Stripping a car down to bare shell. Tips please.
Discussion
As per previous post, bought a Mercedes W107 300SL that had not been used for 11 years. It has passed MOT and has been reliable over 500+ miles since.
Now I have gone through the it's alive and works rubicon, the car is going to be stripped down, resprayed and rebuilt. Any tips on potential pitfalls, items not to remove and ideas to make the process easier.
Have bought many plastic boxes of various sizes, tags, permanent marker pen, will be taking numerous pictures and major mechanical parts are being removed by a professional mechanic.
Now I have gone through the it's alive and works rubicon, the car is going to be stripped down, resprayed and rebuilt. Any tips on potential pitfalls, items not to remove and ideas to make the process easier.
Have bought many plastic boxes of various sizes, tags, permanent marker pen, will be taking numerous pictures and major mechanical parts are being removed by a professional mechanic.
Get a load of freezer bags/sandwich bags and drop the bolts in those as they come off and mark up what they are (if you can be bothered, writing down the bolt size also saves you forever faffing in the socket box later too)
Get a marker pen on the backside of any trim that looks like you might forget where it went too...
Get a marker pen on the backside of any trim that looks like you might forget where it went too...
Anything you remove that needs freshening up/re-plating etc then put it on a list and get it sorted prior to the rebuild or you will get finish it fever and put things back on that could have been better.
Break the stip and rebuild down into stages and remember them as that wil be the way you want to reassemble it. Otherwise you may end up removing parts to fit one's you forgot.
Any nuts, bolts and screws etc that you remove try and replace with new or have them coated etc.
Nothing spoils a rebuilt car more than ropey trim/fasteners etc when everything else is spot on.
Break the stip and rebuild down into stages and remember them as that wil be the way you want to reassemble it. Otherwise you may end up removing parts to fit one's you forgot.
Any nuts, bolts and screws etc that you remove try and replace with new or have them coated etc.
Nothing spoils a rebuilt car more than ropey trim/fasteners etc when everything else is spot on.
step 1 - before any work, take several pictures for it, and post it in readers rides.
step 2- strip a couple of bits off
step 3- take pictures of holes where it's been stripped
step 4- take pictures of bits that you have stripped on their own (such as in your hand, ont he table, on the floor)
step 5- repeat steps 2-4 until car is completely stripped.
step 6- take picture of fully stripped car, before paint, and after.
I suppose keeping a log in both pictures & text of what you've stripped/how you've done it might be useful for you. start saving up your takeaway tins and plastic bags, they would come in useful for putting nuts & bolts in for various parts/assemblies so that you can seal & tag them.
step 2- strip a couple of bits off
step 3- take pictures of holes where it's been stripped
step 4- take pictures of bits that you have stripped on their own (such as in your hand, ont he table, on the floor)
step 5- repeat steps 2-4 until car is completely stripped.
step 6- take picture of fully stripped car, before paint, and after.
I suppose keeping a log in both pictures & text of what you've stripped/how you've done it might be useful for you. start saving up your takeaway tins and plastic bags, they would come in useful for putting nuts & bolts in for various parts/assemblies so that you can seal & tag them.
magpie215 said:
one word......pictures
take lots and lot of pictures as you strip it down
Pictures, lots and lots of them, if you can put nuts and bolts back into whatever you take apart, if you have captive nuts in the shell or where ever fit a nut to the end of the bolt.take lots and lot of pictures as you strip it down
Lots of boxes and plastic bags with labels on them written so you can understand what and where they have come from.
Oh, take more pictures.
As per others, bag/box all the parts up together in assemblies, e.g. put all the components of the front off side hub in one box, front near side in another etc. . . . . will also make it simpler to refurbish all the parts whilst the shell is away being fettled
Thousands of photos of the disassembly as you WILL forget how it goes back together, file them on your PC together with a screen cap / pdf of the relevant page in the parts manual (so you can see exactly which parts should be included!)
One thing that I have that helps, is a PC with a label maker and camera attached, makes things even easier
Oh and remember that there are many chemicals in a car that will happily obliterate the ink on labels, so label the part AND the storage container
Thousands of photos of the disassembly as you WILL forget how it goes back together, file them on your PC together with a screen cap / pdf of the relevant page in the parts manual (so you can see exactly which parts should be included!)
One thing that I have that helps, is a PC with a label maker and camera attached, makes things even easier
Oh and remember that there are many chemicals in a car that will happily obliterate the ink on labels, so label the part AND the storage container
Edited by AndrewW-G on Tuesday 26th April 15:37
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