Bimmer-Bob's 300D Build
 

Hi all. I'm new here, and new to the Mercedes marque in general. Sorry for the super long upcoming post, but I feel an intro is in order.

My background is mostly with BMW's (1996 318ti & 2010 128i) and a few VW's before that (1991 Corrado G60 & 1972 Super Beetle). My DD is still the 128i, mostly built out for autocross (see build thread here) and we also have a 2014 4Runner as a "family" car.

Recently, the circumstances of our lives changed a little. When my wife goes back to work in the fall (she's a teacher), I'm going to start dropping the kids off in the morning, and she'll be picking them up in the afternoon. Packing up the kids each morning in my coupe is less than ideal - frankly, every time I've had to transport both kids in the Bimmer coupe has been sort of frustrating, and the idea of doing it every day on my way to work sort of stresses me out. At the same time my wife, who stands to have a longer commute and will cross a bridge daily, has expressed concern about driving the SUV all the time (she wants better gas mileage and also a vehicle that won't be buffeted by the wind so much). At this stage of my life (approaching 40 with two young children), daily driving a coupe doesn't make too much sense - but I've got too much time and money in the BMW to give it up, plus it's the main "toy" in my life. All of this is a long way of saying that I'm in the ridiculous position of considering a third car.

My first thought was to lease an economy car, a Ford Fiesta or something. But I'm a dyed-in-the-wool car guy, with an affinity for European brands - and I've always wanted something from what I consider the "golden age," the 70's to early 90's. My dream car is a BMW 2002tii, but of course it doesn't make much sense to buy another coupe - we really need a sedan for our purposes. But the excuse to pick up a fun project car, something that wasn’t just an appliance that met our day-to-day needs, was too great to resist. I just needed to find the right car.

The natural choice was another BMW. I've always admired the E28 chassis, but I also felt like I needed something economical to sort of justify the additional expense in the first place. I started searching for a 528e (a detuned economy variant), but they're few and far between, especially since I was in the unenviable position of needing to find a used car within a certain time frame (i.e., before the school year) and relatively close by (too busy to search nationwide). Really, looking for a specific older car should be done patiently without too much regard for time and distance, but it is what it is. I only had a matter of weeks to make it happen.

That said, I had no luck finding an E28 528e. But then one day, I saw a nice W123 300D cruising around locally. I didn't know too much about Mercs, but I knew the design was classy and timeless. This particular example was a beautiful light green - my wife would’ve loved it, and I decided finding a car in a nice green or even blue (her favorite colors) would be ideal. The fuel efficiency of a diesel would just be icing on the cake, and it started to seem like a no-brainer.

The search for a W123 was unsuccessful, but I started to see a few W124's around. The more modern chassis, plus the idea of a driver-side airbag, started to really appeal to me. And I liked that the earlier models had the big-honking classic grill that the W123's had. A little more reading, and I was sold on the W124. Before long, I found one with relatively low miles (~221,000), only two previous owners, and in Seafoam Green Metallic (so many others were in white or black, and I really wanted a "color"). The car I found was a 1992 300D 2.5 in Portland, OR, less than 300 miles away, and was listed for less than $5K. It seemed perfect, so long as it wasn't a lemon.

I emailed the seller, sort of a shady used car lot, and tried to set up a pre-purchase inspection. They were more or less amenable, but it was difficult because I couldn't get down to Portland on a weekday because of work. The dealer was open on the weekends, but no reputable MBZ shops were. In the end, I hired a mobile inspection guy to look at the car. He definitely wasn't a Merc specialist, but he (along with clean CarFax & AutoCheck reports) gave me enough confidence to at least make the 300-mile drive and see the car in person.

It definitely had some issues. It turns out the car was picked up at auction almost a year and a half prior, and it had obviously spent much of the time since just sitting. It ran well enough, but I knew right off the bat it needed to be caught up on maintenance. At times, it idled a little rougher than I would’ve liked, and there were a few cosmetic problems. But it felt super solid, there was no blow by, and the transmission shifted buttery smooth. I took a leap of faith and made an offer - I was able to talk them down a little from their already recently reduced asking price, with the knowledge that I was going to have to put some more money in the car right away.

So suddenly I found myself in the position of owning a 25-year old neglected (but hopefully not abused) Mercedes, and I was 300 miles from home. I was able to contact a local indy (they answered the phone on a Saturday!) and get them to agree to an after-hours drop-off, with instructions to change all fluids and filters, and basically check the car out. I knew I'd be changing glow plugs, maybe injectors, that sort of thing. I hoped it wouldn't be too much worse than that.

That was two weeks ago, and the car is still at Lakeside Mercedes Repair in Portland, OR. So far, there has been nothing catastrophically wrong with the car, just what you'd expect under the circumstances. Still, it's not cheap to rehab an older Mercedes, but at the end of the day, I think we'll end up with an elegant and interesting car for about the same cost (or less) than a lease of a generic econobox would’ve cost us.

Of course, I've got big plans for the W124. Right now the focus is mainly on getting it to be a reliable and safe daily driver, but I'm planning some suspension and cosmetic upgrades as well later down the line. Maybe even some power mods, if the OM602 is amenable to any (I’m getting the car primarily set up for my wife, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to have fun with it!). I'll keep this thread updated with details as they come.

For now, here are a few pics of the car at baseline, on the dealer's lot. It's far from perfect, but I think it's got potential, and I'm enjoying the build process so far. Stay tuned!

Congrats on the score! That color is VERY rare. Looks like it has Tex and no headlight wipers, so probably no telescopic wheel or memory seats either. Probably no other options like heated seats or ASD. Still, it looks like a great platform to build on!

:balloon2:

The color was a huge plus. My wife likes teal, and turquoise, and stuff like that, and I think the Seafoam Green will be right up her alley. I'm just happy to have something that isn't black or white, and I already have a red car, so this is perfect. It's also has kind of a dated, vintage-y feel that I'm digging.

Yeah, beige MB-Tex inside. (Is "beige" the proper name for the color? I haven't been able to find any period brochures or anything with MBZ's interior color names).

In a perfect world, I would've found a car with ASD and heated seats, but that combo is probably rare as hen's teeth these days. Otherwise, I don't know what was offered as standard and what was optional - the car has a sunroof, if that's an option. Again, it would be nice to find a period brochure or ordering guide or something.

