[bsclifton]

Hey there folks,

I'm a long time MB fan and have always wanted an SEC. I first found out about the W126 (and this message board) when I had bought my then girlfriend (now wife) a 1986 560SEL about 8.5 years ago. I got it for about $1,500 and put in a lot of work to get it fixed up. These forums were a huge help! Unfortunately, less than a year after buying it, it was totaled when a drunk driver plowed into it. My wife was physically OK after it all, the driver went to jail, and insurance-wise, we did OK.

Just a few weeks ago, I saw a really nice coupe on eBay. It was listed for $12,500 and I put in an "best offer" for $8,500. They rejected my offer but kept following up with me, even though I wouldn't budge. Eventually (a day or two later), the seller accepted the original offer. To be honest, I didn't think he'd accept and I wasn't really prepared.

I flew out to Oakland the next week on a $75 dollar flight. From the airport, I was able to split an Uber with some people to my friend's house in San Jose for just over $20. My friend came with me to buy the car, we had lunch, and I set out on the 750 mile drive home to Chandler, Arizona

 

[bsclifton]

The car did really well on the trip back. I brought a pad of paper and a pen so I could write down issues along the way and had about two pages of notes by the time I got home (left at 5:30PM and got home at 6:00am). I brought the car over to my friend Bud's shop (MB Motors) and we looked over it together.

Some of the highlights:

• last model year (1991)
• paint code 199 (by far my favorite)
• does not appear to have ASR!
• has rear roller blind (which unfortunately needs repair... and I've heard that MBUSA no longer carries parts for)
• 3 piece AMG wheels!
• great body; no rust
• no cracks on dash

Some of the lowlights:

• Tires may be too big(245/45/17 front and 285/40/17 rear)- there are rub marks inside the rear wheel well, back end appears to be higher than usual. The tires are also not balanced and cause the car to shake when going over 40 MPH
• Cruise control doesn't work
• A/C might not have a tight seal in the center vents. No air really moving out of them. The A/C does work great and rest of the car has good air flow
• Wood has cracks, etc
• Needs to have some leaks fixed- rear main seal is leaking and it seems the transmission and power steering gearbox are leaking too
• There is a power draw somewhere- the current suspect is the circuit that handles the dome light, clock, antennae etc also was handling the amp in the trunk. Car battery will go dead if it sits there without being turned on for about 2 or 3 days
• Sway bar and some linkages in the back are not stock and may be causing issues. When going over large bumps, it can cause the rear tires to rub against the wheel well.
• Aftermarket head unit is decent and was working... but the amp in the trunk was drawing power when the car was off (some parts of it look like a hackjob). It's disconnected for now, which means no music.

 

[bsclifton]

Here are some pics of the rear sway bar... it has what looks to be a MB part number (126 05 02 019), but it doesn't look stock. Also, the linkages on each side of the sway bar are different- the drivers side is from an R107 (which looks to be shorter) and the passengers side is a 126

The nitrogen cells look to be fairly new and the SLS does seem to be working great

 

[bsclifton]

The front end seems to be modified too- with Bilstein shocks and H&R springs (I have no idea if these are any good). Looking forward to learning more about these

That's as far as I've gotten. The next thing on the list: getting the wheels checked out. The tires might be a bit too big (member Tusabes recommended 235/45 front and 265/40/17 rear) and the wheels themselves need balancing badly. 3 of the 4 barrels on the AMG wheels seem to have been repaired at some point- I hope they're OK

 

[tusabes]

Gorgeous car !!

Your first repair should be new rubber fuel lines , from the fuel pumps in the back all the way to the engine - too many w126 are suffering fires due to old fuel lines and the new ethanol gas

The AC not coming out of the center vents is the vaccuum pods - entire dash needs to come out to fix them . In AZ I hope you get enough air out of the other vents .

 

[jwilly]

The sway bar and mounts look like Eibach. But the code is list on their website.

Joel

 

[dadrab]

What fine looking car.

Congratulations.

 

[wooky_chew_bacca]

Good snag and a very nice looking car, Welcome Back to The Machine. I'll 2nd doing the fuel lines front and back FIRST, the other issues I know you'll get sorted out directly

 

[ianrandom]

Sexy car. Congrats.

 

[bsclifton]

Brought the car into Discount Tire today and had them check everything out. Glad I did- even though there was some bad news

Good news:
- 3 of the wheels are in great shape. All 4 of the centers are in great shape (no cracks)
- They balanced the tires
- I got a new Michelin 15" spare tire (the one in the trunk was the original)
- People there loved the car

and of course the bad news:
- the barrel on one of the wheels has been repaired twice and doesn't look good
- the lugnuts for the rear wheels aren't long enough. They said they could only get 4 turns and they need to get 7 or 8
- the rear wheels have spacers (hub centric)

These two things scared the employees a bit- they immediately refunded me for the balancing (since that comes with a warranty and they were not willing to warranty it)

They told me that the offsets were 17 on the rear and 18 on front. What are the expected sizes? I'm OK keeping the spacers as long as they're safe and there are lugnuts long enough for them

I didn't write it down, but I believe they said the barrels are 8.5" on the front and 10" on the back. I'll be searching the forums and online, but recommendations for a place to buy replacement barrels are welcome I also have no idea where to get the lugnuts which are needed for the rear. They did share that they are going to be 12 x 1.5 with a threading of 2.25 or 2.5 inches

Bad news aside, the car passed emissions yesterday with no issues and the California title is on it's way via FedEx and will be here tomorrow.

