[Greeney]

Today changed the rear door seals and removed all the red door panels.
Wired up the rear ashtray cigar lighters
Changed the rear door handles for better ones without split plastic gasket
Changed all check straps for the ones I have rebuilt, now no creaks and they all sit halfway and hold fully open.
I only had the red B Pillar plastic bases so I covered in the mushroom leather and finally fitted the B Pillar covers...

Just the front seats and centre console to do tomorrow

 

[mclare]

Beautiful work Nick!

 

[Greeney]

Cheers Mike; I am very pleased, as you can see from the little white glow at the bottom of the front door, I changed all the interior lights for 'festoon' LEDs, so much better in white instead of that incandescent yellow...

 

[ianrandom]

Awesome. Your carpet looks nice and fluffy too.

You covered the plastic B pillar bases in leather? Sounds interesting.

I like Bagpuss, is he staying?

 

[Grumpy560]

Looking good there Greeney.

 

[Greeney]

Awesome. Your carpet looks nice and fluffy too.

You covered the plastic B pillar bases in leather? Sounds interesting.

I like Bagpuss, is he staying?

I jet washed the carpet then sprayed with fabric softener, then scotchguard sprayed it;

Mintys were very fragile and cracked so I gave him mine; so all I had were the red ones and a hide of mushroom, easier than expected actually and looks great I think...

Yes bagpuss will not be upsidedown tomorrow!!

 

[Dr.Grillz]

Very nice! There's something comforting about an ultra-clean W126 interior... makes you feel right at home!

 

[Chadahar]

Looks great, but someone stole your front seats...LOL! Course it would be harder to steal the whole car without the front seats unless you were 10 ft. tall.
Just pulling your leg.
Looks fantastic.

 

[Crusty rusty]

That is really ridiculously tidy. How many kms on the clock?

Can I ask how you got your seats like that? Did you get them re covered or is there a secret to making them look like new again?

 

[neviu]

looks nice,!

 

[w126Sam]

Nice. Is the burl ashtray cover stock?

 

[ChiefRider]

Just beautiful!

 

[Dr.Grillz]

Nice. Is the burl ashtray cover stock?

They're not stock, but aftermarket. They're stick-on vinyl with burlwood appearance. They usually come in a set with other pieces.

 

[Greeney]

That is really ridiculously tidy. How many kms on the clock?

Can I ask how you got your seats like that? Did you get them re covered or is there a secret to making them look like new again?

They were already very clean but I cleaned and degreased with G850 then used Leatherique in the bright sunshine in the conservatory for about a week, prepared them for spraying with a light coat of leather dye from Gliptone mainly due to the fact they had faded.
I did take EVERYTHING apart too including seat bases to do it properly and individually.

Nice. Is the burl ashtray cover stock?

Similar to what DrGrillz said but I did my own, most of the ashtray fronts are in one piece here and have a printed leather look which as you know is a nightmare to stick on but I managed to get the ashtrays from a 560SEL with velour interior that had the 2 part fronts with the velour stuck on.
I didnt buy a kit as I have had bad experience with these in the past but I have a small roll of 3M burl walnut look vinyl, it started as an experiment as I was just going to leather them but looks good I think...

BTW cigar lighters in the rear are an option on Euro SE cars that's why I changed mine..

I have accumulated a couple of damaged door panels and am experimenting with making a walnut edge to the door pockets but different to the bulky looking ones for sale that just plant over the top... I have trimmed the original foam lip back to the black plastic base so the end result will be as neat looking as the original edge...we'll see...

 

[Aussiemerc]

Geez Greeney, why'd you have to show us that nice stuff? Now I have to clean mine up.

 

[420 SE]

Looks fantastic, you must be pleased with the outcome.

 

[Greeney]

SO! now I am back to the above pictures!
Last Sunday I took out the back seat to check something before I finished off the centre console and front seat... to find a pool of water, yes you guessed it, the dreaded sunroof cassette drains...On removal of the headlining I found both rear pipe had rusted, one just snapped off as I wiggled it..
Oh well, another adventure began.
Headlining removal involved removing all the the screen trims AGAIN, I am getting good at which way to pull or push now..
I had removed the cassette off the parting car so I knew it was easy but I was worried about the cable guide pipe so sought the oracle that is Mclare whom assisted me in cable and motor removal.
Once the cable was out and the pipe clips detached there was enough free movement to drop the cassette and slide it forward to full it free of the pipe but with a family effort;
I used a friction strap to keep it in place while I undid the bolts.
Then, my son on one side, me on the other and my wife making sure the pipe slipped free without bending or kinking the pipe.
It gave me the opportunity to check the mechanism and change parts that were less worn..
One bonus for me was the rubber wind deflectors attached to the sides of the sunroof lid on the original were a slightly different design and almost rotted away, as you can see from the picture, but only a year later the design was a completely enclosed rubber unit, so I changed this.
Everything now back together and back to where we were last Sunday, apart from timing the sunroof motor of which I have a detailed synopsis from mclare.
I have a week before our 126 meetup so it has to be done by next Sunday

 

[Grumpy560]

WOW! those are really rusted through. Bummer you had to do it all over again but it's a very good move to replace the cartridge now. Glad you found this before the entire interior was completely put back together, that would have involved even more time consuming work.

 

[mclare]

Glad to be of help Nick. Did you do a clear roof swap? I forget.

 

[JoeBob55]

Greeney, your interior pictures look beautiful. I hope to someday make my car look half as nice.

OK...I've had a new term sprung on me..."sunroof cassette". What exactly is this? I tried a search but nothing on here I could find. Is this the carrier for the sunroof? Is this replaceable? When I open my sunroof, I look down and see lots 'o rust. And when it rains, I get some water in the car, especially the right front passenger foot well. Could this contribute to that?