Tommy's awe-inspiring Ccoupe

[C230 Sport Coup]

You were in San Francisco? Too bad I didn't know. We coulda met up for a cocktail. Originally Posted by tommy Since I just passed 140k yesterday, I thought I'd do an update. Still no codes, either from the K&N filter (over 5 months now) or the Magnaflow cat (about 6 weeks now). Hoping I don't jinx myself now. I did find out the reason for the supercharger intake popping off the block; the intake tube, a tube about 6" in diamater I believe (cost of $15) was misshapen, which is why it wouldn't stay tight. All better now. Leaving on Saturday for SF for a week and a half. Any recommendations for car shops, restaurants, etc., feel free. Got a ton of time to kill.

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[tommy]

It was funny - I was thinking, "Even in SF, the weather will be better than here" before I left on the trip. Oops!

I'll probably be back again this year; will definitely let you know.

I kept a count; I saw 5 different ccoupes in SF (not yours, though), an increase by 5 of what I've seen around here this entire year.

[amanonfire]

Originally Posted by LILBENZ230

Good question! IIRC, you've had lots of issues.. if I were you, my username would be acaronfire symbolizing what I'd do to it.

Knock on wood I haven't had a major issue in 3 years. The car could use some new paint, new bushings/endlinks, and some interior love - yet nothing major has failed. Coming up on 9 years/200K kms on the same battery, starter, alternator, ...

[tommy]

Don't jinx yourself! That battery is just itching for an excuse to fail.

[LILBENZ230]

Tommy you didn't drive out there, did you?

[tommy]

Originally Posted by LILBENZ230

Tommy you didn't drive out there, did you?

I was there and back in a week. You do the math.

[LILBENZ230]

Originally Posted by tommy

I was there and back in a week. You do the math.

I have a butt cheek that your mouth should meet, so please let me know if you ever visit Atlanta.

[tommy]

Unfortunately for you, I'm sure I'll be in Atlanta sooner rather than later. So keep that cheek clean!

Actually, my next long-distance driving trip may be Gemutlichkeit at Mid-Ohio in May; got the hankerin' for a driving trip, and have some Penn State friends at some stops along the way who I wouldn't mind saying hi to. And always wanted to get on Mid-Ohio's track, though usually it's been with thoughts of a Honda day in the CRX.

This pic's for midnight kompre - can't really see much, unfortunately, but the rust is all along the side of the sheet metal and is starting to move on to the outward face of the metal, so it's better to get it taken care of now.



And let me get into infomercial mode for one sec. While I was waiting on my cf Brabus steering wheel to get done, I had bought another wheel which I used in the interim. It's now for sale in the "interior" section on this forum. I even added a wheelskins two-tone cover to it, as I could not stand the stock rim's thin feel (so you would be getting a custom tommy steering wheel - just imagine the value that Antiques Roadshow would value it at! ).
And I've also got another steering wheel for sale in same thread (had bought that one in the morning with the thought of sending it out to get some custom work on it - so happens that that afternoon, I got word that my Brabus wheel was finally done, after 6 long months). So happy shopping, and bid on both wheels early and often.

[tommy]

So, I replace my burnt-out brake light last night at 8pm on the passenger's side, and since they're sold in pairs, and I'm ****, I decided to do the driver's side as well. Got to the bulb assembly, and that backing metal dish behind the brake light had gotten partially behind the part of the tail light that surrounds it. Ended up having to remove the entire tail light to get a screwdriver in to wedge it free. Then of course, had to just remove it again and reinstall during daylight today, since I had not aligned it properly.

Anyone had a similar problem with their tail light assemblies (unique to coupes, obviously)? I'm not a big fan of how that is designed at the moment.

[Midnight Koop]

thanks for the pic!

i wanted to make sure i'm checking the right area for rust on my coupe.

..

for the taillight issue... i've actually never had to replace bulbs. i switched to the facelift tails before my stocks burnt out.

[C230 Sport Coup]

Hmmm...doesn't the part that hold the bulbs just pop out?
Why did you have to remove the whole assembly?

Originally Posted by tommy

So, I replace my burnt-out brake light last night at 8pm on the passenger's side, and since they're sold in pairs, and I'm ****, I decided to do the driver's side as well. Got to the bulb assembly, and that backing metal dish behind the brake light had gotten partially behind the part of the tail light that surrounds it. Ended up having to remove the entire tail light to get a screwdriver in to wedge it free. Then of course, had to just remove it again and reinstall during daylight today, since I had not aligned it properly.

Anyone had a similar problem with their tail light assemblies (unique to coupes, obviously)? I'm not a big fan of how that is designed at the moment.

[tommy]

Originally Posted by C230 Sport Coup

Hmmm...doesn't the part that hold the bulbs just pop out?
Why did you have to remove the whole assembly?

It should, yes. The metal dish that is behind the brake light (the top bulb) goes into a cutout in the surrounding area of the car (to reflect back as much of the light as possible to the outside, I guess), and it's a tight fit. Normally, it would just come out, but on my assembly, the dish was caught up in the cutout, and I had to pry it out, which would have been very hard to do without removing the entire taillight. If you look at the sedan's taillights, they're more "normal" without this added complexity.

[LILBENZ230]

Originally Posted by tommy

If you look at the sedan, they're more "normal".

Fixed.

