New MB, New Project... Let the fun begin
 

Hey Guys,

So After not having an MB for a few years, I'm back.

I picked up a car that I had always lusted after, but never thought I could afford to own. It's a bit of a project car but that's part of the fun for me.

First the car is a 1990 R129 500Sl. White with Navy Blue (132) interior.

The car has 73,147 Original Miles. (That's good and bad).

The car was owned by an elderly gentleman who used it as a pleasure vehicle. He ended up taking ill, and the car sat parked from 2003-2010.

He passed earlier in the year, and his grandson (who I am friends with) inherited the car. He put about $2600 into the following things to get the car back on the road.

-New tires, Brakes, exhaust, driver power window regulator, fluid changes, battery etc.

He had no particular interest in the car, and after some discussion and negotiation. I now own it.

The car needs a lot of work to be 100% but I got it cheap.

I'll make a list of the good and the bad.

The good:

Mechanically runs and drives perfectly.
Leaks Nothing.
Perfect bill of health from 2 mechanics
A/C works and blows cold. (it MAY still even be R12, I have no clue)
Body is straight, and dent and rust free
New tires on 18" AMG wheels.
Has the hardtop
Had the lower cladding and bumpers color matched at some point earlier in it's life.
Soft top working and in good condition

The bad: (and this is everything I have come up with so far)

Interior Cosmetics - new parts needed:

Seats NEED new upholstery. The leather is dried cracked and split. All power seat functions work.

The interior center console wood is showing its age, it is still in tact and there but it has a section that is faded a bit and has some cracks.

The drivers power window switch works, but it seems like the up position is picky. It almost seems like you have to push down, and then back up without letting go to get the window to go up. The actual electric functions of the window seem fine.

The power mirror adjustment switch is broken, the top piece that you turn left and right to select a mirror and move them is missing.

The portion of the sliding center console cover that covers the ashtray and cigar lighter assembly is missing.

The emergency brake release handle is broken off. I actually have the piece in the car, looks like you could release the brake with a pliers if you needed. I need to replace that piece.

The rear view mirror is there, and the actual mirror glass is in tact, BUT the plastic housing around it has broken off, I actually have the back of the housing but not the front frame around the mirror glass.

Hood pad is deteriorated, and virtually gone. Little pieces of foam sitting on the motor.

Electrical quirks:

The car has had an aftermarket stereo at some point, probably in the mid to late 90's but something isn't right there.

It has some high end components. Specifically a Nakamichi MB-100 6 disc in dash cd changer, and a soundstream rubicon amplifier in the trunk, but it isn't connected properly. The radio is connected to constant power, and will stay on unless you remove the detachable faceplate, regardless of if the ignition is on or not.

Secondly the drivers speaker makes some sort of intermittent thumping sound. I do not know if they are aftermarket or not. That may need a going over - and possibly a swap to a more modern aftermarket radio. Mp3 / ipod capability would be nice.

Lastly - the power locks ONLY operate from the trunk lock cylinder. All door handles flash red or green to indicate status, and the doors do actually lock and unlock. BUT it will only lock / unlock from the trunk lock. The key will turn the door lock cylinders, but it will not actuate the locks from the doors. Any ideas here?? I haven't tried the keyless entry because a couple of the 357 batteries are missing from the remote key. Do these keys need programming, or should just putting batteries in it do the trick??

Exterior cosmetics:

The car is in remarkably good shape exterior wise, although the paint seems a bit dull and has contaminants on it at the moment. It's obvious it sat outside for a while. A good wash / wax and then we'll see, it may need some machine polish work.

Were 1990 R129's basecoat / clearcoat or single stage?

Headlight doors I guess they are called... The frames around the headlights, show their age and have gotten cloudy and faded. The passenger side has a crack / chip in it that looks like it got friendly with a rock.

I know this seems like a long list, but really the car isn't that bad.. I'm very particular and described every flaw that I could possibly come up with.

I've attached a couple pics of the car.

I just got a 500sl project too. Though mine is in far worse shape than yours with a sock in the nose. Welcome back to the neighborhood. -CTH

I'll just mention a few things and see if you have follow up questions:

Seat covers are easy to do as it is easy to remove the cushions on the bottom and back. Are they heated seats? You could probably still get original covers from MB. It's the right way to do it but will be costly. Otherwise I'd save a ton and take the cushions off and take to a trim shop.

Center console wood trim, again is available generally from MB but is pricey. Cheaper alternative is to find a place that restores fine furniture and ask them to strip them and re-clearcoat. Matter of finding the right place, it can be redone quite nicely.

Next couple problems, the mirror and window switch, those are no problem to replace.

Sliding console piece might be slid too far back and out of view-investigate that, otherwise, again you can buy new or used parts.

The parking brake release, if you have the part and can see the end of the release cable, possibly was just not installed. Beginning to wonder if the ac evap might have been replaced but some stuff not assemled properly, as even the center console needs to be removed to take the dash out.

If you look at the AC fittings, if they are threaded on the outside it is still R12, if it has more of a big ridge going around the end, it is R124a.
Gilly

Before you get a new paint job, using correct procedures to revive paint can result in nothing less than a dramatic change...

In this order -- Wash, Paint Cleaner, Claybar, Ultimate Compound, Polish, Wax.

I bet if you spend ~6hours using the above technique (yes it really will take that long) that paint will come back to life.

