Justas22 / GG. - W126 SEC

[GG.]

Part 2, too many images.

When I was removing the rear door cards, I noticed that the middle inserts are DIY handmade. They were made from laminated pressed cardboard, covered in sintepon and wrapped in gray faux leather that was spray painted beige to match the interior. It was held in place with supeglue and double sided tape.



It looked very grim, everything is dirty and covered in glue.


Yikes, it is a bit dirty.


I spent a few hours with a scalpel, scraping off the excess glue from the vinyl.


Continuing the DIY theme, I used the existing laminated cardboard as a backing plate. I trimmed it slightly so it fit better and compensated for the thickness of fabric. I then laid down some foam to make it softer and to make it look more 3d.


Making my own template.


I think it looks much better now. The inserts are supposed to be striped, same as the front door cards. But I think the difference won't be that obvious. I could not find original replacements, so I had to get creative.


10 months later FINALLY the car is painted. I am about 80% satisfied, but I must say that I am super picky about bodywork and paint. So it actually is very good.

Blauschwarz metallic 199


Engine bay is in semi-gloss








I love this color. Depending on the ambient lighting and environment it looks gray, bluish gray, black and even a bit golden. I have no idea why anybody thought it was a good idea to paint it in a different color. But I guess it was considered cool in the 2000s


I finally found a photo of a car that looks exactly like I imagine mine. Matching color bumpers and moldings, amg bodykit, chrome, amber turn signals and amg aero 3 wheels. It will look just like this when finished.


The engine and transmission are being installed next week. And then the rest of assembly. Thanks to the bodyshop I won't be able to drive it this season, but it will be ready for the next spring.

[GG.]

Labas dienas, I will continue this thread so the history of this vehicle is not lost.

What has happened since September, in chronological order
-Engine and gearbox installed
-Fully restored driveshaft
-Installed the original fuel lines, which were in great shape
-New fuel pumps
-Painted and installed the fuel tank (there was no rust inside, yay!)
-Work in progress on the AC retrofit (it is going very slow)

I had bought a "full set" for the AC retrofit. However it was incomplete, some parts were missing. I had to buy a brand new idler pulley for the AC belt, the bracket that holds the compressor, blower motor, lid for the blower motor. The wiring harness in the kit was in pretty bad shape, many cut wires etc. The work is still ongoing. It is pretty hard to find good electrical diagrams. If you have a diagram for the manual AC system in a v8 126, please share it with me :shame:

Engine and the drivetrain in:




The HVAC unit, with both new radiators.



New idler pulley.



The flying spaghetti monster. Donor harness for the AC.



The sunroof was in pretty good shape, minimal rust. The rust was treated and painted, no welding required. There were some cracks in the guide rails and the lifting arms. New OE guide rails were installed and the turkish lifting arms from ebay.



The sunroof was not functioning properly before. It is fully operational now.



Meanwhile, my daily CL55 was helping it's grandfather with transporting some of the parts. I am pretty sure that one day, a nice c216 will help this c215 the same way.



The pillarless bodyshape allows to stuff amazingly large items in the interior. Like the roof moldings and the headliner.



Most of the rubber seals on the body were in bad shape. Many had paint overspray on them, from the previous paintjob. I ordered the megaset of 65 items from mbzclassicparts.

[spoiler]1x rear window seal A 1266700239

2x door seals/seal frame each left/right A 1267200378 A 1267200478

2x seal rails rear window outside each right/left A 1266700138 A 1266700238

2x seal rear window each left/right A 1266700539 A 1266700639

2x frame seal A-C pillar each right left A 1267200154 A 1267200254

2x sealing rails door window outside each right/left A 1267250265

2x sealing rails door window inside each left/right A 1267200724 A 1267200824

2x sealing rails rear window inside each right/left A1266730365 A 1266730465

1x windshield seal bottom A 1268312398

2x window run sealing outside mirror in each case left/right A 1267250766 A 1267250866

1x tailgate sealing A 1267500198

2x bulkhead sealing(engine compartment rear + front) A 2015050386

4x plugs jack admission 2018990008

1x antenna sealing A 1268271589

1x sunroof sealing SET front/back/right/left 1981-1985 1.Generation 380 500 1x A 1237820498 1x A 1237820398 2x A 1087820198

1x Sunroof seal 1985-1991 2. Genertaion 420 500 560 A 1267800198

1x Tank nozzle sealing A 1239973581

2x Rubber buffer door cover A 1119871740

2x Support door handle each left/right A 1267660205

2x Seal under light unit 1985-1991 2.Generation 420 500 560

2x sealing light disk headlight A 0018261480

2x sealing light disk fog light A 0018264380

2x sealing cover headlight rear A 1268260180

2x edge protection trim under light unit A 1268890265

2x sealing bumper between trim and body until 1985 A 1268850198

2x SEALING FRONT LEFT & RIGHT,BETWEEN BUMPER AND Fender A 1268850585 A 1268850685

2x sealing rear chrome frame left & right A 1266982198

2x sealing top chrome frame left & rehcts A 1266981898

2x sealing front chrome frame right & left A 1266980998

2x sealing turn signal right & left A 0018261580 A 0018261680

2x sealing rear lights sealing ring right & left A 1268260091

2x sealing headlights right & left A 0018261780 A0018261880

2x SEALING TRIM BLADE FRONT WALL COVERS LEFT & RIGHT A 1266981398 A 1266981498

2x EDGE PROTECTION COVERING UNDER LIGHT UNIT A 1268890265 [/spoiler]

The rear glass, as seen on most c126, had delaminated in the bottom corners. I had ordered a brand new Pilkington windshield and rear glass. The guys at familygarage.lv found a brand new OE rear glass, which of course, I had to buy. Esentially, it is the exactly the same product from Pilkington, except it has the three pointed star on it.





