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A FULL restoration of euro spec 1982 Mercedes 500SEC

14K views 154 replies 20 participants last post by  ArtificialSource 
#1 ·
Hello everyone!

This is my first message on these forums and what better way to start it than with a full car restoration thread! :D

I haven't seen many of SEC restoration threads or videos around, so here's one for your enjoyment.

Well then, about the car - It's a 1982 Euro spec Mercedes 500sec. Got it quite recently from one guy, who originally bought it to restore himself but realized that he didn't have the time or money to finish it. He said the car had been garage kept for 10+ years without moving. And it definitely shows, as there are lots of imperfections from it not being driven for so long.

Upon closer inspection, the car seemed to be in overall decent shape. Few rust spots here and there, some dents and faded trim. The underbody is all solid, floor panels haven't rusted through and that's a huge plus in my book.

The leather isn't torn, but it has become dry with age. I think with some shampoos and new leather paint the interior will look as good as new. The seatbelt extenders do not work,
in fact, the drivers side one is missing altogether.

The wood has seen better days, but i do have a guy who can restore it to factory new condition for about 400$.

All window regulators and electric seats work fine, but the sunshine roof doesn't slide back. The motor works, it goes down, but something is preventing it to slide backwards. Will have to drag it to the shop for closer inspection.

Now comes the engine. There seems to be a knock under the valve covers on the passenger side. Also, a few cylinders are misfiring (could be because of ancient plugs and coils). I suppose the knock is due to the old chain that hasn't been replaced for 20+ years. The air filter box is in bent, i have no idea how that happened but i do have a replacement in the boot.

Now then, course of action is as follows: First, ill take care of all the rust issues, i know one guy who is really good with metal work, he will create new arches and fix all the dents of the car. He should come over this sunday to check the car fully over and give an estimate of how much it will cost.

Then i'm gonna send it to the shop to fix the engine and suspension (I really hope it won't be anything crazy, but we will see)

That's it for this short introduction, as i get new parts and or some work done i'll update this thread. :>
 

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#3 ·
Welcome to ya. Lovely colour car. US spec dashboard I think though?

Good luck with the restore. There's a rust thread in the archives that will show you other out of the way places that can rust.
Those jacking point holes are normal, haha. Easily fixed though.

They are built of strong stuff though, and where there's a will there's a way.
 
#6 ·
Yes, this is one of my favorite colors for the car! I'm completely sure the whole car is EU spec, so i guess both US and EU spec are similiar.

The rust on the jacking points and every other rusted spot on the will be taken care of within a month or so, will have pictures on the whole process.

I will check the archives as per your suggestion, probably will find lots of cool information there. Cheers. :)
 
#10 ·
Yeah I like it too. In cars other than US, I've only ever seen that section be the same colour as the top part of the dash.

My 420SEC is the same colour comibintion as yours, paint and leather. I like it a lot.
 
#13 ·
Ah so that dash may have been in some parts of Europe too then. Interesting. Maybe it's just an LHD thing.

Fonzi - spec rather than options. All the ones you already know such as bumpers, lights, the coin tray too is something I've only seen in US. But now I'm wondering.
 
#14 ·
Here's a small update:

Received some new parts for the ol' merc. Found the motor for the seat belt presenter from a UK car that was beyond saving, have to say, those things are quite expensive. I'm not going to fit it in yet, i'll do it once i get to the interior restoration. And i also don't think it's going to be as easy as just popping it in and it will work, will have to check all the fuses aswell, because the passenger side one is fitted in and doesn't come out.

New triangle, because the old one was already rusty and of no use.

New front speaker covers, the old ones were cracked. (it's interesting how the speaker covers were cracked, but the dash still looks like brand new)

New speedo, the old one had the needle deformed, i have absolutely no clue how that happened. Oh, and the old speedo also wasn't working, so i had to guess the speed.

And the most expensive part of today, the chrome boot trim. The old one was in horrible shape, no way could it be restored.

I also ordered a new electric antenna, the original becker radio (i'll try to keep the car as stock as possible) and new climate control wheels (it's as if a lady with long finger nails was scratching the current ones on purpose).

Current total cash spent on parts is somewhere around 1300$~

That's it for now. Tomorrow i'll have to meet the welder to get more information on how we're gonna fix all the rust.
 

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#15 ·
Follow up:

The welder came to check the car today. To his surprise, the car was in almost excellent condition. The drivers side rear arch was bad and the jacking points needed some welding, every other spot was fine.

