Thread: 55 Wagon Progress

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You've made the radio disappear....why not make the antenna disappear, too?? If the owner insists on a power antenna, then perhaps recess it into the fender in the most inconspicous way. If not, use a quality hidden one and keep the fender smooth. Just a thought....

Can you get a windshield with antenna built in?

This one comes with 13 interchangeable heads for different mounting positions
Am FM Radio Power Antenna Mast Kit Mercedes 350SL 380SL 450SL 560SL R107 | eBay

Thanks for all the ideas guys. Still waiting for the owner to call back on a decision....


In the meantime, more progress on the condenser, used some machine screws to attach to the bracket, and some AVK style rivet-nuts in the frame of the condenser to act as a captive nut.








Bolted in place...








Meanwhile Kyle ties up some loose ends, finishing the weld across the remaining "shaved" lead seam on the passenger quarter.. It does need some grinding on the underside of the weld still but we'll wait for the car to be on the rotisserie for easier access.














Fitment of the Driver's side tail light... this was even worse than the passenger side in fitment, and we did need to make a relief cut at the top, but after some massaging, it's getting close. A few more tweaks to get this done and then the headache of installing the motorized tail light pivot for fuel fill access..

Great work and good luck on the antenna dilema.

Sorry for the slight hiatus, been in UK and just got back this past weekend. Time to catch up on what we had done before I left and what Kyle did while I was gone to take up my slack..


Part of our fitment issue with the passenger tail light was that we are installing the "hidden fuel fill" which required the removal of the brace welded in the opening. Next, when the old quarter was cut off and the new one installed, without the brace in place both pieces tended to wrap to the right, which can sort of be seen in the following picture, where its flush above the inside corner and rotates to the right upwards of that. The outer quarter was rotated in a similar fashion. We weren't having much luck in resolving the issue with the top weld seam remaining, so a relief cut was added, a restraint device employed to make use of some off dolly bumping to eliminate some of the right rotation. I didn't get a good picture of it, but you can see where the inner quarter comes in considerably upwards of the tail light right corner..





Anchor





Off-dolly bumping...





Then some shrinking was used to pull in the inner quarter, and a 16 ga plate used to hold things in place while the top seam was re-welded.








Kyle got the seam welded closed...





And temporary brace removed...





Much better, almost ready to tackle the "fuel door" pivot...

Great work! Man, that was off quite a bit! How was the trip to the UK? Did you see or visit anything cool?

Ryan, it was a quick trip for work and didn't offer much for sight seeing. Should be going back next spring, hope to take in some sights then..



Got another care package in the mail... The new escutcheon for the antenna looks like it will work, the hole size matches the nut on the antenna and we'll just need to get rid of the flat spot/keyway in the hole. Only I don't think we'll be using this one. Between a recess under the chrome and visible scratches in it, this one's going back.























On to the next new pieces, hopefully these fit better, Reproduction headlight buckets..... wanted to test fit all the headlight and turn signal pieces before re-priming the fenders..











Decided to use some AVK rivet nuts over the u-clips..



































Parts fitted..

This continues to be one of my favorite build threads. Amazing metal work!!

Interesting how simply adding headlights brings the car to life....

Like lipstick on a pig!


Well this isn't much of an update, but since Kyle was busy media blasting some parts I had torch and hammer duty.. So to have a place to drop the torch quickly, bent this up:

















When the top seam was welded we had a slight bulge just in from the tail light. So some dime sized spots were heated and then hammered with glancing blows to bring things down a bit.. The fit of the tail light is much better now, and we've started the fitup of the motor assembly's mounting plate. Should get that welded in tomorrow..

Originally Posted by MP&C

Like lipstick on a pig!

Well, if you say so.....
pig-lipstick.jpg

Nice work on the light fitting! Now that I've been watching this thread I can spot bad lines on these cars from a little ways out, and there a lto of them. Haha

Originally Posted by randyr

Well, if you say so.....
Attachment 63849

Well isn't that Purdy!



Worked on the Rocky Hinge hidden fuel door this evening. The mounting plate we made is plug welded to the tail light opening..





Slight trimming needed.....





Then some 3M body molding adhesive tape is added to the top of the pivot bracket and the lens pressed in place. Here's the initial test...


https://youtu.be/oZ6JYr988dc


That worked fairly well, so it was clamped in place and a transfer punch used to mark the housing for drilling mounting holes..





Then the holes were slightly slotted using a dremel for side to side adjustability. Here's the results, from different views....


https://youtu.be/848V2PbuQJw


https://youtu.be/N_Qz0NZxh5g


https://youtu.be/PVeWQyb35j8


OK, now for the bad that we found with the kit... The original lamp housing must be removed for clearance, and a new (included) one gets installed below the original position. The new housing has those spring loaded contacts that some tend to bend over and short out, so I gave the wires a couple gentle tugs to see if the contacts deflected toward the outside shell...








Surprise, surprise, the contacts pulled clean off....





Note there is no copper inside the contacts, indicating these had a loose crimp...








Next, the operation of the motor function seemed to be intermittent. A recheck of the power connections showed no issues, so we pressed a bit harder on the switches toggle, and the function returned. Multiple repeat attempts were performed and the switch proved to be the culprit. It appears to be a cheapo switch that has intermittent contact function. So looks like we'll be replacing a couple of the parts for this kit... So much for everything you need in one package....

Sorry to see that you had problems with the electrical connections and the switch, but that mechanism to move the light assembly is super slick! I've not seen a powered unit like that, and it looks to be very well made, with very smooth action to last a long, long time. I really like Rocky Hinge, and the way they support their products.