Boots and Boxes

Yesterday, the split boot kit for the rear axle came in. Hooray! Today I hauled it down to the shop. The shop owner told me he expected to have the car back in on the rack on Thursday, to put the tank back on, and he'd get the boot set up at that point.

I was hoping the car would still be up on the rack, as there was a bit in a photo that Doug (one of the Ponton group folks) noticed, and I wanted to take some better photos. Alas, the car is in the parking lot again. I'll just trip back down on Thursday, once it's back up on the rack, and take photos then.

But, this was an opportunity for another photo op. A few weeks ago, I bought a replacement heater box off eBay. It's a plastic reproduction, that came without any of the other attached hardware. One of the pieces that attaches is a plate on the rear end of the box - a piece that appears to be used to attach that end of the box to the car itself.

I had found some of the other hardware from the original, decomposed box - the flap assembly - but not this piece. I suspected this other piece was still on the car - and sure enough, there it is.

You can still make out some small bits of the original cardboard. The rivets and such attaching it to the body itself are tough to make out, due to the sheer amount of gunk and grime there. Yecch.

New Neighbor

Yesterday, on the Ponton group, one fellow posted a note re: a number of Pontons that showed up on eBay recently. Four of them, in various states of complete disrepair. The interesting thing was, they're down in Colorado Springs, about an hour south of me. And the fellow who posted the note shared his evaluation of them - he had gone and looked at them himself.

Seeing that there was someone else in this group in the general area, I dropped him an email. Turns out he lives in Pueblo, a bit farther south from Colorado Springs. But he's got a brother, living in the same town as I do - and said brother just bought ("just" as in that same day! ) one of these old Mercedes as well - a 1959 219.

I'm now in touch with this fellow, whose name is Ernie. Hopefully we will get together soon and compare cars, and quite possibly can help each other out.

His car appears to be in the same situation as mine - hasn't run in years, will need a lot of the same work done to it.

Rear end rubbery bits.

Yesterday I ordered a rear axle boot kit (a split boot, easy to go on, no major disassembly required). It should be here Monday. Plan is to get the shop to put it on before putting the gas tank back on - it's much easier access to that area without the tank.

Lots of other rubber bits in that are, the bushings along the thrust arms, pivot related pieces, etc. I've been poking about in an old dealer parts book (a PDF! How handy) and the website of this one parts supplier for older Mercs. Some bits I've found there, other bits, I'm not sure what to look for on their site. Everything is named a little differently.

One fellow on the Ponton Yahoo group suggested replacing all the rubber back there, which was my intention from the start - I'm now trying to see if there's a complete set of those rubber bits available somewhere in one kit. Have to see.

More photos - this time from underneath!

Just got home from the shop a little while ago. I tripped down to see what was what, and took my camera (well, forgot the camera the first time, went back for it - fortunately the shop is five minutes from home).

The tank is now off. There are bolts that are used to attach the metal lines to the tank itself - but these bolts are apparently frozen. So, they just clipped the metal lines themselves. Plan is to seal these back up once the tank is ready to go back in. Don't ask me how. Rubber bits around the outside are involved, I believe.

The frozen bolts.

Rubber hoses (clipped partway through, the remaining bits still on the car) for the vent/bleeder lines.

The inside of the tank. Nas-TY! :(

Speaking to my cousin today (who, oddly enough, called me while I was on my way back to the shop), I pressed him on just how long the car *had* sat... initially he told me "a couple of years"... that story has now been amended to "four or five years". Uh-HUH. :/

While the car is up on the rack, I took the opportunity to snap a lot of photos from beneath.

The rear axle boot. See that gap at the top? Yeah... not supposed to be there. :/

This is the source of that huge puddle of oil that magically appeared beneath the car - right below this area - just after the car was transported out here and warmed back up.

Rear differential, which is out of line. It should be ok to drive - mechanic tells me it'll make noise. But this is probably one of the first things I'll try and address once I have the car back in my garage.

