PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

Jeremy5848 · #34 10-10-2009, 10:23 PM

OK, so I'm not a woodworker. The wood panel took forever to finish but it is finally done and in the car. The panel is such a tight fit in the ashtray space that the gauge brackets cannot be used. Instead, the gauges are held in place with hot-melt glue. The glue provides a firm hold but can be pried off if a gauge ever needs to come out. The panel is held in the console with friction at the top while the bottom is trapped by the lower console panel.

The wood portion is made of Zebrano veneer glued to 1/8 inch birch plywood with contact cement, stained with Red Mahogany to match the existing wood and finished with multiple coats of tabletop (hard) varnish. Backing up the wood is a sheet of 1/16 inch aluminum, also glued to the birch with contact cement. The curve at the bottom of the aluminum protrudes below the wood and allows the finished panel to be trapped in place by the lower console wood panel.

The holes in the aluminum were made with a 2-1/8 inch Greenlee chassis punch while the wood was drilled with a 2 inch Forstner bit and enlarged to 2-1/16 inch with a Dremel-mounted sanding wheel. I finished the wood before drilling the holes and got away with it but the experts tell me it's better to cut the holes first and then finish the wood.

The wiring of the gauges was made easier by the existing switched 12 volt, console illumination, and ground wires. I added a pair of wires for the EGT gauge and hard plastic tubing for the boost gauge.

The position of the gauges means that the driver must take his eyes off of the road to view them, so I don't actually look at the gauges a lot. The voltmeter and boost gauges are really for diagnostic purposes anyway. Only the EGT gauge serves a critical function and that only in special circumstances such as high-speed hill climbs.

The JVC stereo above the gauges in the last picture will go away as soon as I have time to install the factory Becker 1492 radio that Sixto and I pulled out of a '94 E320 in North San Jose Pick and Pull. The matching trunk-mounted amplifier and complete wiring harness came with the radio while the companion 3196 CD changer was an eBay purchase. Since I don't want to install late-124 door panels, I'm searching for a pair of thin speakers for the front doors; they should fit in the space behind the map pockets.

Jeremy