W124 500TE - Lets do this!

[jaymanek]

Interior arrived back today.

Feels like we are a long way off installing it!

Unwrapped the fronts for a quick peek…

 

[WDB124066]

Is it a "bolt in" or "weld in" piece Jay...?

 

[jaymanek]

Is it a "bolt in" or "weld in" piece Jay...?

If its the one I recall it is just a piece of steel bar which has two bolts holding it to the control arm mounts.

It struck me as a little crude when I saw it and I cannot find it listed on the EPC. i wondered if it was bolted on my a previous owner.

That said I have not found anything else modified on this car at all. It seems to be exactly as it left the factory.

 

[SL300-24]

Loving this Jay, fantastic thread....

 

[jaymanek]

Tis the end of the world. I have man flu and so I am desk bound.

No spannering for a few days.

Chris came by on Monday night. Removed the remaining engine bay brackets in the 500.

Hoping he is here tonight to weld them all into the wagon.

We are realising that a LOT of sheet metal in the engine bay was different. The shape of the inner wings is different. The shape of the bulkhead panel is different.

Its not just the firewall and transmission tunnel parts as we thought.

Some of these areas shouldn’t matter too much, the differences are minor. We won’t know until the electrical and other ancillaries go back in.

Some more shiny parts arrive:

These are the SL R129 silver arrows calipers.

Found a better steering wheel

Engine Wiring Harness. The one on the car seemed ok but thought id go with a fresh one as they are biogradeable:

 

[Gurd63]

Awesome thread Jay, can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[Londonscottish]

They look great. Love the 90's seat controls. Are you going to get a Nokia car kit to complete the period look?

https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-28175f88e443080ead15f375a41c0bec-c

 

[jaymanek]

I have the console and do have a phone somewhere. maybe i will install it.

 

[jaymanek]

Hello everyone!

It’s been slow progress this week due to my temporary demise caused by food poisoning.

It’s quite difficult to work on a car from the W.C. Terrible week long experience that I never wish to repeat. I can only describe what happened to my digestive system as a cross between the effects of a Stag holiday in Las Vegas and being kicked in the stomach repeatedly by Bruce Lee. You have to have been on a Stag in Vegas to know what I mean. The Bruce Lee thing you can imagine.

Chris has now totally finished all of the welding, transplanting, grinding and other spark producing activities. He came by and sealed the welds last night.

Today I have had Dave the painter come and blow some “199” over the engine bay. We have not gone for a totally concours finish here. There s very little engine bay that can be seen once all the trims, wiring, control units etc are back in place.

This now allows me to carry on replacing all of the ancillaries.

I still await the bottom end of the engine back, so this work will be a good time filler for the next few days.

Chris will be back in due course for some more metalwork, but there is now no rush, as I can carry on with the powerplant…

 

[jaymanek]

Also fitted the brakes:

 

[Doodle]

Behind some very tasteful wheels

I probably should think about doing the SA brake conversion on mine.

 

[Newera]

Fantastic progress with this project. Maybe a helpful tip: Perfection aren't far from yourselves and would refinish your Evo II wheels with a diamond cut finish, for not a lot of money (Around £450 I think it cost us).
Would also recommend putting these centre caps on.



Thanks for the HG work on our w124 coupe, recently!

 

[Doodle]

Fantastic progress with this project. Maybe a helpful tip: Perfection aren't far from yourselves and would refinish your Evo II wheels with a diamond cut finish, for not a lot of money (Around £450 I think it cost us).

A caveat is that those are wearing winter tyres. Diamond cut finish and salted winter roads do not mix well.

 

[Newera]

Thinking about it... I wouldn't choose a one-off E500 wagon like this one for UK winter use!

 

[Doodle]

Don't come in here with your rational thought processes, this is no place for such things!

 

[jaymanek]

Fantastic progress with this project. Maybe a helpful tip: Perfection aren't far from yourselves and would refinish your Evo II wheels with a diamond cut finish, for not a lot of money (Around £450 I think it cost us).
Would also recommend putting these centre caps on.
Thanks for the HG work on our w124 coupe, recently!

Hi! Thanks for the comments.

Actually these wheels wont be staying. These are the winters that I use on my silver 500E.
I only put these wheels on as they fit over the new brakes and will give some reference when fitting the rear arches.

These wheels are the very hard to find "201" part number, i.e. intended for the 190E Evo.
They were new when I bought them with factory stickers on them. They are the original finish correct to the 190E Evo i believe.

Not a massive fan of diamond cut wheels due to the durability issue.

The wheels I ill use are the 18" AMG wheels posted earlier. I may not stick with the anthracite centres, waiting to see how they look on the car.

I do have an account with Perfection.

I use Lepsons for all of my own wheels now though. Cannot beat them.

p.s. your lovely cars are welcome here anytime!

 

[jaymanek]

Hi,

I am now starting to slowly get the engine bay built back up.

These power steering hoses are completely inaccessible once engine is in. Good time to replace!


Chris came by with his cutter. Making noise again. We decided to use the arches from this 500E for two reasons. Everything has so far come from this car so it seems right to use these arches.

Secondly this car is totally rust free. Never seen these arches without any rust at all.

Few more pics later.

 

[DavidL]

Which one Jay? Swindon or Gillingham.

I use Lepsons for all of my own wheels now though. Cannot beat them.

 

[jaymanek]

Which one Jay? Swindon or Gillingham.

Gillingham, Kent!

 

[jaymanek]

Hello!

I have been building the engine bay back up.

I wish my memory was a little better. I labelled most things and took pictures, but some of the parts were still a head scratcher as to how they went back. Luckily I have the other E500 sat here in our showroom so I can use it as a reference.

Unfortunately I discovered that the wiring harness that supplies the headlamp, horn etc has a different connection under the fuse box. The 500 has a larger plug with more connections. I need to come back to this to figure out what the extra four wires are for. So im still not done with wiring L