My R107 500 SL Refurb

[mct_cars]

I thought I'd share some of the work I've done so far on the SL.

I bought the car as a daily driver. I was bored of modern cars that I couldn't tinker with, so wanted something that while strucutrally sound, could be improved.

So it started.......

Jet wash of the engine bay using Bilt Hamber HD Cleanse to get rid of years of grime.

I removed teh water bottle as it was full of black slime, and the headlight washers weren't working. After a good clean, it came up good, and the washers were fixed with a new pump.

I also replaced all of the yellowed tubing for the washer system with new black tubing. I also replaced a headted washer jet, as at some point it had lost one.

 

[trapperjohn]

Did you use anything special on the washer bottle or was it good old fashioned hard work.

 

[mct_cars]

As the front bumper had to come off to renew the washer tubing, I figured I'd also strip and treat it - there was no rust showing but after reading many threads on these rusting from the inside out, I figured I'd do some preventative maintenance.

The front wasn't much of an issue, although some of the smaller bolts were difficult to get out....... so I also decided to do the same with the rear. What a pig of a job. I recon it was time well spent though - I think I just caught it in time.

This was the worst section by far - none of this was showing while on the car. Mercifully, the inside had been waxoyled, so the only rust was a slight amount between the right hand side and mid sections.

Once stripped, the interior stiffners were treated with black hammerite, the undersides of the chromes were wire brushed (they had some very light surface corrosion on the backs), and painted with zinc primer. The centre section of the front bumper (a much thinner stiffner that keeps the rubber in place behind the number plate) was replaced with new.

Before putting back together, all of the rust was treated and primed, and everything unseen was also covered in waxoyl, and a new set of bolts (thanks Silversaloon) was used with plenty of copperslip.

The engineering in these things is unbelievable!

 

[mct_cars]

Did you use anything special on the washer bottle or was it good old fashioned hard work.

The inside was pressure washed, then a bottle brush and a sponge to get into the corners. Very fiddly! The outside was cleaned up with Bilt Hamber HD Cleanse.

 

[trapperjohn]

Looking forward to your updates and seeing it on the road.

Thanks for the info on the bottle cleaning.

 

[mct_cars]

So the front and rear bumpers are off the car, and underneath is looking pretty good.

Little bit of surfance rust on the inner cowl, but nothing behind the front

And the rear was pretty much as new

so I figured "result", lets have a look beneath those side trims, and lets uncover the patch of rust I know is on the sill beneath the passenger door hinge.

Also a bit on the passnger front wing base

and the rear passenger arch

The rear on the drivers side looked a little worse and needed more investigation

And the front drivers wing looked like someone had tried to remove the trim without actually knowing how to, causing a bit of rust in the process

There was also a bit on the drivers side front wing where it meets the bottom spoiler.

All in all though, pretty much as I expected from when I bought the car. I had figured in the price to spray the bottom half of the car from the rubber side trims downwards....... so into my garage it went.

TBC.

 

[mct_cars]

So into the garage it went.

Front sill and wing was stripped further back, and the rust sanded back and treated. The sill rust was superficial - not coming from the inside which was a result!

The stripping of the front wing revealed some very small hole sat the bottom. After the plastic arch liners were remove, I discovered that the insides of the wings had been covered in waxoyl so were in really good, rust free nick. At this point I decided to not replace the wing, just repair.

The drivers side front wing had this tiny patch of rust in the same place, so not much to do.

The rust on the front portion of this wing turned out to be nothing much either.

Once in the garage, a small amount was also found on the passenger front

The worrying patch of rust on the drivers side rear arch turned out to be nothing much either - but I recon just caught in time!

Any further spots on the sills were cleaned up - like these couple of pieces and a clean up around the jacking point to see if it was sound

I also found this little section starting on the drivers arch - after seeing what Silversaloon did to his, this was definately caught in time!

So after everything was cured, prep'd and filled, a liberal coating of zinc primer was applied.

I then got a quote from a trusted body shop for the paintwork, and he came up with an interesting quandry

TBC

 

[mct_cars]

So the bodyshop basically gave me a price I couldn't refuse to paint the whole car instead of just the lower third. This was appealing as I could also get rid of some annoying dings, and a poor repair to the top of the drivers side wing.

