Dash wood trim removal

[karmannghia60]

Hello
I would like to restore the wood trim on my '69 280SL, how do I remove the pieces? Is it from under the dash? That would be a nightmare of a job with all the heater cables, gauges, glovebox, etc
Rafik

[Khurram Darugar]

Try going from underneath the dash towards the bulkhead, Looking up.

[Garry]

You need to look in the Technical Manual under interior, dashboard and look at removal of instruments etc and see what is needed to access under the Dash. You will find that it all pretty much has to come out including the steering wheel for ease and most say that the windscreen also needs removal to do it easily and successfully!

Each wood piece is held on with two nuts that screw onto two screws that go thru the metal dash/firewall and are fixed into each piece of wood and they are only accessable from underneath.

Big job.

[graphic66]

On my 66' 230sl the left dash wood has 3 nuts and the right has two. These are blue plastic nuts that take a 9mm socket, best to use extensions and a universal joint socket. The blue plastic nuts are very rare and I don't think they are available. Put something over your dash to protect it from getting scratched by the studs on the wood. 

[Richard Madison]

Hope this may help:

Remove wood Trim:
Right-side long piece. Remove the glove box.

Shine some light in the empty space to find the blue plastic hex nuts under the trim. Remove as many as you can find and reach. There are 3? Hex nuts for each of the long wood pieces. You might need to remove the padding on the A-pillar.

To remove the left-side piece:
This one is a bit harder to do. You must remove the tachometer and speedometer to access the nuts. Start by removing the insulation panel below the steering wheel. Now use a small flashlight, push the driver's seat far back, and wedge your head against the brake pedal, facing up. Very uncomfortable! Some suggest removing the steering wheel. I did not do that.

Look for the round thumbscrew that holds the tachometer to the dash. Remember where and how everything is put together. Remove the thumbscrew. Remove the cable from the tach. Remove the electrical wire. Set the tach aside.

DO NOT REMOVE THE CENTER GAUGES! A thin metal tube is attached to the back of the center cluster. This tube carries a column of oil from the engine to the oil pressure gauge. If the tube is loosened or removed, oil will spill to the floor of the car. Leave the tube attached.

Work your way around the gauges to remove the speedometer which also has a thumbscrew, cable, and electrical wire.

Now you should have access to the blue plastic nuts holding the left trim piece. Remove them. Cover the top of the dash to prevent scratches then carefully remove the wood.

MIGHT-AS-WELLS:
An excellent time to send the speedo and tach out for reconditioning. Don't forget to replace the light bulbs. The speedo cable goes into the driver side of the tranny and is held by a bolt that tightens against the cable end, the bolt is to the rear of the cable. The cable is removed by pulling the cable into the interior of the car not into the engine compartment. Might need to replace the rubber grommet at the firewall (the grommet is split or can be neatly sliced so can be replaced with the cable in place.) Replacement grommets and cables are available.

If your radio, clock, cigar lighter, or heater levers are broken, now is the time to take care of them.

Re-installation is the reverse. Fitting the left side wood trim back against the windshield without scratching the dash top was a slow, difficult job for me.

Richard M, NYC

[Joe]

I suggest cutting off an eighth of an inch or so from the bolts glued to the wood pieces, once the wood has been removed. They are longer than necessary, and this will help when you replace the wood. A Dremel works well for this.
I recently ordered new nuts from the Classic Center, and they sent metal nuts instead of the blue plastic ones. The metal ones were 8 bucks apiece.
Don't try to use regular lock nuts, because they are too tight. One can twist the bolt out of the wood when trying to tighten one of these (damhikt).
Lots of guys and gals have torn their dash on the driver's side when removing or replacing the wood there because of the length of the bolts. If your windshield is out, removing and replacing the wood is probably simple. Otherwise, I suggest you put a piece of metal, line a flexible putty knife, on the dash so you can slide the bolts on that without fear of contacting the dash material.
Joe

[KUMARB]

I recently restored the dash wood trims on my 280SL. Since I had gauges, radio, glove box and heater ducts already removed for restoration, the wood trims came out easily. I did not have to remove the steering or the windshield.

Restoring wood trims was  a bit time consuming. I used heavy duty wood glue, sand paper, mahogany stain and finishing coasts with clear lacquer. They turned out very good. It saved me from buying new ones for $500-$600.

The blue plastic nuts are still available at the local Mercedes dealer. And they do cost about $7-$8 a piece.

I hope this helps.