Restoration of my fin tail Mercedes Benz

[Xulfiqar]

In all pictures here I see that parts like hole plugs, control rods for doors wiper motor, subframe, steering gearbox etc etc are not removed neither covered up, the painter just sprayed over them... If I were owning this car I would have chewed his head off (realistically I would have the car rolling on dollies with every little bit removed and mapped in giant books

[VEEeight]

Woah! Very nice!

Yes, my Beetle has been restored actually.

Lovely Beetle you have there, mA. If possible can you make a separate thread for it, if you don't mind.

Glad u like it. On this car the resto' was started in summer 2010. I have some pictures, will dig them out and then see if its worth the thread In the meantime here are a couple of pics from the ones that I DO have!

[VEEeight]

In all pictures here I see that parts like hole plugs, control rods for doors wiper motor, subframe, steering gearbox etc etc are not removed neither covered up, the painter just sprayed over them... If I were owning this car I would have chewed his head off (realistically I would have the car rolling on dollies with every little bit removed and mapped in giant books

Thankyou for your observations of which have taken note. The fault lies with me for not giving attention to these details as was running out of patience a bit at the time! Hopefully as the rebuild progresses and detailing gets factored in, these omissions will be rectified. Thanks again for pointing this out

[VEEeight]

Dear Murtaza, these are about the only pictures I have of this particular restoration I wasn't too particular about documentation in those days. This car has a very very special place in my collection as I was 12 years old when I first sat in it! Am now 56........

[VEEeight]

And here are a few more but that's about it am afraid

[Xulfiqar]

For this Benz tell your painter to sand the filler/primer on the sides of the car with ONE large item, it makes the car shine even, in the VW pictures you can see that the door edge has a rounded profile as the reflection of the sidewalk converges in then out.

To do this - you either need a pro grade car sanding pad which is made of very soft malleable rubber to adhere to the shape of the body, or make some wooden ones that match the exact contours of the car. A very old timer painter showed me this.

[VEEeight]

For this Benz tell your painter to sand the filler/primer on the sides of the car with ONE large item, it makes the car shine even, in the VW pictures you can see that the door edge has a rounded profile as the reflection of the sidewalk converges in then out.

To do this - you either need a pro grade car sanding pad which is made of very soft malleable rubber to adhere to the shape of the body, or make some wooden ones that match the exact contours of the car. A very old timer painter showed me this.

thats a good tip. Will do. Thanks

[VEEeight]

Excuse the pic going wonky ! The engine has been positioned in its compartment. Next the gearbox will be coupled so that engine mounts, brackets etc can b fabricated. During all this a mason's leveler will b the most important tool !!

[Xulfiqar]

make absolute sure the driveshaft remains as straight as possible and if you shorten it then get it balanced as one piece and install new end bushes in them (they take a teaspoon of grease too).

There are many cases of MB driveshafts ripping apart the floor due to imbalance.

[VEEeight]

make absolute sure the driveshaft remains as straight as possible and if you shorten it then get it balanced as one piece and install new end bushes in them (they take a teaspoon of grease too).

There are many cases of MB driveshafts ripping apart the floor due to imbalance.

yes tell me about that! Somewhere there is a 116 from the bad old days of diesel convversions with a " redesigned" floor pan because of a shaft that was not only at an angle, it was 'out of true' as well ! When I got it upto some sort of speed (eventually!) the vibration suddenly "stopped" . Was lucky the damn car didn't pivot on that shaft!

In this particular case, it loks as if the shaft will almost certainly have to be shortened, balanced and will be in one piece because the gearbox is significantly longer.

[Xulfiqar]

you cannot run a one piece shaft in the benz as it uses guibos (flexdiscs) on either end, The center carrier bearing is a must, what is recommended is that you have the entire shaft balanced running as ONE PIECE, not in two separate pieces. Dont forget to only tighten the gland nut after the shaft is installed to the car and made sure the angles are not too great.

You can use some shims to lower the bearing carrier as required.

[VEEeight]

you cannot run a one piece shaft in the benz as it uses guibos (flexdiscs) on either end, The center carrier bearing is a must, what is recommended is that you have the entire shaft balanced running as ONE PIECE, not in two separate pieces. Dont forget to only tighten the gland nut after the shaft is installed to the car and made sure the angles are not too great.

