The snide cutting of a comment doesn't get erased by "just kidding".

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1983 W123 300TD US spec Turbo engine, with Euro bumpers and manual climate control, and manual transmission.

Looks pretty ace!

Well done on persevering, I often think of you when dismantling my parts car and run into problems (which is often :0)

Maybe get a windscreen interior shade just in case fabric is not UV resistant, hate to see it fade after all that effort.

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David


1996 Mercedes S124 E300TD - 129k - rolling restoration project -

1998 Mercedes W210 300TD - 118k (assimilated into above vehicle)

Oh yes, I have a shade for the windshield now...I have a dash mat too, but just can't see covering up the dash yet

I got a new first aid box for the car, the 9$ ones are walmart fit perfectly once you trim the handle off....now I don't need to worry about my 30 year old bandaids not working :p



Time to do the wood, I have refinished wood before but I haven't tried this technique before. A member had posted that he let the wood soak in acetone and the plastic coating came right off. So I got my supplies and set in place doing it!

Can you believe I can't find one of the wrap around corners..grrr...no telling what corner it is in....I may be a virgo, but I some how lost the very neat and tidy part :p

Supplies and wood...the shifter surround I feel will be a big challenge for me but I am up to it! I can't figure out if it got wet, to much armor all, sun or just age caused the condition it is in. I am thinking that it is just like the rest of the wood, it just simple is soooo dried out that the coating cracked and then the grain started opening. I may oil it after I stain to feed the wood and then clear coat it. Either way I am really looking forward to getting the surround in! I am also still happy to find a member I was able to trade with as I just don't have the budget I wish I had to work on my car. I also removed all the plastic bits just incase the acetone would do anything.



In the bucket with the bottle of acetone to sit over night and maybe longer, I also have one hugeeee bag I used to seal it, if I didn't the acetone would evaporate.



The acetone may very well also rehydrate the wood! I can't wait till tomorrow.

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this thread is very cool! keep it up!

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83 300CD- sanden, dual p/f condensers, 160a alternator, ect
91 300TD- 722.6, #22 head, 3.5L IP, w140 manifolds, ect

Well my friend wants to go to Pride in Flagstaff tomorrow, its a 300 mile round trip. Its nothing at all like the pride in frisco, this one is held in the woods and we have to pay to get in....going to be interesting...but he is funding the journey so I am all up for a road trip, plus there is a junk yard I can stop at...its mandatory

So I had to go get some things done on the car to make it ready, discovered my spare was flat, the two rear tires had 23lbs of air in them...so had to take car of all that, my spare bundt was gone, so I am using a steelie so need to borrow some lug bolts from the 78, had to get the trunk cleaned up, killed some rust, but the divider back in and the carpet.

Tool box fell apart on the last junk yard visit so had to make a new handle for it. Went through all the junk in the trunk to take out things I don't need, mixed up some coolant....just incase, I have my heater core bypassed as I am waiting on a new heater hose, I have it going over the valve cover, should be fine but its the only thing I am worried about..

This will be his first long freeway trip in almost two years.

I kept blowing my fuse for the cigrette lighter, could for the life of me figure out why...I have used my littel air compressor in the other car all the time with no issue....then I read the fuse chart, since the car came radio delete it still had an 8amp fuse in it, in quotation marks it said 16A for heaters radio....then I was ohhh the car has both an amp and radio in it that was dealer installed but the fuse was never changed...so fixed that and no more issues...I think the amp is on another fuse...so will have to check that out later on.

I pulled the wood from the acetone today, just georgous....clean no more plastic coating, no sticky foam resuide on the back just clean wood....now I can move to the next step.

This is why you want to remove all the plastic, I totally forgot about the plastic on the switch houseing, so they turned to goo.



All the nasty stuff left..



Beautiful clean wood



Here's the shifter surround, its a tad but worse then I thought it would be, thinking a little light sanding will clear up some of the discoloration. I will be cutting the lower hole bigger to fit my power window switch so that will get rid of a little bit of the discoloring, still not sure what would have caused it...it must have been water...only thing I can think of..

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Wood looks great! It's awesome to see that.

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1979 300D 040 Black on Black - 1985 300D Maaco job (sadly sprayed over 199 Black Pearl Metallic) on Palamino

http://i.imgur.com/LslW733.jpg

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Visit the W123 page on iFixit for over 70 helpful DIY guides!

I would bet someone spilled either some coke or coffee on that shifter wood at some point. The acetone did a good job.

Could you not apply a thin veneer of wood then vacuum it in a bag?

Although I have seen it done here on restoration not too sure how easy it is to do.

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David


1996 Mercedes S124 E300TD - 129k - rolling restoration project -

1998 Mercedes W210 300TD - 118k (assimilated into above vehicle)

So this weekends road trip results...