The USA name for that interior color (code xx5) was Cream-Beige, for W124 chassis through 1993. The color changed slightly in 1994 and received a new name, Parchment. (The colors and names also changed for interior code xx4, which is the peanut-buttery color... 86-93 was Palomino, 94-95 was much darker and called Saddle.) Only those two colors changed, btw... the other six colors remained the same through the end of 124 production. A few pics of the color change are here:
http://www.w124performance.com/images/W124_stuff/color_change_94-95/




10 years ago I wanted one with ASD and heated seats. It took me about 18 months of searching nationwide to find one that wasn't in the rust belt (most were), and that didn't have black paint (can't keep a black car clean here in farmland). It was a real fixer-upper, more than I expected, but it ended up being a nice car once I got it sorted out. Unfortunately we found the little 2.5T was too underpowered in summer with AC on, for our taste... living at 2700' elevation didn't help. It was fine in winter, or at sea level. The car now belongs to my sister who is quite happy with it. Pics are at this link.



Your wish is granted! Check out the 1992 directory, at the top of the link below. Enjoy...
http://www.w124performance.com/docs/mb/articles/



:stuart:

As usual, you prove a hugely helpful source of information. Thanks! I don't suppose you have any of those brochures in PDF (other than the Paintwork one, which I already snagged for my collection)? I suppose you probably posted what you had.

So it looks like my car is actually Crystal Green Metallic instead of Seafoam? I couldn't find the color plate when I actually had my hands on the car, but will double check it to verify when I get it back. Is the plate under the hood or in the door jamb? I don't recall seeing it in either place, but I was looking at/for a million different things at once, it seems like.

Nice 2.5D! Hopefully we don't find ours too underpowered. We're more or less at sea level, but I admit there were times on the test drive that the car seemed pretty gutless, mostly right off the line. Like, I would definitely have to give myself plenty of room when merging into traffic. Is there much to be gained from aftermarket injectors or other engine mods?

The original color code for the car will be one of the numbers stamped on the metal plate next to the hood latch. Alternately you can pull the datacard from the EPC with your VIN and see what the color code is. If it hasn't been repainted, yep, Crystal Green was the name for that color (code 256, I believe). Sometimes a different name is used in Europe but I don't think it was different for this color.



Lack of power off the line can be fixed via ALDA adjustment (search the forum, ignore posts that say to remove the ALDA). This is only if the power is below normal. Measure the 0-60 time on a flat road with a stopwatch, make sure you are at WOT and it's upshifting at 4600+ RPM. Normal times are ±13 seconds for a stock 2.5T. If it's slower, you have some work to do, starting with the ALDA tweak. If it's 12-13 seconds, it's making normal power. You can boost the power further (about 15% or so) by maxing out the fuel delivery, this is a somewhat complicated procedure, and ideally should come with either an intercooler or EGT gauge as a safety... but if you don't stay at WOT for more than ~30 seconds it's probably safe with today's lousy, low-BTU fuel we get on most of the western USA. Nothing to be gained with injectors, but with an open checkbook you can get 300-400hp with monster turbos, custom injection pumps, and intercoolers larger than the radiator. Search "super turbos", lots of them in Finland, those guys are nuts. Probably not what you want for a daily driver...


:boat:

Cool color! I included your thread here in the W124.128 group.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/groups/w124-300d-2-5-turbo.html

Thanks! And thanks for the invite to the group as well. :thumbsup:

So, the car is still at the shop in Portland. I just sort of dumped it in their lap with very little notice, and I told them to take their time since I'm not in a huge hurry to get it back, as it won't be pressed into daily driver service for another 4-5 weeks. I don't think it'll take that much longer, as the bulk of work has been done, and I closed out my account with the shop for the month before moving on to the last few things. This is what has been done so far (in no particular order):

- Engine oil & filter changed.
- Engine air filter changed.
- In-line & screw-in fuel filters changed.
- Power steering fluid & filter changed.
- Coolant flushed.
- Brake fluid flushed & rear brake lines replaced.
- Transmission fluid & filter changed & left transmission cooler hose replaced.
- Glow plugs replaced & holes reamed.
- Vacuum box replaced.
- EGR pressure converters replaced (x2).
- Hood pad replaced.
- Belly pan replaced.
- Engine mounts replaced.
- Rear differential mounts replaced.
- Intake servo linkage ("ball cup?") replaced.

I also had a set of wheels and tires shipped from Tire Rack directly to the shop, still waiting to be mounted:

- ASA Type 8 16x7.5" (x4).
- Continental PureContact 205/55R16 (x4).

I wish I could say that was all that needed to be done! But, it is most of it, I think. A few more issues to be addressed in the shop (probably 2 weeks left, at the rate things are going) before I get the car home, and then some simpler DIY work plus paint & body stuff down the line.

I wanted to provide a little background on my rationale for the change in wheels. Obviously, wheels are a pretty easy way to make a reasonably big change in a car's appearance, but it wasn't going to be something I was going to jump into right away, being more concerned with getting the car mechanically sorted first.

I did know that I wasn't a huge fan of the 15-hole wheels the car came with. Don't get me wrong - they're kind of cool, and very 80's, but overall I think the 8-hole wheels offer a similar character and feel in a better look. And I was pretty sure I wanted to do a Sportline chassis retrofit, so the 8-holes made a lot of sense, since they were original equipment for that package and the extra half-inch of width would allow for the use of Sportline-spec 205/60 tires, rather than the stock 195/65.

So, all of this was in my head before I even bought the car, and then I went and looked at the thing: it had Michelin tires, but they were not all the same tire! Nor were they all the same age. Now, I'm a huge tire snob - I've replaced OE tires on all my vehicles (including my trailer) and I even have two sets of wheels for my BMW (one for street and one for autocross) - so I knew this was going to be a problem for me. And it made sense to replace tires while I was having things like fluids and bushings replaced, in preparation for the 300-mile drive home.

Thing is, it really didn't make sense to put new 195/65 tires on when I was planning on replacing the wheels before too long, probably much sooner than the tires would be worn. So I bumped up my wheel-buying timeline, and started looking on eBay - and there was a dearth of decent-quality 8-hole wheels. I figured a could pick up a used set for $200-$300, but I only found one wheel that was acceptable cosmetically (it was in such good shape and there was only one because it was a spare, perhaps never even used).

I briefly flirted with the idea of AMG monoblocks. Gorgeous period wheels, in my opinion, and there were several vendors selling reconditioned sets out of Germany and Russia. But not cheaply! I really didn't want to spend $1800 on a set of used wheels for an old car, and I especially didn't want to send that kind of money to some Russian with pretty pictures, and maybe not much else.

