[mbz180]

Last night received an item that is very rare, something that most Ponton owner's put at the very top of their wish list.

I've been keeping a sharp look out for ages now, and when I saw one of these on E-Bay, I knew I had to have it. It's a genuine Mercedes Ponton tire pressure gauge, that came standard with the toolkit, and all models had one, from the mighty 300SL, the 300 2 doors, sedans, 220's, right down to my 180a. It's in great condition, made out of stainless steel and glass. Even the leather bound case is original, but shows wear.

They were made specially for Mercedes by Messko-Hauser. Here are a few pics.

The leather bound case


Line with velvet


The makers name


For Mercedes Benz

[KPS]

Originally Posted by mbz180

Last night received an item that is very rare, something that most Ponton owner's put at the very top of their wish list.

Gosh, you are going the give everyone a complex with this kind of detailing

Congrats Prithvi

Cheers

KPS

[inderpalgill]

the gauge is really something too good, a feast for eyes and a lifetime jewel for you, you are a lucky man,and i believe god blesses good things to men who really deserve them and are capable of handling them,enjoy your love with the benz

[mbz180]

I made a long overdue visit to the workshop yesterday.

The undercarriage and all floors, which were earlier painted with Epoxy Gloss black, had a few dings and dents and some unevenness. This has been addressed with further denting, epoxy putty, sanding it down, re-primering and then finally painted with what I wanted all this while, Epoxy Matt Black.

In fact, the paint used was MRF Metalcoat paint, superior to normal epoxy paint I was told. Pictures are attached; I leave for the members to judge for themselves the final outcome.



PS: The steering damper arrived yesterday. Pic attached.


Best Regards
Prithvi

[manishalive]

Originally Posted by mbz180

I made a long overdue visit to the workshop yesterday.
In fact, the paint used was MRF Metalcoat paint, superior to normal epoxy paint I was told. Pictures are attached; I leave for the members to judge for themselves the final outcome.

Best Regards
Prithvi

Your car is coming out Great Prithvi, so methodical and with all those Original parts going in, she will look awesomw. By the way I have sent you a PM.

[mbz180]

Originally Posted by manishalive

Your car is coming out Great Prithvi, so methodical and with all those Original parts going in, she will look awesomw. By the way I have sent you a PM.

Thanks. I didn't get any PM form you apart from the PM for quoting my post.

[mbz180]

I was really looking forward to see my car on Saturday, since I was being regularly updated through the last 2 weeks of the progress on my car.

When I saw the car, I was in for a pleasant surprise; indeed the pace of the work is now good. After months, the car is finally on all four wheels! The suspension, both front and rear have been fitted, along of course with the diff and front subframe.

Brakes are yet to be installed on the wheels since new liners were ordered and have just been collected by Mr. Sircar. The remaining parts of the suspension to go on are the front stabilizer bar (for which I have just found new MB bushes) and the steering drag link along with the steering shock absorber pictured earlier and new tie rod ends.

In the pic of the engine bay side, the unpainted rod in the centre is the drag link, which will be painted and the shock absorber will go on it on one side. However, when we tried to see where the chassis end (left side) of the shocker will mount, we were at a loss since there was no place on the chassis for it to be mounted on! Luckily, the head tinkerer remembered that when he was removing the rotten parts of that side of the chassis, there was an L shaped rod, with a disc to tighten the shocker onto it. He found it, and then we figured out the exact place where it is to be welded onto the chassis. Problem solved.

Some of the suspensions parts, such as the rear swing arms and the bottom of the sub frame have some scratches which were unavoidable during fitting; these will be taken care of when the car is ready. Also there is some dust on the diff tubes, rubber bellow etc., again these will be cleaned during finishing.

All the new rubber parts for the suspension and sub frame mounts were installed after liberally coating them with French chalk. The steering column, linkages etc have been put in place just to move the car around, they will be painted & plated as necessary, later.

Here are the remaining jobs to be done over the next few weeks:

1) Transmission will be inspected for wear of gears, synchronizer rings, seals etc., and will be replaced if neccesary.

2) Transmission and prop shaft will be fitted (along with the engine possibly)

3) Full wiring harness will be made, materials already bought. This will take time since even on the Pontons, the wiring is relatively complicated and time consuming to make. For example, the headlamp switch has 5 positions, centre is off, one right are side lamps, one more right are headlamps, left from centre is for clearance lamps, and pull out are foglamps! Also, the headlamp switch is the master switch that controls all the electricals.

Another example, unlike most cars of same era, for the rear lighting, the left and right side lamps have separate wiring, same for the indicators, same for the clearance lamps, though one for the brake lamps and one (these cars only had reverse lamps on the left) for the reverse. Then one for the license plate lamps, one for the fuel gauge and one for the fuel reserve lamp. Thats 11 separate wires for the rear!

4) Petrol tank will be cleaned, treated and fitted.

5) Exhast system will be made out of SS

6) Outer Panels will be bolded back on the body and final tinkering, and alignment for gaps etc. will be taken care off.

7) Then the trials will begin.

Here are the pics.