First I will say, it was a blast, stayed at the pride event all day. Tons of parting, music, food, people to look at....but it was hot! Despite it being advertised as pride in the pines...it was in a baseball field with no shade but that of the tents erected.

The car did great, didn't have any serious issues....

First thing, the fiberglass fan idea...didn't work...smelled the resin coming from the vents....so it looks like it got so hot, it liquified the resin. Back to the drawing board....I suppose, I will just need to look for a metal fan with a grub screw....then I won't have this issue again...

I had bought two used tires for the car when I first got it back, the only set in town had good tread but had wear, thought it wouldn't be an issue as I was going to use the 78 as my main car. Now it seems like they are an issue....I have to hold the wheel at an angle as the car wants to go to the right, that has the worst tire on it. I went by the JY in Flagstaff, they has some nice 14"s...I was going to grab a pair, ask the price, guy says 30$ a tire, I was like wow I can buy them new, mounted with a warranty for 50$...So that idea went out the window. So now I am debating, borrow two of my light alloy rims off the 78 and use on him for the trip, won't match the bundts or just drive on these and deal with the angled wheel and maybe find another pair at another JY..

I had no other issues!

The cooling system in the car, works great! Had no issues with over heating even though it was 100 degrees out on the way back and I did some hill climbing....highest it reached was 90.

I got amazing fuel mileage down there I got 25mpg and that was climbing altitude. On the way back it looks like I got 28mpg. That is if the saying every section of the gas gauge is 4 gal on a 17gal tank. I left with 3/4 and now I am at a half.

Since I don't have an ada or alda on this car, if I was flooring it, at altitude...I would get a nice little black cloud....I kept looking in the mirror and say ooopps gotta let off the peddle :p But it was nice having my temporary smoke screen attack on tailgaters

Some pics...

I was only able to get to 95mph today, I was racing a BMW 523i? I think it was....who didn't want to stay behind me but wanted to get in front of me and slow down....It was interesting..



This was our camp spot for the night. It was sooo fun finding a place to park for the night, when it was pitched black out in the woods....having the fogs and high beams on....made it sooo simple to see a nice spot to pull into and hide for the night...we brought tons of blanks with, put the seats all the way forward, set height up and backs all the way down....use the blankets to level it all off and we have a sweet little tint the hook on the handle in the rear for clothing was perfect for our little led lantern.

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Lighten up Francis

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You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find you get what you need.

I believe that there is product for 'bleaching' wood dark spots. Same shelf as wood stain products.

Use lightly until the desired 'lightening up' occurs.

good luck.

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1979 300D 220 K miles
1995 C280 109 K miles
1992 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe 57K miles SOLD
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1979 240D 140Kmiles (bought for parents) *SOLD.
SAN FRANCISCO/(*San Diego)
1989 300SE 148 K miles *SOLD

Got my new, genuine mercedes boot! Its super super nice! Plus I got jelly beans and stickers, but how dare PP not send me a sicker with a w123 on it



Sanded the shifter surround last night, I used 100 grit and sanded with the grain, the stains are pretty much gone, some light staining should hide them completely. So happy! It also knocked all the raised grain down, so it is perfectly flat, all I need to do is glue in clamp one tiny area and cut the power mirror hole.

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Well I started cutting the hole for the mirror control....it is super super nice to have a dremal....it makes doing things so much eaiser. Cutting this took a good 45mins, going very slowly in order to not make the hole so large it wouldn't sit in firmly.

As you can see in the pic I pull from ebay, the control is receflat with the surround. I am very paranoid to attempt this cut and have it look factory done. I am contemplating just letting it sit on top of the wood. I am sleeping on it, and seeing if I want to chance it. It wouldn't look bad sitting on the surround with the nice refinish wood I would think.



The hole.



Just about in

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Some more work...

Got the mirrior control set in, looks pretty damn good! I had glued the lifting veneer between the two openings and clamped it



Sanded and ready for staining.



Stained, a good hint...before applying stain, use a damp cloth to wet the wood, this opens the pours and allows them to absorb the stain.



First coat of poly.



If you look closely at the wood, you will see that you need to fill the grain, if you leave it at this state, the finish will be un even and look unprofessional. You need to put on a thick coat, sand it down, another sand it down and then a third coat followed by a wet sanding..



Now if I can just find that lost piece :p

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What color stain did you use.?

Not an issue, but I notice the original OEM color seems a bit darker.

again , yours looks good, I am just curious to understand how stain acts on zebra wood..

Can the polyurethane be tinted or did you use clear semi gloss?

oil or water based poly ? spray or brush on?

good work !

yeah find that corner piece.....

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1979 300D 220 K miles
1995 C280 109 K miles
1992 Cadillac Eldorado Touring Coupe 57K miles SOLD
********************
1979 240D 140Kmiles (bought for parents) *SOLD.
SAN FRANCISCO/(*San Diego)
1989 300SE 148 K miles *SOLD