w126 wood trim removal

[john rh]

Hi

I need to re-glue some of the wood trim peices on my w126, which have peeled slightly. The affected areas are the main dash panel which houses air vents, light switch etc, and the panel to the left of the glovebox whcih has the passenger air vent in it.

I want to remove these peices so I can glue and clamp them properly, off the car.

How are the panels removed from the dashboard? I can't see any obvious screws or brackets, but I don't want to break anything by just pulling!

Thanks for any advice.

John

 

[jaymanek]

pain in the backside.. they are held in with 7mm plastic nuts accessed from behind.. so the cluster has to come out... and the vents too.

 

[john rh]

Oh great! I might try with superglue first, becuase I don't have time to take the dash to pieces.

Cheers

John

 

[219]

It is a bit of a pain , but only a minor one .

When I did the burr walnut on my 500 , the job wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined . My old wood was peeling badly and had already been glued poorly by a previous owner ; luckily I was able to buy a complete set from Dave Collins for a reasonable price . On receiving the 'new' wood , I could see where the fixings were - only two below the cluster , one at the end within the side vent and two small self tappers above the centre vents . Passenger vent piece has a sideways bolt which needs the vent removed and one near the glovebox end which can be reached from below or by removing the glovebox .

I need to glue a couple of bits of the zebrano on my 280SE , so I'll try and get round to it in the next week or two and post some photos .

 

[john rh]

It is a bit of a pain , but only a minor one .

When I did the burr walnut on my 500 , the job wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined . My old wood was peeling badly and had already been glued poorly by a previous owner ; luckily I was able to buy a complete set from Dave Collins for a reasonable price . On receiving the 'new' wood , I could see where the fixings were - only two below the cluster , one at the end within the side vent and two small self tappers above the centre vents . Passenger vent piece has a sideways bolt which needs the vent removed and one near the glovebox end which can be reached from below or by removing the glovebox .

I need to glue a couple of bits of the zebrano on my 280SE , so I'll try and get round to it in the next week or two and post some photos .

That would be very helpful. How difficult is it to get the instrument cluster out? I'm still new to these MB's and learning how they bolt together!

Cheers

John

 

[ianrandom]

Cluster out is so easy, but please don't make my mistake, and do disconnect the battery first.. It just pops out, it's a friction fit with rubber. Bit sticky first time round but mine comes out easy now. You may need to fashion some hooks out of wire coathangers, one for each side.

 

[john rh]

Cluster out is so easy, but please don't make my mistake, and do disconnect the battery first.. It just pops out, it's a friction fit with rubber. Bit sticky first time round but mine comes out easy now. You may need to fashion some hooks out of wire coathangers, one for each side.

Oh right. Is the speedo cable or electric?

Thanks

John

 

[TomJones]

In 1986 should be electric.

 

[ianrandom]

Yup, electric. I touched the clock power lead to the casing in removal, thought I'd just be very careful and didn't bother disconnecting battery. It was so brief, but ruined my gauges.. I'm in the process of removing wood from
spares car at the mo, it's not too bad really. Haven't got the bit by the speedo off yet though.

 

[219]

Are any of the speedos mechanical ?

Even the one on my 'B' reg 280SE is electric .

I normally just pull the cluster out using the can opener tool of my Swiss Army Knife : slips into the gap nicely without damaging the padding of the surround , then a deft twist catches the hook behind the edge of the pod and allows it to be pulled out easily ; you have to alternate from one side to the other but it just takes a minute or so anyway - I find this method works for many models . I must be lucky , but I've never disconnected the battery and never had any problems , but no reason not to disconnect other than having to re-tune some radios .

 

[TomJones]

I`ve seen once a cable speedo on a manual 5 speed 280 se

 

[ianrandom]

Finished my wood swap. Wasn't too bad, about four hours doing it quite slowly so as not to break anything. Also worth a mention is, as I have previously discovered, when removing/replacing cluster, there is something on the lower right hand side on the back of the cluster that can put nasty scratches in the wood veneer. I'd suggest folded cloth or something to protect.
Scratches can sometimes be removed with metal/chrome polish such as the one from
Autogym. Normally Autosol is best for metal I find, but on the wood the Autoglym one is less abrasive.