Top view of sub frame with drag link in centre


Steering wheel and rod for mobility



Left axle, note the stabilizer bar has not been tightened to the lower wishbone


Shockers all round are the old ones, new ones will be installed later


Differential


Note the red and blue factory marking on the coil springs, which I had to buy new. These colours indicate optional harder springs for export models for use on bad roads






Single joint pivot axle which straightens out under load


Rear spring

[adkol]

Prithivi,your car is taking shape in a nice way! Best of luck.

[rajchetan]

happy to see your car move to the next level.
Looking forward to see the complete Ponton.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by mbz180

I was really looking forward to see my car on Saturday, since I was being regularly updated through the last 2 weeks of the progress on my car.

When I saw the car, I was in for a pleasant surprise; indeed the pace of the work is now good. After months, the car is finally on all four wheels!
Then the trials will begin.

Great going Prithvi, I am sure the progress is quite fast this time and soon the Ponton will learn to move like any other classy Mercedes.

[inderpalgill]

Originally Posted by mbz180

I was really looking forward to see my car on Saturday, since I was being regularly updated through the last 2 weeks of the progress on my car.

When I saw the car, I was in for a pleasant surprise; indeed the pace of the work is now good. After months, the car is finally on all four wheels! The suspension, both front and rear have been fitted, along of course with the diff and front subframe.

sir ji,what are the plans for the tyres, last year i got a good set made by hankook with white band, iam searching again for my 69 bus,what are you planning for, suggestion-No inserts please

[car love]

Hi All,
I saw this link on the web. Their Ponton and other Mercedes restorations is simply awesome. check it out.

Home - Mercedes | Oldtimer | Vintage | Sale | Restored | Adenauer |*SL

[mbz180]

Originally Posted by inderpalgill

sir ji,what are the plans for the tyres, last year i got a good set made by hankook with white band, iam searching again for my 69 bus,what are you planning for, suggestion-No inserts please

Inderpallji, ideally, I would want B F Goodrich 2.25 inch whitewall radials, and Coker retails them for around $180 each. So 4 would cost aprrox Rs.32000, which is not bad in my opinion. Ocean shipping would also be fairly reasonable (relatively!); it's the stupid customs duty, at 33% of the value which I have a problem with. Over all, according to my calculations, the entire deal would come to Rs.60K

Then there are importers, one of which I had contacted some time back and he said he would charge 16k for each tyre, inclusive of shipping and customs, which again comes to 60k +.

Now the problem with Hankook, Ling Long, Maxxis is that they are thin white walls, which are no doubt better looking for these cars than black walls, but then original option for Pontons was 2.25 inch whitewalls. The thin whitewalls look good on US Pony and Muscle cars of the 60s and 70s.

So, while I understand your apprehensions towards inserts, the option I have chosen is the following, though it may sound daft to most:

Go with inserts for as long as they last which means the car will be ready, which means that my wallet's hole will gradually get patched up which means that I can order 1 or 2 tyres over a period of 4 or 2 months and then I'll have genuine B F Goodrich 2.25 inch WW radials

That is the way I plan to go about the tyres.


Regards
Prithvi

[inderpalgill]

Originally Posted by mbz180

Inderpallji, ideally, I would want B F Goodrich 2.25 inch whitewall radials, and Coker retails them for around $180 each. So 4 would cost aprrox Rs.32000, which is not bad in my opinion. Ocean shipping would also be fairly reasonable (relatively!); it's the stupid customs duty, at 33% of the value which I have a problem with. Over all, according to my calculations, the entire deal would come to Rs.60K

Then there are importers, one of which I had contacted some time back and he said he would charge 16k for each tyre, inclusive of shipping and customs, which again comes to 60k +.

Now the problem with Hankook, Ling Long, Maxxis is that they are thin white walls, which are no doubt better looking for these cars than black walls, but then original option for Pontons was 2.25 inch whitewalls. The thin whitewalls look good on US Pony and Muscle cars of the 60s and 70s.

So, while I understand your apprehensions towards inserts, the option I have chosen is the following, though it may sound daft to most:

Go with inserts for as long as they last which means the car will be ready, which means that my wallet's hole will gradually get patched up which means that I can order 1 or 2 tyres over a period of 4 or 2 months and then I'll have genuine B F Goodrich 2.25 inch WW radials

That is the way I plan to go about the tyres.


Regards
Prithvi

Good to learn that you are handling things so tactfully, detailing for tyres to this extent can make me asses the way you outcome of ponton will be,as i am hunting for my vw bus which allraedy has BF goodrich tyres with thin band so i think it will be ok for me if i get thin band itself,the raeson for replacement is the tires are very old and cracked,one tyre bursted on a weekend drive this sat,luckily i was not too far away from home, so can u suggest me source for thin band tires, i tried at BK tires delhi,but got a NO

[mbz180]

Originally Posted by car love

Hi All,
I saw this link on the web. Their Ponton and other Mercedes restorations is simply awesome. check it out.

Home - Mercedes | Oldtimer | Vintage | Sale | Restored | Adenauer |*SL

@ Car Love Wow, great link. Can use a lot of the pics as reference for my car.

@ Inderpallji, I thought B K Tyres would be the best bet, but I do not recall them having BFG. They had Maxxis thin whitewall though, and I think Amol got his thinwalls from them for his Rover.

Regards
Prithvi