Steve has carried out an appraisal on our Mercedes Pagoda to report back findings to the customer.
Meanwhile John is attending to a leak on the gearbox. It seems to be coming from the gasket so the sump pan was removed, filter cleaned and a new gasket fitted.
John and Jon have been at it again. They have successfully built up and fitted the new rear vents. They have also managed to fit and align the door mouldings.
John has then got to work on rebuilding the front head lights and stripping down the front bumper. The headlight wiper motor linkage was seized so we have stripped down motor to check the operation, which was okay. Then we proceeded to dismantle the linkage and free off the corroded/seized parts of the linkage. It was then greased and rebuilt and the operation checked. When satisfied it was then fitted to the vehicle.
As for the bumpers, they are not in the best state at the rear so we need to weigh up whether it is more costs effective to repair or replace with new.
John is tidied and cleaned up some of the wiring in the boot area. He has mounted and connected up the aerial.
Progress is being made on my 1987 Mercedes 500 SL. I keep hoping and wishing that there is not much longer to go but time seems to be forever running away.
Both John’s/Jon’s are working on the car on Saturdays so as to not affect the scheduling in the busy Bridge Classic Cars workshops but that does mean it is taking it’s time. And both being avid Ipswich Town fans means I can only benefit from their expertise on a Saturday morning as they have ‘more important’ things to be doing now on a Saturday afternoon…haha!
However, the wiring is really taking shape now. They have been working on the boot area and hope to have the fuel tank in my close of play today. They’ve rubbed down the boot floor, exposed the areas and painted in matt black.
Remove broken lug from body for fuel expansion tank, cleaned, drilled and spot welded lug back onto tank and paint gloss black.
The heater box is now in, wiring has been laid out in the bonnet area and the wing mirrors are now back on.
Next thing to do is install a large TV with Sky Sports on so that the John’s/Jon’s would sooner work than be anywhere else!!
Continue to build up from photos. Find engine steady shock for engine mounts and strip and clean and prep for painting. Clean stripped door mirrors, Polish chrome and back to black rubber edging. Pop over to Classic lounge to take some reference photos of doors. Find door seal and tape to place. Find fixings and all chrome trims for offside door. Unable to find all parts for nearside door as of yet. Still sorting through stuff.
View wiring diagram for wire colurs and termination points. Route and pull wiring through body to front grill area. Label wiring ready.
We’ve sourced some foam from Lydia in the upholstery department which can be used for the heater flaps. The old foam flaps have been cleaned up and we’ve applied double sided tape.
Cut foam to size and stick to the flaps. Jon has refitted the flaps to the heater box and tested each one as its fitted. The process has been repeat for all flaps inside the heater.
Apply foam to heater matrix and fit to heater box.
Firstly, we have road tested the vehicle to experience what the customer is experiencing.
Found the noise to be coming from the nearside rear wheel so we have stripped out wheel hub and replace wheel bearing.
Whilst the car is in with us, we have fitted a DAB radio with DAB aerial and microphone.
We’ve also had reported to us a smell of fuel so we have looked into this also. Having stripped out the boot linings to check all fuel pipes we have not found there to be any leaks.
We have remove the dash cluster in order to replace the left hand bulb assembly.
The car is now ready to go but as the weather is so beautiful, the customer has asked us to store his hardtop in the summer months. Great choice. If you have a car, motorcycle or even a hardtop to store check out our amazing storage facility.
The doors are being built up right now on our 1987 Mercedes SL500 R107.
John has carried out some weekend one here at Bridge Classic Cars, working on my 1987 Mercedes 500 SL restoration project. This has been such a long process due to it being one of our own vehicles and never finding the time in the diary to get on with it.
Weekends have now become a thing now to get the car back on the road…hopefully for next summer!!
As you can see, John has been cleaning down the locks and door mechanism to fit up doors.
Jon has fitted up the new bleed nipples to the freshly painted calipers.
The bolts have been cleaned and painted
We have cleaned up and reused the pad sensor wires and fitted the calipers to the car.
The old pads have been reused as they are nearly new and we used a new fitting kit to secure the pads.
New front shock absorbers have been fitted.
The hardtop from the 1991 Mercedes 300SL has been moved into the Bridge Classic Cars trim shop to be repaired.
The removable hardtop had begun to come apart at the edges in several places so the team have worked their magic on rejuvenating the roof.
First off, the entire piece was stripped back in order to remove any old adhesives and allow for the team to create a better fit. The better fitting of parts also meant the team removed the pillar trims to pull the pieces tighter into the trims.
Wit that the trim team could then work on the headliner by removing the original material and then sanding back the misshapen foams. After that, the team have then replaced the headliner material before putting the entire assembly back together and put the hardtop on its holder ready to go back on the car.
August 22, 2022 1:30 pm
Brian is our lead in-house trimmer at Bridge Classic Cars. From our Suffolk HQ, Brian and Lydia create handmade, bespoke interiors for our customer’s restoration projects which are well and truly world-class.
Today on Brian’s table is the armrest covers of the 1987 Mercedes R107 500SL. Lydia and Brian have worked together to create these pieces for the ’80s luxury convertible. The covers were hand-cut and sewn for the best fit possible around the original armrests themselves. Tailored perfectly to suit each component. Brian, using his years of skill and craft, carefully stretched and moved the leather around every curve to get it laying just right. Then, with the minimal amount of heat possible, he began working the leather into place across the adhesive behind it.
After both the covers were finished with their bright new chromework, Brian could begin work on the next stage of the interior of the R107. The door caps, these pieces were carefully stripped back to their core and assessed by Brian to see if they were reusable. They were actually in fantastic shape!
January 27, 2022 10:01 am
