W124 Wagon Build (The War Wagon)

[Azrial89]

Im digging it, really love mercedes wagons.
How far are you planning on lowering it?

Thanks man. I'm probably just going to do the H&R Drop Springs. From my understanding it's a 1.3-1.5" drop which is not a lot, but pair that with the 18" AMG Monoblocks I want to get. It should close the wheel gap quite nicely. That and it's going to be used as my moving van for the next few years as my girlfriend and I will be touring the country

[Azrial89]

Awesome, I was thinking about wrapping the wood in mine. Mine's not too far gone, not a whole lot of cracks so i'm undecided. Definitely take some more pictures of the interior with the CF wrap.

Yeah, my wood is in pretty rough at this point, and the cracks really show through. But either way the wrap looks so much better. I will take some more pictures as I do the rest of the trim and get my ass in gear.

[Azrial89]

So if any of you guys follow my Buick thread you will know at the end of September my girlfriend and I moved to Hawaii and put our cars in storage and took the Buick North. So thats the big reason this thread has not been updated for quite some time. Well the time has come for us to head back and get our things out of storage and move to her next assignment as a traveling Doctor of Physical Therapy. With that being said, here is how I left her.



As you can see, I tossed on a hitch to tow our things across country. Also since I have been away from it, I have decided to pursue the avenue of bagged suspension and probably different wheels as well, but we will see where she goes, I will be sure to get a picture of the Carbon Fiber wrap on the finished interior. Thanks for hanging in there!! Ha

[Azrial89]

So we made it back to Tucson from Honolulu and packed up all our belongings and hit the road for the 1600 mile drive to Oregon, It was a great drive, we stopped at my grandparents house for lunch in Phoenix and made it to Kingman, AZ for the first night.



The next day we woke up to snowy icy cold as piss conditions and set off.



We drove through vegas and up the incredibly desolate East side of Nevada, at one point we hit a stretch of 124 miles where there were no services and I decided I could do it on less than a half tank... I ran the Ol' Girl all the way to fumes, I still have no clue how I didn't run out of gas. We made it to Twin Falls, Idaho and spent the night. We finished the drive the next day and made it to our new home for the next 3 months, Prairie City, Oregon. Somehow we conquered a Snowy mountain pass with all season tires on the rear wheel drive Merc with a 1500 pound trailer . The only casualties was a burnt out tail light on the Benz, and a burnt out brake light on the girlfriends Cobalt.





Our new place is down there in the valley somewhere!!

[MBBelgium]

Got rid of the wood with a cheap fix. Bought some carbon fiber wrap for about $20. You can still see some of the cracks underneath, but over all it looks 1000% better!! Still have to do the long trim pieces that are all along the dash and on the doors. But so far so good

Good job on this car!
Just a little trick to help you with the wood. If you had it laying in aceton, all the "paint" of the wood will go off, so when you wrap it after that, you wouldn't see any cracks any more. Just an idea

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

Welcome to Oregon! I don't envy you guys east of the mountains with all that white stuff on the ground.

FYI, you may have to ditch your euro plate. OSP doesn't always take kindly to people who run with no front plate. Ask me how I know.

[Azrial89]

Good job on this car!
Just a little trick to help you with the wood. If you had it laying in aceton, all the "paint" of the wood will go off, so when you wrap it after that, you wouldn't see any cracks any more. Just an idea

Thank You! Awesome, thanks for the tip! Maybe if i'm feeling uppity I will redo that piece.

Welcome to Oregon! I don't envy you guys east of the mountains with all that white stuff on the ground.

FYI, you may have to ditch your euro plate. OSP doesn't always take kindly to people who run with no front plate. Ask me how I know.

Thanks! I already love it here! I have missed the snow! But man, that mountain pass drive was sketchy as hell!!

Ha, i figured it was frowned upon, the car is still registered in Arizona so I will just play stupid if I get any grief for it.

[Azrial89]

Awesome, I was thinking about wrapping the wood in mine. Mine's not too far gone, not a whole lot of cracks so i'm undecided. Definitely take some more pictures of the interior with the CF wrap.

