Originally Posted by JCE

I just changed the star on my 87. Clever design, not a chance I would have figured it out without advice. All 12 parts (!!!) that make up the star on my 87 300E are held in place by spring action between the star and a one way rotation sleeve, with the hood metal sandwiched in between. Opening the hood and looking at the very bottom of the star assembly, the tech pointed out a small horizontal cross pin holding the spring through a small circular opening in the sleeve (other end of spring attaches to the bottom of the star). The tech held on to the star with one hand, and pulled out the pin (just like a grenade!) with needle nose visegrips, and the star and spring assembly were released and easily came out throught the top of the hood. The "U" shaped sleeve came out the bottom. The old star assembly was rendered useless by this operation, as the new star assembly is sold spring loaded and cocked. The new assembly was inserted into the keyed hole in the grill, and the U shaped sleeve was rotated until it snapped into position, holding the whole assembly together. Someone did their ME graduate thesis designing this. Good Luck.

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JCE
87 300E, 60k miles
Smoke Silver

[This message has been edited by JCE (edited 02-26-2000).]