[W126 Coupe] Rear view mirror upgrade - link to pics

[Sharan Bains]

Hope everyone has had a great Christmas.


I just did this on my W124 500E over the Christmas break - since W124, W126 
and W201 mirrors are all identical, the process would be exactly the same 
for the SEC's. Indeed I am going to be doing this on my 560 and 500SEC's 
shortly - the process will be exactly the same.

I updated the rear view mirror to one from a late 1998 W140 mirror - this 
mirror is AUTO-DIM, and has red and green LED's for the alarm system. 
Moreover, the late W140/r129 mirrors just look so much better, rounded and 
updated - and as can be seen from the pics, the mirror really does update 
the interior. Best thing is, late w140/r129 mirrors are color-coded to the 
interior. This one I have fitted is black, as it matches my black 500e 
interior. I have a grey w140 mirror for my 560 which is grey interior and 
beige one for my 300Se beige interior. The original w124/w126/w201 mirrors 
are very dated, flat and all black.

However, this auto dim mirror, brand new from MB, costs approx $500. The 
standard W140 mirror (with LED's but no auto dim, costs approx $200). So it 
ain't cheap - I was lucky to get one new from my breaker at 
half-price....there are electrically adjustable ones too, but we'll save 
that for another day....

Here is a link to the pics - there are other pics from upgrades on my 500E,  
namely

- fitment of electric steering column
- refurbishment of AMG 2-piece alloys
- lowering of rear suspension
- late 1998 W140 walnut/leather steering wheel fitment
- late W220 walnut/leather gearshift fitment


http://www.printroom.com/ViewAlbum.asp?userid=hakkinen&album_id=191832


The W140 mirror spring, which hooks up to the mounting plate on the roof is 
identical to the spring on the W14/w126 - so the mirror can infact be hooked 
straight up and all you need do then is wire up the loom for the auto-dim 
sensor and alarm LED's sensors. BUT, and this is the sticking point, the 
W140 mirror stalk base is very different to the stalk base on the W124/126 - 
as a result, you have gaps showing, and it ends up looking tacky. The other 
major difference is that thw w124/w126 stalk attached to mirror from the 
back, whereas the w140 stalk attaches to mirror from back but comes into it 
vertically.

So a little work is requried to make it look original :

- open up w140 mirror and remove circulating ball, which is held onto stalk 
with T15 torx bit

- open up W124/w126 mirror and remove stalk, which is held onto circulating 
ball by Phillips screw

- attached w124/w126 stalk to w140 ball - they fit onto each other 
perfectly. The w124/w126 stalk has a sqaure piece of metal which fits into 
ball and then screw holds it in place. The w140 ball has a recess for this 
square piece, and it's exactly the same size as on the W124 stalk. So the 
w140 ball bolts straight up to the W124 stalk.

- attach w124/w126 stalk with w140 ball to w140 mirror, reassemble mirror 
and casing. Rear casing has a cut-out at top for stalk - this may need to be 
filed to make it slightly bigger to allow more adjustment room with the 
w124/w126 stalk (which is angled more). The casing is plastic and is easily 
filed down and if done properly with correct tools, looks very original

- now a 3mm hole needs to be drilled into the w124/w126 stalk, at an angle, 
to allow the loom to be run from mirror, up stalk, and then under headliner 
down to the alarm control unit and power distribution unit, to power the 
auto-dim facility

- wiring is simple. two wires for auto-dim, brown wire to ground and 
grey/blue wire to night-time illumination wire (which is also grey/blue on 
w124/w126 wiring), so auto-dim facility is only activated when you turn on 
the lights.

- alarm led's - this depends on alarm system in car, but I wired up the red 
LED so that it flashes when alarm is armed, and green LED flashes with 
indicators when alarm is being armed via remote. A relay was used to ensure 
green LED only flashes when indicators light up with alarm arming/disarming 
- green LED's will not light up once key is in ignition. The red LED was 
made flashing through use of a flasher diode and flashes only when 
alarm/immobiliser are armed.

And that's it. Once wiring was complete and stalk transfer complete, simply 
push in the mirror onto the existing roof mount. Running the loom up to the 
mirror is a bit tedious, but straightforward.

The auto-dim is brilliant - mirror glass turns dark within seconds of light 
shining onto it brightly. The mirror has a rotating knob on the bottom, as 
all w140/r129 mirrors have, but on this mirror that knob is not functional, 
since it is auto-dim. On the standard mirrors, that knob has the function of 
dipping the mirror to make it dimmer.

More mods to come soon....


talbir