First thing is to remove the grille from the hood. It sticks down a bit on the front from the bottom area of the hood, so it's best it comes off and gets stored separately.
A shot of the inside of the hood. A fair number of screws/washers to come out. Note the big spring there - that's *not* original. It's what my father used at some point for the hood ornament star that sits atop the grille. Inside the piece that the ornament sits on is a small horizontal post, that a very small spring is attached to on one end, the other onto a similar post underneath the hood ornament. But, over the years, people stole the ornament off our car at least a couple of times - modus operandi is to pull the ornament up, exposing the spring, and clipping the spring, and running like hell. I imagine my father simply improvised with this spring that is incalculably larger.
A shot of the front of the hood, sans grille. Three clips across the top - into a baggie they go! You can also see the remnants of the rubber piece that covered the entire area between the hood and the grille. That's going on the need-to-acquire list.
Inside of the grille.
Unfortunately, about this time, my camera battery died and I was unable to take any photos of the hood being removed. It's a simple process as it turns out - just a matter of removing four large hex bolts, and the hood is free.
Here's one of the left side hood hinges (which will be coming off soon). The two mount holes are fairly obvious - one on the main mount, and the other on the bar that is laying down (which would be pointing in the other direction with the hood mounted).
A shot of the left side of the hood, with the mounting bolts screwed back in for the time being.
Not long after the hood was off, I got a call from Ernie, to see if this was a good time to come by and see my car. Ernie's the nearby neighbor who recently acquired a 219, very similar to my 220S. He's also a longtime Mercedes nut, and hence a wealth of experience and knowledge.
One thing I quizzed him on right away was that small fuse box from the other day - more specifically, the removal thereof. Turns out the post is much like a normal screw, and I just had to take a pair of pliers and work it out a quarter turn at a time. I was afraid to monkey with it too much for fear of breaking it, but I got it off.
I also asked him about some of the accompanying hardware to the heater boxes. One of the pieces I'm short on the right side, I had priced out at around $480! And I really had no idea why, until I learned (from Ernie) that there's a fan assembly inside that part. The illustrations I've seen don't really make that clear. So, now I have more to go on as far as digging around in the loose parts that my cousin kept - hopefully I can find that part. If not, hopefully I can acquire a used one in good shape. (And lo and behold, there's on on eBay and I have a bid in. We'll see what happens tomorrow when the auction ends.)
The other piece that I'm missing from that side is just a large rubber hose, connecting the aforementioned piece to the air intake from the front of the car, which you can see in the photo above, the two pieces on either side of the radiator, sloping upward. You can really get a good view of the semi-intact assembly on the right side vs. the completely missing assembly on the left!
I also inquired a bit about some hoses that seemed odd. It seems my cousin, when the right side heater box fell apart and he took it out, did (or had done) some rerouting of hoses, to basically take the right side heat exchanger out of the loop. I had assumed the left/right assemblies operated independently, but that's not the case.
And speaking of heater boxes...
I broke down and ordered a pair of the nice heater box reproductions that are out there. Costly, but these things are going to last a long while, and that's my goal - to rebuild this car so that it's sturdy and reliable, and will be on the road indefinitely. Seeing as one heater box was gone, and the other appears to be salvagable but not without a lot of effort - and would STILL be made of 50-year-old cardboard - I figure this was a prudent expense.
Another good thing out of Ernie's trip over - he told me he's getting ready to start fabricating some pieces that attach at the rear of the engine compartment. I asked him if he'd be willing to make a second set for me from the same pattern, and he seemed agreeable.
There was a discussion on this on the Ponton group not long ago, and folks were bemoaning a lack of a good template for this. I asked Ernie if, once he's done, if I could get the pattern he made, so I could work up a digital version that others could print out and use.
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