The lour coat has gone on ,4 coats followed by 3 coats of clear. This will now be flatted back after a weeks curing. The car will then be flow coated ,then polished.
This the first lot of clear coat which has to be flatted ,Sanded smooth then recoated to bring up the gloss and add depth to the Finish .
This is part of a 6.3 rebuild which began as a simple gear box swap,but while working underneath the car i noticed a lot of damage and some really badly repaired accident damage .Apart from rust in the usual places the front cross member was rusted out and the car was 50mm shorter on the left side.This pic shows the state of the left hand side bumper support cross members . Not only bent it was rusted through . To repair it in the past,someone had simply welded a patch over the top of the worst dent and welded the bumper bracket to that.
Here is the Left hand upper part of the fender to radiator support panel. It wasn’t welded together as it should have been.
The entire front section had to be replaced. The rust in the bottom of the center section can be seen here . The panel was distorted completely out of shape .
The engine has to be removed to gain access to further damage hidden under the firewall and to check the chassis integrity.
The circle indicates the bend in the left hand chassis rail . The front end of the rail was bent down 25mm .Above it there are creases which had to be worked out.
This is the upper part of the inner fender panel ,which was bent back.
The inner side of the rail was heated carefully and force applied to bend the leg back up again.
The outer part came straight with a lot of work.
I used a laser to make sure the both sides were even .
With the front parts removed ,the damage to the chassis extension can be seen clearly .The left hand extension piece(arrow) was actually bent to the left .Both pieces needed to bent straight.
The Right hand side was OK,not requiring any work.
The next step was to repair the damaged inner fender and weld up parts where it was torn from the radiator support panel .
As the panels are straightened out it was important to constantly check the chassis was still within specs.
This the left hand outer part of the footwell . It has been pulled back into shape as it was pushed back contributing to the shorter measurement on the left side.
The new parts are shown here temporarily clamped into place to ensure the car is coming back to shape.
Almost there!.
After a few hours work straightening.
I use a trammel to measure from a set position under the chassis where there is a hole which takes one end,this is the other where a set measurement shows the crossmember here is correctly placed.
The yellow arrow points to the trammel rod and the red arrow shows the needle end in the chassis measurement aperture.
The Yellow arrow here points to the laser line where i am making sure the crossmember is fitting level .
As soon as i am 100% sure the crossmember is sitting in the correct place etc,I weld the rear part to the chassis extensions.
The radiator Support panel is now lined up and checked with the laser before clamping and welded into place.
The trans tunnel was very badly damaged in the past,probably from a frontal impact,and was 50mm shorter than it should have been.
in this picture the tell tale ripples in the trans tunnel . The engine had been pushed back in an accident in the past ,leaving the impression of two bell housing bolt heads in the firewall .
The hole in the tunnel on the right of this picture is the access for the starter motor bolts. There is little room in a 6.3 engine bay.
Inside the car ,various parts were damaged ,such as the heater case and this,the dash board brace where the bolts have been sheared off.
The firewall wasn’t only pushed back,but the welds for the tunnel have been torn away.
The inner fender to firewall end has rusted and where the parts were repalced in the distant past,they weren’t welded but simply brazed together.
I removed the tunnel So I could straighten it out and pull the firewall back out again .
In the past someone had used heat to try and removed dents in the tunnel,where the black burn marks are.
The other interesting this was the method used to hold the gear shift in place.
The lever was stuck in place with Sika flex.
The sika flex was stripped off and the tunnel put back into shape the shifter base was also bent so that was repaired .
The side flanges where the car is spot welded to the car were replaced as was the front end where it is fuse welded to the firewall aperture .
Under the car,the cross member on the tunnel was bent,so that has been straightened also .
In the spray booth.
This the firewall on the passenger side (Right hand Drive) .The side panel was replaced in the past and Brazed into place. Rust has taken hold so this whole piece has to be removed and replaced.
There is rust in the Sill /Rocker section at the front to be repaired.
Front end of the right hand sill/rocker section.
The hole in the upper edge of this picture is from rust forming behind the jack point on the right hand side.
The mess revealed under the coats of bituminous underseal.
I cut the outer skin off and as can be seen it’s was pretty rough inside.
