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Virgin glovebox

Started by 200 hp, 12 May 2011, 05:54 AM

200 hp

I know that the glovebox on the W116's and W123's eventually sag with age creating a dodgy misalignment with the dashboard when closed. Mine amazing hasn't done that yet. Does anyone know what's the cause of the sagging glovebox door and is there a way to prevent it from happening in the future? I'm really happy with my original interior, especially the becker mexico cassette door that still works. I'd like to maintain a good fitting glovebox door too.

KenM

The consensus on this one seems to be that the spring in the glovebox light prong thing is too strong and over many years it pushes the glovebox door out, eventually warping the whole thing. Have read some comments

somewhere, not sure where now, that said in fact it is the wood inlay that picks up the warping, and if you can straighten the wood the glovebox door will be ok. Can't confirm or deny this one though.

200 hp

So removing the glovebox light prong should prevent deformation of the wood?

koan

Quote from: 200 hp on 15 May 2011, 09:27 PM
So removing the glovebox light prong should prevent deformation of the wood?

Your's not having deformed suggests that what you have for a switch is different from every other W116 we've encountered.

If you do remove the switch I'd be interested see a picture of it, see if yours is different.

koan
Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, Amen!

KenM

Seen a few pics of cars that seem to have a nice straight glovebox lid but it's certainly the exception. If yours is still straight I would remove the light switch and keep it that way, looks much better and for the amount of time

you use the glovebox it aint gonna matter.

TJ 450

I've never done it, but why not modify the switch with a less "intense" spring? I would absoluteley do this if my glovebox wasn't already banana-shaped. ;)

Tim
1976 450SEL 6.9 1432
1969 300SEL 6.3 1394
2003 ML500

thysonsacclaim

My glove box also doesn't seem to (yet) suffer this issue.

Re the wood trim, on the other hand, mine is warped, but that is not specific to the glove box in my case. It bows out on the left and right edges on every piece of trim.

What I've done in the past is stripped the finish from wood (which is chipped anyway), cleaned it throughly and impregnated it with natural oils. I then place between slats of wood larger than the piece itself and clamp it down.

It can take weeks to do. In the mean time, I unlock the clamps, check the bend and re-oil once or twice in the process.

In the end, the wood will be more pliable, less brittle, slightly larger (esp if in hot dry climate) and darker in color.

I'm not sure if I'll go through the effort on this or not. I could also buy new wood, but it's great to have original.

I'll have to look at the box to see why mine is also not bowed.

1980sdga

I'd like to see some pics!  I imagine it would be about impossible just to do one piece and expect it to match...

thysonsacclaim

Quote from: 1980sdga on 18 May 2011, 11:29 PM
I'd like to see some pics!  I imagine it would be about impossible just to do one piece and expect it to match...

I'd do the whole lot. Does anyone know what kind of wood was used?

1980sdga, there are other methods online. I have also used plain water and it works well. However, using a good wood oil will impregnate the wood better and will last longer. I've seen others use glycerine mixes and mixes with DMSO (which comes from paper production anyway) and oils mixed.

Only issue with oil is ensuring it does not interfere with your staining. It needs to be cleaned afterwards.

And sometimes fitting can be an issue if the wood swells to a larger size the stock, but you can fix this by baking the wood at a low temp to shrink it down a bit.



If I replaced the wood, I'd like either a cherry:


Or antiqued maple:

1980sdga

Burl Maple.  Great tone and sustain as well  ;D  It'll make your Becker sound better  ;D

Seriously, a skilled woodworker probably wouldn't have much trouble replicating the pieces.

TJ 450

The veneer is zebrano/zebrawood that is stained etc, coated in a 2k polyurethane finish as far as I know.

The base structure appears to be plywood.

It would be an interesting project applying a different, custom veneer indeed.

Tim
1976 450SEL 6.9 1432
1969 300SEL 6.3 1394
2003 ML500