W124 500TE - Lets do this!

[Doodle]

It's like drunk ebaying, only worse!

Is that some Brabus Mono2s I spy there?

 

[WDB124066]

Here you Jay, pick the eyes out of this if you feel the need to strengthen the whole monocoque....

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[grober]

By far the best visual explanation of the comprehensive but hidden re-engineering that went into the W124 cabriolet I have seen.
Nice one.

 

[WDB124066]

Yes, the producer did a nice job on that video, just need to find a cabbie body to cut up for the reinforcing if Jay feels he needs it, otherwise the bracing discussed earlier is a good start.

You can use a RHD shell if you put rack and pinion steering in - this has been done at least once before, let me know if you want me to spend some time to find it....

In the meantime the guys at Hedgehog have a fix to tighten up the steering even more than factory on their website for the 201 and 124 I believe. Maybe worth a look?

 

[C43AMG]

Amazing write up Jay, many thanks. I bet you wont have any trouble selling the 500E, I'm sure there will one or two on the Forum will be very interested.

 

[WDB124066]

Might give you some inspiration, R&P from a W210 in a W201...

https://mbworld.org/forums/190e-w201/207515-ls-190-v8-engine-swap-pics.html

Might give you a bit more inspiration to start cutting, tucking and welding even if its a Z28. Start at 1:44 if you're like me and avoid chirpy music and over editing. Maybe hit the mute too.

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There must be somebody in the UK with skills like this who can sort a R&P if you wanted, it's just a matter of finding them.

 

[bob6600]

Could be worth some good money when finished

≥ Mercedes W124 .E 500 Combi - Mercedes-Benz - Marktplaats.nl

 

[jaymanek]

Hi All!

Mini update.

Earlier this week I removed the dashboard, door cards and rear seats ready for them to go off to be redone.



I will be using some Recaro CSE seats for the fronts. Still looking for correct adaptor brackets if anyone has any. Recaro number 85.51.09/09.



The trimmer I am using this time is a Recaro dealer..



The wood will go off to be refinished



Parts are arriving daily. Thanks to the eagle eye'd member who pointed out that I had ordered the wrong control arms..
Went with genuine MB parts, so expensive but at least they will last forever.

 

[WDB124066]

You can use Al angle as a substitute in there I think Jay if nothing shows up.

 

[jaymanek]

Last couple of days I found a few hours to remove the engine, Gearbox and main drivetrain components from the 500E.

Im hoping to do the same for the Estate car in the next couple of days.

 

[grober]

Thought I would post this rather grimy picture of the 500E rear subframe which illustrates its really a R129 design. The sharp eyed will notice among other things the tubular nature of the subframe front cross member rather than the open U channel of the normal w124 rear subframe. Taken from this 500E resto video- a series of stills really- quality is not that high but covers all the normal w124 rust points.

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[jaymanek]

Thought I would post this rather grimy picture of the 500E rear subframe which illustrates its really a R129 design. The sharp eyed will notice among other things the tubular nature of the subframe front cross member rather than the open U channel of the normal w124 rear subframe. Taken from this 500E resto video- a series of stills really- quality is not that high but covers all the normal w124 rust points.

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Thanks for this!

I think from memory that estate and saloon sub frames are interchangeable.. so I am planning on using the complete 500e subframe on the estate.

I inspected the estate yesterday and the mount point look to be in same position?

 

[grober]

I assumed this to be the case since it would probably be easier to modify a sub assembly[ rear subframe] dimensions rather than any body mounting points. Indeed there's a fair chance they share the same dimensions but differ only in strength of construction. Anyway lets hope its a straightforward swap.

 

[jaymanek]

Engine & Gearbox are now out of the Estate

 

[jaymanek]

And just for comparison

 

[amar]

Simply amazing. I know its not possible in RHD but who cares a 5.0 wagon amazing simply amazing. Look forward to see her finished in all her glory and no doubt as finer finish as all of Mr Maneks little treasures.

 

[jaymanek]

Hi All!

Last couple of days I have been stripping the engine down. Took me all afternoon to strip all of the ancillaries from the engine yesterday.


Today I stripped it down to heads and block.

It will now go off to the engineers to test and refresh where necessary.

It should hopefully come back looking a lot cleaner!

A large order came in today. Mostly parts for Rear Subframe & Suspension.

Also some parts for the engine refresh.

 

[d w124]

Thanks for doing this Jay it had to be done
You're not getting my blind though

 

[d w124]

Simply amazing. I know its not possible in RHD but who cares a 5.0 wagon amazing simply amazing. Look forward to see her finished in all her glory and no doubt as finer finish as all of Mr Maneks little treasures.

It is possible,even the V12 is

 

[jaymanek]

Do you know what it means when a three year old boy whispers, “its coming?”

What could be coming?

Well back to the build.

Weekends are the only time I can use my own ramps at work, as they are in constant use.

Friday afternoons one of the technicians finishes early and so I take a few hours out to make some progress.

Plan was to swap rear sub-frames over by the end of the weekend. Well we would have to in order to be able to get them out of the workshop ready for Monday.

We pushed the saloon onto the ramp and I started disconnecting all of the bits and pieces attached to the rear sub-frame.

First the springs have to be removed which is very easy on these cars with the correct tools.

Then the handbrake cables and brake sensors were disconnected. Once everything is out of the way, the complete sub-frame was lowered off the car.

Once the 500 sub-frame was out, I set about replacing every suspension arm, link and bush on the axles. The sub-frame bushes were the most time consuming as they were pretty well stuck in.

The 500E has been a joy to dismantle so far as there was no rust anywhere. No seized bolts, no rounded off nuts.. most of the underside is like the day it left the factory.

