Dutch 230 SL Pagode 1965 restoration project

[Tobi]

hallo eric,
i have no clue from where in the netherlands you are, but i'm in antwerp/belgium. so should you have any questions, i knwo the SL quite well - i had mine for more than 25 years and have seen a lot.

as a first advise, keep the cushin of the steering wheel in a very safe place - the new ones are not nice and not in line with the original look. if you have yours, keep it and just replace the artifisial leather with a new one.

the nwe ones don't have the outer chrome ring and a far rougher surface. the look is terrible....

i'll send you a p/n with my email. i speak dutch so ik kan wel in het nederlands helpen indien gewenst

 

[Tobi]

Leider sind meine Kenntnisse der deutschen Sprache nicht so gut.
Wenn es keine Einwände gibt, werde ich Kommentare zu den Fotos auf Englisch posten. Das ultimative Ziel ist so viele Fotos wie möglich ohne Text.
Here are the first pictures of my new project, the restoration of a Mercedes-Benz 230 SL Pagode from 1965.
It's imported from Texas, USA and I'm not sure yet but it seems it still has the original paint.
At least the engine is original.
Unfortunately the paint has already been sanded and many parts have been removed from the car, I bought the car like this.
It is already certain that I won't use the 30 years old tires any more.
But a nice surprise was that the soft top is in a good shape.

hi eric,

should you intent to keep the soft top - make it wet before bringing tension on it, it will help making it flexible and getting it back into shape. otherwise it may crack.

 

[EeVeeWee]

Hi Tobi,

Thank you for the tip of the soft top!
It's put in a cabinet and may stay there for a while before I can use it again. ;-)

 

[EeVeeWee]

Today I brought the Pagode to Germany, for complete blasting.

 

[EeVeeWee]

The renewal of the rubber parts of the rear axle seems sensible to me.

 

[Tobi]

Howdy
This is how the new cushion looks like. Copied from eBay. If you compare to your original I’m sure you prefer to restore rather than replacing it.
Cheers
Tobi

 

[EeVeeWee]

OK thank you! I will try to let it be renewed with the original leather indeed.

 

[EeVeeWee]

It gives a lot of satisfaction to make some parts shiny again.
But some parts really have to be renewed. ;D

 

[EeVeeWee]

Howdy
This is how the new cushion looks like. Copied from eBay. If you compare to your original I’m sure you prefer to restore rather than replacing it.
Cheers
Tobi

Unfortunately I think it's not easy te let the vinyl be renewed, it has a very difficult shape.

 

[mbzse]

Unfortunately I think it's not easy te let the leather be renewed

The Factory never had any leather cover on this steering wheel pad. Always MB Tex (vinyl)

 

[EeVeeWee]

I continued with disassembling of the front axle, a dirty job.

 

[EeVeeWee]

The steering wheel is partly finished.

 

[bradl]

Hi Eric,
looks very nice !
With a bit of own work you can make things done very well.
Which color and filler did you use here.
Remember there are some specials for Steeringwheels.

Go on
Greetings
Rudi

 

[EeVeeWee]

Hi Eric,
looks very nice !
With a bit of own work you can make things done very well.
Which color and filler did you use here.
Remember there are some specials for Steeringwheels.

Go on
Greetings
Rudi

After a lot of sanding, I filled the cracks with Milliput, that's an epoxy putty.
Then sanding in the right shape.
After spraying in the color (a found a color which came close to the original color, so no special), it's also sprayed in clear varnish.
My first impression is that it's not to smooth, it feels good.

 

[EeVeeWee]

The front axle is complete disassembled now.
I want to powder coat a lot of the parts.
Much cleaning has been done, but I still have to sort all the small parts.

 

[Sead]

Hello Eric,
can you make a drawing with dimensions of this part?

 

[EeVeeWee]

Hello Eric,
can you make a drawing with dimensions of this part?

I made several pictures of the part:

 

[EeVeeWee]

All these parts will get new chrome.
Still looking for some small chrome parts.

 

[EeVeeWee]

The parts of the front suspension have been powder coated and several new parts have arrived.
Finally I can build something.

 

[EeVeeWee]

The bolts, nuts and rings of the front suspension have been yellow passivated, what a difference!
I just started with rebuilding of the front suspension.