Vehicle: 1986 190E 2.3-16, 1992 190E 2.3 and 2007 GL450
Location: new york city
Posts: 867
Deen of S&R Autobody is Restoring the 2.3-16
Design details follow.
The front is simple and elegant featuring a huge radiator.
The port rear is stripped of its fixtures. I do not know why tape is on the car. Incidentally, the man in charge of body and paint and who owns S&R Autobody is Deen. He is coordinating parts acquisition and is supervising the body prep. Deen will be personally wet sanding.
The port front is also cleared of much of its fixtures. The side skirts will be left in place for now.
The rear is cleared of fixtures and the trunk is packed with parts.
The starboard rear 3/4 view reveals elegant metal work and outstanding body proportions.
The front is simple and elegant featuring a huge radiator.
Actually what's shown is the AC condensor, not the radiator. The radiator, located behind the condensor, in the 16 valve is actually smaller in width than the other models to accommodate the front mounted oil cooler and the air intake baffle.
Vehicle: 1986 190E 2.3-16, 1992 190E 2.3 and 2007 GL450
Location: new york city
Posts: 867
Forward Components of the 2.3-16
Ah yes. It's a sandwich of heat exchange conduits: radiator/oil cooler and larger condenser. The air intake baffle can be seen in the top photo. Also, part of the sandwich is the massive auxiliary fan and air conditioning piping.
To the port side, we see the ABS unit and air conditioner components.
In the center front, we see the hood latch and some structural members.
This is all in warehouse condition readied to be cleaned, polished and waxed.
Vehicle: 1986 190E 2.3-16, 1992 190E 2.3 and 2007 GL450
Location: new york city
Posts: 867
Deen's Paint
I have avoided at all costs including the 8v in this thread. This one time I felt I needed to show Deen's work.
Every few years, I take the 8v to Deen for wet sand buff outs and foam wheel polishing. Occasionally, Deen has painted sections of the car that have accumulated dings and scratches and has matched the barolorot very, very well.
However, there are bugs.
In the photo, the car developed a rust spot on the port side C pillar by the bottom corner of the rear windshield. I also asked Deen to replace the rubber window seal.
He located and treated a cell phone sized rust spot and repainted the area so as to retain the look of the factory surface.
So where's the bug? If you look at the port side trunk lid support, there is a tiny spot of overspray. It doesn't belong there but Deen put it there. It's as if the exquisite rug he weaves must have an imperfection because humanity is imperfect.
This drives me nuts and makes me have to return the car for spot removal.
Vehicle: 1986 190E 2.3-16, 1992 190E 2.3 and 2007 GL450
Location: new york city
Posts: 867
Disassembly of a 190E 2.3-16 and the Paint Plan
I am cleaning all parts removed from the car by car soap lathering and rinsing. Rubber components get a rubber treatment. The headlights will get a cleaning of the chrome reflectors.
The front bumper is in such condition as to not require paint. However, it will indeed get a flex adhesive coat.
The window nozzles are popped out for taping and the perforations in the hood will be cleaned for new paint. Sections of the hood will be rolled out with a metal wheel roller and other sections of the hood will be hammered out, supports put back into shape, welded and puttied for smoothness. The idea is to have the absolute minimum amount of putty, primer and sealer.
The paint will not encroach much past the cladding line. So, original paint will still cover the wheel opening mounting holes for the opening trim pieces as well as the lower third of the car. So, the actual surface area to be primed and painted will be modest.
The starboard rear door's scratches will be wire brushed and dings will be popped out or rolled out and filled with primer.
Vehicle: 1986 190E 2.3-16, 1992 190E 2.3 and 2007 GL450
Location: new york city
Posts: 867
The First Day of Bodywork
The starboard rear took the whole day Monday to rough prep.
The upper surface trailing the gasoline cap was severely scratched and dented. It took the day to completely straighten out and prep with sealer. The lower surface where access to vandals was more limited was hardly touched. The scratch by the rear taillight is now history.
A nasty door ding on the starboard rear door was rolled out and puttied.
The upper surface of that door was also deeply scratched and dented. It too was rolled out and puttied.
After observing the glass close up, I am entertaining the idea of sending the windshield and the rear glass with their corresponding seals into the dumpster.
Linear Mode