George, from the 2 pictures the paint looks fine. Of course white usually looks pretty good, even when dirty. I recommend washing, claying and machine polishing then decide if polishing compound or a more agressive machine polish is necessary. Follow that with a high quality carnuba wax.

Since the lower cladding has been repainted I would take it easy on those panels for fear of revealing the original color. Try some Meguiar's Cleaner Wax on the cladding. I get excellent results using it on our 124 car cladding.

About the bumnpers, although it looks more like a later 129 now, if it were mine I'd changeit all back to the original look. Too common to try to update a Mercedes to the later look, to the point where an original car will turn more heads. At least for the enthusiasts......
Gilly
ps wheels too!

Nice, SL's always look good, good luck.

I would invest in a 129 DVD from mercedes, The seat covers from MB are way out of line if you can find them , look toward a company called GAAH, the install is tough but doable. The interior shop recommended by MB uses them they are as good if not better than OEM.
The locking issue is a little dificult to diagnose, (2) microswitches in the door locks start the pump under the seat, running forward pressure to unlock, vaccum to unlock, the remote does the same thing sensing the infra red and routing to the pump, but it toggles. You can probably find wood refinishers in Hemmings, or contact the MBCA (mercedes club) they will send you a copy of their magazine, I suggest you join.
The 129 and 140 cars had 134a and had threads plus a shoulder.

There is 1 of these now & then down in my part of the world. Luv em! looks like another greaty being revived.....nice! :cool:

I don't think the first few years of the 129 were R134a from the factory. This is a 1990 car.
Gilly

Get that hood pad replaced immediately. It will destroy the paint on the hood at a very fast rate. Use 3M Super Trim Adhesive to properly attach a new one.

Gilly thanks for that..

The car doesn't have heated seats.

As far as the parking brake release, I have the handle in the car, but the mounting point is snapped off, and there is a bit of black plastic left on the edge of the what looks like brass metal piece under the headlight switch. Its definitely damaged. You may be correct about something being replaced under the dash as the drivers side lower carpeted panel seems like its not installed perfectly correctly.

Mb doesn't sell just the front plastic part of the rear view mirror frame do they? I have the rear part.

I'm tempted to take a stab at doing the console wood myself if its simply a matter of stripping off the old finish and respraying new. I was under the impression that these things had some sort of epoxy clearcoat on them. I have a compressor, and I redid my kitchen cabinets and they came out ok.

Gilly you don't happen to have any sort of instructions as far as removing the wood piece do you?

Now as far as the paint, it looks flat. I actually tried one little corner of the trunk with some compound on a microfiber towel, and it came up pretty quickly... But i think i'm going to leave the whole car to a pro detailer.

Gilly one more quick question. I haven't taken the hardtop off yet (hopefully later this afternoon with the help of a friend). But people talk about a rollbar switch which I don't think I have.. Is the rollbar manually selectable as to whether it's up or down, or does it stay down until the car thinks it's about to overturn?

Thanks for all the advice,

George

I have a 124 rear view mirror if that will help.

George, it's been awhile since I've had the trim off. If you were to check on the SL forum, someone there might be able to help, or you might be able to find info elsewhere online. If I were there, I could definitely do it without causing "too much" damage:rolleyes:.
I believe the finish on the wood is urethane. If you're not worried about stock/original looks, I have seen others do sort of an antique wood look instead of the glossy finish and looks kind of neat.

You probably just need the p brake release handle it sounds like.

I don't think (not 100% sure) that they sell just parts for the rear view mirror. I am trying to remember if R129s had power INSIDE power rear view mirrors then, of if that was the early 140 S class cars only. At any rate, try ebay or there are some MB specialty scrapyards that might yeild a solid mirror. These were know to snap off internal bits of plastic like this and become loose, all sorts of problems. Someone could probably do good business making just a normal, thin, no-nonsense rear view mirror for some of these Mercedes, that would just snap in to the header and look fairly normal. if not bone stock. If you think you have all the pieces you could probably send it to me and I could figure something out, or if you can get the part that attaches to the header off and send it to me, might be an interesting project for me. I am sure a new mirror from MB would be at least several hundred dollars.

Yes it should have a rollbar switch, uhhhh, I think to the right of the ashtray? Has an up/down arrow like a pair of red triangles that face up and down. Yes, this is so that you can drive with the rollbar in the up position if you want, although I don't think it firmly locks in place unless the car begins to actually roll.

Back to the trim, make sure you get some good info before attempting to remove as you can really mess it up if you go about it the wrong way. I tend to remember you start at the back and start lifting up there, but there is a trick to get it unlatched, then the rear lifts up and you slide it out from the upper part by the dash vents. OR this one, if you look, might evenbe 2 pieces, look for a divider line near the ash tray. I also think there are some fasteners in the ash tray area as well.

Ok they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm about to type several thousand....

First Lee I don't know if a w124 mirror will work, but as a base reference, here's the dimensions of my outer mirror housing... And yes Gilly the tabs are snapped off... It has some box covered in foam behind it. I'll attach a picture of I could care less if the replacement mirror is powered or not. If I could make it look right, I'd glue a GM mirror to the windshield :eek:

Second, here's a pic of my center console and the switches it has - is the rollbar switch the unknown one with the red plastic housing and the white dot above the right power window switch?? This also shows the condition of my wood.

George