face lift

[Brasco]

any one ever converted the front headlamps, grill etc of a 200 to a 300 one ?? what actually does involve? is it jsut a bolt on thing or welding alterations are required?

thanks

[discojmz]

bolt on afaik. same chassis, different parts.

[LR90]

Pretty sure its actually quite involved. Sure I've seen some pics but can't recall where. (Pirate maybe but can't think why it would be posted there?)

[Smurf]

Its not that difficult, I did it to my 200tdi a few years back.

You need the headlamps (of course), the grill & hockey sticks (bit of trim for under the lights). The parts I call toggles! 3 per light. They are what hold the lamps to your motor. Oh & some spades to connect to the back of the bulbs.

Remove your lights, grill & surrounds. Tuck wires out of the way. Get somet to cut your bodywork with, I used a small jigsaw, awkward but worked. A drimmel would be better.

If you hold up your new lights you will see they only partially go in the hole, you need to measure/guestimate how much to enlarge them by. I did a conservative estimate then went bit by bit from there. Remember that the hole cannot be too big because you need to fit your "toggles" to hold the lights in place.

As the hole gets bigger & you hold up your lights you can start to make sure they roughly line up.

When complete mark where the fittings are to go & drill an oversized hole for the toggley things, not too big but enought so you can adjust your lights after.

Get the toggley bits (3 per light) & remove the bolt, you only need this piece. I then used some foamboard/foamex & cut some rectangles, these are to fix over the oversized holes & drill to fit your toggley bits through (if you can follow). The foamboard is slightly flexible which will help hold your lights securley, & will allow adjustment from inside with a 13mm & 10mm spanner if I remember.

Fix your wires to the bulbs! I used spades.

I even managed to keep my adjustment motor too with a bit of a mod (commitment).

I know this is brief but it was 3 years ago now & I have no pics of me doing the conversion. Its not difficult at all, although it may sound a bodge if done carefully it will look great.

Hope this is helpfull.