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Squiggle Dog · #**147** 07-02-2011, 02:11 AM

The lift brackets are easy to position as they are made to fit precisely on the tray. Notice the screws for fine tuning. I drilled 5/32" holes in the brackets, then in the tray using the positioned brackets as guides. I then applied POR seam filler in the area to keep water from leaking in, then riveted them in place with 5/32" pop rivets.

Putting the assembly back in was tricky. Once it was in the car I laid on my back, lifted it with my legs, then started putting in the screws.

I removed the components from the W116 sliding roof, then installed the ones from the W123 roof. There's a lot of fine tuning at this point. I made sure to grease all necessary points, though I was using felt sliders instead of plastic in the front since that's all I had to replace the broken plastic ones. The roof takes a bit of effort to move since I need to replace the plastic slides and get rid of the felt ones. Once I have those replaced it will slide easier. There are only 4 plastic slides on a manual roof as opposed to 8 on a power roof!

I removed the cable tube and power motor for the sliding roof while I was at it. I cut the front drain tubes to get a clean edge to attach them to the tray. Unfortunately, the rubber was hardened and they split when I tried. I looked up the part number (A 003 997 63 82), which is $36/meter MSRP at The Classic Center. Each side is 1070mm long, so I needed 3 meters. Ouch. It turned out that it was not in stock and they weren't able to get anything longer than cut 1 meter lengths at the time.

A few days went by and The Classic Center was still having trouble obtaining the hose, so I went to a hose specialty place, however they did not have any comparable hose. The closest thing they had was 1/2" heater hose, which would not have stretched over the oval drain tubes and would have been too thick to come out the ends of the A pillars.

I then went to my local Mercedes Auto Service to see if they had the hose I needed. I parked next to a black W116 300SD that looked nearly identical to mine. It even had the same grille badges, and in the same places! Once again, all they had was heater hose. The shop owner said that he had a W116 300SD behind the shop and that even though he doesn't normally let people go back there, he would let me pull the drain hoses from it. I went back and just before I started pulling the headliner I noticed that the car didn't have a sliding roof!

I told the shop owner and he said that I could try the W123 he had back there. I was able to get the front drain tubes out and the rubber was still supple! What's more, the shop owner said I could have them free of charge! I got home and then realized that the W123 drain hoses are only 1000mm, which was much too short. I got on the EPC and noticed that the rear drain hoses from a W126 are 1490mm each, which was more than enough!

I went back to the shop and I pulled the rear drain hoses from a W126 they had. They even had the 45 degree angle cut on the ends! I cut them down to 1070mm and snaked them down from the openings in the tops of the A pillars. I had to twist them a little to get them past a certain point, then I reached through holes in the A-pillars below the dashboard to help position, followed by a screwdriver through the door dome light sensor openings to put the ends of the hoses near the holes, then worked the ends out of the holes between the front doors and fenders. I then lubricated the ends, then carefully pushed them onto the tubes with a rag and pliers. The Classic Center still wasn't sure about being able to get the hose, so I canceled the order--which saved me quite a bit of money, especially considering the shop didn't charge me for the W126 hose and even gave me some needed W116 rear speakers screws!

I was glad to have the proper drain hoses since I was having to use ridiculous ACCII sensor hoses routed out the front windows for the roof to drain. The headliner panel from the W123 roof matched perfectly! I have to admit that installing the header panels around the headliner was tricky.