Now this is just plain dumb! 560SL knee bolster

[donbryce]

I'm 'exploring' my new-to-me '86 560SL, trying to get a few things fixed before I lay her up for winter and pull the engine. I've seen some wierd stuff that MB does with interior design, but this steel tube stuffed with styrofoam takes the cake. It looks like the functional one in my '85 380SE, and appears to be for the sole purpose of holding the carpet.

For those who don't know, removal is taking a 10mm socket on an extension and feeding it up through the holes in the carpet until you can turn the 2 nuts, shown in the middle picture. You don't need to remove these completely, just loosen enough to slide the tube thing forward and then down. Mine also had a dab of glue holding the right side of the carpet to the console carpet, which had to be cut loose.

I might retrofit a speaker enclosure or storage container in place of this thing, which I'll post.

[David Langsam]

I thought the shell was plastic. Anyway, I see your tabs are broken just as mine were. I cut some pieces of metal and epoxied them back together. The bloster is nice and tight now.

David.

[donbryce]

Yeah, the broken tabs are the result of someone's trying to pull the piece off without undoing the nuts. I found a ground wire screwed into the black plastic heater housing too, just an indication of what I'm in for this winter with this car.