190sl Restoration Page 20

10/29/2023 - I masked the car to paint black the inside, trunk and engine bay. This was a semi-glass black, 4 parts paint, 1 part reducer, 1 part hardener, 1 part gloss reducer. I put down a tarp in front of the garage bay and painted out there. It was a perfect day for it. I now know why British cars are all painted body color. No masking and trying to figure out where the transition is from one color to another. The 190sl has three colors. The body color, semi-gloss black (the trunk, inside, engine bay, backside of the trunk lid and hood) and the underside (this off gray color).

A few weeks ago we were driving home about 9pm and a 10 point buck ran out right in front of us. I was driving our 2021 X3 and the car slammed on the brakes before I could even react, all the air bags went off, I could see the dead deer slide down the street to the other side. I immediately pulled over and all the windows opened to let the smoke from the air bags get out. Then the car asked if it should call 911, which we said yes. Long story short, the car was totaled. We had been planning to buy Lynn a new car and we needed an SUV, so we bought her a Hyundai Tucson AWD Limited. I'm driving her Nissan Mirano Cabrolet. I decided I would buy myself a new car when I sell the 190sl. Maybe that will give me a little drive to get the car done.

12/15/2023 Sanded the doors, trunk and hood with 400 grit paper. Getting there but needed yet another round. A decent day came and I put down another coat of surface primer. More sanding and it's looking pretty good. But still not quite there.

8/26/2024 I'm back! I'm still working on the car. I have the AC running in the garage, tough to keep it cool with the Lowcountry hot and humid summers. I've been going through all the tons of little things that need to be stripped and cleaned. Here is one shelf of things cleaned. I've been cleaning and clear coating all the aluminum parts, bell housing, valve cover, intake manifold, tachometer takeoff, water pump housing... And I've been stripping all the stuff that gets painted black. I need to get more black epoxy paint, I ran out doing the interior and engine bay.

Here is the complete wiring harness. The tape records what screw on each junction block the wire goes to. Other than gray overspray from previous work, the wiring harness is in very good shape. It has all the correct transitions from plastic to cloth covering.

8/29/2024 - More stripping and cleaning. There are just so many little parts. Every nut and bolt is either cleaned or replaced. The washer shown below is an example. It is a cupped washer so isn't something you can get at a hardware store. Both sides and the edge needs to be stripped. The other huge challenge is remembering where all the parts go. I've been doing pretty well even though I took the car apart almost eight years ago! All the parts below will be painted satin black.