Before our 10th anniversary in last October, we did a three-month refinement to Octavius, mainly focus on engine bay and trunk. During that process we also tried to promote the chassis, but it turns out that we better rebuild everything underneath. So, right after the anniversary I started planning an thoroughly rebuild to front & rear axles, fuel lines and firewall.
The Ambition
Octavius is turning 30, so am I. The goal is touch the last corners nobody paid attention in last 30 years, sounds much simpler than it is. The actual job includes all places oxidized by air. Express by EPC groups they are:
01-22 Engine, 24 Engine Suspension, 26-27 Transmission, 30 Control, 32 Springs, Suspension and Hydraulics, 33 Front Axle, 35 Rear Axle, 40 Wheels, 41 Propeller Shaft, 42 Brakes, 46 Steering, 47 Fuel System, 49 Exhaust System, 50 Radiator, 52 Chassis Sheet Metal, 54 Electrical Equipment and Instruments, 60 Shell, Grommet, 61 Substructure, 62 Cowl, Front Panel, 69 Covering and Lining, 82 Electrical System, 83 Heating and Ventilation, 86 Windshield Washer, 88 Attachment Parts, 91 Front Seats, 92 Rear Seat Branches.
Groups above are not only involved in assembly job, but also no dead ends restoration. Correct, it’s almost 1/2 of a full restoration. Even though, I still insist we are not trapped into full restoration, which should also contain insulations rearrangement, the last thing I would. After the job, Octavius should be a shinny all-around preserve example.
I missed in-person axles and fuel system rebuild during Bianca’s full restoration. Therefore although part collecting started last October, more than 10 months past, we always have new stuff to order until last steps of disassembly. The disassembling started in early March, due to repeated colds to my kids and we traveled a lot, I missed some of the job that has to be done by our staff, which is not helpful to sort the bolts and nuts. I’m currently slow working on it. The actual assembly order is reverse to the disassembly, so after disassembly finished we have been “stationary” for a while to re-condition existing parts and wait new part orders arrives. The assembly is where I consider the restoration start.
The Parts Goal
Compared with other brands, Mercedes’ parts supply is not troublesome, but there are also many unavoidable problems. According to their supply status can be divided into two categories.
Unrestorable parts. Include some major components like shock absorber, brake disc, bearings and rubber stuff. The only correct way to get them done right is genuine replacement. In fact, to some parts only genuine version is offered. These parts also need to be viewed dialectically. There will be some NOS bearings, rods or brake discs on the market, such parts have no shelf life, age is not a problem. But for parts containing rubber or liquid, fresher ones are always needed, such as motor mount and shock absorber, which should be ordered at the dealer, and their production time is usually not more than 3 years.
Restorable parts. When you’re working on a suspension the vast majority of parts are repairable, they can just need a surface treatment, whether it’s a huge subframe or M5 screws. Speaking of hardware, while they are repairable, I am also actively looking for NOS, they are closer to factory specs. Today, most of the old style hardware is replaced by Mercedes aftermarket certified replacements of the same specification, old parts cannot be regenerated. Therefore, it is very necessary to protect precious old hardware.
Ordering new parts from dealer is a great help of the restoration quality, while the build quality of Mercedes parts has dropped significantly in recent years, there are still few better alternatives on the market. Of course, it will be more expensive to use genuine parts instead of OEM parts. In this case, we only use OEM parts that have been verified to be exactly the same as genuine parts to keep costs down.
The Preliminary Job
The early 600 is one of the most complex cars ever built and for a workload of this size conventional experience cannot be trusted. So four additional jobs are used to help with quality assurance.
First is the workshop bulletin, I printed the full manuals. The manual is a pocket file folder, and in each pocket, the parts catalogue from EPC is on the front, and the bulletin from WIS is on the back. The parts catalogue is used as the main file because it shows all the parts. WIS bulletin is used as an aid. I will confirm the installation process the night before the assembly and indicate the torque of the hardware, the amount of lubricating oil, etc. in the parts catalog. The reason why WIS documents cannot be used directly is that they are very unintuitive and many small parts are ignored. During assembly I mostly look at the catalogue of parts that are torque marked and use a pencil to mark the fitting and tightening of the parts, the pencil will allow the manual to be reused on other vehicles. We have more than 600 documents and 5000 pages, which are divided into three volumes.
Then there is the parts Excel sheet. Although part catalogue are already available in workshop bulletin, documenting them requires more flexibility. The statistics of parts purchase and restoraiton are carried out in an Excel table, and I have marked the inspection time, purchase time, and installation time according to the group. For sensitive parts like shocks and rubber, I also marked when the parts were made. These tables make repairs more traceable, with different colored grids showing the status of different parts. Out-of-stock or missing parts are shown in red, ordered but not yet delivered in yellow, and received in green. For those that are in stock but not yet installed, we have another green slot waiting to be filled. This table needs to be updated as the procurement and restoration progresses, and our restoration has involved more than 3600 parts so far.
The hardware reference sheet is another important link. There are thousands of pieces of hardware to restore, and even though I did them myself in person, it’s not easy to remember where they belong. For example, when you are faced with 3 different head’s mark of M6 X 12 and several M6 X 10 screws mixed together, you should not try their fitement one by one or mess them up, but should keep them separately at the beginning. To this end, I made a number of plastic parts boxes, using labels to record their location and quantity. But even if I did, they will still get messed up during the galvanizing process. Therefore, it is necessary to catalog all fasteners in order of size, which will shorten the time to put them in place. Red is used to mark part numbers that are no longer available, yellow is used to mark replacement part numbers, green is used to mark part numbers that are still available. In this process, I will also find that many screws with different part numbers are actually identical, and in most cases they can be generic.
When we count the parts that have been collected and restored, where do they go? The parts box is the most important physical existance. For large parts, they are grouped into large bins, which is normal. But I couldn’t trust my memory for the small parts, so they were put into some nice wooden boxes. Each wooden box is made up of different groups, and each part is put into an independent plastic box, which has label records their position in the parts catalogue, size and part number. These boxes need to be constantly updated as parts are purchased and restored. All of the above work is to make the assembly as smooth as possible, because the mentality in the workshop is different from that in the home office. With limited working hours and a tired body, I will always be more irritable in the workshop. In order to reduce the probability of error, all non-assembly work is moved to the relaxed office to check and record. There are many 140 files in my office, which makes people feel at ease.
Octavius just turned 30 on the lift on August 2nd, with about 60% of the components on its body. Currently we have started to assemble, and more information will be presented in subsequent worklogs as separate groups.