Then I stumbled on the ASA Type 8's, which if you don't know are replicas of the Mercedes-Benz 8-hole wheel, offered in 15" and 16" sizes:


They seemed perfect - reasonably priced, unblemished 8-holes, plus I could get Tire Rack to mount tires on them at no additional cost and have the whole set shipped right to my car. I was originally going to get 15", in the interest of trying to duplicate the Sportline chassis as closely as possible, but it turns out there aren't any tires that interest me in the 205/60 size, and Tire Rack kept trying to sell me 195/65's - the same size that was stock on the slightly narrower 15-holes! So I stepped up to the 16" size for the much wider tire selection. 16" is still a pretty small wheel by today's standards, with plenty of sidewall, so I reckon the ride quality won't be affected too much, if at all (and honestly, I wouldn't mind a slightly sportier set up, I just don't want to totally kill the plush Benz feel).

For tires, I chose Continental PureContacts. German tires for German cars! Not really, as I'm pretty sure the tires aren't manufactured in Deutschland, but I wanted Contis because of my recent good experience with the ExtremeContact DWS 06 as the street tire on my BMW coupe. I was leaning towards buying another set of the DWS's, but stumbled on the PureContact, a grand touring all-season tire geared towards "luxury performance sedans" but also with Continental's EcoPlus tech for improved fuel efficiency - maybe I'm a sucker for copy writing, but it seemed like a perfect fit for my diesel Mercedes sedan.

Two new somewhat worrisome issues:

• The car is apparently starting in 2nd gear, which is contributing (obviously) to the sluggishness off-the-line. My mechanic has done a bunch of diagnostic fiddling, and thinks the issue will end up being a bad spring or brake band in the valve body. Not terrible, if that's what it is - hopefully it's nothing worse.

• The injection pump is apparently leaking oil badly. I'm probably just looking at a reseal, but it might be hard to find someone willing to do this (I suspect a diesel shop will try and upsell me into a rebuild), and I think it might be leaking too badly to make it the 300 miles to my house for me to attempt to DIY the repair - that is, if I even dare do so.

I guess we'll see how it goes - all part of the adventure, right?

If it really is starting in 2nd gear, wow, that would make it very sluggish off the line. It either has the wrong transmission, the wrong valvebody, or something is wrong inside the valvebody (broken spring is not uncommon). First thing would be to check if the tranny is indeed the correct 722.418 for the 124.128 chassis. Next would be to verify the tranny serial number and see if it matches the EPC datacard for your VIN. If the trans has been replaced, there's always a chance the rebuilder goofed. If it's original, it's fairly likely something is broken - or stuck/jammed - inside the valvebody. Mechanics generally won't want to mess with diagnosis and will recommend replacing the entire transmission. If all other shifts are good, I'd want to fiddle with the valvebody and see if you can find what's wrong. No point shelling out $1500-$3000 if you don't have to.



It would have to be an incredibly bad oil leak to not make it 300 miles... like, dripping into a puddle when parked at idle. If it was that bad, I'd suspect the big O-ring between the block and the IP. This is DIY'able if you can get it home, with the IP lock took, and timing basket... although this thread mentions you may not need the basket. (??)


:zorro:

So it turns out it was a broken spring inside the valve body. Fortunately, I seem to have found a good mechanic who was willing to dig into the tranny a little bit to diagnose and repair. So, shout out to Lakeside Mercedes Repair in Portland, OR (well, technically Tigard, OR, I guess).

If it's funny you should say so - when I asked Mark, the owner at Lakeside, how bad the leak was, he told me "pretty bad," and then proceeded to describe oil pooling underneath the car when parked (not running). I was bracing myself for an IP rebuild, even scouring the internet to see what was out there. But when I talked to Mark on the phone yesterday, he told me that he tore into the IP himself, and found an O-ring that was "hard as a rock," which he replaced. I don't know which O-ring it was, exactly, but it seems reasonable that it was probably the one you describe, between the block and IP.

So that ended up being a pretty big relief - two issues with the potential to be catastrophically expensive ended up costing me almost nothing in parts, and just a few hours of labor. Another shop might have easily sent me off to find a rebuilt IP and valve body (if not transmission!). I could've probably figured out the IP reseal myself at home, maybe even the valve body, but the job ended up being so reasonably priced that I think it's more than worth it in time and frustration saved.

WOW - it sounds like you found an excellent mechanic. That is amazing. With 1st gear restored the car will be much better. Don't forget to clock it 0-60 with a stopwatch as a baseline, when you get it back.

Even better if he was able to stop the main leak on the IP. If it wasn't totally re-sealed, don't be surprised if there are minor leaks from other seals. It's pretty common for the IP to "weep" and get an oily film which attracts dust & dirt, even if there are no oil drips. Only way to fix that is a total re-seal. Worst one is the L7 rack travel electrical connector up top, which cannot have the O-ring replaced without full pump disassembly. You can use a thin bead of sealant under the locknut as a Band-Aid during a re-seal for that one, everything else can be done on the workbench.

So when do you get the car back?

:batman:

Yeah, I think my old Benz is in pretty good hands. I'll keep an eye on the IP once I get the car back, as I realize that the one O-ring replacement hardly constitutes a fully-fledged reseal, but hopefully it's enough to keep the car on the road and in service for a little while.

As to when I'll get it back, it's tough to say. I think it'll be another full week at least to address some other small(-ish) issues that we're still looking at, but I'm also hoping to get to some suspension upgrades as long as it's in the shop, which will require ordering a few more parts, so it may be another week longer beyond that. Part of the issue is my work schedule - I simply can't get down to Portland during the week to pick up the car. I periodically have to work on Saturdays, too, and as luck would have it I'm scheduled to work next Saturday (the 13th) so I don't realistically foresee being able to get down there until the following Saturday (the 20th) at the earliest. Which is fine, as I don't really "need" the car until the school year starts, after Labor Day.

Another update, finally. Car is wrapped up at the shop and ready to be picked up. I don't have the invoice in front of me, but this is what was done as part of "Round 2," from memory:

- Blower motor replaced.
- AC recharged.
- Leak-down test performed; unfortunately, the shop thinks the AC is leaking at or adjacent to the evaporator, which is a cost-prohibitive fix, from what I understand. Big-time bummer! I guess I won't know how bad the leak is until I get the car back and live with it for a while.
- Front wheel bearings replaced.
- Timing chain replaced. I bit the bullet and had this done just based on mileage and the fact that it had likely not been done previously. Kind of hated to spend the money to fix something that wasn't acting up, but it would've sucked to have the old chain snap and grenade the engine, after spending money on everything else.
- Rear differential fluid changed.
- Transmission valve body rebuilt.
- Injection pump re-sealed. Originally just the O-ring between the block and the pump was replaced, but then when my mech replaced the timing chain he saw that the IP had started leaking from the bottom, so took it apart and replaced two more seals, which, interestingly enough, were still available through the dealer parts network.
- Belt tensioner shock replaced.

