I received the new grommet in the firewall for the wiring loom and it turned out to be the same as previously ordered – it seems the part number supersedes to this new part number, which is entirely the wrong part. The grommet is a 115 part number for a 70mm hole, whereas the hole in the firewall is 40mm in diameter. I chatted to a friend about this and he suggested a grommet that he had in stock for the aircon pipes on a R107 SL and he came over on Saturday morning with some other grommets for me as well. The EPC is sufficiently vague to confuse anyone regarding grommets and he had a few left over from previous experiences.
The brake booster was removed again – I was over ambitious to re-fit it at the time and there simply wasn’t any space to get the grommet in without removing it. The wiring loom was dismantled taking off all the plugs to push the new grommet over, which went surprisingly easily. Once in place it was a bit loose, but seems to be doing the job.
Once in place I fitted the other grommets – one for the height regulator cable, one for the clutch fluid pipe and another for the oil pressure tube. I also took the opportunity to fit the relay bracket and connected all the relevant electrical plugs. The loom was positioned and secured into place with clamps.
The brake booster was re-fitted with a new reservoir.
At the same time I fitted the grommet for the ignition cut-off cable and the windscreen pump electrical cable on the other side of the engine bay.
The air tank came back from the powder coaters and was reassembled. A valuable lesson was learnt about restoration: when stripping a car, ensure that everything fits perfectly when removing the item, and if not, fix it there and then. Because of the accident this car had had in its earlier life, the tank didn’t fit properly which I didn’t notice. When trying to fit this, the mounting bracket was misaligned and it’s probably going to need heat to straighten it out. That’s not going to happen with the fancy paint job already done. I managed to get the air tank mounted and it looks neat, but the washers on the bottom mounting are all wrong. So be it.
Once mounted in place with new grommets, the air tank was connected to the air distribution valve.
I ordered brand new and expensive genuine MB side beadings for the car and was appalled at the quality, particulary the beadings on the tail light panel. The fit was rubbish and the finish was not great - you could still see the rolling marks on the surface of the stainless steel. Some reproduction parts are simply not as good as the originals.
I tackled the side beadings and ended up using the crappy MB beadings anyway. The beadings on the left and right rear fenders needed to be cut to accommodate the larger wheel arches. I thought I would be able to cut the beadings with a small fine-toothed hacksaw, but the stainless steel would know nothing. Eventually took an angle grinder to it, which worked. You can actually work delicately with an angle grinder if you put your mind to it, but I will admit I was nipping a bit. It was a frustrating and time consuming job changing the beading lengths – the end caps are glued in and need to be cut out and then modified because the angle is opposite. Got it right eventually and it looks quite good.
Joins to the rear panel beadings look ****, which make me less happy.
Got the rear windscreen beading back from anodising and the experiment didn’t work. The finish was cloudy and there were pitting marks. I chatted to the anodising supplier and he told me that trying to anodise old aluminium is very difficult. Contrary to belief, aluminium DOES oxide and it’s the oxidation that causes all the imperfections. No matter how much polishing you do, the change in the material composition over time is what causes the problems. New aluminium is easy to anodise with excellent results. No option now but to get the beadings stripped, then polish and clear coat.
All the clips for the windscreen and rear windscreen beadings have been plated and riveted into place.
Started to apply the decals - this has been very exciting!