Pool noodles take 2

[WGB]

My 16 mm pool noodle was starting to suffer under the effect of my 100+ kilos so when my wife arrived home with two much more substantial noodles for my grandson I said one was going to end up a bit shorter.



If you had a problem picturing the fix here is a photo of the original fix - with it's skirt lifted of course..



It is based on genuine M-B 126 seat repair kit advertised on US e-bay about 18 months ago which consisted of two rubber cylinders to be placed at the front edges of the seat.

I cut a 16 cm length off the new thicker pool noodle and found it to be too long so reduced the length to 14 cm which now balances the seat up nicely and makes the outer edge of the squab nice and firm.

I replaced the other two previously used noodles but not sure they are really necessary.

I will see how this travels over the next few months

Bill

[nathan]

Bill,
are these things placed vertically or bent over on themselves? i am not spatially gifted to orientate myself!

[TJ 450]

That looks like something I should do to my 126, to firm up the seats. Nice pictorial, too.

They appear to be positioned in a vertical fashion, as a coil spring would be.

Tim

[peterq]

I cut a 16 mm length off the new thicker pool noodle and found it to be too long so reduced the length to 14 mm

That's very short - do you mean 14cm?

[WGB]

That's very short - do you mean 14cm?

Sorry - late night typo - has been corrected.

Bill

Bill,
are these things placed vertically or bent over on themselves? i am not spatially gifted to orientate myself!

Yes Nathan they are placed vertically along the outside edge of the seat under the skirt.

Really the only one doing the work is the leading one but I put I have put the other two back for symmetry and support.

The first three that I tried are in the Photo having been removed along with the new more substantial noodle.

I refitted the back two and have replaced the front one with a 14 centimetre length of the more substantial noodle.

Bill

[bradbenz]

hi i cant for the life of me figure out how to get the seat ready to put noodles in. do u have to take the seat out or do it in the car? want to be able to put i back together. i sit on it but cant unhook the vinyl hope i can get it fixed

[vlv8vic]

do it in the car mate. Just grab the lower edge of the canvas (whatever your version might be), put some weight on the cushion and pull the material down. It's only 'hooked' under the frame of the seat via a thicker edge which sorta butts into a groove.

Probably the worst description ever but the only thing really keeping the cover attached to the seat is the upward pressure from the padding and the springs. Nothing fancy.
J

[Big_Richard]

The springs in my drivers seat were totally shot too,

Also, the drivers seat backrest internal metal fatigues and cracks in one place on every one ive seen.

Early w116 seat bases use much stronger coil springs versus the later leaf springs which break. These should be collected and saved from the scrap yard.

I've made my new drivers seat out of a early coil base, more than capable of supporting 200+ KG's and a passenger side back rest. The only issue is that the recliner knob is where it is on every other manual seat car in the world rather than in the middle

[WGB]

Sit on the cushion and force the edge of the leather out of the channel in the seat base that it fits into.

It usually is easier at the front right hand angle or at the rear near the height adjustor lever.

Still happy with my last repair attempt.

Bill

[bradbenz]

ok I'll try again now see how I go love to have a half comfortable seat. Can I put too much presure trying to take it out?
cheers brad

[WGB]

Can I put too much presure trying to take it out?

You will need to get the leather(or whatever the seat material is)  in the channel to start to come loose from the channel without tearing anything - put weight (yourself or an assistant) onto the squab so that the side skirt is not in tension then the bottom edge needs to come out of the channel vertically down.

Finger pressure on the bottom edge of the skirt on the front outer corner should be enough but if there are problems a small ?screwdriver - used with care to prevent tearing - will assist, particularly at the rear near the height adjustor where the skirt starts.

You should see how it is fitted and then reverse it to get it back in again.

Bill

[bradbenz]

legend legend it's what I had always dreamed of.three years I've waited for this. it's a normal seat!
thanks heaps this site is unreal now to fix the heat coming in any ideas not really knowing my way around a car won't help but if I follow good instruction then anything is possible
thanks again

[WGB]

Start another thread about the heat but it will either be a faulty heater valve (vacuum operated on the fire wall) or more likely perished foam in the heater box flap valves.

If it is the flaps and you have the HVAC system the heat levers will not bottom in their slots (both have to bottom completely to pull in the vacuum for the heater valve to close) - a quick work around is to remove the knee rolls under the dash and on each side you will see a 10 mm nut which should move when you move teh heat levers.

Loosen that nut just enough to allow lever to move indepentantly of the flap controls and although the flaps will not work it will allow the heater valve to close off when both levers are at their lowest point.

Bill

[bradbenz]

thanks again done another post but do I tighten the nut back up just to clear it up thank u

[WGB]

It really depends whether you want to try and move the flaps again or not.

If the airflow is to all the useful parts and you are happy with it leave the nuts looseish and the levers will control the temperature and also turn the heat off completely but obviously the airflow flaps controlled by the heat levers will stay disengaged.

If the airflow is going in the wrong directions you can tighten the nuts up and jiggle the levers judiciously (don't snap anything off internally) and see if you can improve it and then loosen the nuts off again so that you have heat control.

Other than that you will be left with "The Bentley Publications Fix" (Do a search on this if you want to know more) or else removing the dashboard and re-foaming the airbox flaps (also do a search on this if you want to know more)

The two airflow levers - up and down - seem to be independant of the heat levers and still work fine in both my cars and give adequate control of distribution for our West Australian climate.

Bill