Hello,
I have a rattle in the front of the cabin (driver side) of my 1969 280SL that is driving me crazy.
First some background:
About 5 years ago, I refurbished the interior. The entire interior was removed, the non working gages were repaired, Dyna Mat was installed under the new carpet and pad, the dash was repainted, etc. Upon assembly, there were no rattles, even when driving over rough cobblestone roads.
THEN, I recently developed a rattle in the front of the cabin, and I have been chasing it for about 2 months.
The work done so far (in the past few weeks):
I removed the entire heating/ventilation system (with the exception of the driver side fiberboard duct).
I removed the clock, the glove box, the speaker grill and speaker, the front carpets, the gages, and the radio.
I ran a coat hanger down the fresh air drains at both ends of the fresh air "trough" (thought I might have dropped some small hardware).
I checked under the almost bare dash, and found several minor items that I corrected.
I looked under the hood and tightened anything loose.
The speedo and the tach cables are new, as is the rebuilt throttle linkage.
Still, the rattle persists. I am planning not to install the rebuilt heating/venting system until this rattle problem is solved. If I must tear it down again, then I will do that; but at this point I don't have any idea what to look for. Does anybody have any ideas? Thanks, Galen