Not a restoration #2

[John Buchtenkirch]

Well I have the biggest job I’ve ever had in my shop right now (a stretched flatbed movie shoot truck) that will probably take 2 months but by working at nights I’ve still managed to get my coupe ready to go to one of my old employee’s shop for some paint & polishing work. I have removed & welded up the holes for the automatic emblem, front reflectors and the swivel neck side mirror.





I’m thinking I will be going with the trapezoidal mirrors mounted as far forward on the door as possible. I believe the trapezoid heads mount nearer to the side window so less mirror view will be obstructed by the vent window frame :confused::confused: ??? I know it’s not original but I plan to mount the antenna on the quarter near the front tip of the deck lid. My friend is pushing for a roof mounted shark fin antenna which I feel is too modern to be appropriate but I’m open to other suggestions.

While I had the front wheels off I removed the rear shields and used various scrapers, picks and blow tips to remove about a dust pan of road dirt from each fender well. I’m thinking I will coat underneath with Dupont VariPrime, then POR 15, then seal the shields to the fenders with auto body caulking and then spray the whole inside of the wheel-house with schutz type undercoating. I’m open to any alternate suggestions on the previous procedures but I have decided it’s a poor band aid fix at the very best, the coupes desperately need proper front fender skirts. While I just don’t have time this winter hopefully next winter I can find a couple of weeks to build some bucks and fire up my power hammer and pound them out. I have several sheets of .022 thickness #321 stainless left over from a Osprey (vertical takeoff plane) duct job so I don’t even have to buy any materials. While the stainless doesn’t shape that well I don’t see it as that much of a challenge, I will just make them in several pieces and spot weld them together, stainless spot welds great :-D. ~ John Buchtenkirch

 

[x_atlas0]

If you want to save yourself some time, there is a company in England that makes E9 metal fender liners. I do not recall if they are stainless or aluminum, though.

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

If you want to save yourself some time, there is a company in England that makes E9 metal fender liners. I do not recall if they are stainless or aluminum, though.

Not being the person whom wants to reinvent the wheel ---- I can only say that would be great if they are done correctly:confused::confused::confused:. What I envision would cover everything around the front wheel except for a sleeved hole for the top of the strut and a notch for the brake hoses. It should hang slightly lower than the front pan, rails and the firewall and tuck in tightly in the fender’s wheel lip. If the English ones are that good I would think quite a few of the members would have them, the CS coupes certainly need them IMHO. ~ John Buchtenkirch

 

[HB Chris]

John,

Many owners mount their antennas here:

 

[x_atlas0]

No being the person whom wants to reinvent the wheel ---- I can only say that would be great if they are done correctly:confused::confused::confused:. What I envision would cover everything around the front wheel except for a sleeved hole for the top of the strut and a notch for the brake hoses. It should hang slightly lower than the front pan, rails and the firewall and tuck in tightly in the fender’s wheel lip. If the English ones are that good I would think quite a few of the members would have them, the CS coupes certainly need them IMHO. ~ John Buchtenkirch

Here's a thread about them:
http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4463

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

Here's a thread about them:
http://www.e9coupe.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4463

YIKES :shock:, I went to that site and the stainless shield they are holding by the Mercedes is really an embarrassment. That’s more for some company to make money with than for protection for the car. It’s really a pretty sad offering IMO. A fender skirt should look somewhat like 1/3 of an egg shell sliced diagonally. If you take the wheel off the car you should only see the suspension and the fender skirt and that's all when you look into the wheel well. Plastic skirts are the best, they don’t rot or rattle but I have no capability at all to make them. Steel skirts rot so it’s going to be stainless for me --- besides it’s free :-D. ~ John Buchtenkirch

 

[x_atlas0]

There's also the Volvo plastic ones given in the Tech section of the website:

http://www.e9coupe.com/tech.htm

 

[Bill Riblett]

I’m thinking I will coat underneath with Dupont VariPrime, then POR 15, then seal the shields to the fenders with auto body caulking and then spray the whole inside of the wheel-house with schutz type undercoating. I’m open to any alternate suggestions on the previous procedures but I have decided it’s a poor band aid fix at the very best, the coupes desperately need proper front fender skirts.

Have you applied POR-15 this way (over Variprime) in the past and had it work? In my experience, POR-15 only sticks very well to a fairly rough surface and not at well to other paint. In my opinion, it is only good for painting over light surface rust where you can't completely clean off the rust.

On the antenna location, they were all installed at the dealer level, so there is no single correct original position.

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

Have you applied POR-15 this way (over Variprime) in the past and had it work? In my experience, POR-15 only sticks very well to a fairly rough surface and not at well to other paint. In my opinion, it is only good for painting over light surface rust where you can't completely clean off the rust.

On the antenna location, they were all installed at the dealer level, so there is no single correct original position.

I was thinking the VariPrime because it’s thin and will get into tight cracks and has phosphoric acid in it to hopefully kill any surface rust. You are probably right about the POR 15 though, I have seen it peel off when used on new metal. I think I had better go and talk to some of my body shop brethren and research this a bit further. Thank you for the antenna information. ~ John

 

[John Buchtenkirch]

There's also the Volvo plastic ones given in the Tech section of the website:

http://www.e9coupe.com/tech.htm

That Volvo deal is good if you can’t do what I can do (see photos) but I can do much better. They would be fender skirts made to fit our coupes exactly. I’ve already heard complaints about clearance problems with fat tires with the Volvo skirts. After I’m done with them some aftermarket manufacturer can possibly take plaster or fiberglass splashes of them and use the splashes to make plastic ones for the rest of the coupes. The only thing I’m worried about is if I can get them in & out of the car as a 1 piece unit, even the thin stainless I have isn’t nearly as flexible as plastic after the stainless has a compound curve in it. A 2 piece skirt isn’t the end of the project but it’s not ideal. ~ John Buchtenkirch

P.S. The Mercedes tail panel isn’t something I bought & installed, It’s a panel I made from flat sheet. Same thing for the Cobra rock chip guards so making inner fender skirts where the metal doesn’t require a perfect finish isn’t that bad, it just takes time. The kinda tricky part is I have to make the buck inside the fenders while their on the car. I certainly can’t do it this Winter, the movie shoot truck is a monster time consuming job.