Repainting my 6.9

[Styria]

Some of you would be familiar with various facets of ownership I have experienced with "Gleaming Beauty", and they were aware that sooner, and not later, the car would be in serious need for some rust repairs and repainting.

To the uninitiated, the car looked fine from a distance, but I knew better and I had planned for some time to carry out the work myself with the help of Parks (my son) or entrust the work to Michel's body man Jerry. In the end I decided that Jerry was the man for me, and to be truthful, it has turned out to be the perfect choice. The job was done quickly, efficiently and to a high standard - one can't ask for much better than that. Pictures and references to follow - most of the work will be illustrated in the Technical Section as shown on the home page of 'topklasse'. I hope that this will be of interest to fellow forum members. Regards Styria

See herehttp://www.topklasse.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2444

 

[260ebenz]

Great news Michael all the best with the respraying project with GB.

BTW the link did not work.

Cheers Slim.

 

[Michel]

BTW the link did not work.
Cheers Slim.

There's the Link Slim....

http://www.topklasse.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2444

 

[BenzBoy]

An entrant for the MBCNSW Concours 2011?
Regards,
Benz-Boy

 

[Tony66_au]

Always nice to see a progress thread with piccies!

 

[260ebenz]

There's the Link Slim....

http://www.topklasse.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2444

Cheers Michel.

Styria piccies of the GB respray project coming along beautifully all the best with the project.

The GB respray project repairs are being carried out at Prestons my 260E came from Prestons from the previous owners small World hey!

Slim.

 

[SEL_69L]

I bought my 6.9 off a guy in the Prestons area about 10 years ago!

 

[Styria]

An entrant for the MBCNSW Concours 2011?
Regards,
Benz-Boy

Hi BenzBoy, I have been there, and done that, many years ago. There's just absolutely no chance that I would want to have 'Gleaming Beauty" judged as she is my everyday transport and quite honestly the competition would just be too hot to handle. No, as long as I have pride in owning her, that deal is good enough for me.

 

[Michel]

Nice job, if I may say so myself..

 

[SELfor50]

Looking good mate. Will look great once it's all finished.

 

[Styria]

Not much to report as I have not really carried out much further work to re-assemble the car. Well, I do say "not much further work", but whatever I have done, has been extremely time consuming - and it just never seems to end !

So, what have I done ? Well, I am paranoid about rust, and I am determined 'to beat the enemy'. To this end, I have purchased one litre of POR 15 at just short of $90.00 (ouch !), and four liters, yes four, of Fish Oil. The POR 15 gives you good coverage areawise, but treat it with the utmost respect. Keep it off your hands (which of course I didn't do - one never learns) as it will take many days to get it off your skin. Also, do not let it dry on your bodywork as only "Nothing" will move it. It dries to a ceramic like substance, ready to be chiselled off.

I'll have to check to see what pics, if any, I have posted on Jerry's rust repair work. Needless to say, there were a number of body areas that needed welding (do not use brass rods as nothing will stick to brass in the long term) and as you would know, I replaced all four doors, and also the two front guards. The guards proved almost impossible to remove and, to all intents and purposes, they were destroyed and disposed of. The culprit there is the foam seal along the top edge that just did not want to let go. They were the big "anti-rust" measures I took to prevent a repeat for at least a few years. However, there are other rust areas that are not always that readily visible unless you start removing various body rubbers (screens, boot, doors of course) and it is those areas I decided to treat with POR 15. Those areas were the various channels that accomodate the sealing rubbers, and also areas around the bottoms of the screens.

Front Screen......and then top edges of boot rubber channel...





This next area is very important. The boot rubber can hide the rust like you wouldn't believe, and also the rear lens bodies will hide rust - hopefully, with the POR 15 having been brushed in, it should take years for rust to reappear.



Regards Styria

 

[260ebenz]

Slowly but surely the GB respray project is coming along Styria all the best with the project and look forward to seeing the end results myself at a Club event sometime soon.

