You can just swap out the covers??

 

By covers you are saying the lens - that turns cloudy over time? Are those available?

 

Yep, aftermarket. For that price I'm willing to take a chance

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003575422609.html
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003228764160.html

 

In case you have not come across Alex with Liget Street Cars here is one of his videos on replacing the headlight lens on his E55.

 

Off course haha, I studied his videos before I bought the CLS

 

Repaired the airhose going from the compressor to the valve block. I had a Macguyver solution in place, but that didnt hold. So bought the repair kit from MB, cost about 20 euro for 1.5m of airhose. Should've done that immediately haha



The Macguyver solution with reinforced vacuumhose. The hose was strong enough, but the clamps dont give enough force.



New airline in place. Had a piece of hose which fits the airline perfectly (added protection against rubbing).

 

New curtains / accordeons / whatever you call them for the roof window. Looks nasty in a luxury interior if those things are ripped (both were). Small repair with maximum impact

They are quite easy to replace, start with the window open, you will see 1 tab exposed. Lift it with a flathead screwdriver and then you can continue from the inside. On the inside there is a hard plastic piece of trim (in the front of the window) which slots in the trim (on each side) with a small tab.





New vs old



Problem solved!

 

Check out this video from LegitStreetCars

 

Created a simple video on how to replace the Airmatic ride height sensors

 

Added some yellow tintwrap to the foglights (as a tryout). I dont think I will keep this look, but fortunately its easy to remove

 

Refreshed the main parts of the front suspension. Bought the special C-clamp tool for the lower ball joints for about 40euro (which isnt bad).



New arms, thrust arms, inner + outer tie rods and lwer ball joints



Special tool at work



A little looksie behind the knuckle



But then I found out I had the wrong ball joints delivered. So project was coming to a stop...Ball joints did not have the lip to press them in.



Had to use some heat (torch) to get the 21mm nut for the outer tie rood to break loose. Then I also found out my tie rod toolkit did not have the correct size (41mm). I made the decision to keep the inner tie rod for now and only replace the outer tie rods. gave it a good lube with fresh ball joint grease.

 

Old and new thrust arm. They were also aftermarket, so somebody replaced them already (good!)



All 4 suspension bolts looked like this. Why...



One of the outer tie rods looked like this



Couple of days later, the correct ball joints had arrived so we could continue



OE arm vs new aftermarket arm



Decided to also replace the upper ball joints (correct choice)



Everything in place! Need to do an alignment next.

 

In with the new! Definitely makes it tight and solid!

 

I havent done a proper shakedown yet, is planned for tonight

 

Shakedown was successful & today I passed yearly MOT in the Netherlands. I have to drain the ATF again, as I was a little bit sloppy with the oil pan of the gearbox. Seems the gasket on the corner with the heatshield was not seated correctly, so I will have to do that again ​​​​​​​

 

Oh man that's definitely a pain. Will you be reusing the oil? BTW congrats in passing the MOT.

 

Yes, I will be reusing it as it barely has 100km on it at this point.

 

Pictures from the gearbox maintenance:

10 Liters of Liquimoly gearbox oil



Servicekit


New conductor plate





Dirty valvebody (see the black residue on the valvebody)





New conductorplate in place



All back in place

 

After refitting and refilling, the car wasnt driving. With the iCarsoft I checked and noticed that the wrong gear was chosen (not corresponding with the gear lever). I tried the gearbox reset with the iCarsoft, but that didnt work and I went into mini panic mode. The day after, I drained the gearbox again and checked the seating of the valve body. I expected that the yellow lever wasnt sitting correctly, so I just wanted to make sure.

In the end, I performed a reset using the video below (method 2) and all was working again. So the 2nd drain wasnt needed at all

 

Bought new wheel bolts for the front. I bought bolts with loose caps, I had this type on my Volvo S80 and read back then these should center better than the normal bolt type. I thought I bought black bolts, but it seems I didnt. Nothing some black paint cant fix

My specialist paint booth, temperature controlled and everything



Work in progress



Here you can see the clear difference

 

And then the other valve cover started to leak hahaha That is the last time that I will be buying Febi Bilstein gaskets. I replaced them with a Viktor Reinz gasket. I also added high temp silicone sealant to seal of the oil filler neck, as oil was seeping from there as well.

Oil on the exhaust manifold



Sealant around the filler neck.

 

And I used that moment to replace the old coolant expansion reservoir. It was leaking from the cap, even though I replaced the cap with a new Febi cap. The reservoir also included a new cap and new sensor.

 

Went on a seach and found picture of my car from 2013

by https://www.flickr.com/photos/timvanessen/, on Flickr

 

And some more on a popular dutch site, called autogespot.nl

https://www.autogespot.nl/spots?bran...country=&city=

 

Replaced the battery in my Nokia car phone