Unfortunately, he will only be able to start the job in mid august, that's almost a month away.

Total cost of repair will be 350$.
 
#18 ·
Follow up:

The welder came to check the car today. To his surprise, the car was in almost excellent condition. The drivers side rear arch was bad and the jacking points needed some welding, every other spot was fine.

You should remove all the wheel arches -or whatever they're called- as they are not standard and hide rust. Also, those wheels have got to go, a nice set of Aeros, BBS, or Lorinsers would be period correct and improve the look/stance tremendously.

Welcome aboard mans draugs.

Alberto.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Like others, I too look forward to following your restoration and expect to learn from it as you progress and keep us informed. In fact, I have already seen that the rusted arch and jack points which I have, although not as bad as yours, can be welded. this is going to be fun.

Ian...is what you call the coin tray the pocket under the ashtray or is it somewhere else?
 
#23 ·
Like others, I too look forward to following your restoration and expect to learn from it as you progress and keep us informed. In fact, I have already seen that the rusted arch and jack points which I have, although not as bad as yours, can be welded. this is going to be fun.

Ian...is what you call the coin tray the pocked under the ashtray or is it somewhere else?
Great! One of the benefits of restoring cars in Latvia is that we have really good car experts and much cheaper labor costs than in the US. From what the welder said, the rust on my SEC is absolutely nothing compared to what he usually works on. :D And the job gets done everytime with supreme quality no matter what the damage is.
 
#28 ·
Guys.... i bought a pair of the most expensive stickers i've ever seen.

The climate control wheel stickers were around 78$ for the pair. 78$!!! Just for a pair of stickers. I must admit though, they do have a quality feel to them.

Also besides the stickers, i'm looking around for a new exhaust system, the current one has expired after 37 years of service. Now, i don't want to put anything crazy on there, preferably something closer to stock. So i went around different forums and threads and came up with this - an Italian brand named Imasaf still makes exhaust systems for W126 and C126 for a reasonable price. From what other users say, it seems like its a solid exhaust that fits the car perfectly without doing any cutting or welding. The quality is decent too and the exhaust note is just a little bit more sporty than the factory one. Price for the whole exhaust system is 600$ including fittings. I'm seriously considering it at this price point, as the only alternative that i found is MEC design for 2k$+ and its insanely loud, my neighbours would hate me.
 

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#31 ·
Have you heard the MEC version(s) in person? On their site, they say the "Earthquake" version is particularly loud, and meant to be, and their "Daytona" is a little louder than stock--"a little bit more sporty than the factory one" I think would actually describe it well. Just wanted to see if by any chance you heard the quieter Daytona version in person, if it's louder than we might have otherwise thought.
 
#33 ·
I received the radio and the antenna today. Unfortunately, i can't connect the radio as i don't have the right cables for it. I'll need adapters from ISO to becker connectors, have no clue where to find those. Oh well, will have to keep on searching.
 

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#46 ·
Small update:

I ordered the leatherique cleaner & oil today. Hopefully it will make a huge difference to the dry leather on the seats.

I also received a couple of new parts over these last few days, mostly small cosmetic ones.

...... The thing that bothers me now is the rear window. It doesn't have any scratches but it appears foggy (i'll leave a pic to show you what i mean). I'll take a wild guess and say that it's unfixable, and a new rear glass is nowhere to be found. I have only seen used ones with the same issue and they cost around 400$.

Furthermore, i wonder whats underneath the window itself. I've seen horrors on the internet that the panels underneath could be badly rusted.

Plan of action also changed, within the next 1.5 months i'll fix the rust and fix all the technical and electrical issues aswell as get a new set of wheels. After that, im going to drag it to vehicle inspection to make it road legal, so i dont have to tow it to all the repair shops it needs, it will be able to get there itself.

Thats it for now, next update coming when i try out leatherique. :)
 

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#47 ·
That fog on the bottom edge of the rear window is extremely common. It is because of moisture between the laminated layers apparently. In all the SEC's I've seen, it has not necessarily meant that there is rust beneath on the bodywork. However, it is best to be prepared for the worst, and I have seen lovely rust free exapmles with bad rust inder the rear window that can't be seen from outside the car.

There is a commonly available repair panel for the lip under the rear window.

Leatherique is awesome and is all I use, although the hotter the weather the better the effect. The interior of the car needs to be nice and hot, with plastic bags on the seats if possible.
 
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