Possible Modifications to 1991 300ce?

[Ortolan]

I'm selling an AMG C36 crankshaft & rods plus a set of new 3.6L Oettinger pistons if anyone is considering a performance M103/M104 buildup. Ed, let me know if the stainless steel brake lines aren't taken, I'm interested too.

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[RBYCC]

Originally Posted by Saijin_Naib

PM sent Why didnt you end up isntalling them? Are they helpful at all, or are they just a placebo effect? Also, which rotors do you feel perform the best for the value? You chose Zimmerman, why? Im sorry Im asking annoying questions, its just if I fund this repair its going to clean me out of my money, so I want to be sure I do it right. Thanks

I needed rotors, and don't believe the C124 even with a TT requires a larger brake setup.

Dealer installed my rotors and forgot to install the brake lines

Zimmerman are OEM quality, great value,and very reasonably priced ($310.72 for four rotors and Textar pads @ www.autopartsplace.com )

Not much more then MB dealer OEM, but a slightly higher performance setup.

Ed A.

[RBYCC]

Originally Posted by Ortolan

I'm selling an AMG C36 crankshaft & rods plus a set of new 3.6L Oettinger pistons if anyone is considering a performance M103/M104 buildup.
Ed, let me know if the stainless steel brake lines aren't taken, I'm interested too.

B.J.

Will be sending the lines to Saijin_Naib

How is your TT install coming along.
Waiting for my car to be picked up for transport back home !!!

Had a problem with two defective cat converters ( single unit 2 x 2" in, 2 x 2" out ceramic).
Decided to go with small 4" diameter inline units, one for each pipe and with a metal substrate. Tried to get Random Technology units but no stock. Ending up with Magnaflow # 59954 " Metallic-cat" !!!
Hope to have installed this week, maybe one more dyno pull, then wait for transport !!!

Ed A.

[Saijin_Naib]

Ortolan, how much? And what would be required to put that into my 300ce?

[crr1612]

i wanted to see if i could get lightweight pistons and rods, but i aint about to bore out .4 liters for it anyone finds a cheap set for the m103 3 liter tell me

[Saijin_Naib]

Why not? Take a pocket knife to it, and bore it out by hand

[Ortolan]

Originally Posted by RBYCC

B.J.

Will be sending the lines to Saijin_Naib

How is your TT install coming along.
Waiting for my car to be picked up for transport back home !!!

Ed A.

No worries. I'll be over in Boston later this year on business so I'll probably buy all my brake parts then and bring them back with me. Shipping to Australia is far too expensive.

My install seems to be getting there slowly. An alternator bracket had to be sent out to a welder for modification. The installation seems to use a handful of MB parts which aren't standard for the 3.2L M104 and aren't included in the kit. My mechanic hasn't told me what he's doing about the rest of these yet. Then there's the issue with the oil lines you mentioned as well...
I spent an hour last weekend going through the kit and ticking each item off against the parts list. It's amazing how many little bits and pieces are included. Thankfully a lot of them (bolts & washers) are stored together in plastic bags with a single part number!
There's a chance the car will be back together in two weeks.
After that, I still need to find a shop to install and tune my Autronic ECU without charging an arm and a leg.

[Ortolan]

Originally Posted by Saijin_Naib

Ortolan, how much? And what would be required to put that into my 300ce?

Well the factory price for the crank & rods is around US$7300. Don't know what the pistons cost directly from Oettinger (I bought them new from a private seller in Germany) but it would be a few grand. I don't expect anywhere near this price. Make me an offer for any parts you want.

Because the pin bore on the Oettinger pistons is smaller than bore on the AMG rods, you either need to bore out the piston or have some custom rods made to give you whatever compression ratio you want.

Once you have the geometry right, just drop everything into the engine while it's apart. My mechanic says that no modification should be required for an M104. An M103 may need the bottom of the cylinders bevelled for additional clearance.
Not sure if the stock computer from a 24v can run a 3.6L mod, you may also need to install an aftermarket ECU.

[RBYCC]

Originally Posted by Ortolan

No worries. I'll be over in Boston later this year on business so I'll probably buy all my brake parts then and bring them back with me. Shipping to Australia is far too expensive.

B.J.

I used to do the same thing in the eighties when I traveled frequently to the U.K.
Would visit the specialist shops and auto jumbles and load up with Brit car parts !!!!!

Are you visiting any other East Coast USA locations?

Ed A.

[Ortolan]

Unlikely at this stage. I'll probably be stopping in at the Montreal office in Canada for a few weeks either before or after Boston. I'm toying with the idea of buying a cheap car wherever I land first and driving it to the other location rather than flying. Maybe I'll get a $500 300CE, thrash it over a few hundred miles and then scrap it at the other end.

[Eliot]

Perhaps you should try the Top Gear episode from this past season where they travel to America? Has a section on buying used cars on the cheap.

[Saijin_Naib]

Allright, so smore questions
Are these bilstein HD (Heavy Duty) the same as Bilstein Sports?
Nevermind, apparantly, HD and Sports feel very similar, and the 300e Sports shocks DO fit the 300ce, its just a f-up. Interesting....
http://www.bilstein.com/mistore/ymm_...reYMM=storeYMM
And that first thinger, whats that? Do I need that?

