My New Toy Arrived Home

[daveenty]

Thank you Mr hoochini, must admit I like it myself.

Couple of under the bonnet piccies for Will: -

It's had a very quick wipe down, and is looking better for it, though I know that it will look pretty good once I get a bit more time. Unfortunately I'm not as active as I once was so may have to compromise on certain bits.

 

[grober]

Ah -the days you actually saw an engine under the bonnet and not a bit of black plastic moulding.

 

[daveenty]

Quick bump as I've eventually got the agreed valuation thing with the insurance sorted out this morning after nearly four weeks. The long delay seemed to be that they were cross referencing the standard model of the 190E (2.0, 2.6 etc) even though it is correctly insured with them as the 2.5-16, so consequently they were coming up with low figures and couldn't get near my suggested one.

They asked me to send them countless pictures taken from all angles, including under bonnet, mileage, all four corners, back and front and interior I even sent them a couple of pictures of the underside so that they can see that it's not some rot box and it is getting looked after. They've now confirmed an agreed valuation of £17,000 which, considering I'm only paying £146 p/a I'm quite happy with.

It's booked in to have a couple of scabs on the rear quarters sorted out in the next few weeks. Nothing major but something which needs doing before they start spreading. My body guy, who I've known for years and trust implicitly, reckons that the hardest part will be dropping the rear bumper and skirts as the clips will probably all need replacing, though I've made him aware that's his problem and not mine.

Nothing else done to it apart from continuing cleaning it up underneath and on top, getting it ready for PCS next May.

 

[oldguy57]

Ah but where's your other new toy?

 

[daveenty]

Ah but where's your other new toy?

On it's way Peter.

A bit of cleaning over the last couple of days, years of accumulated crud coming off very slowly: -

 

[grober]

Nice detail on the shock absorber for the poly V belt tensioner and the one for the steering also.

 

[daveenty]

They both look pretty much new Graeme, as does the drag link the steering damper is connected to, though the idler and TRE's all look to be unmolested, yet with no noticeable play. I'll check them out further when I whip them off for painting just to make sure.

Most things have been lagged in a mixture of muck and old engine oil, which I'm convinced has gone a long way towards preservation, though it takes some cleaning off to find out what it's like underneath it all.

 

[MB-Graham]

Lovely looking car, congratulations.

 

[daveenty]

Decided to have another little play today so whipped a front wheel off and decided to clean under the arch. And around the strut mount. What was supposed to be a twenty minute job turned into over three hours but hopefully worth it.

All this lot was black before, full of dust, old oil and road grime.: -

 

[merc85]

Those springs would polish up a treat Looking smart Sir

 

[daveenty]

Springs will be coming off to get painted Gavin.

Too many rust spots on them to polish, so a quick rub down and then a coat or two of black gloss.

 

[daveenty]

A quick Bank Holiday update as I have a bit of time.

After speaking with Stef Mazzoni at Merparts, it was decided that a sensible thing would be to change all the fluid levels as the car had not really moved for a good length of time. The Mazzoni brothers were the people who did most of the work on the car, and are the recognised experts on these models. Stef remembered it instantly, which I hope is a good thing.

I have records of the transmission and engine oils being replaced, though nothing on the rear end, so this was a logical place to start. The plugs were tight, compounded by the fact that the exhaust is in the way of the drain plug, though they eventually yielded to pressure and came out. The oil which came out was absolutely disgusting, really black and gloopy, so before I filled it I gave it a quick flush through with some thinner stuff to try to clean it out a bit. It seems to have worked as the car still drives nicely but the very slight whine (possibly enhanced by me listening for it) now seems to have disappeared.

The transmission oil and filter were also replaced just as a precaution, and the engine will be done as soon as I pick the oil up later this week. I was going to do the brake fluid as well, though may leave this for another year as it was done in 2015 and has done less than 1,000 miles since then. Yes, I know it's hygroscopic but how much water can get into a sealed system when it's not being used?

As for the fuel filter, it looks brand new, as do all the lines, so I'll leave that alone as well for a while.

I'll try to finish the front suspension off cosmetically next weekend, and it then goes in to have a bit of bodywork done in a couple of weeks, so I should have a good idea of what I'm up against.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Damn you Davie. I clicked on this thread expecting to see your other new toy. Got me all excited for a minute.

