Headliner installation

I bought the headliner from K.O Habostad auto interiør Stranda, Norway. The fabric is original quality. The fit was perfect and I am very satisfied with this dealer. The best service you can ask for. And the price was good.

This article gave me a lot of tips for the installation. I also got a lot of tips from Habostad. The installation was straight forward, but I took it slow. Clean hands is rule #1. The most difficult part was to get the headliner behind the fixing rails, and then the rubbertube. Some places I did not manage to get the rubber tube in place. In front and rear the headliner is glued in place.

Rear area.

I decided to "lock" the rear bow in place at the rear dome lamp area. This to prevent vibrations and to be sure that the bow will keep in place. I used this clamp and drilled a hole in the plate around the rear dome light, and bolted it in place. I am not sure if this is necessary, but I feel more confident with this patent. What a bad photo.....
Headliner is hanging loose.
Insulation in the roof.

Windlass and fixingrails

Before installing the headliner, the windlass must be mounted. I decided to order new windlass, because what I had was not original and it was not in the best shape. It is not very easy to replace this after the headliner is in place. So I ordered new ones from Habostad auto interiør. The same company I bougt the headliner from. Excellent quality. The windlass is held in place with the fixing rails, that also needed a makeover. They were very rusted so I sandblasted, primed and painted them. It took us one evening to install it on the car. It is important that it is mounted straight and in line with the dooropenings.

Windlass and fixingrails in place:
Windlass and fixingrails:
Fixingrails:

Adjusting bodypanels

Car restoration is not my profession and I never have done this before, things sometimes are done in the wrong order. As I have wrote earlier I have troubled with adjusting doors to flush with each others, and at the same time with the fenders. And the fenders should be aligned with the hood and trunk. And the hood and the trunk with the body.... After mounting the rubber gasket on all four doors and the luggage compartment, I again started to adjust. I had to loosen the rearfenders, and the panels under the doors. After a couple of hours thinking, looking and adjusting everything was surprisingly correct!! If there should be a next time, I now know where to start..... The sound of a well adjusted Mercedes Benz door is the sound of quality. And with even gaps between the panels, the car looks like it should.

Now I have started to replace the screws, nuts and washers with primed and blackpainted new ones. Also at the door hinges. Important details.

So far this has been the hardest part to get right.

Finally....

Finally I managed to mount the front turning signal. I have tried and tried, and tried again. Today I succeeded. The problem was to get the rubber gasket around the chromeplate. It seemed to be two numbers to small. My dealer told me it should be possible, and he had did this many times. You just need a lot of time and patience he said..... Not the best combination. Me and patience......


This is the gasket. Why didn't they make it a bit wider? I guess there is a reason.

Doors part II

All chrome in place. The windshield will be mounted after the headliner. And the headliner soon arrives at a post office near me.
One piece of wood mounted. These doorpanels are not "original style" but they have to do the job a year or two.
Doors completed with sidewindow and ventilation window.
The reardoor.
Ventilation window. New sealers around the side window. Not the easiest part to adjust and glue in place. But I am satisfied with the result.
New sound dampening in all four doors. At least as good as the original. I will put in a lot of sound dampening material. The only sound I want to hear, is the sound from the inline six, and from the exhaustpipe. (and my self smiling)
New sealings around the doors. Glued in place. Very nice fit. Original from Mercedes Benz. (of course...)

Still going strong

I just want you to know, that I work on the car every day, even if there are no updates. I am working on the doors. The reardoors are almost ready, and it is going forward with the frontdoors as well. It takes time to fix up every part, and get it in place nice. Chrome needs to be cleaned, polished and the mounts needs to be repaired. The same with the window mechanism. Yesterday the doorsealinglists arrived. My schedule is to be finished with the doors in January. It is realistic I think. I also received the headliner yesterday, but I think it is for a 180 or 190. Way to short....

I also think it is realistic to complete the car within May 17. (this year....) The national day of Norway.

And then it is time for the ride I have promised my wife for 9 years. To Frognerseteren in Oslo to have "Eplekake med krem" (applecake with cream?)

Time will show. There will be picture updates when there is something to publish.

Doors. part I

The flashlight on the camera makes the paint and chrome look awful. After a clean up and a serious polish, I guess Silkesvarten shines like it should again. Actually I am SURE it will shine!

We have had a very cold weather the last weeks, so the working temperature in the garage is low. I had to spray the inside of the doors with rustprotection, so the heater has been running inside the car.

The chrometrimming is in place, and so is the little window. On both sides. I have also mounted the door handle. With new rubber.

This screw is a pain in the ass....... And there is one at both sides. Argh!!! This picture, and the pictures below are from the donor door....... There should not be any rust left on Silkesvarten.

I need the chrometrimming! They need loving care to come loose in good health...

These doors are from the donor car. They have a lot of good parts. I have new doorpanels, so I am not going to use these. I have not yet started with the woodframes on the doors.

Dashboard part 1 1/2

It is not very often I am this satisfied with my work.

Some update pictures.

I love the "look".

Just waiting for the wood.....

A main switch is mounted behind the battery. Operates from the gloves compartment. This is required by the insurancecompany. The battery is also secured.

There's been a long way from the rusted wreck I found back in 99, until now. But it is worth it. I think....

The engine compartment is getting complete. It just needs a clean up. And the heaterboxes are still missing.

New telescopic antenna mounted. (The windshield is not mounted.)

Rear end waiting for the bumper.

Nice wheels?

Fuel filter and tank selector

A fuel leak appeared from the tank selectorhousing. No problem on a 50 years old Mercedes Benz. Just go to your local dealer, and order new parts. They will arrive from Germany after a couple of days. Amazing!! I ordered both o-rings, the spring, the fuel filter and the broken gasket.

Dashboard part I

Grinded and painted with the same paint as my friends car. "lys antikk". I really hope this will be nice and original. It should have been used this oldstyle Chellack, but this is way too expensive for me. 20 000,- NOK... When a professional does the job.

Fog lamps

These lamps are not from the 50's, but the design is acceptable I think. They are Bosch lamps.

Beltline chrome

I have started the mounting of beltlinechrome. The homemade T-studs was perfect. Maybe I should start to manufacture them? On the inside I used washers with larger diameter, and butyl to seal.

Visit in a friends garage for further inspiration!

This car is in extremely good shape. It was impossible to take a good photo, because of bad space. This is a 58'
I borrowed the paint for the wood. I think this is the right color.

Someday it is me behind the wheel...... dream dream dream dream.......

Little things

I have started to grind the wood for the dashboard.

Production of small chrome belt fasteners. These are really expensive, so I decided to produce them myself. The picture under shows the result after Egil has primed them. Ready to use. The chrome details are almost ready for assemblying. This afternoon I have polished them with Autosol, with a good result.

As I wrote earlier, two bulbs in the instrumentpanel was dark. I decidet to open up the panel to locate the problem. There was a burned wire, that had to be replaced. You can see a green wire missing in the right and middle of the picture below. I am impressed of the art of engineering also in the instrumentpanel. I guess Mercedes was lightyears ahead of all other car producers in the 50's.

Apart: