[RobsCountach]

Please read this entire direction before starting. It'll make your life easier.

First, here's the reason I decided to stay inside and get this done today;

There a plastic cap that sits on the side panel (its not a pin, but a screw cover). Carefully, pop this out. Don't just pry it out recklessly or it'll break. Once done, unscrew the Phillips Head underneath.

Next, remove the small fabric-like/rubber trim piece from top the door jam (its only about 3" long). This is held onto the body in 2 places.
The top is held in by a large plastic staple. From the top it appears like a tab. Carefully, work a screwdriver in there to pop it out.
The bottom only has a single pin but its molded into the trim itself. You can Carefully pull this out too. Don't worry if the pin comes out of the molding as mine did just that. I was able to work it back into the molding piece.
NOTE: The pins are delicate, so don't break them off.

Next, lift the flap by the rollbar. Its comes up easily with only minor tension so you can use your fingers.

Under the flap, remove the small phillips head screw. My picture shows where mine was, but I took it out already...
Note; Don't drop the screw into the body !

Remove the door trim from the door jam. It just peels off.
Note: See Picture For Warnings Or Tips (or have a band-aid -:surrender: )

There's a pin holding the side panel to the car. Its right near where the lock mechanism is for the door (maybe a little lower). Its like what holds the door panel onto the car. Pop it out.

The rear is held on with those same pins; However, the mounts are slotted at top. This allows you to simply slide the rear part of the panel up, and out !
NOTE: Do so, but don't pull panel out yet since there's a few wires to unhook. First, unhook the speaker connector itself (use the plastic connector by squeezing the sides and pulling apart).
Next, you must remove the Defroster connector. Inside the panel, at the top of the connector is a slide. Slide this little tab-panel down and the entire thing pivots out of the panel.

Here's a picture of the rear panel pins

The install is this, in-reverse...

---------------------------------------
SPEAKER INSTALLATION:

NOTE: Only a 4" Slim-Mount will fit in that corner, so don't even try it (like I did).
NOTE: Once done, you'll loose access to those compartments. Stocks are flush-mounted, so they won't open as the new speaker grill will be in their way. Personally, I didn't care since only the passenger side hold anything and not much at that. There's like 5 other places to store stuff in this car anyway !
NOTE: The Striped-Wire is the Positive (+) lead. You can use the same connectors as stock for new.

NOTE: The speakers are 4 ohm. Try and get within 2 ohms difference or less...nothing more.

 

[wayneg]

Another great addition to the " how to's" collection. I'm sure this will be of help to many now and in the future.

 

[Carlo$]

you are da man! printed and saved!

my wife has been buggin' me about fixing a rattle around that area, up until now i used the old excuse "i dont have instructions honey, i dont want to damage your car".

but now i dont have an excuse.

darn im gonna be busy this weekend.

thanks.

 

[bobterry99]

You got to hand it to someone like Rob for making the effort to document a procedure like this.

It's my experience that you have to remove the covers over the storage compartments before removing the sidewalls. Those are held in place with a pair of 8mm screws on each side.

One of Rob's picture shows the rear panel pins. These should have been very carefully pried-out of the body while the panels were in place (picture, arrows) and remained attached to the panels. I'm affraid the plastic retainers which held the pins (circled) are now broken...

 

[snowbilt]

Kudo's Rob that is a great DIY! This is the kind of valuable information that makes me proud to contribute and be a part of this board.

 

[RobsCountach]

One of Rob's picture shows the rear panel pins. These should have been very carefully pried-out of the body while the panels were in place (picture, arrows) and remained attached to the panels. I'm affraid the plastic retainers which held the pins (circled) are now broken...

Good Day;
Thanks for the kind words from everyone ! I feel I've taken enough advice, so nows its time to give back a little bit.

bobterry99 - I didn't have any issues with those retainers. The pins on our doors, do slide in/out of the retainers as well. They're made to slide in/out of those pins. A picture I didn't show was that the top of that panel has tabs. These must be slid down sametime as those pins are slid into the retainer. I don't think you could easily slid the top tabs in, while pushing those on ?

 

[bobterry99]

I didn't have any issues with those retainers. The pins on our doors, do slide in/out of the retainers as well. They're made to slide in/out of those pins.

Rob, I believe you had no issues with the retainers because they were previously broken on your car! On the other hand, perhaps the retainers are different for your '98 SL600 than other 129s, though the documentation I have suggests otherwise.

At any rate, your instructions as written would very definitely be incorrect for a 300SL. I removed the side walls on such a car three weeks ago, and the clips very definitely need to be popped-out of the body as explained by the Tech DVD.