 

[WDB124066]

How - what did you clean it with Dave - not to make a mess...?

The lift at home looks especially handy.

 

[daveenty]

Damn you Davie. I clicked on this thread expecting to see your other new toy. Got me all excited for a minute.

Maybe later this week Ant.

How - what did you clean it with Dave - not to make a mess...?

I'm assuming you mean underneath the car/arches etc? Mainly old and cheap microfibre cloths, as dry as I could keep them. Each time I came to an oily/sticky bit, and there were a lot of these, I used a combination of WD40 and a little domestic steam cleaner. Remember those things that the various shopping channels used to always advertise and nobody ever bought? I did.

It's taken hours so far though it's quite satisfying as you can see how things are progressing and when you get fed up with the same view, just move to another area.

The lift at home looks especially handy.

I've no idea how I ever managed without it to be honest.

 

[WDB124066]

Sounds like an interesting technique & getting good results. Any chance of a piccie or two of the machinery in action...

 

[daveenty]

Just took the car in for some paint this morning. Painter opens at 06.00 which is handy really.

Just a couple of small scabs on the rear quarters but I want them sorting out before they get any worse. He reckons the worst job will be removing the bumper and the rear "Sacco" panels so hopefully he's right there. I've also asked him to have a good look round for anything else untoward and sort it if necessary, either with paint or (hopefully) polish.

The offending item (This is the worse side): -



I know it's not much really but I know it's there now and want to get the car looking it's best.

 

[John]

Just took the car in for some paint this morning. Painter opens at 06.00 which is handy really.

Just a couple of small scabs on the rear quarters but I want them sorting out before they get any worse. He reckons the worst job will be removing the bumper and the rear "Sacco" panels so hopefully he's right there. I've also asked him to have a good look round for anything else untoward and sort it if necessary, either with paint or (hopefully) polish.

I had something similar on the rear OS door of my E55. My body people used rust-eating stuff and managed to grind it all away and fill it (although they don't do rust for regular customers). It never did anything in the subsequent year so it should be consigned to history hopefully!

 

[daveenty]

Bit of an update as I've been a bit busy of late so not really had a lot of time for my baby 190.

I've not done much with it apart from cleaning though, whilst underneath, noticed that the cast alloy sump had a hairline crack in it. There was hardly any oil about, basically a slight drip which could have come from anywhere though, as I'm trying for reliability as well as it looking good, I thought I'd look into it a bit more. I initially thought about having it welded but everyone I spoke to put me off this as the quality of alloy is poor, plus the fact it's bound to be soaked in oil so contaminated. I cleaned it all off, after draining it for a couple of days, and put some J B Weld on it, though everytime I looked at it it concerned me. The "what if" syndrome I suppose.

Eventually I managed to find a good s/h one in Germany so bought it and got a local guy to fit it as my arm still doesn't work properly, especially over head height. As he's an MB specialist, I asked him to check everything over while he had it in and it came back with a glowing report with little or no problems. The worst he found was a bit of rust at the front of the inner wings, though this was in hand anyway, his report has just moved me closer to getting round to doing it.

Got the bumper off today just to make life easier for myself and give me some room. They're a doddle to remove, or would be if someone hadn't used practically a full roll of double sided tape on the number plate. This had to be removed to undo the screw which holds the ambient temp sensor on, and took longer than it did to unbolt the bumper. Apart from that, all plain sailing really. The only problem I can see is once I've treated the rust, which is only minor scabbing, do I paint it black or try to get some red to match the car? As it won't show I'm tempted to go with black though, due to me being constantly aware of it, I know I'll end up painting it to match, especially as I have a bit of the correct colour somewhere.

A few pics of what's been done so far today.

These are the rust spots which aren't too bad for a 28 year old car: -



The state of the side retaining bolts and spacers wasn't as pretty: -



Though after a quick blasting they came up reasonable: -




Still badly pitted but hopefully a couple of coats of decent quality paint should sort them out as long as I remember to use a decent socket on the 10mm side ones and not a 12 point one.

 

[grober]

Those "behind headlamp"/ inner wing water traps are as bad on the W124 ---I assume water gets in from the front / underside and settles there out of the engine compartment airflow [ which might otherwise dry it off] to do its worst.