Underside tidy up - R230 edition

[Blobcat]

Evening all.. did a few more bits on Wednesday mainly on the rear end.

While I gather enough steam to make that upload, please see the repair of my friends blasting pot (that I broke) in preparation for blasting a few bits on the car which I want cleaned but hard to get at with my usual bits.

Gravity blasting pot - broken leg repair.

Evening all, I borrowed a blasting part of a friend a good while back nearly two years ago i'd say. The design was crap, which meant when I filled it with shot the front leg broke off, quite annoying. Anyway, I had been planning on repairing it but never got around to it until yesterday. I need...

www.mig-welding.co.uk

 

[Conor]

Evening all..

It's been a while since my last update.. I seem to have been a "busy fool" lately.. been at many things and wonder if I was getting anything done lol..

Anywhere, please see my latest update..

I removed the bumper.. and also the rear crash bar. I wanted to inspect behind it and also I wanted to get at the two exhaust hander on rear end of shell.. which were quite rusty.





Said exhaust hanger..



I pulled off various other bits too.. Such as level sensors and various other fixings.. basically anything rust. The idea is to clean in ultrasonic cleaner with vinegar and paint.



I was a little over zealous on this arm.. thankfully I was able to straighten it up in the vice..



Yes they are pretty crusty, but will clean up nicely. Jury still out on if I will re-use them as the boots seem quite hard.. but then again, I think they will be ok and each arm is a shade over €30 each.



A few bits for the ultrasonic cleaner..



Transmission strut..

 

[Conor]

I was unable to properly wrap these pipes when I was on by back before... but now that I have a lift.. I was able to satisfy my OCD



Jacking points are starting to get sad.. Oh and I broke one of these pads.. Thankfully they are cheap enough.




Picked a few bits from the ultrasonic cleaner and decided to play around with my new blasting cabinet to clean the paint off.. and also etch the surfaces to get ready for paint.







... Apologies that this update is a real mix and match of photos.. I seem to have been all over the place with the camera.

In any case... I decided to drop the rear subframe in order to get at the slightly out of reach rust on the spare wheel well. I have decided I am going to start a business doing underbody restorations and rust prevention on cars / 4x4s .. and I thought I could use this as some practice and marketing material.

There was quite a bit of disconnecting/strippping in order to remove the subframe.. I don't have loads of pics.. but take my word for it. Not a massive amount of work.. just lots of little bits.

Dropping the subframe was fine, in general.. but it was super annoying that I needed to dismantle the parking brake shoes to get slack on the cables to remove them from the centre linkage......really annoying!! I also mangled a few of the fittings, had to cut some springs on the way.. thankfully the kits for these are cheap.

So close... but yet so far..





Did I say mangled?? Should be able to get it back into shape if these don't come with the spring kits... I'm not sure they do? If available from dealer I will order one.. I only messed up one.



And there we have a subframe. Full disclosure. I was caught in a bind with the struts.. I didn't want to have them loose on the subframe as I lowered it down, just in case one fell and damaged a line... so I chopped the rubber hose connecting the strut to the hard line under chassis. I can easily get one re-made and the fittings were pretty rust anyway.

Struts still in car.. will remove tomorrow when I have a second set of hands.

 

[Conor]

Funnily enough... the rear of the diff appeared to be missing a bolt/bush .. but I am starting to believe (research) that this is intentional... seems odd.





Oooh I'm going to go to town on this

Thoughts on the seam sealer...? I am thinking of removing where the rust has penetrated and re-applying.. but I won't strip it all I think.



Plenty of scope for tidying up here also.. This is starting to get interesting.

Does anybody have any idea what RAL this grey could be?



Whats this?? On the diff. Looks like some port for filling the diff? Factory tooling perhaps?




Tomorrow I will remove the struts - 4 bolts. I'll probably have a look at pulling out the valve body too and a few of the lines etc, so I can have the various fitting fittings cooking in the vinegar

I haven't painted any parts in ages.. so I will probably get into that in the coming days too.

Along with the above..I need to start tidying up the rust. Plan is to use abrasive to get most of it off and then rust convert anything left over.. prior to epoxy primer.

 

[Uncle Benz]

Thing on the differential is the breather

 

[s5tuart]

Great work Conor!

 

[Conor]

Thing on the differential is the breather

Cool, thanks G.

 

[Wighty]

Cool, thanks G.

The missing bolt is a ”thing” on some models , my E class only has 1 . I would guess more powerful cars have 2 ?

 

[Conor]

Alright chaps.. happy crimbo you wonderful lot..

I've been tipping away trying to get a bit more done on the SL... originally I had set myself the challenge of finishing it up before xmas. I can't remember if that was before or after the subframe came down lol.. but anyway. I have been busy running from Billy to Jack trying achieve various things... like travelling to one town to get ABC hoses done... then to another to get sandblasting supplies.

Anyway...

Here is the rear ABC lines. I had 4 hoses replaced, and left a couple as they were looking ok. I also didn't strip the fittings off the pipes (hard lines) this time as they didn't look at all bad really. About €270 lighter in the pocket.... but now is the time to get them done, because later on is false economy if you consider youd probably need to buy 10 litres of fluid if pulling the pipes..



