Refurbishing aircleaners

[s class]

At the last meeting of the MB owners club here, I showed off trusty rusty. There was a fair bit of interest in the aircleaner that I refurbished.

I have now done some R107-M117 aircleaners for members :

(excuse my grubby finger-prints on the finished article)

Re-zinc-ed clips, new felt gasket.

 

[Michel]

when did you say you were migrating to Sydney???

Great job Ryan.... impressive

 

[WGB]

I didn't even know there was supposed to be a felt gasket?

There you go.

Bill

 

[s class]

The felt gasket runs around the inside perimter of the lid. Costs about $12 - you know MB pricing for a piece of felt.

 

[Parks]

did you get them bead blasted Ryan? they look really great, is it 2pak? I love the semi flat finish, much better than gloss

 

[Des]

All you need now is the original decal for the air cleaner.

Don't know if they are even still available, you can pick them up on ebay though.

 

[Des]

I thought these guys did a W116 kit also:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Mercedes-Ben...=39:1|66:2|65:1|240:1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14

 

[Michel]

Amazing mob,

I need some of those for my Pontons.....

 

[Des]

Amazing mob,

I need some of those for my Pontons.....

I imagine they are an exact copy of what you could or can get from MB,
interesting to know if MB still have them available.

I tried this week to get a brand new handbook for my W114, and it is only available in German,

 

[Michel]

I imagine they are an exact copy of what you could or can get from MB,
interesting to know if MB still have them available.

I tried this week to get a brand new handbook for my W114, and it is only available in German,

15 British pounds is cheap

 

[Des]

15 British pounds is cheap

Yep I've ordered a set for my W114, for when I repaint it.

 

[s class]

Parks, I had the units hot-tanked in an acid bath that does an excellent job of stripping.

I've been trying various places to get powdercoating done, but this place I'm using now is EXCELLENT. Smooth, orange-peel free, thin coating.

 

[Styria]

Hi S-Class, you're really doing things 'in style', aren't you ? I mean, zink plated clips etc. - I guess it's really the proper way to go. I have used paint stripper, and "strip and clean pads" that are attached to a power tool, but it would not be as successful and thorough as your method.

I doubt that there would be many owners that would be prepared to fork out the folding cash in this country - not many 116 owners anyway - as I estimate that to refurbish the complete unit you'd have to allow about $350.00 for the job, what with the hot bath, clips and the powdercoating. Regards Styria

 

[s class]

At risk of undermining my - er - potential business opportunities, the total costs to me are around ZAR400 (about A$60) per air cleaner. I add on a bit for my time. That is on an exchange basis - if I have to buy air cleaners outright, it costs me another $40 for the core.

So how about this - I'll mail them to you for $250 each - all included?

NOw this may be of interest - I'm looking towards painting the 280SE and trusty rusty - and this place will also hot tank entire doors, bonnets etc - for a very reasonable price - and the service includes neutralisation and a phosphate coating. This appeals to me a lot more than hours of gritty work with a stripping disk.

 

[John S]

Surely it is a caustic tank that is used, not an acid tank?

I made the mistake a few years ago of using a (non labled - it had fallen off) soldering acid bottle instead of a Phosphoric Acid bottle on some rust in the boot.

As everyone will realise, the end result did not turn out as I wanted it to!

 

[BAR]

I have to say that your pricing is reasonable given the ours it takes to do the job in one's garage.

Several years ago I refinished my aircleaner, not ib black as I think it spoils the underbonnet appearance, but in a champagne metallic.

Stripping the original paint [what was left of it] was a painstaking task, involving paint stripper, wire brush and wet and dry sand paper.

I hand sprayed the primer on, then gave it a rub down with wet and dry before applying a second coat. Then 3 coats [rubbing back each time] with the metallic before a final clear coat.

All that done, I still have grubby looking clips as they are not refinished or replaced.

 

[s class]

Surely it is a caustic tank that is used, not an acid tank?

Erm you may be right - chemistry is not my strong point - which is why I pay the right people to do the tanking.

 

[s class]

BAR, I have to agree with you - the original black paint is actually very stubborn to remove.

 

[Michel]

I think you'll find that some charges in Australia (such as tanking, chroming, zink plating, etc...) would be much higher than what you are experiencing in South Africa

 

[Des]

The stickers must fall off from the engine heat or get pulled off,

for anyone interested this is the correct placement for the aircleaner sticker