Cheers Tim.

 

[Lukas]

Re the boot seal and taillight areas - I agree, the blue 6.9 had rust there more than anywhere. My approach was simply to sand / dremmel, then drown in rust converter (hoping that stuff works), and then simply paint with primer in anticipation of one day getting the whole car resprayed.

I notice though Styria that you've not touched the tops of the tail light openings? I had rust there too. The replacement foam seals there were not cheap either - over $100 a pop.

 

[Styria]

Hi Lukas, I am actually under the impression that some short years ago the taillight rubber seals sold for in excess of $160.00 each - at least. Regarding the POR 15, it is a difficult product to use neatly and without causing just that much more additional work if the flow is not controlled correctly.

Thus, I decided not to POR 15 the upper sections. They hadn't been rusty in the first place, possibly due to extra paint I had put on years ago. The rust problems were mainly in the channels that secure the rubbers. One item (amongst many) that needed attention were in fact the rubber seals for the rear lights. Now I am not a great friend of Sikkaflex as it is supposed to promote rust. In addition, if it is applied to any surface, and in this instance the rubber seals, and if they are refitted "wet", you will never remove them at future times without causing damage or breakage. Thus, I decided to apply the Sikkaflex to the rubber and let it cure for two days, to form into a rubber like substance. I am hoping that removal should, or ought to be, straight forward at future times.

Another area that I spent quite some time on was the sparewheel area, and the two wheel wells. Very little rust there as I had already eliminated some rust about two to three years ago, but there were some signs of a couple of rust spots in the wheel wells and one spot in the spares section. I gave those rust spots a thorough scrubbing, applied oodles of rust converter, and painted as much of the boot as possible on two occasions.



I figure that should just about take care of any rust for quite some time. Regards Styria

 

[BenzBoy]

Hang Mr S. Have you used the POR15 after the body was painted or before?
Regards,
Benz-Boy

 

[Styria]

Hang Mr S. Have you used the POR15 after the body was painted or before?
Regards,
Benz-Boy

Afterwards - that is the precise reason why one needs to exercise the utmost care when using it. With all the rust repairs that were carried out, those repair sections had to be prepared and finished for the final coats of paint and clear. I understand that one can apply paint over POR 15 once it is cured, but few would want to take the chance on the paint 'blowing up' - I certainly could not have expected Jerry to accept responsibility for any paint defects afterwards. Regards Styria

 

[motec 6.9]

Hi Styria i have recently bought new tail light rubbers from mb spares in Canberra and from memory they were about $100 i will look at my receit to confirm for you i also bought boot seal and door rubbers total cost was just over a $1000 for when i get into gear and start the paint job on my car

 

[Styria]

Hi Styria i have recently bought new tail light rubbers from mb spares in Canberra and from memory they were about $100 i will look at my receit to confirm for you i also bought boot seal and door rubbers total cost was just over a $1000 for when i get into gear and start the paint job on my car

Hi Motec 6.9 - luckily enough, most of my rubber items were, or are, in quite good condition and I was therefore able to re-use them. Naturally, when one has to keep an eye on the amount of dollars in the hip pocket, restoration and refurbishment can be just that little bit more trying and time consuming. It would be nice to just get outthere and say "yes, I'll have this, I'll have that' but I have to keep a careful eye on my expenditure. It will be good to see your car one day - ALL DONE ! Regards Styria

 

[motec 6.9]

hi styria my problem is that i just say i will have this and that and dont think things through untill someone looks at receits but such is life as you know i am in the position where due to work comitments i tend to spend long periods away from home at the moment which i am finding to be frustrating as i am not able to spend as much time on my car as i would like but work is still going ahead slowly but if i thought i was going to spend this much i probably would have just bought a better car

 

[Tony66_au]

Restoring cars is often more about the journey than the destination Motec and Ive found myself wondering why I started on a resto many a time.

The trick is to treat the finished product as yet another journey, and go for a long drive with a handfull of good music.

Or sell it.