The next step in this job is to sandblast underneath the car. My setup really isn't appropriate for this but I did it anyway. I spent a while shuffling stuff around and covering the cars and anything that might not like the grit. I put builders plastic over loads off stuff.

For the business I plan on getting into, I will have a 3x6 metre room for blasting (to be built..) but I don't have an answer for blasting the underside of cars. I'll have to come up with a plan for sheeting off the area under the car while it's on the lift.





There are two holes (plugged with grommets) that I needed to remove and block off from the inside with a few layers of silage tape. I did this in a few places instead of leaving the grommets in place. I didn't want to risk tearing up the good grommets as they can add up in cost quickly.






The sandblaster works alright.. it's a cheap chinese version, but is ok in a sense. The head shroud that came with it was totally unsuitable so I needed to travel 20 miles away to buy a full on blasting helmet and air fed system. It was spendy.. but there is zero way around it in my opinion.. and any shortcuts would basically end up with my getting contact dermatitis with all the crushed glass LMAO!




Yeap! Sand everywhere.. thankfully I prepped reasonably well and all my full shelving units are behind plastic. I can sweep up this grit and re-use it.. scratch that. I tried using recycled grit and the bits of rust / seam sealer etc were just blocking the nozzle. The sieve I bought is a little too coarse.. it is suited to blasters with marginally bigger nozzles.. I will try some fly screen next which I can cut into a circle and put on the sieve so all is not lost.

It's quite funny and i'm learning fast that the principle of abrasive blasting is simple (air + media) .. but it's niche so can be expensive to setup .. and there are lots of things you need along the way for it to be any way practical.. I'm determined to get there and this massive barrier is what I see as a positive because it deters so many people getting into it. If I can manage to get setup and convice people to let me work on their 4x4s with ladder chassis I should be able to get through this absolute shitstorm of an economy that has come to roost at my door LMAO...



I blasted a thing....... it feels cool and therapeutic!

Now wait for the next part.. a big fail on my part!!!

 

[Conor]

Right so.. when I got my blaster I got a bit carried away and started blasting various areas, which included the strut towers. Fine!

I was laying in bed that night and realised I never blanked off the towers...

There is now basically loads and loads of crushed glass all over the boot area of my SL! FML!!! You can also see how I blanked off the towers to reduce any further ingress.

Maybe I should have cried, but I didn't.. it's spilt milk. I'll vacuum it all up later and then use the air line to blow it out. I'm confident I can remove 90% of it. I'll have to make a judgement call on pumps etc later.








Blasts up nice, heh!?







Oh here's another before pic.. With regards to the seam sealer. It seems a lot of it has failed. I'd like to try and buzz it all off with a wire wheel.. but it's kind of difficult to do. It feels like the right approach though. as it will likely end up comproising the epoxy mastic down the road. I wonder do I need seam sealer over the mastic? I'll probably lash some on after the paint. To keep the OEM look LMAO..

The blasting work is slow because i'm using the wrong type of compressor and i'm conscious of burning it out.. so I only go at it for a while and then need to give it time to cool off. (I'm in the market for a screw or road compressor...)

Next steps are to finish the blasting. Then clean off the steel with brake cleaner probably (in lieu of acetone).. apply some Jotun Jotamastic 90 followed by RAL 7040 Window Grey then seam sealer.

We are getting there... talk about getting side tracked from overhauling my ABC, wow!!

 

[Conor]

Before I finish up for the evening. The fuel lines are in a sorry state.

Most of the areas I can sand, paint and wax.. but there is this one spot shown below that I am concerned about. Interestingly the brake lines are fine.. although I will be giving them a rub and brushing down with epoxy mastic.

What should I do about the fuel lines? is there a cut and shut job that is appropriate for these? I've sanded this one down a but but it still doesn't look great.

Can I cut and shut with rubber hose and jubilee clip? I say that because it doesn't look dissimilar to how other parts of the fuel system are plumbed.

 

[malcolm E53 AMG]

Great stuff Conor - very impressed!
I can feel you setting my OCD off reminds me of the good old days of working on a drawing board, we had a couple of females in the office I remember playing a little game by totally cleaning my drawing board and desk area and wait to see how long it was before they started to clean theirs it wasn’t long lol
On a more serious note good luck with the business venture which is especially appealing to owners of 4x4 vehicles when you look at replacement costs that’s if you can replace like with like

 

[Conor]

Great stuff Conor - very impressed!
I can feel you setting my OCD off reminds me of the good old days of working on a drawing board, we had a couple of females in the office I remember playing a little game by totally cleaning my drawing board and desk area and wait to see how long it was before they started to clean theirs it wasn’t long lol
On a more serious note good luck with the business venture which is especially appealing to owners of 4x4 vehicles when you look at replacement costs that’s if you can replace like with like

Thanks mate, appreciate it!

 

[Conor]

Evening all,

Oh how it's been a while since my last update.. I was extremely busy/distracted for the first few months of the year getting my blasting setup sorted.

