W124 500TE Project - Lets do this!

[S70/2]

Looks great

[jaymanek]

And she is all painted.

Remarkably very few imperfections I can see.

Polishing is well underway, the roof was being done.

[Ntrepid]

Looks fantastic.


Robert

[sheward]

Very very nice!

drew

[jaymanek]

Thanks guys! Looking forward to getting it back now.

[jaymanek]

Glass being fitted today. New genuine front & rear screens. New Rubbers all around.

[w201-16]

Did the car have oilcooler or did you use the brackets from the 500?

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[jaymanek]

No oil cooler on this one as USA spec.

[gsxr]

No oil cooler on this one as USA spec.

I can't remember, did you swap over the 500E lower radiator support? This is totally different, and unique to the 036 chassis... and, I think it has some of the mounting bits for the oil cooler, if desired. Requires some cutting & welding. The photo in post #10 makes it look like the wagon did receive the 500E support, but I couldn't find any other pics of the front end minus the bumper.

You can add the oil cooler later if desired, all the major parts are available, except a couple of small mounting brackets which are NLA (that I am still hunting for, if anyone has them for sale!).

[w201-16]

The lower radiator support are different, but I think the main reason are to make space for the cooling tube for the engine mount. I did last week mount the brackets for the oilcooler and some brackets on the lover radiator support. I think I will fit the tube as it is.


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[gsxr]

Remember the 500E oil cooler setup is totally different than on any other 124, it's located in the center of the bumper, not on the side. I can't find a good photo showing the oil cooler installed on the E500E, but here's a pic of the parts courtesy of Omegabenz:

[jaymanek]

Hi,

Yes the 500E radiator support has been swapped.

This USA car did not have a cooler so decided to leave it.

My UK car has an oil cooler and have replaced it some years ago.

I dont think its something ill be adding. This car wont be tracked or any hard driving.

I live in the UK, we wear our shorts if the temperature reaches 10 degrees Celsius.

[jaymanek]

Hi All,

Sorry for the lack of updates! Those of you on facebook may have seen that the car is indeed all painted and back from the bodyshop.

We did have some dramas at the bodyshop.

Both rear quarter glass windows were a pain to fit with new seals. We are convinced that the new Mercedes seals simply do not fit properly. We broke one of the glass panes trying to fit the glass. To add insult to injury, Mercedes no longer supply the glass in the correct green tint. Luckily the W124 facebook group helped me out and I got a good used pair of glass from a local member.

On the day of collection, the rear bumper fell to the floor on one side whilst it was being bolted up. This cause some crack damage along the seam where estate and saloon bumper were joined. Of course, this really upset Adi at the bodyshop. The bumper has been the most difficult part of the bodywork.

To me it seemed like the tiniest of cracks in the paint, but it was a setback for the bodyshop, as the bumper now had to be redone.

After Adi cooled down, he was able to repair the damage. A couple of days later, the bumper was repainted and the car ready for collection.


Since the car came back, I have been busy getting loose ends tied up. I have re fit most of the interior. The recaros have bolted in nicely. The rear heated seats work. The kiddie’s seats are almost in.

Refitting some interior panels resulted in a trip to Accident & Emergency on Saturday evening. Eye protection is recommended when using a sharp flat head screwdriver to prise a rubber trim. The screwdriver flung out and I stabbed myself in the eye. I was
very lucky that it caught the edge of my eyeball and there is no serious damage. My colleagues were more than a little frightened by the mix of blood and tears pouring out of my skull.

Nothing that sitting in a hospital for 4 hours followed by a teenager sending me home with a tube of cream, couldn’t fix.

In other news, I scored a lovely Brabus exhaust back box from the bay a few weeks ago. Think it suits the car really well.

Earlier this week, I had our local stainless exhaust place, Custom Chrome, manufacture me the missing parts of the exhaust.
I have used the original 500E down pipes.
Custom Chrome have made me a centre box to accept the twin pipes. From this box there is one large pipe to join up to the brabus box.
The sound is lovely. Although I need to try and raise it a little as it seems to kiss the tarmac over the speed bumps.


I am now waiting for the final “outsourced” piece of this jigsaw. The wood.
The wood guy says he is almost done. It will be a couple of weeks longer though. Without the wood, I cannot fit the dash, door cards or speakers.

For now I will be concentrating on little bits and pieces.

• Information Stickers
• Rest of the audio System & antenna
• Replace Front Door Seals
• Wax Underside and fit new arch liners. Fit remainder of exhaust shields etc
• Sort out intermittent ASR issue, something up with brake lamp switch
• Replace all interior courtesy lamps (all gone a bit yellow)
• Replace Indicator & Cruise Stalks for Freshness
• Replace all Sill kick plates
• Fit & Wire in Auto Dim Mirror with Homelink.
• So many other minor things. I still have 6 trays full of parts to fit!