So the rest of the car was stripped.... all of the rubber and chrome came off the car - the only thing not removed was the winsdcreen, although all of the aluminium trim surrounding it was removed.

A couple of bits were treated at this point - aerial hole

Both sides of the tonneu cover had "cracked" paint where the roof sits.

On removing the front lights, some more tinworm was found behind both headlights. This was sorted too.

All the little bits and pieces were removed ready for a better masking job.

So off it went to the bodyshop to get painted. The masking tape was to show any dings, althought the bodyshop spotted about twice the amount I did!

The lights and handles are only in temporarily at this point..

And off she went.......

 

[mct_cars]

And back from the bodyshop.

So now begins the fun part of putting it all back together.....

 

[mct_cars]

I recon to get to this point was about 100 hours - 65 taking apart, fixing rust, cleaning etc, and then another 35 putting it back together and waxotling the life into it.

New seals, screws and parts were used as and where necessary - I could see the parts guys at Newcastle Mercedes weep every time I walked in the door with another list!

But hopefully all worth it!

So there we are.

The whole point of all of this work was to make sure the car was sound for a few years to come - the car is my daily driver, not a garage queen, so I wasn't after making ti perfect - just the best it could be within a reasonable budget!

 

[mattc]

That looks great now. Good on you for using it as a daily too. A lot of commuters are going to wish they were in your car rather than their own euro box

 

[mct_cars]

Cheers Matt. One of the great things about this car is the speed the heater warms up - within a mile you have warm air, which is usefull when the mercury plummets (and the heated seats help too!)

 

[mattc]

Cheers Matt. One of the great things about this car is the speed the heater warms up - within a mile you have warm air, which is usefull when the mercury plummets (and the heated seats help too!)

Big petrol engines do produce a lot of 'waste' heat from the off which as you say is nice on cold days. Is the car garages overnight or on the drive? Is condensation a problem?

 

[GordonTarling]

Looks great!

 

[mct_cars]

On the drive - the garage has too much other stuff in it!

Not had a problem with condensation but there were a couple of leaks when I first got it (the leaks wouldn't have been an issue for the previous owner as the car was always garaged). New seals stopped all that and the fact that it's used regularly helps it keep dry inside.

 

[mattc]

Do you mind me asking what you have spent on it all in. Clearly your time is the expensive ingredient in all this.

 

[mct_cars]

Just for the refurb.... £1.5k

I guess my time would be around £4k at a bodyshop.

The paint was £1k with me doing all of the stripping / prepparing and the bodyshop doing the final filling, prep and paint. The parts list for the bits and pieces and new seals etc. runs into 100's of seperate parts with a total cost of £500. The parts ranged from 5p to £25 or so.

I've done a few more bits to it also that I'll update here when I get the pics done.

 

[mct_cars]

Oh, and there are 3 small changes to the original spec - points given for anyone who can spot them!

 

[mattc]

Apologies if this seems rude, what did the base car cost you? all the forum advice always seems to be buy the best rather than doing one up (hidden problems and all that). I am intrigued about the total cost.

Don't see any headlight washers now. We're they deleted?

 

[mct_cars]

Car cost £9.5k. Don't get me wrong, the base car was sound, and it didn't NEED the work done, but I figured do it now and use it rather than in 5 years or so.

You definately need to buy on condition - believe me, the small rust patches on this are nothing compared to how much these can go.

I looked at quite a few before buying this (from a forum member), and the difference on what people think is a good car, and what is a good car are very different. I was looking around the £10k mark for the best I could find - mileage wasn't important as I don't do a lot myself, but service history and provinance was essential along with sound bodywork. Also, I was looking for a post 86 car with a light interior. Red, Black or Dark Metallic were my favourite choices, but I would have considered others.

You wouldn't believe how many I looked at around that price that were rusty wrecks, and how many had "full service history" only to get there and find a service book, a couple of recent bills and nothing else.


...and yes, headlight wipers didn't go back on. I took the mechanism and motor off to refurb them (they worked, but slowly) and a) haven't got round to it, and b) like the clean look without.