W115 / W114 Rear Lights Series 2 to 1 Swap - ?

[Cairo1966_W110]

Hello Everyone,

I have a 1976 W115 with chassis number 311948, so firmly in the series 2, probably one of the last W115 made.

It has the series 2 rear lights - the ones with the horizontal stripes in the molded plastic. I would like to swap to the series 1, I just prefer the smoother look.

I know I cannot swap only the plastic light cover, because the reflector has these "fingers" which fit into the horizontal stripes.

But can I swap the whole light unit? Has anyone done that with success? Any tips or advice or photos would be great. Thank you.

[gmog220d]

Yes, I believe you can swap the entire assembly without trouble. My '73, which originally had the early smooth style tail lights, came to me with the late ribbed style lights installed.

[scraf]

Bit of a late reply, but you definitely can do the swap. Couple of things, some don't have a reversing light clear lens, might be a left hand drive / right hand drive thing, ended up myself with a reversing light on both sides, out of choice.

Secondly, when buying second hand, bear in mind that the sealing rubbers cost like $ 50 each, so if you can find a pair with good rubbers it's worth paying a little extra.

[Cairo1966_W110]

Thanks everyone for their comments and advice.

I can also confirm that this swap is really easy, the whole fitting just fits right in. Good advice to get a good seal as well - I did this and the new seal is important for RUST.

When I removed the original lamp housing, there was some rust around the 4 holes which the bolts go through to fix the fitting to the body. I did work here to remove as much rust as possible, but I could see that my old seals were letting in a small amount of water.

I didn't even think of reverse lights, I assumed there was one on each side, which is what I had before and what I have now. Any way, I am happy because I have a long dark driveway to reverse out of!

See some photos...

But summary is Series 1 and 2 is an easy rear light fitting swap.