Here are some more of the CF. I got all of it done now except for the back doors, I ran out of material

[Marsss]

looking good, you should re do the shifter surround though

[MercTastic]

looking good, you should re do the shifter surround though

He'd have to buy a new wood trim piece. Or make one, it was all cracked when he put the vinyl on, cracks are showing through. I still think it looks a lot better anyway.

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

Like MBBelgium says, the cracks are all in the finish, not in the wood below. It's trivial to remove the finish chemically, which would provide a nice smooth surface for the vinyl.

[MercTastic]

Like MBBelgium says, the cracks are all in the finish, not in the wood below. It's trivial to remove the finish chemically, which would provide a nice smooth surface for the vinyl.

Ahhhh hadn't considered that, good call

[Oh Damn, it's Sam]

Also, I just noticed how well-optioned this wagon is. Heated seats and ASD! I'm jealous of the former, not so much the latter

[Azrial89]

Yeah, I will probably just be leaving it alone for now. I really like how it all looks, even with the cracks it's way better than it was.

Also, I just noticed how well-optioned this wagon is. Heated seats and ASD! I'm jealous of the former, not so much the latter

Yep, I love the Heated seats, its a luxury I have never known. We will see if I get any heart ache from the ASD

[Azrial89]

I have not been on for quite a while. But only minor things to update.

Probably my favorite purchase for the car thus far!!! Still trying to get it to work, for some reason the phone is not getting power, but its not a pressing issue, especially since I'm pretty sure no one offers the analog service it requires anymore. None the less, its a great conversation piece.



I got tired of the ugly corner lights, so I ordered some clear Depos and it really cleaned up the look of the front end.



With the new lenses, I needed some new bulbs. Picked up these nice LED flashers and I love them.



It seemed as soon as we got to Eastern Oregon, it was time to head to the next assignment. As you can see we downsized dramatically from a Uhaul trailer to a roof rack and basket, which is so much easier and less stressful.



Our next assignment was Costal Oregon in Coos Bay. It was absolutely beautiful.



While in Coos Bay, I just did some more updating and touching some things up. First was repainting all the black plastics under the hood.



Then I painted the door handles to get rid of the awful chrome strip. I also did the emblems because I **** chrome more than I can explain.



Then I just freshened up the wiper bits on the front, back, and headlights. Again nothing special, but it really makes everything look so much cleaner.



After driving the dark coastal roads with subpar halogen bulbs, I opted for some extremely nice LED headlight bulbs. I could never go back.



We did a lot of exploring up and down the Oregon coast and the wagon took good care of us, we did a 3 day camping trip with the wagon putting in some serious miles and I have to say, I could no ask for a more comfortable and reliable ride.



Along with being a great people hauler, it makes a fantastic muppet taxi as well! (there is a 4th one behind the big guy)



Right before we left our assignment in Coos Bay, we took a trip to Crater Lake... I have to say, this has to be the most beautiful place I have ever seen, just look at it!!





Then just 3 days before we left, the D-Bags that were renting us the house started remodeling their garage and in the process, their carelessness resulted in them washing out their paint rollers RIGHT NEXT TO THE WAGON!?!?! I had just washed it the day before to prepare for our trip south... It was dried on and i confronted them and they acted like it was whatever. I **** when people have no respect for other individuals property, ITS NOT HARD.





Luckily after I cooled down, I went ahead and tried to clean it up and discovered thankfully (for their sake) it was water based and came of with some serious elbow grease.

Then the time came to leave Oregon for our next assignment in San Francisco!



This is where we are at currently until the middle of October and then it will be off to the next place. The only thing I have done to the wagon since being in SF was install new engine mounts. They were badly collapsed and had leaked out all of their fluid. The car had a pretty bad tremor while in drive with the brakes applied ever since I bought it, so I was finally able to get access to a lift and take care of it. It is smooth as glass now, you would never now the car was 20 years old!



I know this may not be the most exciting thread around, but I enjoy keeping track of it and sharing it with anyone who cares. There will be a time when we stop traveling and settle down and then I will be much more apt to do bigger things. Its just hard to mess with success at the moment since I need it to start and operate properly everyday. Thanks for tagging along guys!