I think this illustrates a point: while a procedure or technical instruction that I or someone else may give can be helpful, there is no substitute for having on hand the R129 Tech DVD, alldatadiy, or the WIS. At $60 the Tech DVD is a terrific bargain, and it's the best, most comprehensive source of information I know of. If you prefer the WIS, it is cheaper still. I just bought a fairly up-to-date copy on eBay for $11.

 

[RobsCountach]

At any rate, your instructions as written would very definitely be incorrect for a 300SL. I removed the side walls on such a car three weeks ago, and the clips very definitely need to be popped-out of the body as explained by the Tech DVD.

Never stated it would as its a different style. This is for SL320, SL500 & SL600 (R129) ONLY (ammended per J_Jackflash)..

As you can see, the clips in my car are just fine. They have to have an open end, so you can get the pin in them to start with (door pins are the same, just those panels start with the pin inside the tab and pop-in the car door). On the rear panel, the pin towards the front, MUST pop-in. The pins in the rear are slid down into position because the top of the panel, has a "tab A goes into slot B" configuration. That back panel slides down, matching pins/panel with the top tabs.

Here's one of my bottom slots. Its just fine awaiting the pin to be slid in !

 

[bobterry99]

This is for SL500 & SL600 (R129) ONLY.

What years?

Seeing the detail of your retainer, it clearly slides out. However, there is a possibility that a previous owner obtained that piece and glued it on themself after breaking the original. I'll eventually find out for myself, because if your part is factory original, then the instructions for this procedure that M-B gives to their dealers for your specific car in the WIS is wrong, and that's a pretty big deal.

For now, this is my advice to someone who is going to remove the rear side walls. Try to slide the panels just as Rob did, but on no account use any force. If they don't move, then you will have to remove the coverings over the storage area as I mentioned above and pop-out the clips. Be very careful doing this because they break easily.

 

[j_jackflash]

This is for SL500 & SL600 (R129) ONLY.

Whatever works for the SL500 and 600 works for the SL320.

 

[ErikFinn]

www.classic-roadster.de ::

 

[j_jackflash]

www.classic-roadster.de ::

Somebody should catalogue all those movie links and make it a sticky.

 

[RobsCountach]

...and maybe translate it somehow ? I'll tell ya, it makes 'NO' sense to me.

 

[j_jackflash]

...and maybe translate it somehow ? I'll tell ya, it makes 'NO' sense to me.

Did you watch the movie of how to remove the rear panels? It is in English, not German.

 

[RobsCountach]

Did you watch the movie of how to remove the rear panels? It is in English, not German.

Its not the video, its the titles on the left-hand side... Who cares what language a video is in ? I just need to know which to watch while surfing that site...

 

[RobsCountach]

Finished Product

Here's the fruits of my labors in the rear-panels. I went from the Bose 2" To Pyramid 4" and gained about 4x the cone-surface area. It adds a little to the mid-highs (and much more clarity all around), so combined with the Infinity Reference's up front, I get nice midrange and clear highs.

I am a little mis-matched in the Ohms for the fronts. My Ohms rating is a little higher on the scale, so the volume knob comes up a little more but this gives a little too much Sub. I can turn the bass down, but then I loose what bass the 6 1/2" would give too.
I'll probaby fix this with a 1.3 Ohm Resistor, wired in parallel (I can install without taking the door off). Cost me about $ 6 and take 1/2 hour.
In retrospect, I'd have gone with the Infinity Kappa series since they're an Ohms match...

 

[bobterry99]

I'll probaby fix this with a 1.3 Ohm Resistor, wired in parallel...

You meant to write "in series", right?

 

[RobsCountach]

You meant to write "in series", right?

Nope.
I'd never run my entire 'final' signal thru a resistor. Wires are too small and it'd degrade the signal.
When you wire in series, the speakers resistance (as measured in ohms) is additive - ie. putting 2 of 8 ohm speakers in series results in a 16 ohm load.

When wiring in parallel, the resistance of the speakers decreases. 2 of 8 ohm resistance speakers in parallel result in a 4 ohm load.

Thus, the formula for 'parallel wiring' I'm using is:
Whereas the A and B are different OHM ratings (A is 4 Ohm and B is 1.3 Ohm)

A * B / (A+B) OR

4 * 1.3 / 4 +1.3 OR

5.2 / 5.3 OR

= 0.98

Which is close enough to the 1 Ohm load of the original speakers...

 

[bobterry99]

Rob, your calculation would be valid if you were driving your speaker with a battery. But for a music signal it is very different because a speaker is a "complex" impedance consisting of a "resistive" component and a "reactive" component. In your forumula substitute 4+j2(pi)X for B and you'll have it right. "X" is a variable that changes with frequency.

In spite of the technical analysis I'm sure you'll achieve your goal just fine.

 

[Brian McL]

Why are all the pictures gone?? Pretty useless post without them!