Bagged Mercedes W115...

[D&W]

with a bare hubcap that needs refinish i would strip it with aircraft stripper or 5F5, or sandblast with very fine media. then i would sand them down with 400 grit then 600 grit and move it to wet sanding the bare metal with 1000 grit for best results and stay away from any kinds of polish... then prime it, after primer use 2000 grit wet sand paper before applying paint. thats the right way of doing it...

nice, i will definentely be sanding as you mentioned and i grabbed the aircraft stripper last night.

thanks for the tips on sanding the primer with 2000. definentely want to do it once right and once only

[itschrisb]

There really is nothing better then an old Mercedes bagged. All of the wheel set ups have looked awesome. Will be watching this thread to see the progress.

Any interior shots?

[Zman86]

I have a couple, but the interior isnt that fantastic. I've spent alot of time looking for interior parts for this car with not much luck, even talked to an old uphoulstry guy who said he wont even try to make seat pads for this car because he can never get them the same as factory. The wood trim on the dash is in bad shape, and I've not been able to find a factory set for sale, so I'm probably going to take it off this winter and have a luthier friend of mine re-finish it and do exotic wood veneer.

All the seats need to be re-covered with new pads, and the door panels need replacing as well. I have two sets of carpet for it, the plain black thats in it now and a thick loop beige carpet thats really nice. Before I can glue it in properly though, the front floor pan needs replacing. Also need to find a new center console as the one in the car is damaged, and the healiner is in really rough shape, though I do have a new one for it, I cant find any information on replacing it....

[SlowProgress]

yeah the wood pieces are incredibly hard to find in good condition.

[bobbyjones]

i know of a few places that still has the horse hair seat pads for your seats but they are so much money, i used foam seat pads cut for a 114/115 in my drivers seat. it does look a little bit puffed outward, but much more comfortable then worn out seat pads.

[D&W]

This place still has some w114 pads, but they might be pricey...

http://worlduph.com/mercedes_benz/w114_w115/#Pad

you can try this breaker, don't know how far away you are. might be best to try and find a whole donor interior (wood/seats/dash etc)

http://www.socalmercedesparts.com/

headliners are tricky, i know on a w108 to replace properly you must remove the windshield and rear glass to get it all in properly but it might/hopefully is different on a w114.

hope it all works out!

[sevsev]

Could you take a few photos of the rear suspension setup if you get a chance? I've got a w114 coupe I'm working on bagging and would love to see what was done on the rear of this.

[discoduck]

Damn would love to see this car in person!!

I've got a soft spot for w114/5 and w108/9s from that era. Been looking for one for a DD.

[D&W]

Damn would love to see this car in person!!

I've got a soft spot for w114/5 and w108/9s from that era. Been looking for one for a DD.

Go and look at this one!

http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/2581597759.html

[TheSandeman]

the car is amazing!

[discoduck]

Go and look at this one!

http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/cto/2581597759.html

damn that looks nice... too bad i'm in Toronto

[Rollnnn]

sick w115! you dont see that everyday....

[Zman86]

So, its been a while since I posted an update. I was in a "motorcycle" accident a month ago, and I didnt get to work on the cars much while I was recovering from a skull fracture and plenty of road rash. This last week I've been feeling better, so I've started working on the car again. Winter is just around the corner, so I've taken the Benz off the road and started on the list of repairs I had going.

First thing was to replace the rear axles. The old ones were in terrible shape, I'm actually suprised they lasted as long as they did. Everything I read said this job was terrible, but it ended up not being that bad at all. Required dropping the rear suspension and exhaust, and removing the diff cover. Inside of the diff was clean and free of metal. Replaced the axle seals and axle retainer clips while I was in there. Currently waiting on Mercedes Source for my new diff mount, hanger bearing and flex discs, but I've not had much luck dealing with them so far (they will only take credit card numbers over the phone, but I've been trying for four days to get ahold of them through both email and phone calls with no response). Also having a hell of a time finding new shocks, as both were blown and leaking. Seems no one around here has the ability/desire to look up shocks by the manufacturers part number. Have a couple more parts stores to try tommorow, after that I'll be ordering them off the net...










No leaks, just old undercoat...



Tool I made at work to pull the new axles in...



New axles in...



Next step was to try and fix the rather large fuel leak coming from the top of the injector pump. Delivery valves 4 and 5 were leaking, so I replaced the copper sealing rings. Good news is that the delivery valves are no longer leaking, bad news is there is still alot of fuel leaking from around the base of #4-5, where the two bolts go into the body of the pump. I'm having a hard time finding info on fixing this problem...





During the summer, I thought about getting the A/C functioning again. Someone had fitted a newer style compressor in, hooked up the lines and stopped there. Inspection found the compressor seized, and that the system had never been switched from R12, so I decided to get rid of it, since I very rarely use air conditioning. Removed the compressor and very large bracket assembly holding it, the main lines and the condensor. Also pulled the radiator. I had a persistent coolant leak that would only occur when the car was cold, and it turned out being a corroded tube, so the radiator is going out this week to be re-built. I was also getting tiny flecks of metal in my coolant, so I pulled the water pump to inspect it. I dont see anything that could be causing metal to end up in the cooling system, but there is a small amount of play in the shaft, so I'm probably going to replace it...




More updates as they happen. Good to be working on it again. I had wanted to tear the car down completely this winter and re-build it from the ground up, but I dont think thats going to happen until I have my own place and somewhere to keep the car permanently (the neighbours allow me to use their garage because they are awesome, and I fix their stuff for them). Looking forward to doing some lengthy road-trips next season after the improvements over the winter...

[bobbyjones]

sucks about the crash, glad to hear your recovering. if the rear end is still apart, can you snap some pics of the shock mounts?

[Zman86]

sucks about the crash, glad to hear your recovering. if the rear end is still apart, can you snap some pics of the shock mounts?

I'll take a couple for you tommorow, although the bags are bolted back in now