[tommy]

Originally Posted by LILBENZ230

Fixed.

Normal is so 20th century. You are just jealous of the much higher fabulosity factor in the ccoupe.

[MW_ATL]

I've had that problem, but just yanked and got it free. Now you've probably jinxed me!

My Coupe is up for the annual bulb replacement (or at least contact cleaning). It wants a sacrifice every year or so, or it starts throwing random light errors.

[samaritrey]

Originally Posted by MW_ATL

I've had that problem, but just yanked and got it free. Now you've probably jinxed me!

My Coupe is up for the annual bulb replacement (or at least contact cleaning). It wants a sacrifice every year or so, or it starts throwing random light errors.

lol
when i was down in atlanta meeting up with matt again my right running light burned out. then half way home the left one burned out. I have decided that next time i order form rmeuropean i am ordering all new bulbs again.

[LILBENZ230]

Early 203s seem to have an appetite for bulbs. My 230 lost a city light at around 90k miles. That's it.

[Midnight Koop]

inspected my car by the fender the other day and no signs of rust... i wonder how common this is?

thanks again for the pic

[fookoo303]

Originally Posted by midnight kompre

inspected my car by the fender the other day and no signs of rust... i wonder how common this is?

thanks again for the pic

I have had rust on the bottom of all four of my doors

I repaired the driver side but still need to do the passenger side. I've also seen other early w203's in the are that have the same problem.

[tommy]

The W203 can be 11 years old at this point, so I guess it should be expected now (if that makes anyone feel better).

[tommy]

Newest mod to be installed:



The stud conversion kit is from Rogue Engineering, which is about 5 mins from work here in NNJ; they had a hard time believing they'd fit on a Benz, but I tried 'em, and they're fine. The lug nut in the pic is a stock Honda part; my OZ rims are ball seat rims, so can't get the extended open lugnuts I wanted (would have looked awesome, too!), so I'll stick with these until a better, open-ended, ball seat nut comes around (I won't hold my breath).

They should be on in a couple of weeks. Also got my EDM center taillight assembly for my crx that I'd been hunting down for a while (tough to find them in good shape for less than an arm and a leg these days), so it was a banner day here.

[tommy]

Hey, guess whose car is back in the shop? Yep, mine!

This time, it was that the ignition wasn't recognizing the key about half of the time when I'd insert it. So I need a couple of ignition thingies. Then, of course, they were poking around and I need new motor mounts, tie rods again, front wheel bearings, and since they were so nice to want to do all that for me, they're going to install the replacement door handles and the rear speaker cover on the passenger's side (I call foul on MB for putting speakers there on this car, just where the seat belt tongue will do the most damage).

Should have it back on Tues., and be much the poorer for it. This car better last for at least another couple of years (Abarth at the end of 2012, baby! ).

And I will do those stud conversions next weekend - was going to get to them this weekend, but it was not to be, sadly. But I talked to Rogue and they said it was completely unnecessary to let the studs sit for 24 hours without putting the wheels back on. I will give them a couple of hours at least, though, since I'll be painting the hats on the rear brakes and finally paint the stock rear calipers gold to match the fronts.

I know that I should stop pouring $$ into this car at some point, but with 140k on it, I'm still hoping to squeeze a little more juice out of this lemon before it starts rusting on some landfill on Staten Island.

[Midnight Koop]

Originally Posted by tommy

Hey, guess whose car is back in the shop? Yep, mine!

This time, it was that the ignition wasn't recognizing the key about half of the time when I'd insert it. So I need a couple of ignition thingies. Then, of course, they were poking around and I need new motor mounts, tie rods again, front wheel bearings, and since they were so nice to want to do all that for me, they're going to install the replacement door handles and the rear speaker cover on the passenger's side (I call foul on MB for putting speakers there on this car, just where the seat belt tongue will do the most damage).

Should have it back on Tues., and be much the poorer for it. This car better last for at least another couple of years (Abarth at the end of 2012, baby! ).

And I will do those stud conversions next weekend - was going to get to them this weekend, but it was not to be, sadly. But I talked to Rogue and they said it was completely unnecessary to let the studs sit for 24 hours without putting the wheels back on. I will give them a couple of hours at least, though, since I'll be painting the hats on the rear brakes and finally paint the stock rear calipers gold to match the fronts.

I know that I should stop pouring $$ into this car at some point, but with 140k on it, I'm still hoping to squeeze a little more juice out of this lemon before it starts rusting on some landfill on Staten Island.

long live smurfalicious!

i get my car back next week (hopefully) after a ton of body work... mostly trying to make it clean again with a few minor additions... hopefully our cars will last 2-3 more years.

[tommy]

Originally Posted by Midnight Koop

hopefully our cars will last 2-3 more years.

I sure hope so. At the rate I'm going, I could have bought a new Civic Si and replaced it several times when I got bored of the color.

[C230 Sport Coup]

I passed 168K the other day.
No worries, purrs like a kitten.
You know what needs to be done to keep that coupe happy.
Have you ever flushed your tranny?
I'm waiting for my mileage award from mbusa, no work yet, 2 or 3 weeks now....hmmmm.

Originally Posted by tommy

I know that I should stop pouring $$ into this car at some point, but with 140k on it, I'm still hoping to squeeze a little more juice out of this lemon before it starts rusting on some landfill on Staten Island.