1963 Mercedes Benz 190DC Fintail. First start 2024.

[Dyslexic Viking]

4 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

 Must admit I’ve never heard of fluid film - might have to have a look for some and see what it’s like.

I think Fluid Film is quite good, the only thing I don't like is that if it is on the underside of the car, it attracts dirt as it never fully dries. So if I can, I prefer a Swedish product which I think is wax and bitumen based that dries. But it's not such a big problem on this one, which is only used in the summer season, so it almost only see clean roads.But what Fluid Film is really good at is cavities. The main car was treated with the wax product underneath and Fluid Film in the cavities almost 3 years ago and it is still comming out in plate joints, drainage holes etc. But it is now starting to slow down. They say that Fluid Flim can soke/crawl out to 15 cm.

On an old Toyota with a lot of rust inside the sills, Fluid Film prevented them from rusting out for 5 years before the car was scrapped. And the one tractor here is very rusty and I have painted it with Fluid Film 2 times in the last 5 years and the rust has not developed and is stable. 

So my experiences with Fluid Film are good. And on old cars I now always treat the cavities with Fluid Film as it can prevent them from rusting out or at least slow it down and if it were to rusts out then Fluid Film is not flammable  so it shouldn't  cause problems with welding.

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I think Fluid Film is quite good, the only thing I don't like is that if it is on the underside of the car, it attracts dirt as it never fully dries. So if I can, I prefer a Swedish product which I think is wax and bitumen based that dries. But it's not such a big problem on this one, which is only used in the summer season, so it almost only see clean roads.But what Fluid Film is really good at is cavities. The main car was treated with the wax product underneath and Fluid Film in the cavities almost 3 years ago and it is still comming out in plate joints, drainage holes etc. But it is now starting to slow down. They say that Fluid Flim can soke/crawl out to 15 cm.

On an old Toyota with a lot of rust inside the sills, Fluid Film prevented them from rusting out for 5 years before the car was scrapped. And the one tractor here is very rusty and I have painted it with Fluid Film 2 times in the last 5 years and the rust has not developed and is stable. 

So my experiences with Fluid Film are good. And on old cars I now always treat the cavities with Fluid Film as it can prevent them from rusting out or at least slow it down and if it were to rusts out then Fluid Film is not flammable  so it shouldn't  cause problems with welding.

It sounds very similar to the wax products I’m using already then. 
I use Dynax UB or UC on underbodies which is thicker wax type fluid and sets semi hard so it can repel stones, grit and general crud on the road.  
Then Dynax S50 cavity wax inside box sections, chassis legs, door cavities etc etc as it is very thin and can stay runny allowing it to soak deep into panel joins and seams. This continues dripping out for a while after you use it too.

Theyre all available here: https://bilthamber.com

Im not anything to do with them other than a customer, but the waxes seem particularly effective in my opinion. I’ve used them for years and never seen them fail yet. 
The rust converter chemicals aren’t so good though! But not many of them are.

 

I’ll have a look for the Fluid Film and have a go with it though I think. It might well be better?

[Dyslexic Viking]

31 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

It might well be better?

I have no experience with the products you have experience with, so it is impossible to say whether Fluid Film is better or not.

But Fluid Film is lanolin oil and doesn't contain many chemicals if any, so I think it's nice to work with.

This is interesting, but I do not agree with him about wax products and not washing cars underneath, that should always be done in the spring after a winter in salt.

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

Then it's off to welding early tomorrow.

[Dyslexic Viking]

It was delivered early today for welding and they assumed it will be finished next week.

And I have already become attached to this one so am going to be a little stressed and uncomfortable until I get it back.

[danthecapriman]

2 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

It was delivered early today for welding and they assumed it will be finished next week.

And I have already become attached to this one so am going to be a little stressed and uncomfortable until I get it back.

Understandable! I was the same with my Capri! It’ll be alright though, and it’s the best thing to do for the car’s preservation too. Leaving it to get worse would be the wrong way to go about it.

Itll be solid and all the better for it once you get it home. Can’t wait to see it!

[Jifflemon]

On 5/10/2023 at 5:38 PM, Dyslexic Viking said:

And the result? 14.2 volts at idle, 12.5 volts at idle with light and heater fan on, 12.9 volts with light and fan on at higher rpm, measured on the battery terminals.

So the new cable fixed the charging problem, fantastic that's makes me happy.

But first I want to thank those here who took the time to help me with the charging problem, I really appreciated that, especially as I can get a little overwhelmed with things I know nothing about. So the help and tips helped a lot.

 

Couple of things..... I think you may still have problems. Anything lower than 13.5v isn't really charging. In fact, I bet if you checked the voltage directly at the alternator with those loads on, you'd see something like 14.2v.

The fact that the alternator was rubber mounted would mean you're going to need an earth strap between it and the engine/Body. Secondly, if you've got some more of that cable, add a second positive line - If it can carry more current, it'll easily carry less. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

Yes, it is entirely possible that I still have charging problems. And I had thought a bit about a grounding cable but forgot about it.

But it looks like the battery is being charged now. 

But I will leave it for a short while as I plan to replace the alternator with a new universal one and have found one that I think will fit. The reason for changing the alternator is that the one that is there is unknown and the wiring situation is a mess and the tensioner is  homemade and bodged and looks bad.

So with a new alternator, I can clean up the wires, get a new tensioner and have a new alternator which should work properly, look good and be reliable. 

[Dyslexic Viking]

Got it back from welding today and I'm very happy with the result.

Driver's side floor rust hole.

Before

Now and one can vaguely see where new steel has been welded in.

Passenger side rust hole.

Before

Now and he cut away much more than the rust hole was. Was a plate joint here and that's probably the reason.

Same repair from the underside

Passenger Side front wing.

Could probably wish he hadn't gone up so far. And I couldn't afford to let them paint it as this became expensive enough. So I'm going to paint it myself, which won't be perfect, but neither is this car.

At the back here, the joint between the repair panel and front wing is visible and it looks nice.

The arch liner / inner wing? also needed some welding

The next thing is the fasteners for the seat belts. These have been done in a way that some people here did not recommend, but those who did this work are professionals who do this kind of work every day and also fix crash damaged cars that will then have to be approved, so they should know what they are doing. So I agreed to do it in their way. And if this should fail in a crash, I'm probably dead anyway.

And they did this by drilling/cutting a hole, so the  welded nut on the mounting plate went into the hole. In the gearbox tunnel, this is visible from the backside. And they have paint and wax coverd this too.

So then this is done and I can now start gluing in sound dampening mats followed by carpets.

And we unloaded the car from the trailer at a rest area not far from the house and there was a nice older German couple. He had owned one of these but the petrol version back in the day. Was fun chatting with him.

[juular]

Looks solid!

Hopefully this is the start of you being able to use this for some Summer cruising.

[danthecapriman]

Looks a really good job they’ve done👍

I bet you feel better about it now it’s back with you!?

[busmansholiday]

Great to see you use a tape measure with proper units on it.

[Dyslexic Viking]

4 minutes ago, danthecapriman said:

I bet you feel better about it now it’s back with you!?

Yes I do it was a long week.

And it was great to drive it again and I felt much more comfortable driving it with seat belts.

[danthecapriman]

7 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Yes I do it was a long week.

And it was great to drive it again and I felt much more comfortable driving it with seat belts.

Oh I don’t know, I’d personally consider it an honour to be impaled on that beautiful steering column or thrown through such a high class windscreen!😆

But, yeah, you are right!

[junkyarddog]

Looks like decent work.

Seat belt mountings look strong.

[Low ontime]

Tough looking welds on the seatbelts! 

The other areas look very neat.

id be happy with that work…

[Datsuncog]

Awesome! That's looking much tidier now. They seem to have done a nice job on all the problem areas.

Onwards and upwards!

[Dyslexic Viking]

I've started with soundproofing and since I don't know anything about sound dampening, I've gone for Dynamat Extreme since many people who should know what they're doing use this.

I have also had the carpet set from Tapis Deluxe delivered and it looks very good, I am excited to see how well it fits. But if it fits, this is good value for money.

[hairnet]

posher carpet than my house

 

[Dyslexic Viking]

I have had the opportunity to spend the last few days on this and have got a lot done. Soundproofing has been done and was lucky to have enough Dynamat for the whole car and the boot. Forgot pictures of this but is not very interesting.