The enormous rubber set finally arrived. I will talk about the quality in at a later time, when all of them will be inspected.


Glued in the new windshield, assembled and serviced the window lifters, polished the side glass. It starts to look like a real car again.
The car was running surprisingly well when I bought it from Lithuania. It had been sitting for 5 years, and it drove just fine. For an extra layer of security, we rebuilt the fuel meter head, installed a new EHA pressure regulator, and a new potentiometer, just to be safe.

At the moment, I am waiting for the wiring to be completed, the wood is being refinished, and we had to make a new AC condenser/radiator. The one in the "kit" was from a sedan, and it didn't fit, as it is higher. I got a negative answer from Mercedes about a new OE radiator, so we had to fabricate a new one.

That is it for now, thank you for your time.
:sign:

[GG.]

Hello,

This project is in it's final stretch. A lot of work has been done.

The trunk is fully assembled. Electric antenna rebuilt. The trunk seals used to leak and the trunk was all moldy. Smells fresh now :drool:



I salvaged the front grille. I did some repairs, now it is at least not falling apart. Every other used grille I have seen is worse than mine. As this can be swapped out easily, I will leave it be for now, and buy a brand new one later.



Found a pair of amber Bosch turn signals (this car used to have while DEPO turn signals)



One headlight polished and cleaned inside out vs how it was



Most likely during the last respray somebody had put in the wrong screws in the rear corner moldings. And they poked through the other side. Maybe they used longer screws, because there was a lot of filler, and the originals were too short. Who knows. New pair of moldings.



I had ordered a brand new trunk handle/chrome molding, but I got a declination. Had to find a better used one. I found one that was much less scratched than mine.



As with every other interior part in Palomino / Dattel color, they are impossible to find. I had to get creative. The footrest was completely destroyed. So I bought a footrest of a suitable color and repainted it / transferred the carpet material.







The same story with the speaker covers, impossible to find in the right color.







One of the previous owners had cut a hole in these middle console/tunnel covers for speakers. I bought spare ones and ordered a matching carpet material to retrim them.



Life hack for gluing weird shapes:

[GG.]

In the spirit of previous audiophile mods, the middle console was destroyed. There used to be a CD changer in the place of the ashtray. The plastic was all cut out to fit the CD changer, which was held in place with a metal wire and duct tape.

I had ordered a brand new middle console from the local Mercedes dealer, but got a declination. Had to get creative again. I was amazed how hard it is to find a good middle console with no holes and no phone holder. I repaired some minor cracks in the plastic. I am bringing it to an interior repair specialist next week, who will repaint the console to Palomino/Dattel. Not the most ideal solution, but it is what it is.







The vinyl on the rear middle console was all cracked in the corners. It was repaired and repainted.



No more audiophile installations! Just some normal speakers for the stock locations in the dashboard and the rear shelf.


The front seat belts were replaced with new material, as they were fuzzy and not too pretty. The picture is taking shape. The car used to have a mirror tint on the rear windows, and I didn't know it looked this amazing from the outside.

[GG.]

I ordered some new floormats from https://www.ebay.de/str/lengenfelderautoteppichgmbh
And they look amazing.



Finally, the bumpers/sills and handles got finished.




The wood was repaired, a slot for AC button was CNC machined.


New OE mirrors


New OE bits and bobs




Brand new OE fog lights


A full AMG replica exhaust is on its way from Germany, should arrive next week.

Brand new OE rear tail light lenses

[PANTERA888]

very nice
good luck

[Darius]

Super.

[oldtimer]

Pradžioje rašė GG.

Hello,

As with every other interior part in Palomino / Dattel color, they are impossible to find. I had to get creative. The footrest was completely destroyed. So I bought a footrest of a suitable color and repainted it / transferred the carpet material.

What paint did you used? Hard to read what label is on spray can... I planing to paint some interior parts to Dattel/Palomino color using SEM paints which is also suitable for carpets. But this is different product?

[GG.]

Ačiū Pantera and Darius!

Pradžioje rašė oldtimer

What paint did you used? Hard to read what label is on spray can... I planing to paint some interior parts to Dattel/Palomino color using SEM paints which is also suitable for carpets. But this is different product?

The label says Stonder - Spray for filling. It is a brand that my local paint supply shop uses. I gave them a piece of the broken plastic and they manually mixed the color and filled the can. I asked for satin - semi matt finish. There is no specific color code, they mixed it manually and filled the spray can.