Project Return The Orange Peril To The Road.

[Rambo]

Whilst you've got the seats out, can I suggest that you pull back the carpet both sides and check the condition of the outriggers/sills and all 4 jacking points. I notice signs of rust on the carpet (possibly from the old seat mountings ?) and knowing how Stevo cared so little for his baby in the last few years and how often he left it outside with its leaking seals, there is very likely to have been some damage

Better to know this now as you can attend to the possible problems before you attach your nice new seat runners and seats

Just a thought....

NB rear section/jacking points best viewed via a boroscope. The plastic"skis" can be left in situ but probably better to remove and refix with something like Sikaflex or similar

[CallMeLegend]

Whilst you've got the seats out, can I suggest that you pull back the carpet both sides and check the condition of the outriggers/sills and all 4 jacking points. I notice signs of rust on the carpet (possibly from the old seat mountings ?) and knowing how Stevo cared so little for his baby in the last few years and how often he left it outside with its leaking seals, there is very likely to have been some damage

Better to know this now as you can attend to the possible problems before you attach your nice new seat runners and new seats

Just a thought....

NB rear section/jacking points best viewed via a boroscope. The plastic"skis" can be left in situ but probably better to remove and refix with something like Sikaflex or similar

Yes. That is something I'm looking at. The rust is from the old seat mounts though , but I do plan to give things under the carpet the once over & inject some Bilt Hamber Dynax into the cavities to stop any pre existing rust & protect for the future.

I guess the more pressing question is how to repair should I find anything really nasty?

[Rambo]

You will probably find that if there is any damage it will be mainly on the nearside (all the crud, salt, grit and general crap from n/s puddles etc.....) Check also round the pedal area as this is quite prone to rusting

As Stevo did quite a good job of respraying it that lovely Arancio orange he would no doubt have had all the carpets out at that point and hopefully attended to any significant problems

[Fredjohn]

Deleted, double post.

[Rambo]

Hours of fun reading here too...

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=17298&hilit=Outriggers

[Fredjohn]

I guess the more pressing question is how to repair should I find anything really nasty?

Read epipete's thread on the repair of his cills.

Pretty much everything has been done on here, so you will invariably be able to find solutions.
It's such a good resource I never tire of reading it and am always staggered at what I find.

Almost a double post. Timed with Rambo!

[Rambo]

Hours of fun reading here too...

viewtopic.php?f=30&t=17298&hilit=Outriggers

And on page 10 you will see the damage on my 1st M100

Rust never sleeps !

[Rambo]

Almost a double post. Timed with Rambo!

That's a couple of car lengths John

[CallMeLegend]

Thanks all. I recently attended evening classes to refresh my welding skill, 25years ago I was aircraft certified......

Now back to C&G level 2 MIG welding & MIG brazing, so that may yet come in handy!!!

[CallMeLegend]

Due to some slight heavy handedness by one of the previous owners the upper steering column cowl was in quite a bad way.

Time to tack it back together with some super glue & then back up the repair with DP460 structural adhesive, with some Tamiya model kit plastic sprue in it to ass some strength.

I suspect it had been butchered to take away the necessity to remove the steering to remove the cowl.

[Rambo]

That'll probably be the handywork of the Butcher of Ballater

[CallMeLegend]

Turned my attention back to finishing the door cards today, was putting off the carpeting as I knew I'd make a hash of it.

Thankfully I have somebody supervising to keep me on the straight & narrow.



Any way, I'm gluing the carpet on now rather than after the door card is on. the fasteners that are normally hidden by the carpet will be exposed, fitted using CSK fairing washers & CSK bolts.

[CallMeLegend]

We spent much of the day once I'd got the SLK seats finally fitted (photo later as forgot to take any) looking at the sorry state of the paint work with it's many runs & severe Orange peel.

We'd resigned ourselves to the fact it needs a full respray so thought " what could possibly go wrong" & set to with various grades of wet & dry, a rotary polisher with various grades of foam pad, different Menzerna compounds to see if there was anything that could be saved at all.

The apprentice at work, my daughter



After a few hours it became obvious that Missy can actually be made semi presentable without having a full respray just yet. We concentrated on the panels above the waistline....

Boot before, rough finish & lots of inclusions in the lacquer.



Boot after, need to remove the spoiler to finish off properly.



Spoiler before, looked dry & rough.



Spoiler after



RH rear wing before



RH rear wing after



The RH door had a nasty reaction where the previous owner had tried to lacquer with cellulose over 2 pack, came up OK.



LHS before



LHS after

[TorqueHorse]

[CallMeLegend]

This afternoon was the chance to actually finish on whole panel.

So off came the spoiler to enable the whole boot lid to be sanded & I set too with the wet & dry again, up to 3000grit, followed by ever finer grade of Menzerna compounds.

There are still a couple of very minor sanding marks I need to sort bit given the starting point I'm really happy.

[Rambo]

That has come up well. I use Menzerna products too and bought a polishing/detailing kit about 5 years ago after a recommendation from Alan Head who used to polish his car (exM100two) to death

[CallMeLegend]

More wet flatting & machine polishing.... All of this is just marking time whilst I wait for the prat that will hopefully enable me to repair the roof frame where there is a stripped fastener.

An initial hit with 2000 grit to remove the highest areas of paint.



Then onto 3000 grit, you can still see plenty of low spots, so more to go yet.



Onto the 4000 grit to finish off, the mearest hint of some low spots, but time to knock wet sanding on the head as I have no idea how much top coat is left.



1st stage polish. Menzera PF2300 on a firm Meguiars pad. The final stage with Final Finish can wait until the whole LHS has had the 1st stage polish.



Here's an indication (haha) of the condition paint on the LH panel, taken whilst the door was being sanded & polished, resulting in possibly my best result so far.

[Rambo]

Wow. Excellent results. Jaffa is no more

[Kipperozzy]

Great result, what a difference

[CallMeLegend]

Finally got round to getting a photo of the SLK seat installed, now I can get the roof down with it collapsing, more of that later.