Restoration - Day 4

Day 4 - Restoration (22.01.17)

Day 4 and I am really getting to see some of Leif's secrets.  My aim for the day was to loosen all fixings for the rear tub, and I am glad to say that I achieved that, but it took a lot longer than expected, with a few hurdles along the way.

In order to remove the tub, the B-pillars first had to be removed. To do this I had to remove the repair panel that had been added to the passenger side of the tub.  I was really interested to see what the panel was covering and after a lot of drilling of rivets, and grinding of body filler to expose those rivets, the result was somewhat anti-climatic with only a few holes in the original skin; presumably caused by rot due to the water tank behind.  The effort taken to fit the new skin, and the amount of filler used to blend the joint was in my mind excessive, but on the positive note, I now plan to repair the original skin, leaving the tub intact rather than fitting the replacement side I have in my parts pile.

Repair skin - Exposed pink line is where repair panel stops and filler has been used to blend to original panel.  A crack in the filler was an indication to the repair, in addition to the abnormally placed rivets

Thank goodness for friends with the right tools!  This made light work of finding the rivets buried in the filler

Dusty work!

Repair skin removed and original body revealed.  There is definitely no doubt about the original body colour!

There is a lot of filler still to be removed!

Bleeding bullet holes? Haha

Covered up rot

More covered up rot

With the repair panel removed I could access the last few rivets holding the B-pillars in place, drill them out and remove the pillars in their entirety.  

I knew the B-pillars were in bad shape, but I had no idea just how bad.  The C-pillars on both sides are only attached by a lightweight repair which is basically a cosmetic cover up. The B-pillars which I had noticed were a different colour, could now clearly be seen as a rough replacement. I can only assume the original pillars rusted out and this was a DIY repair solution.

B-pillars removed, and very fragile

Drivers side C-pillar completely rotten. I must say it is hardly surprising given the design of this section. The extended sill rail serves no purpose other than to collect mud and trap it. The result is inevitable

Passenger side C-pillar. Yes, as bad as the driver's side

Close up - looks like something from the Titanic!

Driver's side cosmetic cover up piece hiding what is below. This is all that holds the C-pillar to the sill rail

Passenger side cover up

Cover up piece on the driver's side did well to conceal the damage

What I have.......

.... what I would like to have!

The part pictured above is what the B-pillar is supposed to be like, but I am not sure if it is available anymore.  I found this picture on a forum post from 2010 where people were in search of it.  As it turns out this same piece fits Defender 110's as well as Series vehicles.  The difference in wheelbase is apparently in the tub. (please don't quote me on this, but do let me know if you have two of these parts in your possession!)

So, what to do? Well, thankfully I have two spare B-pillar sections from a Series 3, they are old and rusty but hopefully they are better than what I have, and after some internet searching and talking to my brother in the UK, it looks like YRM metal solutions might be the answer:

Link to YRM Metal Solution

 YRM Replacement sill rail

YRM Replacement B-pillar bottom

YRM Replacement C-pillar bottom

So, all in all, an interesting da. Next, off with the wings!

Ready for the weekend

Following last week's exciting parts find, I am returning to the same place tomorrow to dig a bit deeper and see what else I can find.

Before bringing more parts home, I thought it was best to reduce the mounting pile residing on my verandah, which several days ago copped the disapproving comment of ".... are you starting a salvage yard?" from my Father in Law.  Honestly, some people have no appreciation of historical artefacts, haha!

Last weekend's "Historical Artefacts" after a good wash and dead bug removal 

So, in keeping with the saying "a picture says a thousand words", here is a photo diary of Leif's replacement door install.  I will admit the colour match is off a bit, and the hinges still need aligning, but I will sort that out when the hinge repair kits I have ordered arrive from the UK.

"Beauty is only skin deep." This was certainly true for Leif's passenger door.  The external skin was relatively crease and blemish free, but the frame behind it was in a terrible state.

Yuk...

...YUK...

...YUKIER...

...YUKIST!!!

This is supposed to be the sliding window channel!

Off with her head! Well, door top to start with

Door bottom removed, and pre-owned door is ready to be installed

Pre-owned panels installed and working.  

Paint will come later, probably in line with the time I win Lotto, haha

This simple process has made me realise that I need to correct my terminology.  Previously I have referred to Leif as a "restoration" project, perhaps "renovation" may be more fitting as she will not be returned to her former glory, rather she will be given a new lease of life.  

Further to this, I have had several Tyrobenz followers ask why I refer to Leif as a "she" considering the masculinity of the vehicle and the origins of the name.  I had always thought all modes of transport were female as they are in the french language, but to keep the peace I have done some research and it's time for Leif to have a sex-change.  From here on she will be a he, and he will be a renovation project!

Click here to find out the origin of the name Leif

Have a great weekend everyone!

  

Disassembly begins

With the decision made to sacrifice Jade to the benefit of others, I set to work removing the interior of the car which despite being filthy wasn't in bad shape.

First I removed the front seats, a simple job of removing four bolts per seat that I had done on UGU many times before.  I then moved onto the back seat, door cards and rear panel cards; again all things I was familiar with from working on UGU.

Drivers seat was the first thing to be removed

 Unfortunately the drivers seat shows wear to the door side, but generally the seats are in usable condition. Note seats are in reverse order in picture

The back seat was/is actually in great condition once the dirt was removed

Back seat with ghostly seat belt pattern

After a wash down, the rear seat is in near perfect condition

With the seats out there was now a lot more room to work in the car.  I turned my attention to cleaning it out.  As with many cars you always find rubbish under the seats that you would rather not have to touch.  Hair brushes, half eaten sweets, bottles of juice, as well as parking tickets and general accumulation of 40 plus years of gunk. On the flip side, I found $1.45 in change and in a rare instance, found the missing accelerator pedal under the passenger seat!

Centre console in excellent condition

As I started to remove the interior trim I was reminded of the excellent build quality of these cars.  Not a single thing broke or snapped as I undid the screws and bolts.  Only one screw in the rear had rusted do the point that I needed to drill it out.

With that said, I have become sceptical as to whether this car has actually been stored inside as I was told by the previous owner.  It may have done; time can also be a destructive source, but the dash pad, rear view mirror and seat belts were so brittle that it seems to me that they have been sitting in strong day light.

Seat belt spaghetti

I removed the centre console which again was pretty easy despite my concerns about it otherwise.  The hardest thing to remove was non Mercedes-Benz stereo which, without the key to remove it from it's cradle could only be removed with the console out.

Aftermarket stereo and a very damaged gear knob

I removed the speaker cables running to the back of the car and all the old mouldy carpet, things were looking better, well cleaner anyway: the level of rust was not looking healthy at all.

The cleanest this interior has been in many years

As you would have seen in my previous post, this car has had a dreadful repair done to the drivers footwell which has allowed water to get into the car and has run back as far as the front seats, but interestingly it looks like this car has also had issues with rust along the length of the passenger side sill that has been painted over perhaps in a bid to stop it.

I cannot for one minute believe this messy black paint work is standard issue Mercedes-Benz which makes me think this is someones attempt at rust prevention

I make reference to this car being "beyond repair".  To clarify, no car is beyond repair if you are willing to pour the money into it. So what I mean is this car is beyond economical repair.  It would cost several times the cars value to repair it, so until my lottery numbers come in, I am not in a position to salvage this car and so, by dismantling it I am hoping to help other owners and enthusiasts, recoup my initial investment in both the car and tools, and expand my knowledge of these amazing cars so that one day I can perhaps bring one back from the brink.  Everything I learn I will share with you via my Tyrobenz blog.

Check out my first Tyrobenz video to find see more about the disassembly process: