Cruise Control only seems to work when it wants to. Sometimes its fine, sometimes it just doesnt work....Steering is spot on, but the steering wheel is not centred when going straight. The car doesnt pull. Previous owner says that the track rod ends need replacing and then it will centre.....? Tyres are all good.Mechanical wise, it requires a few tweaks; a good tune up. It takes a couple of tries to get started when really cold and need to hold the revs for a minuite or so to prevent it from stalling. No idea what this could be? Cold start valve or something? Once going it drives nice and straight.The next few months will see all the rust sorted and also mechanicals done ready for (hopefully!) some summer fun. Its a 2nd car to my W124 so will be used little. Behind the wheel it does feel a generation older than my W124, but i guess thats because it is. I doubt i could live with it as a daily car (may get used to it), but plan to only take it out in those nice days out.Just been clayed, T-cut and polished, along with a good interior clean.

Pics:

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