I'm looking forward to getting the car on the road and home at last. I still have a few more projects in various stages of planning, with ongoing parts acquisition taking place. Now that the car is apparently mechanically sorted more or less, I hope to be able to chip away little by little at the rest until the car in my head is the car in my driveway.

I'm planning to handle the work myself from here on out, with the exception of some light paint and body stuff, not only to save a few bucks, but also because I think it'll be fun to wrench on the old thing a bit. I'll probably have to take a few days off of work for some of the bigger jobs, though - unfortunately "free" time is at a premium these days, between work and family.

Anyway, will have updated pictures posted in a few days!

So this past Sunday, I finally picked up the car. My 7-year-old son and I caught a train down to Portland, and drove the old W124 home. First impressions are that the car looks pretty good. I had forgotten how nice the color is in person, and the new wheels look sharp. After putting a few miles on it, I was surprised at how well the motor was running - smooth and torque-y, and perfectly capable of keeping up with modern traffic at 60-80mph (not to mention passing, when called for). Now several days later, the motor is just purring. I think it really wanted to be driven! Of course, the long list of recent work certainly helped.

A few warts:

• Steering is too loose and vague for my taste. I know I shouldn't be expecting the same level of feel provided by my BMW's hydraulic rack-and-pinon, but there is more slop than I think there should be. I know the steering box is leaking a little - maybe it's worn - but it could just be old steering linkages, and maybe the steering damper?

• The supension is likewise a bit soft and sloppy. I know the strut mounts are shot, and probably some of the other rubber bits, too. I think I see some suspension work in my future...

• The driver's seat is a little tired. It squeaks a little and sort of sags to the left. I'm not sure if this is normal wear-and-tear on a 25-year-old high-use item, or if a previous owner was a bit heavy, but I think I'm going to have to look into some sort of refresh or upgrade here.

• The headliner **** the bed. There was a small-ish droop, and I sort of had it in the back of my head that it was going to go eventually. Then we went through a car wash, and the pitter patter of water on the roof caused things to suddenly get much worse. So this is going from back burner to job 1. Parts ordered and inbound.

• Weird squeal all of a sudden from behind the dash, passenger side. Quick research suggests a dying air sampler motor. Pretty cheap part and simple DIY - probably do this one real soon, too.

Since getting the car home, I've attended to a few little odds and ends:

- New gas cap, oil cap, coolant expansion tank cap, brake reservoir cap, and battery negative terminal cap.
- Popped 4 new center caps into the new wheels.
- Removed the front license plate bracket and swapped in the center fill panel.
- Replaced the missing passenger sun visor clip.
- Replaced wiper blade.

Here's a pic of how it sits now. Not bad, I think. Coming along, at least! It's amazing how much the license plate bracket delete panel cleans up the front end.

Tail lamp lenses on the 300D are cracked, right side worse than left (see first picture). This didn't really bother me at all, since I knew I wanted to update to facelift lamps anyhow, but the damaged stock lenses made the situation slightly more urgent.

I picked up some genuine OE lamp assemblies off of eBay. My preference would've been for new units, since new plastic invariably looks better than old, but as near as I can tell the facelift tails are NLA. Thankfully, tail lamps tend to hold up a lot better than headlamps. See below for before and after.

And yes, I realize the bumper cover is cracked. To be continued...

Bob,

The steering should be tight. Usually the tie rods, drag link, idler arm, or other related bits are at fault. Steering shock is easy to check, disconnect one end and push/pull... should require a LOT of muscle to move. If not, replace it (under $30 last I checked for OEM Boge/Stabilus).

Suspension should improve with your Sportline plans. Remember to replace as much as possible so you only pay for one spendy dealer alignment and yes, you want the dealer to do this if at all possible, no matter how much alignment experience your indy has.

Driver seat - see if you can find a good replacement. New springs are $$$$. You might be able to use the "HD" cushion which is a solid foam block that replaces the entire spring assembly and it's less expensive. Seat work isn't fun though. Headliner, only option is to remove intact & have a shop re-cover it. Be really careful removing, it is fragile and can break.

Looking good so far!

:batman:

Took care of the rear bumper today. The old bumper cover was, as I mentioned cracked. It came off very easily, and when I removed the impact strip I could see that it was cracked beneath as well.

I knew the bumper cover was cracked when I first bought the car, and so I had ordered a used one from a well-known recycler on the East Coast through eBay 6 or 8 weeks ago. He didn't send me close up pics (and I didn't ask), but he assured me that he had "a nice '92 alto grey bumper with a nice impact strip." Well, the bumper is Alto Grey, but that's where the accuracy of his description ends. It's got some very deep gouges in the plastic, and the impact strip is beat to hell (see pics below). The impact strip was so bad I ended up re-using the stock piece.

I certainly wasn't expecting perfection from a junkyard part, and I'm going to have to re-paint it to match anyway, but I would've expected any honest seller to disclose any defect that couldn't be corrected with paint. I guess the moral of the story is not to deal with internet junk dealers, at least not if you expect anything other than junk.

The seller also sold me a front tow hook cover and threw in a jack point cover I was missing. All are also in Alto Grey, so some paintwork is on the horizon. The front bumper has sustained some pretty serious road rash, and there is some peeling on the cladding in places, so the car needs it anyway.

Also threw in some new OE all-weather mats this weekend, and while I was in the trunk pulling trim for the bumper removal, I found out why my fuel door wasn't locking: the actuator was loose and hanging from it's wires, so I re-mounted that and now it's working fine.

The morning after I brought the car home, when I started it up for my wife, we were greeted by an obnoxious squeal coming from behind the dash. The car had made it the entire drive from Portland without making that noise...and of course it starts up as soon as I get it home. I knew it probably wasn't anything too serious, since the car had just been pored over for two months at the shop, but wasn't sure exactly what it could be - of course, my suspicion was something to do with the HVAC system.

I drove the car to work that morning and did a quick Google search before I got too busy with anything else, and right away I figured out what the problem probably was: a dying air sampler motor, which sucks air from the cabin in order to monitor temperature for the automatic climate control system. Luckily, it looked like a very easy fix, and the part itself was only about $75. I sat on it for a week or two, but finally the squeal, especially after a cold start, got the better of my nerves and I ordered the little motor.

