I can't believe it's been four months since I updated the blog. I'm happy to say that I've been working pretty much non-stop on the car in that time. So much so that while I've tried to keep the Youtube channel up to date, I let the blog slip. I've never suspected that a lot of people are reading, anyway.
Anyhow, as of my last post, I was on the verge of finishing up bodywork on the Mercedes. Once the work was done, I smoothed out the body as best (and quickly) as I could, and then threw paint at it:
After the car was painted, I turned my attention to the interior. First up was the dashboard. I replaced the torn-up 1983 dashboard with the much better parts from the old 1979 parts car:
While I had the instrument cluster out, I took it apart, repaired the lighting circuit, painted the gauge needles, and put it back together with fresh light bulbs:
Once that was back in the car, I installed new door seals:
Then, I got to work installing the new stereo, center console, and steering wheel:
After that, I removed, relubricated, and replaced inner door hardware as necessary:
Up next was the fuel tank:
Finally, it was interior time. I removed everything that was in the car and started by laying down carpeting:
I followed that with other various interior trim:
The seats went in next:
After the seats came the door panels and inner door trim:
That pretty much catches us up to where I am now. This week, I'm wet sanding and polishing out the paint job as best I can before I reinstall the exterior trim:
That's not a good photo. At this point, I do have a decent finish on the front end. I expect to be working on the paint job for the next week or so. I'm hoping to have the car completely reassembled (cosmetically, anyway) by the end of the month. Then, I'll jump into mechanical repairs so I can (hopefully) drive the car this spring.
