Car composing

Disruption
Renewable part restoration
Running gear set
Body painting
Engine set
Car composing
Interior (leader, carpets, wood)

After the reconstruction of the parts and receiving the missing spare parts the engine has been put back together. Here the original 190 MB SL intake manifold can be seen.  Despite this is an engine corresponding to the 1956 model, it can be compared to the do-it-yourself version, which could be seen on the red 190 SL engine.

The fully restored clutch mechanism has been attached to the engine.

The restored gearbox has also been prepared to be attached to the engine. The starter has been put nearby. The clutch mechanism and the gearbox have been attached to the assembled engine. It is interesting that our Mercedes gearbox is virtually suspended in midair save for an attachment at the engine. It has no separate support points at the frame. In its turn, the longitudinal engine has four support cushions.

­­The original black MB 190 SL fuse block has corroded significantly.

The red MB 190 SL fuse block is in good condition.

The exhaust has been installed and the cardan has been attached to the rear axle.

The clutch mechanism has been adjusted.

Mounting of the chassis on the car is complete.

The floor well has been treated with anti-corrosion material.

The fuel tank place has been prepared for the installation. The fuel tank cleaned, painted and treated with protective materials has been fixed in the rear of the car, while the fuel filler has been inserted in the right place and fastened.

The installation of the bodywork parts begins – the doors and the boot lid, decorative parts and headlamps have been installed.

The front part decorative elements – the radiator grille, the chrome headlamp rims and bumper are installed. A part on the bumper right side is missing: it is still in the galvanizing workshop

The door clamping mechanisms have been installed.

The gear lever and the passenger compartment internal elements – the floor wooden panels, seat moving slides etc. – installation has been performed.

In the passenger compartment the restored front panel including not only the instrument section but also the so-called middle console with radio control and air flow control buttons and knobs has been installed.
After mounting of the panel the necessary wiring, cable and lever are attached, so that each instrument panel indicator, each button and knob performed their intended function. The work is both laborious and difficult and is hindered by a limited access.
The panel wooden parts are still to be received.

The left-hand side heating equipment has been installed and the brake fluid tank and window-cleaning fluid tank (which in our particular car is just a rubber bladder similar to a hot-water bottle) have been installed next to it.

Since the car lacked carburettors, they were ordered new from USA. They are being installed. Unfortunately, a leak appeared in one of the horizontal Weber carburettors for sports cars and it had to be eliminated. It was successfully done.

The missing front bumper part has been received and installed and the installation of the bodywork decorative elements is complete.

The radiator has been mounted and all the necessary connections – fuel supply, cooling fluid supply, air supply to the carburettors etc. – have been attached to the engine.

The engine is ready for its first functional check

Considering that the black MB 190 SL did not have the folding roof frame, it was decided to mount the roof frame from the red MB 190 SL. However, the frame exchange was not so simple as it first seemed. At the time when models like our restoration subject were produced, instead of automation, manual labour was used for car assembly at the factory. As a result, each released car was in some way individual and their parts even were numbered in a special way. Though the differences were only tiny details, in our case they often encumbered and respectively extended the restoration works.
The roof frame replacement fits the above case. The red car roof frame did not perfectly fit into our car. Neither attachment places nor the folding part lengths etc. matched. As a result, readjustment of the roof elements required a lot of work in order to fix the frame in the existing places and form a tight seal with the windshield frame curvature in its raised position.
After installation and adjustment of the roof frame the first adjustment of the side windows was performed so that in raised position they would fill the frames. Taking into account that the doors and, respectively, the window lifting mechanisms were earlier fully disassembled, after reassembly the window glass lifting had to be adjusted thoroughly. It should be considered, that this is the initial adjustment of the side windows, because they can only be adjusted fully after the installation of the rubber gaskets in the roof frame.
Today the brake system hose preparation was carried out. The brake hoses of the car under restoration were severely damaged and for safety reasons they had to be discarded. Therefore the new ones were ordered. They were delivered in the ordered length and with soldered screw caps, however each hose had to be bent manually and with the help of special auxiliary devices according to its position at the car bodywork. Such work required delicate approach, accuracy and, respectively, time. Otherwise the thin tube might be given the wrong shape or even be deformed and broken.

The roof is to be attached to the new wooden element, and the next step shall be the installation of the roof cover.

The license plate lighting solution is from the 1958 model.
By the end of the working day there is time to mount also the rear bumper parts to the car body.

Inside the doors the noise and vibration damping material has been glued in.

The installation, fitting and connection of the prepared brake hoses to the places provided by the brake system, and the installation of the brake booster prepared earlier has been performed.  Thus the brake system assembly is complete. The brake fluid has been topped up and system bleeding has been performed. The mechanical parking brake or the handbrake, which has no direct relation to the rest of the brake system, has also been installed and adjusted.

The side window guide profiles have been attached to the roof frame so that now it is possible to adjust side windows precisely to the roof frame. It is also being done.

Now the window wipers have been installed. In this Mercedes model each windshield finger clip has its own reducing gear and below the both are joined by the levers. The installation of the windshield wipers and reduction gears has been complicated due to limited access.

As it was mentioned earlier, during restoration all kinds of rubber gaskets must usually be replaced. The door rubber gaskets are no exceptions. We have received the ordered new door rubber gaskets. Now we shall cut them into pieces corresponding to the door opening geometry and insert them into the grooves of the guides attached to the roof frame. The window glasses fit perfectly – this means that yesterday’s adjustments were correct.

Today we still have time to adjust the worm drive steering mechanism reduction gear. As with the other units it was disassembled, its seals and gaskets were replaced and then it was put back together. After installation the steering inevitably has an intolerably large free travel, which can be adjusted with the help of the special reduction gear adjustment screw. The reduction gear is not yet complete as additional adjustments will be necessary when the car has been put on wheels, and the final reduction gear adjustment will take place only after starting and test-driving the car.

In the provided places the high beam and turn signal relays have been affixed and connected to the lighting system network.

The next job – installation of the windscreen washing system – is quite niggling. The system is composed of the vacuum pump in the passenger compartment, which has been connected with the windscreen washing fluid tank and the spraying nozzles by the thin plastic tubes. The mentioned tank had already been installed earlier. So we installed the pump, nozzles and connected them to the tubes. Then we filled the fluid and checked. It worked. The concern was about seemingly simple but at the same time temperamental and complicated mechanical manual vacuum pump. It is made up of tiny valves, which, unfortunately, were beyond  repair. Therefore we installed several valves in the tubes to get the system to work.

We performed the pedal block assembly and mounting in the car. The clutch and brake pedal assembly appeared complicated, because both pedals must be threaded onto single axis welded to the body as a set with various gaskets and retaining rings, each of which has its own unique place. Then we connected the pedals to the necessary components, e.g. the brake pedal with the master cylinder, by the levers. In conclusion we fastened the pressure pads or the parts which the driver’s foot presses, to the pedal levers coming through the openings to the passenger compartment.

On the bottom of the car wing arches we fastened the original aluminium mudguards, which are provided to protect the wing pockets from dust and moisture. Simultaneously rubber gaskets have been placed between mudguards and wings. The mudguards have been fastened with screws.

We checked the car starter. It worked, despite that, we did not yet know how it would work together with the engine.

We also received the ordered door bottom rubber gaskets. We cut them to the required length and glued them in corresponding places on the door edge. The work is not difficult, however it requires patience and care, because otherwise the closed door will not close the passenger compartment tight and the additional noise and dust and moisture would get into it.

We put and affixed the ashtray in the passenger compartment.

We assembled the generator from restored and new parts.

An electric motor was added to the windscreen wipers assemble earlier and mounted in the engine compartment.

We attached the door opening and closing handles at the same time adjusting the door locking mechanism.

The electric current generator, which was previously disassembled, restored by replacing necessary parts, checked and put back together, was attached to the engine in the provided place.

The horns, previously fully disassembled, sand blasted and painted, now must be reassembled. During reassembling adjusting the horn signal is a time-consuming process. Adjusting means that the horns sound in the proper tone and the adjustment is achieved by special screws. Then the both horns are fastened in the engine compartment in the relevant places on the car body.

We secured the fuel supply tubes in the relevant places and connected them to the fuel tank in one end and to the fuel pump in the other end. As with the brake system, new fuel supply tubes had to be ordered. This means, that prior to the installation of tubes once again the tubes, which were received in rolls, had to be bent for the proper profile so that the tubes got the configuration necessary for fastening in the relevant places. In addition it turned out that the soldered tube fasteners do not match at the fuel pump side, because they have a diameter different from that at the fuel tank side. We had to cut them off, expand the tube ends and solder anew.

A lock is fitted in the boot lid and simultaneously its adjustment is performed in order for the boot lid to close accurately and there were no intolerable free play.

In the passenger compartment the rear view mirror has been installed.

Electric wires have been attached to the instrument section and the horn. Now the horn is working and the instruments are lit and visible at night as well.

In the body bottom part at the pedal unit a special pedal guard has been attached to protect the mechanism from dust and other dirt.

We are installing the fuel filter in the relevant place, which would simultaneously work as a valve for switching to the reserve level in the fuel tank. From the fuel tank two tubes are going which are fitted in the tank at different depth. When the fuel level in the tank drops down to the critical, it is necessary to switch to the so-called “reserve”. The described filter serving as a switching valve is connected to the special knob in the passenger compartment allowing the driver to perform switching from the saloon. This mechanism has been fully assembled.

It turned out that one of the front aluminium brake drums was “dragging” We found that nothing could be adjusted or improved and one brake drum was fully replaced.

The engine was started and the carburettor activity adjusted. Repeated engine starting revealed problems with the starter. The starter did not work correctly and as a result the balance-wheel teeth were damaged. This is a serious problem, which has significantly hindered the car assembly. We had to detach the front axle, the sub-frame and remove the whole set of the large components. In order to access the balance-wheel, the clutch and the gearbox must be detached as well. It has been done.

Starter has been disassembled and checked once again. It turned out that the cogwheel used for spinning the balance-wheel – bendix –was working incorrectly. We ordered a new balance-wheel teeth set and sent the starter for repair to Germany.

We received the new engine starter, which we purchased in the e-Bay Internet auction, because the original starter was damaged. We sent the starter for repair to Germany, but got it back still not fixed, just repainted, so we had to send it to Germany the second time. Simultaneously we found another one in the Internet auction mentioned above.

The balance-wheel teeth have been removed. To achieve that special heating must be carried out.

Installation of the radiator and the balance-wheel

We attached the new teeth set to the balance-wheel and attached the clutch and the gearbox to the engine. Then we fastened this set to the front axle and attached it together with the sub-frame back to the car. We connected the brake system and bled the system. We connected the fuel supply system and installed the radiator. The is once again ready for starting.­