You can use some shims to lower the bearing carrier as required.

Ok. Will let u know how this particular issue works out. Thanks for all the interest you are taking

[VEEeight]

you cannot run a one piece shaft in the benz as it uses guibos (flexdiscs) on either end, The center carrier bearing is a must, what is recommended is that you have the entire shaft balanced running as ONE PIECE, not in two separate pieces. Dont forget to only tighten the gland nut after the shaft is installed to the car and made sure the angles are not too great.

You can use some shims to lower the bearing carrier as required.

My mech had a good laugh as he confirmed what u said ! Am aware of the "chhutt" bearing in this set up and this is how it has to be. And yes, the shaft will b balanced as one piece. Right now the issue is to get the manifold pipes past the steering box......

i now constantly ques my sanity

[VEEeight]

Again apologies for the pictures having turned anti clockwise by 90deg The engine and transmission have been installed. The new steering box ( to give the car power steering) is in place also. The manifold for the rear 3 cylinders will have to be refabricated for the exhaust pipe to get past the box. About 2 inches of space has to be carved out to prevent the exhaust from falling foul of the box and also to easily enable removal of either in future.
The second inverted pic is showing the neutral level of the engine after final fitting. So far so good...........

[VEEeight]

Work is progressing slowly but surely. The new manifold has almost been fabricated. The line of the engine, transmission and prop shaft has also been set. Next job is fitting the new servo and brake cylinder. The steering box is already in place. Then the radiator (one from the T3500 Mazda engine is the best fit). It's a 3 core one so shoud be upto keeping the engine cool. The ECU will be housed inside the car in the left footwell. The main cable passed easily thru a conveniently paced hole in the firewall. All being well, should be firing up the engine early next week and once the exhaust is completed, the old Fintail will go back to the paint shop under its own power......otherwise it ain't going anywhere:)

[Xulfiqar]

your exhaust guy needs a few classes in fabrication, The picture below shows an original exhaust manifold from a W201 2.3 cosworth RHD, it also has a worm style steering box like your car.

For neat and clean brake booster setup - source a remote booster system, it uses 1 main cylinder that works the master cylinder on the booster which then supplies hydraulic pressure to the wheels. It was found in older cars - speak to a few old time mechanics and they might even have one in their scrap pile.

[VEEeight]

your exhaust guy needs a few classes in fabrication, The picture below shows an original exhaust manifold from a W201 2.3 cosworth RHD, it also has a worm style steering box like your car.

For neat and clean brake booster setup - source a remote booster system, it uses 1 main cylinder that works the master cylinder on the booster which then supplies hydraulic pressure to the wheels. It was found in older cars - speak to a few old time mechanics and they might even have one in their scrap pile.

Hello again. Will show this to the guy. The manifold out of the cosworth is for a 4 cyl. At this stage the fabrication is very crude and will get refined. Oddly space is quite an issue and the best option was the one taken up.......to keep the main body of it as straight as possible. However, the brake booster is not an issue, in fact am using a bigger one, as will probably have to upgrade the calipers for more stopping power. Another concern is the back axle, whether it will be able to handle the increase in power from 100bhp to arnd 220. Am not too happy with the power delivery to the wheels on the 109 and in the case of that car, the power has gone up from 200bhp of the original 3.5 to 265bhp with the 1UZ. To be fair tho, it cruises beautifully! Any input on this point would also be much appreciated

[Xulfiqar]

you can make two separate headers for 3 cylinders each, then merge the pipes under the car. A good fabricator can make it easily.

[VEEeight]

you can make two separate headers for 3 cylinders each, then merge the pipes under the car. A good fabricator can make it easily.

Doesn't that assume that the gap between each cylinder on the 4 pot merc engine would be the same as on this one? Or is there some sort of standardization?
you can see the variation in gap in the picture.

[Xulfiqar]

the above picture was to give you an idea of what can be done, the two manifolds of 3 each are pretty easy for a fabricator. One for cylinders 123 and one for 456.