W111: Workshop for Engine Restoration

Frequent visit to my W111 body restoration is a must on every Saturday, after office hours. I was so happy to share good news to En. Naza that i found an engine for my W111. Since En. Naza was in automotive industry for long, i'm sure he has got plenty of contacts on good workshop in repairing engine.

I was introduced to the workshop right opposite to his workshop to see if they repair Mercedes Benz engine or not. Visited the wrokshop across the road, and of course to audit on their tools, workmanship as well as the cars in their workshop and some survey on the customers who sent car to the workshop for repairing.

Finally, i decided to take this workshop to be my wish list to repair and restore my M114 engine. The workshop is running by 2 Malay partners namely, En. Nori & En. Nor. They are indeed friendly person. Took them to visit my my engine located in my office. I was advice to send the engine to their workshop for dismantling the engine in parts to overhaul internally. Of course, they introduced to wet blast the entire engine components prior assembling them back again. Meanwhile, i was asked to purchase the top overhaul components and to grab the manual clutch kits including the flywheel. Hopefully, these items won't be hard to find. Also, the next component i need is the radiator, and the air box for my W111.

Check out the photo after the jump.

Picture 1: Engine dissected to clean one by one

Picture 2: The Cylinder head, valve cover, intake manifold, starter, etc

were packed in a carton box, to be sent out for wet blasting

Picture 3: Engine Block; removed the oil pan to clean internally

Picture 4: Engine block was cleaned further to remove the

rusty dirt generated from radiator

Picture 5: Piston head polished to remove the thick carbon

W126: Car Cover Sheet

After so much efforts putting into the W126, it is time to get the car a blanket to protect the W126 away from dust and unnecessary finger prints from public though the car is parking under the indoor garage. The W126 certainly attracted a lot of attention, especially for those people who is curious to see how a 25 years old car preserved so well in shape after restoration.

Picture 1: The size of the car cover is XL

W111: The Engine Arrived

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boyyyyyy..... finally i got an engine for my W111. MY ENGINE HAS ARRIVED TO MALAYSIA!!! Hurray...! The engine was shipped from UK originally. How i found this engine was from Ebay UK. The seller was so professional to pack the engine well on the wooden pallet, with string plastic wrapped on it.

However, i was charged for RM980 being the import duty of the engine that i imported. Anyway, what engine is that actually? Hmmm... the engine was removed from the Mercedes Benz 250CE. Having said that, it is the M114.022 engine, inline 6, 2496cc that equipped with an ECU. I decided to temporary safekeep the engine in my office, while looking for a reliable workshop to do engine fitting and cleaning for my W111 later.

More photos after the jump.

Picture 1: Mercedes Benz M114 from W114 250CE

Picture 2: All wiring are in placed.

Picture 3: Another angle of the M114 engine

Picture 4: The engine was equipped with automatic transmission,

need to source for the manual clutch plate kit next

W126: Leather Seat

The existing seats in the W126 were torn badly and generated some dusty powders all over in the car. This is not healthy to breath into our lung. Apart from that, both of the B pillars' cloth as well as the rear board panel were torn too.

In view of restoring the W126 in perfect condition, i decided to replace them with genuine leather. Yes, genuine Italian leather for the entire seats, door panels, rear speaker board panel, & the B pillars. It took almost 3 weeks to fix it. In fact, 2 weeks were sufficient, however due to the squeeky sound generated from the leather seats, i did not want to collect the W126 home, and requested the leather shop to resolve the squeeky sound issue.

How to determine whether it is genuine leather or not? Well, that's simple. First, use your thumb to press on to the leather surface. You will see wrinkles surrounding the press area. If you don't see it, that is a high possibility of synthetic leather use! Secondly, you can determine whether it is leather or not by lighting up the lighter and burn on the leather surface gently. The fire won't start burning on the leather surface. (Please DO NOT try this at home. The above stated methods are trained by professionals & also based on personal experience)

Oh yes, the car carpets were replaced with a new set! Oh boy, the W126 looked completely like new car by now! Check out the photos after the jump!

Picture 1: Before Leather Seat Look (Front)

Picture 2: Before Leather Seat Look (Rear)

Picture 3: Front Seats Removed

Picture 4: Rear Seat Panel Removed

(The black color seal is the sound proof material)

 Picture 5: Rear Speaker Board Panel Removed

Picture 6: Door Panel (wrapped with same leather)

Picture 7: B pillar wrapped with same leather

Picture 8: Leather Seat Wrapped Completely

Picture 9: Rear Speaker Board Wrapped With Velvet Cloth

Picture 10: All Seats Fitted to its Original Position

Picture 11: Gearshift Area Wrapped With Leather Too!

Picture 12: Rear Seat Panel Fitted to Original Position (With Arm Rest)

w111: WTF... (Installment repayment from Uncle Robert)

Further to the Expensive Lesson write up, here is the money collection update that i felt indeed upset with.

I went to look for this uncle Robert right after my work. In fact, i rang him up over the phone in the morning, and he asked me to come to look for him in the evening to collect the money.

When i reached to his workshop, he was not there. There was not a single car in his workshop. According to his worker, he was in the coffee shop for beer session. I was also told from the worker that he has not been paid for 1 month salary, and planned to quit.

Having said that, he supposed to pay me RM1,000 but he did not. He paid me RM500.00 only, and claimed that he paid me RM500 last month, and balance of RM500 to be paid today.  WTF...##$%^&@!

Based on my record, the last payment that he made was in February this year. I agreed to let him return my money based on 2 months installment basis. March & April i did not look for him. But, he insisted that he paid RM500 to me last month, and stated that should he lied, he will knock by the car and dead on the road... (OMG...how could he said such statement).

Finally, I decided to walk away and let it be. I have learned another lesson today. Like the old chinese say, "The older the ginger is, the spicier it is."

W111: Body Restoration (Update 3)

Here are some updates. Checked my W111 today. Found that the car was painted partially in silver color. What do you think? En. Naza told me that this will help them to ensure the body smoothness more easily.

Stay tuned for more update.

Picture 1: Body painted in silver color

Picture 2: Side angle of W111

Picture 3: Rear side end needs more attention, stripped off the

cement/fillers to touch up the body lining.

Picture 4: Work in progress

W111: Body Restoration (Update 2)

Today, i paid a visit to my W111. I decided to take a break from my W126 project and checked out the work progress of W111 body restoration.

Having said that, the worker was busy patching the body waves using the fillers before applying the primer coat on it. According to En. Naza, he intended to put on the paint in order to ensure the body has a smooth surface.

Check out the photos after the jump.

Picture 1: Applying cement/fillers on the body prior primer

Picture 2: Rear view of W111