90 300SL soft top replacement / seat travel

[chronodeco]

My wife just bought a 90 SL300 for her 50th birthday. Pearl gray and very nice. A couple of questions: The soft top is going to need replacement this winter due to the condition of the rear windows. I do most of my own maintainance and have worked on rag tops in the past. This one however looks to be a challenge. I need some help with replacement top sources, replacement instructions and/or a good reasonable top shop (not a dealer) in or around Portland, Oregon. Also, something I noticed was that the leg room was a little short for me when I had the seat back in a position I liked. As everyone knows who has owned one of these, if you continue to move the base of the seat back, at some point the back starts to tilt forward even though there is about 3 inches left before it hits the rear shelf. Could someone please tell me if there is a reasonable fix for this? I don't have this problem in my 300CE which has more than enough leg room for a 6 foot tall person. Thanks in advance for your help. Craig

[MBenzNL]

I have renewed the rear half with the plastic "windows" of my 1990 300SL myself. The rear half can be bought separately at the MB dealer and the renewal isn't as difficult as it may seem (even I succeeded).
Your local MB dealer should be able to give you a print-out of the WIS manual about the softtop renewal as well...if you are able to read and understand German, I can send you a copy of the soft top information/manual I have...

If you do want to renew the rear half your self, you have to beware to order a couple of small parts simultaneously with the rear half because you don't want to wait for parts once you have started.



[img]http://communities.msn.nl/_Secure/0LAAzACsPClBc!!GwdSmdG8ls*kqPkhrSv7oZ1f*8DUL58FaJZS!aiNyT6kIledqgRL*2UqHh*o8/topless1.jpg[/img]

greetingz,

http://www.worlduph.com I looked at this site when I was shopping for a top for my BMW. There is also a site that wholesales replacement tops on EBAY. I used them, very satisfied with top fit and material. Take a very close look at your existing top, under normal use, the stitching starts to break down about the same time as the window starts to haze. UV is the major cause. As the stitching comes loose, the top starts flapping and puts more stress on the stitching causing even more deterioration. Seems like money wasted replacing the window if the top will need replacing in the near term. I paid a local shop (Tidewater VA) $400 to put the top on the BMW, they quoted $500 for the SL.