139 replies to this topic

[1stiski]

Been putting this off for over 3 years, It now begins.


Left side stripped down, only two small rust spots to be fixed and I know of one more on the trunk.. Amazing in PA, but this car never sees winter for the past 18 years and sits in a garage protected from the elements, I'm lucky with only that much rust.


More to come as I go.

[re-Markable LSC]

Now we're cookin with gas!

[Michael VII LSC/SE]

Nice! Nice looking tires. What are they and how do they ride?

[W.V. Kelly]

Glad to see you start. Call me if you have any questions as you proceed.
W. V. Kelly

Did we somehow mix up three threads here?

[1stiski]

Falcon Raptor's , 245-50-17 and 275-50-17 , they ride nice and quiet .

Bill , I'm sure I will be bugging u along the way .

[W.V. Kelly]

1stiski, on 13 September 2011 - 08:25 AM, said:

Bill , I'm sure I will be bugging u along the way .

I'll be disappointed if you don't.
W. V. Kelly

[Michael VII LSC/SE]

Further study looks like you have the Riken Raptor. A ZR rated tire owned by Michelin.

It seems to be getting harder to find Wide tall (26.6") car tires. I was trying to find something that would fit my Mark VII when I came across this forum. There's a lot of unhappy people. They drive Mercedes so that may say a lot. They seem to have a problem with the tires holding air then having catastrophic tire failure. With the money you are putting into the car thought you should be aware.

http://mbworld.org/f...ken-raptor.html


I find a lot of good things said about them. So it looks like short sidewalls and heavy cars may be the problem with the Mercedes.

[1stiski]

My tires seem to be ok , I know things fail , usually owner neglect is always overlooked , so I take this report with a grain of sand , if there were serious consistent failures , I'm sure that a recall would be issued by the tire manufacturer .

[1stiski]

Any one have thoughts on Soda blasting the surface of the car,, I'm told there is a company that is local and they charge $300 to come to your residence and blast the body. I think if thats a good option, i may go that way, and then I can do surface prep and concentrate on the dings and rust spots better since I will have a clean surface.. Thoughts?

[1stiski]

Wheel issue solved . This color
to this color, with the deep dish it should look excellent.
this is the plan.

[mark007]

what color will you be painting the car when the kit is installed?

[1stiski]

Boulevard Black ( an Eastwood color) and european clear coat . All chrome will be blackened .

[mark007]

1stiski, on 15 September 2011 - 08:53 AM, said:

Boulevard Black ( an Eastwood color) and european clear coat . All chrome will be blackened .

if thats the case why not wait to do the wheels when the car is done? that way you can photoshop different color combos o the car with its new paint and styling. i think a polished lip with powdercoated body color would look good.

[1stiski]

I'm an old school gold fan , and I know it was a popular color in the 80's , so it will go hand and hand with my project . Good idea though . Thanks .

Oh , I had debated on doing them black to match the body color . And I know it would look great , but my thoughts changed , btw , the gold color I'm getting is actually a BBS color that was used on the WRX Suburu wheels , a shade brighter than the old school BBS mesh wheel paint , this will " pop" the wheels even more .

[HTRDLNCN]

Michael VII LSC/SE, on 13 September 2011 - 03:44 PM, said:

It seems to be getting harder to find Wide tall (26.6") car tires.

I find a lot of good things said about them. So it looks like short sidewalls and heavy cars may be the problem with the Mercedes.

The Nittos I have been running on my XSport are 275/50/17s, cant say enough good things about them.
Im on my second set in around 55000miles

[1stiski]

This is the color gold I'm going to use.


Today I started to remove the chrome window frames, the clips were in excellent shape, no rust

and the front window frame came off , no issues, far easier than the rear


Then took off the rear lights , that chrome will also be blackened .


Had my hour and half of fun in the garage, but alas, I must do other things too or the wife will not be happy. And a HAPPY wife is easy to live with.

[Oil_Injected]

1stiski, on 14 September 2011 - 09:00 AM, said:

Any one have thoughts on Soda blasting the surface of the car,, I'm told there is a company that is local and they charge $300 to come to your residence and blast the body. I think if thats a good option, i may go that way, and then I can do surface prep and concentrate on the dings and rust spots better since I will have a clean surface.. Thoughts?

Two years ago i tried to locate a local (wichita,ks) blaster and came up with a couple of guys that charged $100/hr for sand and up to $130/hr for different media. The guy estimated 1.5-2 hours to blast a sunbeam alpine i was working on. That was body, underbody and frame. I was going to bring the car in on a rotissary to make it easy for him.

[1stiski]

So that $300 isn't outa line with a outer body clean up. Hey It will let me know what lies underneath quickly. Thanks for the input. How are the results after a blast? I'm going to epoxy primer the car after a blast, but first I have to see IF I can get them to my place.

[1stiski]

Did some tear down today, finished up the RT side, and some window molding, removed the rear bumper (I have a nice dent free one to put on)


Started on the front end, stripping off the grill, headlights, side , center markers and lower airdam. Off with the front bumper next time I get a chance.


And I HAD to put on the rear panel GTC skirt just for fun and to give me incentive not to drag my ass on this project

[chestnut101]

very nice keep up the good work.