KUDOS ! .

It looks good to me, I wish I could do that .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Sorry!

It looks great though!

Uhm, thanks for trying out my idea. Sorry I said it would take an hour. Wow you have grit.

I haven’t started my blue seats yet. I have a continuously variable stitch length adjustment on my upholstery machine. My thought was to adjust it till the needle was able to hit the holes repeatably. But this is another one of my theories. Definitely the side boxing will have to be disassembled for access.

Thanks for taking the leap.

__________________
79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

Well ;

Once you do a thing a few times it usually becomes far quicker....

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

It was certainly an expedition =)
And again, the discovery of the sewing awl made it awl worthwhile.

I had a similar thought re: my sewing machine. It's about a 5 on the stitch dial, but without complete certainty, constant tension and machine like precision (on my end) I saw myself getting 30% of the way and then accidentally punching new holes a fraction of a mm off.

Keep us posted!

__________________
1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.

You know that awl is a really awesome tool. Mine has paid for itself many times over. Especially when I fix the strap on my wife’s fancy shoes and purses when they come apart.

My cheapskate dad taught me how to use one when I was a kid.

__________________
79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

Seat padding part number: 123 910 29 50

Ordered from World Upholstery & Trim for $240 (3 months lead time). Made of coconut husk or fiber bonded with rubberized resin.

MB part # 123 910 38 16 - Discontinued.

Opted not to use the new seat padding (made from coconut husk or fiber) since the original "foam" padding is still in good condition. Wasted money, should have disassembled the seat first before ordering.

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I have some 126 seats apart. The pad PN is 126 910 2650 NLA from Mercedes but I've seen them from upholstery people.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

See attachment: Section 91.4-100 Removal and Installation of Driver's Seat.
Instruction seems to be for another model not for 1981 240D

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I see it also has a 114 part number....

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Adjustment stuck, cannot access the rear bolts to remove the seat for re-upholstery.
Applied WD40 the day before in the up & down rail, then used a slide hammer pulling on the round nut, see picture.
Inserted an aluminum U-channel between the lock notches and the lock on both sides to allow movement of the rail.
Used a 50 lb. weight to help apply/push down the seat spring while removing/lifting the seat cover lock.

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Did some rear seat repair with S springs. 9 ga bought on eBay. I got 10’ for $20.

My 300sd rear seat was getting really saggy. When I’d sit down in the back I’d feel the seat crush down and clunk on the Pan under the seat. I tried pool noodles a couple of years ago but my experience with those is they hold the seat up but eventually they crush down and lose springiness.

So I saw the M….source videos on YouTube showing their expensive kit with a springs. I decided I’d try to replicate it. I basically cut 8” lengths with about 8 coils each and attached them between the front lip and the pan where the old springs attached. I basically wired them in in parallel using stainless steel safety wire. Right in the area where the springs are bent into kind of an L in the vertical direction in the cantilever portion of the springs. Sorry I didn’t snap a photo. I put four on each side and two in the middle.

It really worked well. The seats have their spring back and my passengers aren’t bouncing off the floor boards.

I’m going to do the same to my 300d soon and I’ll snap some photos. Basically the seat comes out. The cover and horsehair comes off. Then I wire 10 x 8” pieces of S spring between the top and bottom of the spring box a long the front lip. If you sit in the collapsed seat it is really obvious where you need to add the support.

I’ll be back with photos of the second install. When it cools down. My garage is an oven now.

Edit - ah this video shows an example of how to support the cantilever springs.

https://youtu.be/jNHZZdNC6-o

I used safety wire to secure them. It reminded me of my mom using cord to secure springs in our couch when I was a kid. She would reupholster our furniture by tying the springs together with cords. You can also use the u bolts in the video. That’s cleaner. I think those are just aircraft cable clamps available at Home Depot.

__________________
79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles
97 C280 147k miles

Yes, the tracks tend to get crudded up and sometimes rusty making it very difficult to move them forward / back for bolt access~ best bet is to sit in the back with the front backrest leaned forward and push with both your feet as someone else holds the adjuster release up .

Be aware the seat can and will suddenly jump forward so make sure your helper doesn't put their wrist through the steering wheel or other carelessness .

I've had to remove the rear carpets and use a really good quality open end 10MM ATF wrench to get some junkyard seats bolts out .

You have to turn the bolt maybe 1/5 of a turn at a time it's really a patience testing job .

Once out of the car the tracks can be removed and cleaned, once clean grease *very* lightly with long fiber (like Lithium) grease, the 'dustless' grease M-B uses in the sun roofs or war surplus rifle grease both excel here .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

The backrest padding was decomposing leaving a constant residue of coconut husk or fiber material on the floor.

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I thought the originals were made out of horse hair

Urban legend apparently.

__________________
1981 240D 4sp manual. Ivory White.