It wasn't supposed to get here until Monday, but to my surprise it showed up this afternoon, which allowed for a short and serendipitous weekend project. I knew the glove box had to come out, and after I looked at it for a couple of minutes I realized all I had to do was remove a few plastic pop rivets, which took just a few seconds with a trim removal tool. Instead of finding the air sampler motor, however, I was greeted with a surprise - an old rodent's nest. Pieces of insulation had been shredded and piled up, and there was a pile of droppings as well. No mouse, at least. So I cleaned and vacuumed that up before realizing that I had to pull the rightmost AC vent to find the sampler motor, which resided in a block of foam held in place with a big metal clamp. I also removed the right dash speaker which, while probably not strictly necessary, allowed for easier manipulation of the ducting and more thorough cleanup of the mouse mess, both of which gave better acces to the motor.

The old motor, a VDO unit, was visibly worn. Incidentally, the newer motor is made by Bosch. I put everything back together, and enjoyed the sweet sound of silence at startup. All in all a very easy and inexpensive, but satisfying, job. The whole thing couldn't have taken more than 60 or 90 minutes, including time spent trying to figure out what exactly had to be removed and how, and stopping to clean up a mouse nest. Now I'm wondering if I should pull the rest of the dash vents and inspect for signs of previous infestation - probably take a quick peek tomorrow.

Also recently arrived is new headliner material and adhesive, so I'll hopefully get to that some weekend before the end of the month.

Yesterday, I went looking for any more signs of rodent infestation, but luckily I didn't find any.

I did find a big mess of decaying leaves around the battery compartment, so I pulled the battery and the battery tray and cleaned up as best I could. I scrubbed a bunch of surface rust off of the battery tray, and hit it with some flat black Rust-Oleum (pic #1) - I'll probably consider just replacing the tray with a new part if/when I replace the battery. Then I cleaned up the battery contacts and put the battery back.

Next I moved on to the fuse box. The original fuses weren't in terrible shape (pic #2), but they were a little corroded, and I actually found a couple of them were the wrong wattage for the positions they were in. I replaced them all with the upgrade set sold by Mercedes Source - I don't know if this was worth a damn, as I didn't notice a problem beforehand, but the fuse box certainly looks freshened up (pic #3). Anyway, it just seems like good practice to replace as many consumables as possible in this scenario, and the fuses are just such low-hanging fruit, I figured why not?

Then I moved on to the smell, which originally seemed like "old man car" smell, but now just reminded me of the mouse nest I had found. So I pulled the glove box liner and blasted the whole area with Febreze. Then I hit all the carpets (front, back, and trunk) with Glade carpet powder. Let that sit for a good while, and then vacuumed it up. Then I plugged in one of those Glade vent air fresheners. Then I hit the cabin with a little more Febreze, rolled down all the windows, turned the blower fan to full blast, and went for a nice long, fast cruise. It really made an amazing difference - the old man/mouse nest smell is gone, and the cabin smells like fresh linen (my wife was impressed that I "matched" all the odors, lol).

I might try to get the carpets professionally shampooed one of these days as a finishing touch, but for now it's a big improvement.

I mentioned before that I had my hood pad replaced right away. The original pad was disintegrating, sending foamy bits flying into the engine bay at the slightest touch, and it just looked terrible. The new pad is just one of those little details that makes the car present better, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, when I got the car home and popped the hood, I realized that there was another piece of insulation, sort of a lip or gasket sealing the leading edge of the hood against the radiator support. It, too, was dried out and cracking (picture #1). It's a different material than the hood pad, and doesn't seem to be falling to pieces, but it was definitely an eyesore and I was looking forward to replacing it.

I picked up the new part from FCP Euro (p/n 1246820526). I was expecting to have to glue the piece in (like the hood pad), but it turns out to be friction fit with little tabs into the hood. R&R was just a minute or two. It's a small thing (picture #2), but l think the sum of a lot of little things can make a big difference in the way a car presents.

I also replaced most of the bulbs in the rear tail lamp assemblies (not the turn signals, because I didn't have the right bulbs with the offset pins). Unfortunately, one of the bulbs doesn't seem to be getting any current, and so the brightness of the tail lamps is asymmetrical. The same thing was happening with the stock assemblies, so I know it's not an assembly problem, and obviously it's not a bulb problem - gonna eventually have to chase down an electrical gremlin, I suppose.

This week my wife also curbed one of the brand new wheels. After a few choice words, I went and cleaned the wheels up, and the damage isn't too terrible - just some curb rash on the lip of the front passenger wheel (picture #3). Probably it won't be too much money to have repaired, but I think I'll probably have to make a trip off-island. Looking at it after a day, it really doesn't look too bad, though.

Hey Bob...just wanted to let you know that we have a newly revamped Accessories section where you'll be able to find everything you'll need for your DIY painting project. Let us know what you think and good luck with the rest of the project; sounding and looking good already!


-Dmitry

Not much action to report lately. I've been mostly in the research, planning, and acquisition phase, and unfortunately, I haven't had much time to execute anything! Between traveling for work, taking a graduate class on the side, weekly soccer games and Cub Scouts, birthday parties, baby showers, and the onset of wet PNW weather - well, the universe hasn't exactly conspired to help me. I've got a couple of projects lined up and ready to go, just waiting on the time to do them...

One (very small) thing I did get done was replacing the headlamp switch knob, because the original knob (pic #1) would come off in my hand probably 9 out of every 10 times I switched on the fog lamps. Pretty annoying. You can see the new knob (pic #2) is slightly re-designed, with a small hash mark in place of the much larger arrow to indicate position. I kind of prefer the old style, but you can see the original was pretty beat up and faded, and the new one feels much less sloppy. Kind of a small thing, but also something I noticed every single time I turned the lights on. The best part? A brand new Genuine OE knob was less than 3 bucks.

More seriously, out of the blue a couple of weeks ago, the transmission really started to shift rough, and engine power, especially off the line, just wasn't there. I spent a week reading up on transmission modulators, vacuum control valves, the EGR system, and more. When I popped the hood to check things out, I found a bunch of loose connections in the transmission-bound vacuum lines, and I found a vacuum line coming from the turbo that had split and come completely loose from one of the pressure converters! I trimmed the damaged bit of hose off, zip-tied it back onto the pressure converter, and tightened every other loose connection I could find - it made a night and day difference! The car is much more responsive at all RPMs, and shifts are back to buttery smooth. Amazing what a difference a small bit of rubber hose can do.

Besides that, I really feel like the 2000 or so miles that I've put on this car in the 7 weeks since I brought it home have really made a difference. It's just running like a top - super smooth, quiet, plenty of power, no leaks I can find - I can't believe it's got nearly a quarter-million miles on it. Clocked a few 0-60 pulls at right around 12.5s each time, and I haven't even touched the ALDA yet (it's still got the tamper-proof seal on it, in fact). There was a big difference in the way the car ran from the day I test drove it to the time I picked it up from the shop, but ther has been a pretty dramatic difference even since then - it's like the old girl just needed to warm up and be daily driven again.

Once again, it's two steps forward, two steps back with this car...

Been having some problems lately with an intermittent tach - it just doesn't work sometimes when I start the car. At first it would come back after 3-4 minutes, but the last couple of days it has been persistently dead. Along with an inop tach, I'm also losing kickdown, boost (I think), and the motor seems to be idling a little rough - plus it's taking a lot longer to start, which may be a separate issue (I hope not!). Forum searches turned up a faulty OVP relay as the likely source. I pulled the fuses, which passed visual inspection as well as testing with a meter. So I pulled the entire relay and cleaned out the contacts, and went for a drive. Nothing, until about a half mile later, chugging up a hill going nowhere with the go pedal pinned, when all of a sudden the tach sprung to life and engine power was back! I was pretty stoked. On my way home, I had to stop at the store, and when I got back in the car, the tach and everything else was dead again, and no amount of fiddling seems likely to bring it back. So, a new OVP relay is on the way. At least it's not too much money, and is very easy to get at and replace.

Next I decided to change the oil. Pulled the filter, changed the two little o-rings on the oil filter shaft, and pulled the belly pan. Found more oil than I had hoped to - some of the mess was undoubtedly due to the leaking injection pump (since fixed), but there was definitely some wet oil that seemed fresh. Anyway, on to pull the drain plug - and it's really stuck! And rounded out! And the more I fought with it, the more it rounded - so I had to stop and button everything back up. Ordered a bolt-out socket set, so hopefully that's all it takes. On the plus side, I ran the motor a while with the belly pan off, and didn't see any gushing (or even seeping) leaks present themselves.

Hopefully, by this time next week, both of these problems will be solved...

Lovely color.


Nice to see it in good hands.

The tach/boost issue is quite likely the OVP. Pretty sure I had the same issue on my 2.5T. Make sure it's an OE/OEM part, btw. If the problem persists with a new OVP, check the crank/flywheel sensor next.

Bummer about the stripped drain plug! A new OE plug (111-997-03-30) is under $5 list from the dealer, once you get the old one out. With your OE/OEM filter kit (601-180-01-09), the copper washer included is for the drain plug. The OE/dealer filter is $13.50 list, about $9 from the discount dealers, only a few bucks more than aftermarket.

:vbac47679

Thanks! It's been fun so far, even if it seems sometimes like the car wants to fall apart faster than I can fix everything.

Yeah, I ordered the OE OVP from MB of Naperville. Which reminds me, I've been meaning to thank you for that free shipping code you provided - I've abused the heck out of it! I think it's expiring today, actually, which is too bad. I'll have to look for another source for reasonably priced parts that aren't an arm and a leg to ship.

So, the new OVP relay arrived today.

But, of course, as luck would have it the car has been functioning just fine all week long. Anyway, I'm sure the old unit is on the fritz, and it's just a matter of time before it finally fails for good, so I went ahead and installed the new one after spraying the contacts with some dielectric grease.

Unfortunately, though, I didn't get the satisfaction of fixing a broken car. I guess I could go ahead and swap them back out and keep the new one as a spare in the car for when the inevitable finally occurs, LOL. Probably not worth the trouble, except perhaps as a means of verifying a faulty OVP relay as the culprit.

So, as long as I've had the car, there was a chip in the middle of the front valence that bothered me (pic #1). The entire front valence is heavily road-rashed as well, but this bothered me a little less, as I am planning on eventually getting the bumper covers and rocker panels re-painted.

Then, a week or two ago, I bottomed out and damaged the driver's side of the bumper (pic #2). Fortunately, the oil cooler was spared any damage, but the bumper was now at the point where it was seriously compromising the looks of the car, and there really wasn't going to be a way to fix it (pic #3).

Fortunately, I found a used front bumper in great condition for $100 from a recycler not too far away in Oregon. It's the wrong color, obviously, but it's completely intact, with just a very small, barely noticeable dent in the valence but no missing plastic. It also seems quite a bit less brittle than the original, even though it is older.

The one thing I didn't really think about is that the replacement bumper cover is a pre-1990 part, so no chrome strips. Personally, I prefer the cleaner look without the chrome, but now I have mismatched bumpers. When I finally take the car in for paint, I'll probably just delete the rear chrome strips (which are loose, anyway), assuming the body shop can fill the mounting holes.

Final pic is how the car sits now. Obviously, looks a little janky pre-paint, but I'm pretty happy with the condition of the replacement as compared to the original. Should look pretty good once the paint is sorted.

Bob, you can retrofit the stainless "boomerang" trims... just need to drill the holes in the front bumper and they should be a direct swap. Too much work to fill the holes in the rear!

If the car bottomed out up front, triple check to make sure the lower radiator support hasn't been pushed inward... VERY common problem on all 124 chassis, and it's worse on lowered cars. Parking curbs are the kiss of death on these things. The main warning sign is when the forward sound/splash panel screw holes won't line up with the captive nuts on the chassis... if you have to bend the panel to make things line up, the support is likely bent inward. It can be pressed back out as needed. In extreme cases, the lower edge of the fan blade will hit the radiator core under hard braking and take out the radiator. I know a dealer part guy who killed 2 radiators before figuring out the root cause... hopefully yours is fine though.

:boat:

Why didn't I think of that? Of course that's a much better solution, and would be very easy, while also keeping the bodywork period-correct (not counting the tail lamps, of course, but I prefer the newer style). I just wish I had done it while I had the bumper off! It's easy enough to R7R, except for some of the nuts on the driver's side - the oil cooler makes it a real tight fit for hands and tools!

Something I realized (too late) when I did the rear bumper, is that the stainless "boomerang" trims are loose. The seller shipped the bumper completely disassembled, and he included a little baggie of the clips that hold the trim on - but I had no idea at the time what they were or what they were for! Thinking back, I think I (very foolishly!) threw tham away. Any idea of the p/n, or quantity needed?

Thanks for the heads up. The belly pan did seem maybe a little harder to get on last time I had it off, but not extremely so. In any case, something to definitely look at. Probably going to get to the oil change this weekend, so that will be a good opportunity to check it out. :thumbsup:

P/N for the clips is 124-988-90-78, they are $2 each list price from MB. EPC indicates 14 needed for the front bumper trims, and 24 for the rear bumper trims. You are correct, the bumper is fairly easy to R&R, but the oil cooler does get in the way on the driver side!

http://cdn4.pelicanparts.com/catalog...889078-M89.jpg

:cool:

Finally, finally, finally tackled the headliner. The original was sagging quite badly, partially obstructing the view out the rear window, and completely obscuring the rear reading lamp in loose material. At the same time, the B-pillar fabric was loose and peeling, and looking generally awful. The whole arrangement has been bothering me since the day I brought the car home, but I knew it was going to be a big job, so kept putting it off. A long weekend proved to be just the impetus I needed to get started, and I spent a couple of days on the job.

I would've loved to have ordered an OE replacement headliner board and B-pillars, but shopping around, it became very clear that this route would be prohibitively expensive - about $2000 in parts, before shipping! For about a tenth of that price, I picked up 3 yards of cream beige vinyl (even marked "Made in Germany") and 1/8" foam from Headliner Express. The downside? Having to prep and recover the existing headliner board.

In terms of R&R, this job is not difficult at all, and is even a little fun. If I was using a new OE-supplied board, the entire job could be done in a day, working leisurely. The tedious part is scraping all the old foam off the old board, and then dealing with the spray adhesive and smoothing out the wrinkles and everything else. Once I hit that point, I quickly ran out of steam, which is why the job dragged to a second day. Additionally, the process takes a certain level of skill and finesse, and being my first (and last!) headliner repair, it was inevitable that I make a few mistakes. One of the extra annoying things was that the vinyl and foam were separate layers, so I essentially had to do everything twice.

So, I have mixed feelings. For a reasonable cost, I have a headliner that looks much better than before, but with a couple of small mistakes. With OE-supplied parts, I could've had a factory look, but at ridiculous cost (but a lot less cursing!).

Probably the most serious mistake I made is that I think I put too much material in the fold that sits in the sunroof track, because the sunroof sort of struggled to close. I think I probably should have trimmed the excess foam and just tucked the vinyl in there - I still may do, but I'm going to see if maybe the foam compresses with the sunroof closed. Unfortunately, there is a very, very small tear in the sunroof liner material now, which is not very noticeable - I just don't want it to get bigger. And I don't want to put extra strain on the sunroof motor and break the thing. Really annoying.

Another thing is that I accidentally broke the top clip of the driver's side B-pillar, so although it looks much nicer recovered in snug-fitting vinyl, it's a little loose and not flush with the weatherstripping as it should be. I have an idea for an easy and cheap fix that should be quite effective, so I'm not too worried about it.

I also took the opportunity to replace the rear view mirror. It's branded ULO (not ÜRO), but for all intents and purposes, seems to be exactly as the original part, minus a very small star marking on the OE part. Anyway, the mirror needs to be R&R'ed to do the sunroof, and the original glass was pretty dull, and had been glued at some point, so that excess dried glue was coming out the bottom. It looked terrible! I always hated looking in the rear view mirror and being greeted by the double whammy of ugly mirror and sagging headliner - now I get a crystal clear, unimpeded view out the back glass, which is quite nice - so there's that.

The headliner job last weekend was rather draining, and I didn't think I wanted to work on the car again for a long while, but by this morning I felt rejuvenated enough to tackle some more planned projects, and I actually got a lot done today. I was originally going to do the oil change today, but my wife had to do some stuff for work, and I ended up being left alone with the two kids - which is fine, except that I couldn't take the car out to get the oil up to temperature (one of the kids was home sick), so I decided to do a few other things that I've been saving up.

I started out with the trunk. One thing that was annoying me lately was the license plate was only fastened at the top by two screws - I had a cheap eBay license plate frame that didn't have fasteners on the bottom - so every time I closed the trunk, the stupid plate and frame would rattle in a way that sounded cheap. Looking through the EPC, I also realized that the trunk lid was missing a bracket that was supposed to be in place (pic #1). So I went ahead and replaced that (pic #2). I also replaced the cheap frame with an OEM frame that has fasteners on top and bottom, as well as rubber dampers between the plate and bracket to prevent rattling. Problem solved.

I also realized that the trunk stops were badly worn (pics #3 & #4). I didn't realize until I saw a picture somewhere else that they were supposed to be covered in rubber- you can see mine were completely down to bare metal! So I replaced those, too (pic #5).

I had also had a problem with the trunk leaking. Inspection revealed a dry and rotting trunk seal, and drainage channels that were clogged up with debris. The trunk liners and carpet were generally in poor shape, and stinky (pic #6). Overall, it made opening the trunk a depressing affair - it looked and smelled like a wet dog lived back there, and the trunk closed with a tinny sound.

So I pulled the old trunk seal and cleaned out a surprising amount of dirt and debris from underneath - it was deeply satisfying! I replaced the seal, and also replaced the right and left liner panels, as well as the carpet (pic #7). Good as new! I did neglect to replace the rear panel that lines the fuel tank - I may go back and do it later, but honestly that piece had been spared much of the abuse that the other carpet panels had seen.

Finally, I addressed the fuel tank filler gasket. The original was rotting, representing a potential leak into the trunk (pic #8). So I replaced that, too (pic #9).

The trunk looks 100% better, and closes with a satisfying thud, without a hint of rattle.

Then I moved on to the front, and replaced the original US-spec headlamps with Euro-spec units, and the original amber corners with clears. I used Stealth chromed dual-filament bulbs to avoid the "fried egg" look. Unfortunately, by the time I wrapped everything up, it had gotten too dark to get a decent picture, but I'll update the thread before too long.

After finishing the headlamps yesterday, I had intended to move on to the grill, but it was getting dark and dinner was on the table, so I shelved the job until this morning. I'm glad I did, because (as usual!) there were a couple small things that made a simple grill R&R take a little longer than expected.

So, my impetus to change the grill was mainly inspired by the faded MB badge on the front. I sort of appreciated the faded patina look, but also kind of thought the car wasn't quite old enough to pull it off - maybe would have left it alone on a W123, or even an SL, I dunno. But particularly with new headlamps, I kind of thought a faded badge would look weird.

As long as I was changing out the emblem, I figured I'd change out the entire grill - the original chrome was pitting, and the thin chrome strips were bent in places. The plastic insert was badly faded and suffered a few stone chips over the years.

Of course, an OE grill is big money, much more than I could justify spending for a cosmetic upgrade when the stock grill was perfectly serviceable. The only OEM grill I could find was made by ÜRO, a brand I normally avoid, but at less than $100, I figured it was worth a try for a cosmetic piece. I also liked that the part was advertised as having a black plastic insert, versus the stock gray.

Upon first inspection, the ÜRO part seems fine. Has a nice shine, and about the same heft as the OE part. The plastic insert is not quite black, but it is a fair bit darker than the OE gray, so that's a plus in my book. Of course, being a ÜRO part, there are some glaring deficiencies - chiefly, the hole for the hood star just isn't big enough to fit the star! No biggie, a few minutes with a file and I eventually got it to fit. Another thing is that there is no cut-out in the plastic insert for the hood release, so I had to trim the panel with a utility knife. Finally, the original nut clips need to be transferred over, except for the two outboard clips, which the part comes with for some reason. I don't mind transferring over the nut clips, but of the two that were provided, one was of such poor quality that it would not catch the 8mm bolt it was meant to, so I just went ahead and threw out the provided clips and re-used the OE ones - no biggie.

Overall, I'd say I'm satisfied with the grill. It took a little bit of extra work to make it fit than an OE-replacement probably would have, but at something like 1/4 or even 1/5 the price, it's hard to complain. I think the end result looks pretty good (see below), and actually the OE grill had a bigger gap on the passenger side versus the driver's side, whereas the ÜRO grill is even on both sides. Go figure.

Lookin' good! Nice to see a rare bird getting restored so nicely...

:D :D

Thanks! I couldn't have made it to this point without this board, and your vast W124 resources in particular have been hugely helpful thus far (and especially for what's in the works).

But, of course, car restoration is a long game, and I think it's going to be longer than I had anticipated before I get to something I perceive as an end point. But I guess it wouldn't be as much fun if it was easy, or over too quickly.

Looks cool! About to start a thread for my white 92D. I need a new front bumper as well.

Good luck! The bumpers seem to pop up from time to time on eBay, or via a Google search. I got really lucky and happened to find a really decent one for only $100, and shipping wasn't too terrible since it was only going from Oregon to Washington.

If you're near a big metro area, you might have better luck at pick-and-pull type places.

Finally got this SOB of a drain plug out! What a PITA! Luckily my Craftsman bolt-out kit really came through, but it was looking kind of dicey for a while - I almost gave up, except that I knew I didn't have a whole lot of other options...anyway, glad I stuck with it. You can see in the pic below just how rounded the drain plug had become, although to be fair, the bolt-out sockets contributed significantly to the deformity of the bolt head that you see here.

Anyway, changed out the filter and o-ring, fit a new drain plug and copper crush washer, and the engine got a new fill of a little less than 8 quarts of Mobil Delvac 1300 Super 15W-40. It's been about 4,000 miles since the initial oil change I had done...I still haven't decided on an OCI to run with the above mentioned oil, but probably in the 3-5K range. Maybe collect for an oil analysis at the next change to peg down an OCI the right way.

5K for OCI is good for synthetic and older motors. No more than 5K. Anything less is a waste of money for synthetic oil. It's a longevity oil compared to conventional oil.

Bumper response:
I'm hoping to stumble upon a part-out or something in the yards. I'm going to head up to Potomac German Auto in Maryland soon for parts for all three of my cars I need.

3-5kmi is about right for dino oil like the Delvac 1300. If oil consumption is very low (better yet, zero) over 3-5k you could use an extended drain interval with Group IV/V synthetics. I'm using Red Line 10W-40 and 10k interval on my 1987 300D with Accutrack extended-drain analysis, which shows soot % and TBN.

The soot percentage tends to be the limiting factor vs TBN on the OM60x diesel, EGR delete helps keep the soot down. Amsoil HD diesel (AME) is another good option. Try to stick with oils that are CF/CH/CI rated, but not CJ. The newest rating (CJ) reduced the ZDDP additive levels for emissions systems on newer cars. The OM60x doesn't need the emission-friendly oils. If you rack up a lot of miles, with EGR delete, you may be able to push 12-15k OCI's if the UOA supports it. If you use Group III synthetics, expect oil consumption to increase dramatically around 5-7k, which eliminates some of the cost savings (and, makes you think something is wrong with the engine... don't ask how I know.)

:stuart:

Well, the recent spate of near- and below-freezing weather has put a damper on my project, but I did make a (very minor) upgrade. At my last oil change I had ordered a new dipstick seal, but when I went to change it out, I noticed the neck that connects the plastic handle to the dipstick was badly cracked, and figured the the seal wasn't worth replacing. Instead, I ordered a brand new dipstick and swapped it out, The previous dipstick handle was black - as you can see, the replacement has a green handle. I'm not sure if the black handle was the wrong part, or if MB just superseded the part with the green-handled version - but I'm pretty sure the green-handled version is correct, since I pulled the part number off of the EPC, and it has a 602 p/n prefix...in any case, it seems to fit fine. Anyone know the deal here?

My 93 300D had a green handle as well. I'd say there's a chance that the black one may have been incorrect. If you still have it, compare the overall length, and the position of the Min/Max marks. If they are different, my guess is someone replaced it with the wrong dipstick in the past. If they are the same, it could have been a color change mid-production...

:)

Couple of small jobs done today.

First, my B-pillar. When I recovered the headliner & the B-pilllars, I inadvertently broke a tab on the upper end, to which a metal clip mounts and secures the panel to the car (pic #1). As a result of the broken tab, there was no way to mount the metal clip, which left the panel loose and rattle-y.

Well, this seems to be a common enough occurrence that I came across a TSB detailing an official fix. You're supposed to mount a piece of sheet metal, precisely 60x20x1mm, and then use that to secure the clip. The TSB suggests riveting the sheet metal to the B-pillar, which seemed overly-complicated to me. For one, it would require tools that I don't have, but more importantly, it would require that I uncover and recover the B-pillar before and after - no thanks!

So I did the next best thing. I ordered a piece of custom-cut sheet metal, 60x20x1mm - cost less than a buck. Then I secured it to the B-pillar panel with some JB Weld KwikWeld (pic #2), and once it set, I reattached the metal clip (pic #3). Got everything put back together, and now the panel is nice and snug.

Next I finally solved the cupholder issue. PIcked up a Fischer universal folding cupholder. This is very much like the folding cupholders you see all over eBay, but made by a German company that is an OE supplier to many different marques. The cupholder is quite sturdy and well-built, and not at all flimsy like you would expect a folding cupholder might be.

The cupholder comes with drill points on both sides, so you can mount it on a horizontal or vertical surface. I decided to mount it on the center console, underneath the armrest (pics #4 & #5 - closed & open, prior to final mounting). I had to break out my chosen drill points, & then used the included screws to self-tap into the console with a screwdriver. Nice and secure, feels solid even when opening and closing. Best of all, my wife will finally stop lamenting the lack of cupholders, and collecting those drink carriers from Starbucks, lol.

Would have been nice if I could have found one in matching beige, but black is all I could find. Oh well - black goes with everything, right?