 

[1783pictures]

Very nice ride. I had that auction in my watch list. You'll spend a few grand getting her right, but once you do.... Sweetness!

I should add, it's amazing how these brokers an d dealers do absolutely nothing to fix these cars issues when they acquire them. They just wash and clean the interior and get them for sale. And they never make mention of any problems in the auctions.

 

[bsclifton]

Very nice ride. I had that auction in my watch list. You'll spend a few grand getting her right, but once you do.... Sweetness!

I should add, it's amazing how these brokers an d dealers do absolutely nothing to fix these cars issues when they acquire them. They just wash and clean the interior and get them for sale. And they never make mention of any problems in the auctions.

Thanks! It'll take some work, but I agree- this'll be a sweet car At the moment, my wife is not really eye-to-eye with me on that


Regarding the wheels, I'm having a hell of a time trying to understand what lug nut size/type is needed.

• According to this post by alydon, the stock size for the rear lug nuts should be 60mm with a 40mm threaded shank.
• The folks at Discount Tire were urging me to get a set for each rear that has a 60mm shank... which makes me think the spacer is probably 20mm.
• Since the offset is wrong, I'm thinking maybe these rear ones went to an R129?
• I found some lug nuts that might work, but I'm not exactly sure.
• I'm also curious if the wheel could work without the spacer if it had a skinnier tire (instead of the massive 285s that it has).

 

[tusabes]

I would try to eliminate the spacers and try 265 width tires . Then you might even be able to keep your current lug bolts . Perhaps you can find a tire shop that will let you try a pair before buying them to make sure they fit well . Even if you did have to buy the 265 tires , you'll be able to use them now or save them for the future when these wear out

It's always preferable to eliminate spacers when you can do so .

It sounds like the prior owner wanted to fit as wide a tire as possible in there . Personally I think 285 width look like drag racer tires , and are inappropriate for a non Widebody car . Remember Amg originally spec 255 and 265 rear tires back in the day

 

[KRH]

When a lugnut is fitted in the lug hole you need 15mm of thread poking through the rear of the rim and if a spacer fitted then 15mm through that as if it were part of the rim- that equates to up to 10 turns which is the max you can go on the rear rim
(does not matter on the front as plenty of free room)

Ball Seat Lug Bolt
The above website EZ Accessory.com in USA sells high quality correct ballseat lug bolts in various length shanks up to 60mm long
Standard for your rears from selection is the 12 x 1.5 x 39mm shank (63mm total length)
If using a spacer then add the thickness of the spacer to the 39mm shank length so of a 20mm spacer then order the 60mm shank

 

[281lxm]

my experience with 245 was like a meat slicer. 235 fixed that as in 235/45/17.

 

[bsclifton]

I went to Wheel Specialists, Inc in Tempe, AZ this morning and they took at look at each of the wheels

• They swapped out the passenger front (which had a broken repair) with the 15" spare tire and are going to try and source a new barrel
• The rear has a 15mm space (not 20mm as I had previously thought) and the bolt was only getting about 1cm of threading in (3 1/2 turns). I got new lug nuts for the rears which have a longer threading and are able to complete 6+ turns
• The drivers side rear has a small hairline crack in the center, along the hole where one of the bolts goes in
• The passenger side rear barrel has a repair (small crack which was welded; this repair looks good (shown in attachment).

We'll see how it goes with finding a replacement barrel... if anyone has a source, please let me know

With regard to the center with the crack, the person who typically does repairs took a look and said it's bad- they wouldn't attempt a repair on it (picture attached with a red box around the crack; this is the rear of the wheel, the center hole). I saw a thread here in the 126 section about repairs and will be reading through it, but ultimately, I agree with the tech- I think replacing the center would be the best. So I'm going to keep an eye out for a new center face for the 10 inch rear wheel and drive on it in the meantime

 

[plinker17722]

Very nice bit of kit. Love these cars , along with the saloon . Would be my next car if i am around that long haha

 

[BlackRain]

We'll see how it goes with finding a replacement barrel... if anyone has a source, please let me know

I found these guys while searching for replacement Etoile lips and barrels. If they don't carry it, they can make to order. WheelFlip

 

[BlackRain]

For whatever reason, the link I posted above isn't working.

https://shop.wheelflip.com/collections/inner-barrels-custom-bore

 

[bsclifton]

For whatever reason, the link I posted above isn't working.

https://shop.wheelflip.com/collections/inner-barrels-custom-bore

This is great, thanks so much It's definitely a pain in the ass (and discouraging) trying to make sure these wheels get squared away. I'm thinking about getting a backup wheels, basically 3 more 15" full size spares (since I'm already running on one while it's being repaired)

Small update regarding window switches. Like any old 126 which has been used, the console has cracked wood and the buttons have years of muck stuck between the crevices of the buttons. The back ones became so hard to push that I ended up pushing them through the wood (whoops! ) I took the assembly apart, popped the buttons out, opened them and attempted to clean/repair them... but they are now causing a short which fries two of the fuses each time a window switch is used (I think the contacts inside the button are touching both sides at the same time). After trying, failing, cussing about this a lot, and getting really mad, I gave up and ordered 4 new OEM window switches from AutohausAZ (living in the Phoenix area, should come quick)