And have today started on the interior carpets from   https://www.tapis-deluxe.com/en/  and this has not gone so well. Either an apprentice or a child made this or this is how the products they sell are.

Some parts fit reasonably well but others do not and some are not cut as they should be. So I have had to cut and adapt a lot myself.

 

The piece for the parchelshelf seems to be too long.

You can see on the right here that part doesn't quite fit. And to the left where the dynamat is, there should be carpet, but that pice doesn't fit at all so i have to make i fit.

So this is very frustrating but I just have to make the best of it. And for the price I paid for this, I can live with it. This car is not perfect and never will be

So 9 hours spent on this today and I'm exhausted and broken and not done yet. Will come with more pictures and update when finished.

[Matty]

Don't despair. Keep it in mind that this era of car wasn't carpeted as such, someone just threw a few offcuts in and said that'll do. Sure it'll be fine with a nip and tuck. Cars looking superb pal, well done so far!

[Dyslexic Viking]

I am restless and want to continue working on this but that will have to wait until tomorrow. But I was out and took a picture of how far I have come with the interior. It's not quite perfect but I'm very happy with it, looking forward to getting it finished.

[Crackers]

On 06/06/2023 at 16:06, busmansholiday said:

Great to see you use a tape measure with proper units on it.

Quite - Metric. 

[danthecapriman]

Looks great though, despite the carpet set not being the best quality. You’ve done a really nice job there.👍

[Dyslexic Viking]

8 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Looks great though, despite the carpet set not being the best quality. You’ve done a really nice job there.👍

Thanks and I think the carpet is of reasonable quality, it is the cutting by those who made this that is the problem. But for the price I can't complain and would buy again. The alternative would be to find someone here who does car interiors and get them to make one, but it would cost so much that I would probably have to sell a kidney and end up living in the car to pay for it.

[loserone]

On 06/06/2023 at 15:56, juular said:

Summer cruising.

 

@Dyslexic Viking this is looking great, you are sure to be enjoying yourself for years to come with it 

[Yoss]

3 minutes ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Thanks and I think the carpet is of reasonable quality, it is the cutting by those who made this that is the problem. But for the price I can't complain and would buy again. The alternative would be to find someone here who does car interiors and get them to make one, but it would cost so much that I would probably have to sell a kidney and end up living in the car.

It would be a nice place to live if you had to though.

But more seriously it still looks good from here. I think a little fettling is to be expected from something that is made externally from a pattern and not having the car to hand. But as you say that would cost much more. And once it is done only you will know (and the members of this forum) the work that went in to making it fit. Everybody else will just look at it and think that's a nice carpet.

[danthecapriman]

2 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

Thanks and I think the carpet is of reasonable quality, it is the cutting by those who made this that is the problem. But for the price I can't complain and would buy again. The alternative would be to find someone here who does car interiors and get them to make one, but it would cost so much that I would probably have to sell a kidney and end up living in the car to pay for it.

I think it’s just one of those things you have to accept and make the best of. They’re aftermarket sets after all.

My Capri carpet is the same. The original carpet was a one piece that, naturally, fitted perfectly but it had just rotted away with age. The original ones are no longer available so that leaves aftermarket. The one I chose was a two piece set and doesn’t fit properly everywhere. 
There’s a gap around the front seat mounts, one footwell edge was slightly too short and there’s a crease both sides that you just can not flatten out in the rear corners near the back seat base. 
It looks ok at first glance but I know the problems are there which annoys me! Luckily the first two problem areas are covered by floor mats. 
It’s just something I’m going to have to live with in the absence of a genuine carpet set or having it custom trimmed. Getting the seats done that way was expensive and I just couldn’t justify it for the carpet too.

At the end of the day it’s still a million times better than the poor condition original!

[ETCHY]

13 hours ago, Dyslexic Viking said:

I am restless and want to continue working on this but that will have to wait until tomorrow. But I was out and took a picture of how far I have come with the interior. It's not quite perfect but I'm very happy with it, looking forward to getting it finished.

You're seeing the issues because you know they're there. I just see a cool looking interior with cool new carpets.
Good job, well done.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Another long day is over and the interior is almost done, only the door cards remain. And I'm very happy with it and my great-grandfather's hat has found a new home.