The sub-frame was in nice condition also. No point painting this as I had considered, it came up great after a wash.

Now that the sub-frame was out, the next task was to remove all lines for fuel and rear suspension.

I had already ordered all new hoses and metal pipes for this. Unfortunately some of the front to rear metal pipes for both suspension and brakes came incorrect. Too long, short or with the wrong ends. Mercedes tend to do this with brake pipes, no longer come in the correct form.

So on Friday night I labelled and removed all the pipes from the 500E. They were like brand new. Never seen a used car with such clean metal lines.

Got home quite late on Friday after catching up with work and nursing my bruised finger which id struck with my large hammer earlier… those sub-frame bushes.. grrrr..

Fellow housemates not too happy with my choice of perfume as I walk in… A unique cocktail of 97 RON, DOT 4 and ZHF fluid.

Saturday afternoon came around. We put the estate up on another ramp and I started dismantling the sub frame. All went well and it was out pretty quickly.

The sub-frame is very different. The 500 sub-frame is mostly tubular. The regular is much less heavy duty. See pictures below.

Luckily I couldn’t see much difference between the mounting points. I was worried there may be some differences between saloon/estate.

I removed all of the brake and suspension lines for the estate. These were NOT in the same condition as the 500E! Most were quite rusty.

Wife and the kids were to be out so I had the evening to carry on.

I couldn’t have done any more sub-frame work as I needed people to help me lift it into place.

Early evening on Saturday I started swapping over the steering parts. The 500E box is quite compact in comparison to the standard item.

The rest of the steering gear is all R129 and has to be swapped also. I have ordered all new links and track rods etc but they have not yet arrived. It took me a few hours to swap everything. Plenty of tight bolts and plenty of beating required to release those steering arm joints from their homes of over 25 years. I was still pretty upset with the hammer so it took a bit longer.

Somewhere that afternoon I had also offered up the pipework to the estate. Surprisingly the pipework was pretty much spot on. I didn’t have to bend it much at all. It all lined up really well.

The saloon and estate have the same wheelbase so I guess it makes sense.

There are more pipes on the 500E though as due to ASR, the brakes all have individual lines from the pump to each wheel.

I used the 500E fuel pumps. The estate also has a “pre pump” to aid fuel getting over the sub-frame to the fuel pumps which is mounted under the rear seat. I left this in position.

I only had to extend the return fuel line due to the different position of the fuel tank.

All of the suspension pipes including flexi pipes were changed to new. The 500E lines run down the right of the car to the engine bay whereas on the estate they had originally run the left side.

The suspension spheres were replaced whilst I was in there.

So in short, everything was swapped to 500E spec.

Around 9pm Saturday I went back into the office to finish off with work, which I had been doing in between spannering.

I get a phone call. I know who it is before I answer it. I sense the impending doom. Yep, she was pretty upset. I had misunderstood. I was supposed to be home to watch the kids a lot earlier, whilst she went out.

So I did the best thing any male can do in this situation. I stayed at work and advertised cars until I knew it was safe to go home.

Sunday morning I was feeling pretty tired.

Not sure if it was all that lifting of sub frames and heavy steering boxes, being shouted at or just lack of sleep.

I swapped over the anti-roll bars complete with new bushes.

The original self-levelling valve from the estate had to be used.. This is because the 500E uses one supply from the valve to both shocks. The estate has two ports, one for each side. So I went with the estate version as I had already run all new pipes to the shocks and used all new estate specific parts for this.

Anyway, both sub frames were out on the floor ready to go back up.

I had to swap the spring perches (or carriers) over as the estate has slightly different shock absorber attachment to the saloon.

With the assistance of the entire sales team at Mercland the sub-frame from the 500E was lifted into the estate. Thankfully all lined up and it went up into position with minimal fuss.

The same was done for the 500E.. if nothing else just to keep it mobile on its wheels for pushing around.

I then came to fitting the H&R lowering springs to the estate. The boxes had the correct part number on but inside the springs looked like they were to fit a Hummer.

Very angry email sent to supplier. Kicked the bin a few times. Feel better.

I fitted the original 500E springs to the estate (looking like new of course).

All of the brake/suspension lines were properly attached to the body using the original clips/mounts from the 500E. I will need to check that nothing is fouling the rear anti roll movement bar once it’s all up and running, but looks good for now.

The 500 springs make the rear sit quite nice… So maybe I won’t bother with lowering springs after all.

Following Saturdays mix up, I had been given a strict deadline. I HAD to spend time with my offspring.

After a thorough tidy up, the cars were pushed back out of the workshop and all of the thousand and one tools that I had amassed on the floor, were cleaned and put away until next week.

A well-deserved family trip to TGI Fridays helped the relaxation required after a pretty busy weekend on the cars and running a business concurrently.

My son’s inquisition into the name of the restaurant as to why it implies that it only opens on a single day each week, took up any remaining patience.

As the weekend comes to a close, I like to lie in bed and fall asleep to a bit of Netflix.

Just as I select “Daddy” on the Netlfix welcome screen, the young son whispers, “its coming.”

Like all of you, I wonder what may be coming? Could it be Christmas? The rampant screaming and running around that my wife displayed indicated I was in for more of a disaster… But as always I could not decipher ‘hysterical woman speak.’

So I continued with the possibilities in my own head.. hmm It’s a little early for the apocalypse.

Well I probably should have mimicked my wife, as a split second after the words had left my sons mouth, it was very clear what was coming.

Yep… The £6.99 meal deal was refunded to me in liquid form on my chest.

That was my weekend!