The revival of 650143R, 1970 with TS.

[dakazman]

   Richard,
       The L channel looks to an idea for anchor point for the rear stowage area. I would listen to BDA on that one and cut it off.
   You are making great progress.
 Dakazman
 
   
 

[TurboFource]

Did you unbolt the emergency brake arm? I didn't see that mentioned it...

[Richard48Y]

Yes I did remove the E-brake arm.

Think I found the problem with getting the front to lift off.
Upper A arm nut is protruding into the cabin.
I hope to be able to remove it and push the bolt forward to clear.

Second pic is what happens with fat tires, hard cornering, and suspension lowered just a little too far for the combination.

Third pic, looks like the front wheel wells have been trimmed at the top to clear the fat tires?

[Richard48Y]

OK, body is actually ready to be lifted off at last.
May have done some 'unnecessary' work as I released the fuel tank from the body.
Since my forklift is out of commission I will try to recruit some local help.
In my town that means the hard part is finding guys under sixty.

I've heard all sorts of stories about Chapman being cheap but never really took them very seriously until today.
CARDBOARD for the wheel-well shuts, really?
Hoping someone is already selling fiberglass or aluminum replacements?
Also found that the disc brake conversion rotors that came with the car do not actually fit the PCD.
Looking for an alternative that does if possible.

[BDA]

Well, it's not just cardboard - it's tar'ed cardboard. I found some plastic sheeting that I cut into shape for the wheel wells. 

Chapman was cheap. He was trying everything to lower costs and even still, he wasn't able to get a reasonable margin. The stub axles are from a Hilman Imp which didn't have nearly 100 hp.

I've found that working on a car over time changes your opinion about the engineering involved with it. I've seen ridiculous short cuts in Mercedes cars that for the price of them, there is no excuse for that.

[Kendo]

RD Enterprises has PVC wheel well closing plates, different shapes for front and back

[Richard48Y]

Body is now on stands.
I am gathering material to make the rotisserie adapters.
I will have to wheel the body outside for soda blasting.
Considering soda blasting a must, as I want to remove all the old body filler and do the repairs properly.
Despite cost I will be using Holdtight 102 with the water rinse to avoid primer/paint adhesion issues.
Planning to use epoxy repair for stronger bonds.
I intend to also use vacuum bagging for best wet-out and flow.

Happy to see my chassis appears to be rust-free and strait. 
I seem to recall some recommended reinforcements for the chassis?
Not so happy with the left trailing arm.

A few pics.

[kram350kram]

I had my TCS soda blasted. I can say from experience that you might/will have an extreme number of pin hole repairs. My original fiberglass was just porous junk, lacking any kind of gelcoat. I would say I filled at least 1000 pin holes and they were not from any of my body filler work. The worst of it was along the door jambs, door edges, hood and engine deck edges, roof and water catch troughs. That being said, I know I saved time and filler work had I chose to DA the entire body and hand sand all the nooks, returns and tight areas. My car had 5-6 coats of paint including the original paint. The other thing to watch is blow through. Some areas are very thin and if the paint is adheared well the operator may over do it. I had a few areas that I had to re-glass and others where the area was not totally stripped as the operator stopped for fear of going to far. So I still had to hand sand these areas to get all the paint off .

If I were to do again I would still blast, hope for the best and just repair as needed. I had a metal body soda blasted and it came back really nice but to say I was a bit "shocked" when I first saw the Europa body would be an understatement. Your body condition and situation may be different, but a good discussion with your blaster would be advised. My operator had done tens of early Corvettes and a few Avanti's and his statement to me was , " That was the worst fiberglass I ever blasted". 102 is great stuff and worth the expense. Good Luck and happy sanding.   

[Richard48Y]

I really have no choice but to soda-blast as my shoulders will never let me do that much sanding.  :'(
I will be the operator, lower pressure will be key to success.
This car only has one additional coat of paint from original.
I need to see and repair what is under Bondo.
Bondo is a no-no over fiberglass.
Turns out the underside of S2's was never painted at all. 
Before I may blast I still have to remove all old undercoat and oil.
Also have to research access to the insides of the paper thin doorsills.
Bodywork is going to be much more difficult than the mechanicals.

[Richard48Y]

I have the rotisserie adapter designed.
Not thrilled that it will have to pass through the nose and tail openings but to do otherwise makes it overly complex.

Could not abide those ugly angle-iron tabs someone goober welded onto my frame.
Today I removed them.
Not fully finished as I have to strip the frame so that I may rotate it for better access.
I will be welding in some new flange.

[BDA]

That came out pretty good! It could have been a lot worse!

[Richard48Y]

Got the fuel tank out.
At first glance it looks good, but on closer look I see a welded repair.
Still had some fuel in it.
I really want twin tanks, Nevada is a collection of rural communities.
Home to Reno and back is about 170 miles round trip with no other excursions.
Expecting to have to Doctor my fuel for octane so adding more mid trip will not be convenient.

[Richard48Y]

Made it to the hardware store today.
They have a very sparse selection of stains.
I picked one that looked just a fraction darker than original.
Doing a small sample it appears a little lighter than I had hoped but may be OK once I get the clear varnish on it.
Still not sure what type of veneer I have but it has some almost iridescent qualities when viewed at an angle.
I intend to avoid the thick varnish of the original dash.
Semi-gloss Spar Varnish, not gloss.
I will have to match grain at the center but after all the cut-outs there will be very little remaining joint visible.
Hoping to do this soon as it's a relatively simple and inexpensive task.
Using the $12.00 in 'scrap' veneer helps a lot. 
Should have a sample pic in the morning after the second coat of varnish.

[Richard48Y]

Pics of my too small veneer sample.
This may be Birdseye Maple?

Very light until stained, still lighter than the samples at the store after stain.
I also have Dark Walnut stain but that is too dark even on this light wood.

Pics, stained and raw, in the light and in shadow.
In the light the color is pretty golden, in shadow it is closer to what I was looking for.
Camera is not 100% accurate.

[BDA]

That's an interesting grain! Mercedes used to offer it (probably still does) on some of their more luxury-minded models.