my questions must have been too simple.

one, the seat has a stop, which is obviously intended to give the illusion of rear seat leg room. remove the stop. it is possible to obtain another 1-3 inches of travel. lovely discovery.

two, it would appear as if the passenger side sodium azide bag compartment can be pulled with a glove box replacing it. more great news.

three, center console compartment is easily removed, carpeting is available, now there is a place for a coffee cup. which is why i always have preffered my 86-87 560sel/sec to their successors.

fourth, can anyone explain why the top down/top up never seems to do it the same way twice. sometimes the windows all go down. sometimes they don't. is there some secret of which i am unawares? as long as i have owned this car, the only way to assure that the windows go down before top down or top up is to do it via the window control buttons - even though the benz published procedures say that the top down/top up controller should actuate that process.

i even go so far as to do it strictly according to the benz process[i.e, engine not running, parking brake enabled, ignition key in position 2]. que pasa?

Hi Albert-

>you may be able to have the seat tracks modified to give you that couple more inches you need, a high end shop should be able to ensure that it is done correctly (ensuring no pblms in the future)...those stops may just need to be moved a bit and re-secured

>I wouldn't mess with the passenger side air-bag (if this is what you are referring to), however, again a high end customization shop should be able to help you get it the way you desire

>center console compartment mods- sounds like you can do it yourself, a host of after market pieces to replace the compartment are probably available through the net

>sound like your top actuation pieces (mechanicals and electricals) could use an experienced tech's inspection- - a couple of items may have worn causing this problem ...you may wish to search on the SL Forum for similar issues to obtain an some idea of what may be more specific causes

hope this helps and let us know what turns out!
-fad

as i said, my mechanic and i obtained the extra leg room.

and have also removed the container in the center console. and acquired the carpet that europeanizes it.

now, i want to get rid of that damn sodium azide assembly and replace it with the euro glovebox. i think that it is a straightforward replacement.

finally, i doubt that the top mechanism is worn. this cab only has 5200 miles on it. and i bet that the top has only been cycled 2 dozen times.

Removing the pass. side airbag will be a tricky one. You will have a constant SRS light and the SRS will be disabled. You'd have to figure out how to reprogram the SRS ECU I would think.

Only 5200 miles... none-the-less, it's still nearly 8 years old... time causes wear just as miles/use do.

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)