Operation "040 Black-Swap" In The Works

[420 SE]

you are apologising to others? This is a work of love for YOU, forget what others think, it's been a fantastic transformation and continues to be.

[Grumpy560]

So, Friday evening I started off by fitting the wood panels one last time and after some filing and a bit of sanding on the edges I cleaned them up and covered both with Di-Noc, I am glad this is only temporary because it looks horrible by all means ghetto style and the Blue seats don't help either.

I moved onto cleaning up the seat rail brackets that hold the carpet down in the rear, installed the passenger seat and all seat bolt trim along with the driver side kick panel.

Next I worked on gathering everything up to install the Clarion and all console switches, installed all the fiber optical lighting leads, for those I used some that were removed from the center vent housing because they were longer and would reach to the lower console, I had snagged several of them from the junk yard and they came in very handy in this particular set up.

After that I organized the tangled mess and arranged switch connectors that would be placed on the right side of the Clarion and set the unit in place along with the CCU.

That was about all I did Friday.

Enjoy!

[trooper6]

Grumpy,

Excellent progress. This is going to be one georgious W126 when you finish

Mike

[Grumpy560]

Saturday started out kind of slow because I was trying to figure out the best way to secure the CCU to the wood panel but after a short while I found some screws that would suit the need and had the CCU mounted securely in no time.

After that short setback I set the wood panel in place and began the long haul of feeding all of the switch connectors one by one through the rear along with the optical lighting leads.

The shifter wood needed to be in place first before I could button up the upper console so that is what took me most of Saturday evening and on into Sunday morning before I quit for the night.

From this point I am having to go at a slower pace because this is where I have added the majority of the controls for the options I've added to this project.

That was about it for Saturday but I was able to install most of what I set out to get done. I will post Sundays progress tomorrow though I did not complete everything just yet but I am very close to having my 560 completely back together inside.

[KRH]

Steve your a man on a mission- this is great stuff and end result will be very rewarding in that you did majority of the transformation yourself. Keep up the excellent pics.

[alydon]

Great work Steve! Nice to see another Clarion rack stereo in a W126. Great job mounting the Clarion joystick fader in the shift console above the trip computer panel.

I know you want the interior in a finished state, but with all the mods you have made/added, there will probably be an item or two you need to get working properly or change how you have it setup. Once all the systems and electronics are fully functional and you are happy with it, you can finish the cosmetics - leather, wood, etc..

Al

[RJMBurgess]

this is really great Steve - you are a man in a mission and it's shaping up really nicely. This is going to be a well optioned W126. Kudos to you.

[Grumpy560]

Originally Posted by ianrandom

Still very cool.

Maybe check with Greeney about dyeing the seats, he redid his and they look gorgeous, I saw them in person. Same colour, but then you're only going from blue to black.

Brilliant to see it all in anyway, you must be chuffed

Thanks Ian, the link you sent me is cool and I will check it out more soon.

Originally Posted by VaiFanatic

Keep at it, Steve, looking good! Eventually I'll get around to getting some Gen 2 seats, and getting some nice upholstery work done.

Thanks, when you get around to replacing the seats I strongly recommend late gen2 89-91 SEC front seats if you are not going the Recaro route.

Originally Posted by 420 SE

you are apologising to others? This is a work of love for YOU, forget what others think, it's been a fantastic transformation and continues to be.

Thanks Ross,

Originally Posted by trooper6

Grumpy,

Excellent progress. This is going to be one georgious W126 when you finish

Mike

Thanks Mike,

Originally Posted by KRH

Steve your a man on a mission- this is great stuff and end result will be very rewarding in that you did majority of the transformation yourself. Keep up the excellent pics.

Thanks Kim,

Originally Posted by alydon

Great work Steve! Nice to see another Clarion rack stereo in a W126. Great job mounting the Clarion joystick fader in the shift console above the trip computer panel.

I know you want the interior in a finished state, but with all the mods you have made/added, there will probably be an item or two you need to get working properly or change how you have it setup. Once all the systems and electronics are fully functional and you are happy with it, you can finish the cosmetics - leather, wood, etc..

Al

Thanks Al, Yes there will be a few items such as the trip computer display and brain box that will need attention along with having to install a gen1 seat heater harness later but at least I can concentrate on 1 item at a time now instead of everything together though everything is fully functional except the seat heaters.

Originally Posted by RJMBurgess

this is really great Steve - you are a man in a mission and it's shaping up really nicely. This is going to be a well optioned W126. Kudos to you.

Thanks Rich,

[Grumpy560]

I was off to a very late start on Sunday and had only a couple of hours to work on the 560. I had to finish the console first thing so that's were I started.

After everything was situated in place and the accessory switches hooked up and working I moved over to the passenger side and connected the Clarion power wires to the junction block I installed atop of the rear vent chute. The Clarion is now permanently installed and in perfect operating order.

After spending some time toying with some tunes I proceeded to finish off the driver side area. The big round crash tube/vent had to go in first and I tell you this was such a pain. Next was the side console carpet panel, under dash panel and the floor carpet mat. That completed the driver side.

Next it was back over to the passenger side to deal with the mess of bundled wires and cables. This is where I have additional cables that will go through the side panel for the gadgets I have installed on the cell phone mount. GPS, Cell phone, CD control, ipod and XM radio receiver will go here and all of the cables will be hidden. There are 2 extra power outlets on the under side of the mount.

I had to quit shortly after I managed to get the wires and cables properly placed and I did not have time to install the console side panel.

There's no doubt I will have this wrapped up sometime this week. So for now here's what it looks like as of Sunday evening. It literally lights up like a Christmas tree.

[Dr.Grillz]

Your interior has a resemblence to this...