Cleaned up in preparation for new steel to welded into it.
With the new peice welded in place, a spare guard is bolted in place to check fit .
Next: welding the tunnel into place and repairing the remainder of the rust .
Lots of work has gone into Priming the body. After the first 3 coats of primer to reveal any dents etc ,the bosywork was gone over again to remove the dents as much as humanly possible. This was followed by a coat of polyester to smooth the surface. This took 3 weeks of concentrated sanding to get smooth with most of it actually being removed in the process. Next step was the first layer of actual primer,a 2K high solid,high build primer. This is the polyester coat.
This is the first layer of primer with spots of glazing putty,these are where low spots have been filled then sanded down . The light helps high light flaws ,invisible normally.
next step is to apply PVC coating to replicate the original undercoating .
The sills are coated .This is the right hand rear wheel house .
This the right hand rear boot box. These panels are all new and again the finish is done to replicate the original rough textured look.
The boot area was stripped to bare metal to remove layers of old paint and bitumin underseal . Here it is 2K primer with PVC to help deaden Drumming
outside the boot is masked to prevent overspray from the boot paint landing on the primer.
Boot finished in the correct satin black ,as can be seen it absorbs light….All seams on the new rear panels are seam sealed to prevent moisture getting into the joins and causing rust.
Next step is to paint the door jambs and openings with the final base color .
The insides of the doors have been coated to reduce noise and prevent rust.
The final layer of primer has been applied and guide coat applied to reveal the last of any flaws that might not be visible until now. the boot and engine compartment are masked off here.
Sanding has begun ,after 8 hours constant work,only the right side was finished…
After much body work to get the shell straight and true as possible ,the doors etc have been bolted on and adjusted .
Guide Coat is applied before block sanding begins.
Right front mudgaurd has been block sanded .the dark blotches are low spots which have to be beaten back up again .
Finally after much panel work the long process to paint the body has become .
The bare steel has been treated with a deoxidiser and given the first coats of primer surfacer.
Fuel pump restoration
The armature was tested and the commutator polished ,the mica seperator segments were cut down slightly and the new bearings fitted.
There are several washers,spring type drive plates and packing seals under the impeller,all designed to last a long time and prevent fuel leaking into the motor housing.
The motor housing contains the field coils and brushes these were all checked and found to be OK. it was then fitted with new O rings and tested to ensure it was OK electrically.
Lastly ,the pump mount rubber and metal bracket are fitted. As this is a very early injected car ,the pump is mounted on it’s side hence the odd bracket. a new fuel pressure hose is shown here ,A New hose from the tank to the pump will have to be made .As this also differs,in that the hose is screwed into the tank,not simply slipped onto a nipple as the others are.
Right rear corner of the roof ,still a few imperfections to clear up but almost finished.
These cars can be pretty rough under the paint and this brave effort is no different 190SL Restoration
The Bonnet has been stripped to the metal and primed several times and is at last getting smooth enough . 
The Roof however is a different matter. It has sever damage all over it some of which i hammered out and metal finished but some is too badly damaged to completely remove so it has been leaded . The darker spots are Low spots and the lighter spots are high spots revealed in the first primer and guide coats. It’s as if someone had gone over the roof with a ball pien hammer 
The boot Lid is similar but not as bad as high spots made by things being carried in the have hit the skin . In the meantime other panels are also getting the primer ,sand,Primer,Sand,Primer routine too..
This 6.3 had been patched in the past but unfortunately a drain hole was left out .The tail lights were not installed properly and water leaked in, rusting out the previous repair .
Holes appeared in the side of the rear quarter. 
After the bumper was removed the paint was ground off and lots of body filler was revealed ,which in turn covered more rust. 
The bottom of the 1/4 Box was unpicked and yet more rust and dodgy repairs uncovered. this is inside the box looking up from underneath.
The box bottom and the section from the chassis rail were removed to get rid of all the rust.
The Support bracket has been repaired in the past but had rusted out again ,then repaired again
Compared to the new pArt there is a lot of difference …….
New panels were made up to replace the damaged parts. At this point the outer skin hasn’t been removed .
A new section has been welded in to replace the rusted section
Followed by a couple of coats of etch primer then seam sealer.
next steps are too begin final body prep for paint.