I'm back on the SL now and it needs sorting ASAP, as it's holding up further progress, being on the lift all this time.

Let's dive straight in.

After the last pics, I left things a while as I needed to get a paint gun with a 2.5mm nozzle to spray the Jotun Jotamastic 90 (2k Epoxy Mastic).

When I went back to blasting it, I had a proper compressor setup and could keep blasting away until the sand ran out. (I acquired a 3 phase 20HP 77 CFM unit)

For the seam sealer it was elbow grease.. I found it easier to slice it rather than chisel/scrape it off.. then just scrape off the remnants.

Here is a quick preview of what it was like after the initial blasting session.. and just before the second session. Note the blotchy rust in places, that is flash rust from the fresh metal being exposed to moisture in the air.

Then here is the after clip (Apologies for the jumpy video/audio .. SD card issue)

 

[Conor]

....ok, second attempt after some technical issues with the forum.

Following the blasting, I sprayed on some Jotun Jotamastic 90. I used a spray gun with a 2.5mm tip, at around 25 PSI, oh and I had to thin it 20% to get it to flow nice. Any less and it splutters and you get a rough finish.

I really like the finish.



At this point I should be showing you the RAL grey overcoated but I haven't done that yet. Overcoating periods are quite long for the epoxy, especially in this weather. That said, I will be scuffing it up with a maroon scotch pad to be on the safe side.

Following the painting I went about repairing a few other little bits that needed doing, such as a bracket for one of the ABC level sensors. I also had a friend braze a hole in the fuel line. Not ideal, but was the most practical method.

 

[Conor]

There were also a couple of spots a bit more forward in the car that I forgot to do, but wanted to address.

For these two body coloured areas, I have some Jasper blue that I will apply over some primer... better than leaving black patches.



Good heavy dollops of the mastic... as I knew they were only getting one coat.



There was also this spot that I missed during blasting, as it was covered with silage tape. So I scuffed with 80 grit and send it to paint





Here is how I painted that repair piece of fuel line... painted by brush while mounted on vice.

 

[Conor]

Speaking of paint brushes.

I recently painted some of the ABC lines with a gun by hanging them up.. there was super overspray and I made a mess on the floor.

So for the many smaller parts I needed to paint, I decided to just lay one one thick coat by brush.. You won't see many of them at all.. and I would prefer they be well protected.

...so... before you see the nasty brush work.. let me show you this transmission support plate that I sprayed with the gun. Very nice finish.



Then with the brush strokes... not before blasting the parts. Blasted parts are beautiful!

These are the ABC level sensor arms, without the rubber gaiters, which I removed. I think they are shot and I might just buy new ones tbh.



I basically picked them all up and painted as much as I could without having the paint touch the bottom, let them dry and then did the remainder. I absolutely lashed on the paint.. crude!

 

[Conor]

..That's pretty much it really.

I have a few parts on order from the dealer such as speed nuts, washers, bolts etc which were damaged/corroded.

Regarding the heatshields. I have decided to replace the two that sit over the rear mufflers as these were worst and rattling when last driving. The others I am going to patch up with drink cans and other odds/ends to get the car back on the road. Down the road I will splash out on new shields but the budget isn't there now. I want to stop spending money on this for the moment and get it back on the road!

Here is a shot of the subframe, that has been waiting patiently (albeit in a precarious position).

It's crying out to be cleaned up but I am resisting. For the moment I will just spray the rusty bits with WD40 and put it back on. I plan on building a vapour blaster down the road. This subframe, being aluminium will be the perfect test subject.

 

[Conor]

Following the epoxy mastic the other day, I managed to get some paint on to brighten up the underside..

It was quite a stressful couple of days.. the guy I bought the paint of in the motor factors wouldn't provide the Technical Data Sheet or even the name of the product.. he just said.. its "2 to 1 and 10%...." I pushed for the name and he just gave me the company name and not the name of the actual paint... furious! I have never painted anything without the TDS before.. so this was very stressful.

After a bit of asking around and research, I just went with it.. So two parts paint and one part hardener it was.. with a dash of thinner. Seems to have worked and set off nicely. The 2K was nice because it will be harder wearing than regular base coat.. although for an underside, it's a bit glossier than I would like.. But still looks great.

The paint job itself.. is only OK. It turns out one of the air outlets on the gun tip was blocked and the atomisation wasn't great.. so I got a few runs here and there. I'm going to leave them as i'm not bothered. Overall it's an OK job, but I would certainly strive to do better.




I added some seam sealer to the areas where I picked it off due to rust.




I think I can get bac to my ABC overhaul project now, after this slight distraction! LMAO.

I feel like overhauling my ABC plumbing

Hello all Has anybody had a go at this? The car is nearly 19 years old now.. and with a leak around the front valve block. Technically you can still drive it if you keep the system topped up... but I am taking that as, as fair a shot across the bow as you can get on this car/system. You might...

forums.mercedesclub.org.uk

If I remember, I will post back here, with some pics when everything is back together and see how it looks.

 

[yinujim]

Well done! Most of them look like this if they have been in the UK. There are already many W211's with big rust holes everywhere.