R129 panorama roof sun-blind droop

[TimboL]

One side of the sun-blind no longer retracts.

Has anyone taken one of these apart (and successfully put it back together again)? From a quick look it seems the manufacturer started with a sun-blind and then constructed a roof around it.

[Stegel]

I can't help but I can commiserate - my car is not quite as bad, but it took from Nottingham to Birmingham for it to fully retract when I first picked the car up and idly tried the blind at the first set of lights. The first time I put the roof in its stand I decided to take a look, but was quickly put off when I could see no sign of fixings. I keep meaning to look it up on WIS, as I daresay there's some hidden clips somewhere, but always something else more important to do.

(I see your car doesn't have the rear seat option - I'd much prefer if my car was the same rather than the useless perches the first buyer paid extra for!).

[ras62]

Probably never been used much so try giving it some exercise pilling it out square and pushing it back square.

[TimboL]

Thanks for the replies.

Stegel said:

(I see your car doesn't have the rear seat option - I'd much prefer if my car was the same rather than the useless perches the first buyer paid extra for!).

The 'delete rear seat' option had disappeared from the price list by the time I was ordering that car in 1999. The option was present for the immediately prior variant that I had (with rectangular wing mirrors) but had gone by the time of the R129 run-out version (with oval wing mirrors). It was a case of having the dealer ask the factory if they could remember that they used to offer the luggage platform + storage compartments alternative.

ras62 said:

Probably never been used much ...

I've used it quite a lot in the summertimes over the years hitherto.

ras62 said:

...try giving it some exercise pilling it out square and pushing it back square.

I've spent a fair bit of time doing that on several different days now. The neighbours think I am an obsessive loon.

Edited by TimboL on Tuesday 21st June 18:50

[r129sl]

I have got the workshop instructions for stripping the roof. I'll did them out once I've finished what I should be doing.

The rear seats were deleted on cars with the optional Bose sound system.

[r129sl]

Having searched and searched, I think I only ever had paper copies of the manual this point.

Anyway, the interior trim of the hardtop is simply clipped on and that it all has to be removed before the unblind trim can be removed. The clips are unlikely to break but may become unstuck from the trim pieces, requiring you to glue them back on.

First, upturn the hardtop on a suitable surface.

Now pull off the 'B' pillar trims.

Next pull off the trims which run around what normally is the bottom of the hardtop. There are three, one on each side and one running along th base of the rear window.

Remove the grab handles by popping off the square trims on each end and then undoing the concealed bolt.

Now you can pull off the large arch-shape side trims. The clips are prone to detaching from the trims. They can be glued back on.

The trim covering the blind may be removed by pulling it forwards and then down.

[TimboL]

r129sl said:

Having searched and searched, I think I only ever had paper copies of the manual this point.

Anyway, ...

Jonathan,

Thanks very much for this: it's most helpful. Now that the nights are drawing in, I will get the roof upturned on the sitting room floor for when there's nothing on the telly of an evening.

Do you happen to know in which direction I should budge the 'B' pillar trims and the big arch-shaped pieces to release them? Otherwise I can see myself ending up having to glue all of the clips back on.

There's a post on BenzWorld.org suggesting J-B Weld is a suitable adhesive for re-fixing the clips. Unfortunately, there seems to be a zillion different variants of that stuff.