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I've been ferociously browsing the forum for a week or so now taking in as much info as I could. I went and saw this 2002 today and put a deposit down. It will be at least a week and a half before I can go pick it up with work and other things in the way. This place looked like a wealth of information and so I joined yesterday, read through the introductory bits and dove into the specifics on what to look at. Didn't want to post until I knew I'd be getting the car just in case I didn't like something but the car is a very solid and honest car with good bones. There's a seam that's come apart a few stitches on the passenger seat.
The car apparently had a butcher put in an after market stereo and they broke the wood trim. It's got an after market amp in the back and it's just sloppy install overall so I plan on cleaning that all up. The car is not perfect by far, the exterior is probably an 8.5 out of 10 without rust or pain issues.
Does have a handful of little dent wizard type dings that can probably be taken out but at this point why bother. They're only visible if you're looking for them. The interior is a 7.5 so there's room for improvement, but a cleaning of the leather and general tiding up will get it back up to snuff. The A pillar felt covering is burned in a couple of spots and it's sagging in a couple of spots. But the headliner and all other leather surfaces are in good shape, just dirty (specifically the center armrest) that's downright disgusting.
It's got just shy of 74k miles, so it's in very good shape overall mechanically. But it's in bad need new tires, probably will do pads and rotors just to be safe and I'll change all the fluids, transmission, oil, plugs, filters etc. then drive it for a few months until I decide where to go with the rest of it. It's also in need of restoring the headlights so I'll get that out of the way ASAP. Overall I was impressed with the straight line balance, the torque and the braking but the suspension is just too "comfortable" for my taste. Sport shocks and springs would probably wake it up but just want to get familiar with the car before I dive in. In the mean time, pardon the dumb questions, bear with me, I promise to search the hell out of things before asking stuff and I'll contribute where I can. I do most of my wrenching when I can, but time is a luxury as I have more projects than time seemingly always.
Thanks for listening, hope to stay around for a while, this is a year or so project to get the car where I envision it needs to be.
BTW... this is my fun car so I don't need to go crazy with engine mods, I'm happy with what the 320 has in the way of power for comfortably cruising at speed.
Thanks for the welcome. My daughter just threw serious shade my way, calling the color "Little Mermaid" green.
Working on the laundry list of to do items, I've budgeted about 2k to bring it up to speed at least short term that includes springs and shocks to get it a bit firmer, replacing all bushings, and a cleaned through stereo.
Moving cars around in the driveway yesterday and had a photo op...
Making progress on the car so far. Just cleaning it out, making things right, cleaning out sloppy wiring from a previous stereo installation so on and so on. Motor mounts and transmission mounts going in as a friday night project. There's a nice rough idle the I'm sure is coming from the leaky motor mounts. Replaced the cabin air filter which looked like it had an entire family of mice living in it, thankfully changed the "funky" smell I'd been unable to get rid of. The PO had it parked for long times as he worked abroad. Thankfully the mice only went at the engine cowling lining. No other evidence of mice found. I've wrestled with the clock/temp gauge pixel corruption to no avail. Was only able to restore maybe 25% more pixels... sending it out eventually.
Put some AMG Type IV (I believe) wheels on it, much nicer ride with the correct rubber. Kept the 16 inch rims as snow tires. I'll keep the thread updated as I go along. Enjoying getting to know the nuances of the car. Not the fastest off the line (I'm okay with that) but a nice grunt of torque pushing from 60 to 90 mph. Perfect long range cruise. Surprisingly getting about 27~29 MPG.
@OP - the new wheels are a great visual improvement.
I've found the motor mounts and trans mount to be more tedious than difficult. You'll probably be done in a couple of hours. While you're under there, look at the steering damper. If it's covered in oil and looks original, it may be. To check it, drop one bolt and push it. If it compresses easily, it's toast. An OE Boge unit is $25 (from Autohaus AZ - dealers are much more) and it's and easy swap.
If the previous owner skipped the cabin filter service you may want to consider another service that's commonly skipped - re-torquing the steering gear bolts. It's due once every 4 years or 50,000 miles, whichever comes first. It's a simple, 10 minute service and I've documented it here - www.fitzhughmedia.com/MBF/sgb.html
While doing the motor mounts last night... I actually started on the brakes Thursday night, both front brakes done, motor mounts done but I found this...
Thankfully the H&R springs and pads are sitting in a box waiting to be installed. Ordered an internal spring compressor because I'm too much of a ***** to risk a limb to save $100 bucks.
H&R swaybars also in a box waiting, and Koni adjustable sports shocks will be shipping on the 31st. Under $367 bucks for the whole set on sale, I couldn't pass it up, sorry Bilstein, still love you though.
I'm enjoying the pricing on parts not having to pay the infamous Porsche tax I'm accustomed to.
Last edited by Silver_Arrows; 10-29-2016 at 10:57 AM.
Just an update on my journey. All springs in place now, wound up having the front spring (H&R) with one knurl pad, the ones in the rear I went with two knurls but for some reason had a very pronounced difference between the left and right rear right height. Over an inch lower on the driver's side, I happened to have kept the previous pad which was 4 knurls and that got the level spot on. I was a little hesitant to use the original pad, but the rubber seemed just fine. In any case, I know now how to do the job so any future fiddling will be much easier.
I did spring for the internal spring compressor, anything other than that would seem dubiously risky to me after having gone through the process.
Tomorrow I'll hopefully be getting the shocks done, Koni sport adjustable. 4 settings... 0-3 I went with a one as the car will be mostly for street cruising. Hopefully I'll be happy with that, maybe I'll compare them to the shocks coming out first to see how much of a difference I can feel between the two when I compress them by hand.
I put the front H&R bar, which is much stiffer than the OEM, and hadn't gotten around to installing the rear bar yet. Hopefully do that tomorrow as well while I'm doing the shocks. Not recommended to do only one bar at a time! Just for your reference.
I'll post some pictures tomorrow, quite a difference in the before and after of the wheel wells with all the pretty violet and yellow components and pristine Brembo rotors.
Wow, great progress. What a difference the wheels make. I am going down a similar path with a 2002 CLK320 which i am very close to sealing the deal. I am considering the same AMG wheels so it is great to see an actual photo of this wheels on a CLK. Again great work.
Forgot to come back here and update with some pics...
You guys have the "before" of what the front right spring looked like, here's the "after"
The car is pretty much complete and I decided to keep the stock rear bar for now until I try the car out in an autocross. The softer more compliant rear might be welcomed accelerating out of corners.
Here's another glamor shot.
Now I'm primarily chasing rattles in the back deck because the subwoofer is so damned awesome. I hadn't done a custom stereo in a car in over 20 years, quality speakers are entirely better nowadays.
Now I'm primarily chasing rattles in the back deck because the subwoofer is so damned awesome. I hadn't done a custom stereo in a car in over 20 years, quality speakers are entirely better nowadays.
10-06-2016, 08:17 PM