Ive found the H&R springs: http://www.hrsprings.com/site/index.html
Sport Spring:
W124 no 4WD or conv, Front -1.3, Rear -1.3,
PART #: 29569-2
Cost: $ 389.00 Kit

Zimmerman Rotors:
Part #: N1000-26817 (Front) $78.95
Part #: N1000-54215 (Rear) $69.95

EBC Rotors:
Part #: E35GD378 (Front) $165.92
Part #: E35GD (Rear)
I cant for the life of me find rear rotors? Same as front maybe? o_O

[RBYCC]

Originally Posted by Saijin_Naib

Allright, so smore questions
Are these bilstein HD (Heavy Duty) the same as Bilstein Sports?
Nevermind, apparantly, HD and Sports feel very similar, and the 300e Sports shocks DO fit the 300ce, its just a f-up. Interesting....
http://www.bilstein.com/mistore/ymm_...reYMM=storeYMM
And that first thinger, whats that? Do I need that?

Ive found the H&R springs: http://www.hrsprings.com/site/index.html
Sport Spring:
W124 no 4WD or conv, Front -1.3, Rear -1.3,
PART #: 29569-2
Cost: $ 389.00 Kit

Zimmerman Rotors:
Part #: N1000-26817 (Front) $78.95
Part #: N1000-54215 (Rear) $69.95

EBC Rotors:
Part #: E35GD378 (Front) $165.92
Part #: E35GD (Rear)
I cant for the life of me find rear rotors? Same as front maybe? o_O

Brett

Bilstein HD and Sports have the same valving.
Sport has about 1" less travel.

I use the HD's with H&R sport springs.
HD's cost me $383.80 delivered in January ( www.eshocks.com )

Many here will firmly state that you must use a Sport with lowering springs, and you can but it will alter your street ride quality.

Main reason I went with HD's and H&R's is because it's a common setup used on Porsches as seen in the below links.

If it works on a Porsche Twin Turbo, then no reason why it wouldn't work on my humble C124 TT

www.rennsportsystems.com/993.html

Note that just about all street setups use the HD's...

www.rennsportsystems.com/1-e.html

The H&R sports don't give a radical drop and it seems the spring rates are more compatible with the HD's for street use.

If you are going to track the car on a regular basis then consider the sports.

Ed A.

[Saijin_Naib]

Awesome, thanks Ed I guess its H&R -1.3s and the Bilstein HDs. Sounds like a good start. My dad will paypal you the money once I get my rotors and pads, cause hes going to do the whole brake shebang at once. Is that okay?

[RBYCC]

Originally Posted by Saijin_Naib

Awesome, thanks Ed I guess its H&R -1.3s and the Bilstein HDs. Sounds like a good start. My dad will paypal you the money once I get my rotors and pads, cause hes going to do the whole brake shebang at once. Is that okay?

Brett

First fit the lines, then you can Paypal....

Ed A.

P.S.

FedEx Transport will be picking up my car Monday in Chicago, they were there this afternoon, but we made a last minute change on the style of catalytic converters being used.....hope to have it back by late next week !

[Eliot]

Looking forward to your impressions and photos

[Saijin_Naib]

Videos and time-slips too! I want to see this thing in action, stills just cant do motion justice

[Saijin_Naib]

Alright, necro-bumping this thread again so I can keep my car related nonsense here, not in the christy thread :P

Anyway, what is THIS b!tch called?

I've called it: Tail light Filler Panel, Tail Light Blend, Thinger, wtfzor, etc. Is there an offical name for this, and where can I get my hands on one? I like it more and more as I see it. Ideally, I would like the one with red lower, light smoke upper (to match 94-95 tails [one day, I will own :P]), or the white upper red low (to match current tails). Thanks!

[ZorroAMG]

Eww.....I had one on my first W124 and back in 1997 even I had the mod-sense to discard that horrific POS...

PLEASE for the love of W124, don't put that trash on your beauty!

[Saijin_Naib]

Now, not to offer you any disrespect, as yours, Eds, DL Hughley (lol) are some of the nicest w124s I've seen, and I dont wish to question your mod-sense, but for me, I think the look of that part (still want to know its name ) fits the look of the car. Maybe not yours, seeing as yours is a much more modern/stealth asthetic, but for my decidedly retro/broken look, it fits. I plan to eventually couple that with a rear deck spoiler or other spoiler to complete the rear end. The filler panel looks 80s, and my car is (more or less) 80s. I donno, I want to try it. And hey, if it sucks, then I can always sell it on ebay or hand it off to the next stupid on here that wants to see what it looks like

[ZorroAMG]

I's just that it's also flimsy, cheap plastic, will never have the same color as your lights cause your lights have 17yrs of sun fade/wear and tear and the fact that the centre piece will look newer, it will look totally out of place.

The centre piece was on my OLD W124, an '89....not enzo and it was the first thing to go before modding. Add the filler piece like berti did..I saw one on ebay

[Saijin_Naib]

How do you expect me to grow if you wont let me make my own mistakes?

Lol, seriously though, I like it (I think). I am looking on ebay now for filler panels of both the new trunk style and the reflector style. I may get squirrely and match the panel to a new set of OEM smoke lenses. This way, it would match and actually blend right. How's that strike ya?

[ZedStyle]

i think it might look okay, depending on the execution... i've never seen one of these up close, but like zorro says, it would look strange if it didn't match up properly to the tail lights, and that would add to the expense if you had to buy new lights.
to me it has the possibility of making the car look a bit more dated, but you could work with it and maybe tint part of it, i dunno.
if they're not too expensive it might be worth it to just get it, and then you'll know for sure and won't feel bad later!

[Bigpete123]

Save that money for other mods, dude. Those things look really 80's.

[ZorroAMG]

Agreed. It WILL make your car look more dated and "modded by a dad".