[gsxr]

I just drooled all over my keyboard.

[Glen]

Great looking wagon. Impressed and jealous!

[sheward]

Incredibly nice! I never thought i would be jealous of another 036 until i started seeing these wagons.

drew

[jaymanek]

Hi Everyone!

Hope everyone is having a lovely Easter.

I have been slowly re assembling the interior and electrics.

One of the items I really wanted to swap was the factory front door speakers from the 500E. A cool option that was standard for the US spec cars.

Luckily the mounting holes are present in the standard doors.

The original, factory sound deadening pad came off altogether from the donor 500E. I don’t think the door panels had ever been removed on the donor car, everything was still totally perfect.

The wood arrived back with me yesterday. Im amazed by the quality. Pictures to follow as it is raining here and I need the car to be outside to get some good pictures.

The dash is back on with its refinished wood, the door cards are all back together and in.

I will spend the next few days just carefully refitting all the wood panels and generally getting the inside all finished.

The little fiddly things zap up so much time!

[jaymanek]

Hello All!

Its almost there!

The interior is all in and finished. What do you think?

[jaymanek]

Today the transmission has been fettled by the company that rebuilt it back in September.

It needed some minor adjustments to make the shifts nice and sharp. Really does pull well now.

On the way to the transmission place, I had a nervous situation. Occasionally, when I went around bends, there was an almighty banging from the transmission tunnel which would last a few seconds. Strange? Well I had to wait until I brought the car back tonight to inspect.

It was a bolt for the seat runner that must be slightly too long, or maybe I missed a washer, as the bolt was just touching the prop shaft universal joint, but only when going around corners! Decided to cut the bolt down a bit and all sorted.

So now all that is left now, is to wax protect the underside and box sections with Dinitrol and then next week it is off to have specialist wheel alignment. I only set the wheel alignment up roughly. It will be going to a place where they spend a full day
getting it all perfect with weights etc etc.

And then hopefully it will be ready for the show season!

It feels like it’s been a long journey, but the light can be seen now.

[gsxr]

The interior is all in and finished. What do you think?

I think I'm in love.

[a777fan]

I'd love to be sitting in that rear facing seat racing down the Autobahn at ~150 mph

What is that center console you have in there? Is that a TE spec item? I haven't seen it before.

Wonderful, wonderful work.

[sheward]

Beautiful! Nice work. I too would like to know what you did with the woodwork. I have some spares in bad shape that I've thought of changing to black. It was a huge project. You should be proud.

drew

[jaymanek]

What is that center console you have in there? Is that a TE spec item? I haven't seen it before.

Hi,
This is a W124 specific storage compartment. In my other cars I have them with fridges inside made by Waeco I believe. this one isnt a cooler, just a storage compartment.
Something is needed as an armrest with the recaro seats, this fits the bill nicely.

[jaymanek]

Beautiful! Nice work. I too would like to know what you did with the woodwork. I have some spares in bad shape that I've thought of changing to black.

drew

Dear Drew,

I use a fantastic woodworking guy here in the UK. He has restored lots of wood for me in the past. Very slow but very very good.
I asked for all the wood to be finished in a black tinted lacquer. Therefore the wood still shows its grain and the finish is a very dark brown. A little like the birds eye maple used in more modern Mercedes but without the green.

Im sure there will be someone local to you offering this. I think Madeira concepts are the go to guys on your side of the pond?

[TerryA]

Hi Jay,

I think you’ve done a fantastic job. This was certainly a well thought out and meticulously assembled project. What a beautiful wagon. I love the interior w/ the Porsche seats. I agree w/ Drew on the wood finish. I know exactly what your finisher did. I used to refinish antique furniture and used a lot of tints to match panels together.

I think you have a real ‘SHOW STOPPER’

The Best of Luck with it!!!

Take Care

[Stevester 500E]

A very stunning wagon ! Great job !

[jaymanek]

The Mercedes front door speakers sounded dreadful against the rainbow speakers in the dashboard. So I found these and they fit quite well in the original aperture.

[jaymanek]

[outrbnks]

Outstanding and awesome project, thanks for making that video and sharing. With all the detail work you did, I'm surprised you didn't shoot for RHD as well..

Very impressive... kudos...

[8899]

This board should have a dedicated section for all of the w124 v8 E500E/C36 wagon conversions. They really are special projects and the threads are strewn around here all over the place...but are some of the most interesting builds and reads!

[gerryvz]

These types of "build" threads can be moved to the "Member Roadtrips & Project Journals" sub-forum -- which was expressly intended for this type of article.

There just aren't enough wagon conversions out there to warrant a distinct sub-forum. particularly when we have a section for these types of projects.

In my opinion, Jay has this project in EXACTLY the right place.

One alternative could be an OWNER thread.

[jaymanek]

[a777fan]

Beautiful jay. Can’t say enough


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[M104-AMG]

Damn!

neil