Right rear wheel - both bushings are shot. Fifty year old car, what else would you expect?

Same with left rear wheel bushings.

Probably (and hopefully) the worst of the rust on the body. This is just below the driver's side door.

But, the front end is in good shape. My cousin some years back had some bits replaced and work done:

Left and right front wheels, from the rear.

Left and right front wheels, from the front.

A few more photos of various bits:

One of the first things I'll be doing is getting under the car and doing some basic cleanup... lots of gunky greasy residue all over the place.

Wednesday? Shyah!

Ok, so last week when my shop guy told me he expected to be done with the Merc by the following Wednesday - I was hopeful, but still skeptical.

Looks like skepticism wins!

His plan was to push the car into the shop this past Friday to pull the tank off. He's just now getting to that - Tuesday morning.

Apparently he's having some issues removing the fuel line - not a big surprise, it's likely been there for fifty-one years. I also asked him to take a look at the rear axle boot (on the advice of the Pontoneers), and indeed, it is shot. In fact, considering it's right over where that gigantic puddle of oil magically appeared the day after the car arrived and was able to warm back up in my garage... mystery solved. :D

So, today I order a new boot kit (a split boot, so it can be attached without disassembling anything) and possibly (likely) a new fuel line. Going to get them shipped semi-priority - not looking to wait another five weeks.

Considering the tank is just coming off today, it'll be a few days before it gets hauled to this other shop to be cleaned out, coated, and returned. I doubt I'll be seeing the car until next week now, if then.

Couple of new links.

I've added a pair of new links (look right) to some sites documenting, in various ways, other restorations of late-50s era Mercedes.

One is a photo gallery of a cabriolet (convertable) being restored by a shop here in Denver. The other is this Swedish fellow's website documenting his own restoration.

Neat stuff... lots of good photos!

Progress!

Today, the old girl is getting pushed into the shop! (Was supposed to be yesterday, but with the cold weather out, and the weight of these old cars, they shop guys needed more muscle to get it in than was available. Harrumph.)

They'll be taking the gas tank out, and having it taken to a shop in Denver to have the rust cleaned out, and a protective coating applied on the inside to prevent further rust.

I hemmed and hawed on the coating bit for a day or so. Reading some posts on the Ponton group on Yahoo, I heard some horror stories about these coatings getting eaten away by the ethanol in today's fuel supplies, and gooing up the fuel system. But my mechanic assures me that the stuff they use these days isn't as vulnerable to such failures. Plus, even after they clean the inside of the tank out of rust, apparently there's no 100% guarantee it's not going to come back. So I'm going to go ahead and have the coating done.

While the tank is off, it's also a fine time to look at replacing a rubber boot on the rear axle, as it's far more accessable without the tank in the way. I'm having my mechanic look at that boot, to see if it needs to go. The split boot replacement kits are under $40 and if I need one, I figure I can get one shipped to me fairly quickly - I've found two sources for'em so far.

The last bit is the carburetor rebuild. I don't know if this will happen while the tank is out or not. Regardless, my mechanic told me the other day he expected the car to be good to go (barring unforeseen issues) by this next Wednesday. That target may slip - he told me at that point he planned to pull the tank out on Thursday (yesterday). So we'll see. A day or two more won't make any difference, after five weeks. :/

Another part comes in

Found this offered on eBay a couple of weeks ago, and snatched it up. It's a replacement heater box for the old original decayed-cardboard unit. This one is made of molded plastic, which should - should - hold up just a wee bit better.

The small tube on the right end connects up to just in front of the passenger area. The left end, which is a large circular open area, connects up to some other hardware which connects to a scoop-like piece coming from the side of the front grill. I'll still have to find replacements for those pieces. Brand new bits from Mercedes-Benz for those bits run around $800 altogether! I'm hoping to find some used bits in good shape.

I'm also about to buy some window crank bits from another fellow. One of the window cranks is missing a knob. And I may well be picking up a replacement ignition key switch from someone as well.