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I’ve been researching on this forum for a while, but recently joined. Great resource for DIY’s and info on these cars. Picked up an ‘04 C32 AMG a few months ago, in obsidian black/black leather. Only 70k miles on it. Previous owner had it sitting for a while, ran a little rough at first. But it was pretty decently modded. Big ticket items include the following:
Evosport Pulley Kit, stage 2 with tune and coolant expansion tank
KW V2 Coilovers
Stoptech BBK all four corners, slotted rotors
H&R Sway bars
Looks to be 18” staggered AMG reps, to clear the brakes
Extra set of Carlsson 1/5 wheels
Oem wheels that don’t fit anymore (BBK)
Some other various items: silver cf interior trim, front strut brace, resonator delete, led tails, trunk spoiler
Will be working slowly to bring this back to good condition.
Engine: I installed a new battery and it started up, ran a bit rough but it eventually smoothed itself out after driving it. Had a check engine light, P0444 so I picked up a cheap purge valve new from Amazon for $25 and replaced it, cel went away. Wanted to be sure that was the issue, if this one goes bad I’ll pick up an oem unit. Had the P0410 code show up occasionally 2-3 times as well, cleared it and hasn’t come back on yet for about 80 miles. Possibly a secondary air injection pump fail? Not a large concern at the moment. No noise from the supercharger pulley and seems to pull strong. Might eventually replace the intercooler pump, but it seems fine for now. Also bought some sensors from FCP Euro, but have yet to install them, Crank Position, Cam Position and IAT. Cheap insurance for parts known to fail and leave you stranded. Service records show recent plugs and wires were done. AC doesn’t work so I gave it a charge, blew cold for about two days and then it leaked out again. Still need to inspect the air filters, and change all the fluids in the car (Trans, PS, Brakes, Coolant, Diff).
Suspension: One of the KW coils had an almost broken spring perch from a tire rubbing on it. I swapped in the oem front suspension to roll around until it was fixed. Replaced it without any issues, new KW Spring perch from Amazon. And the car was making clunking noises over bumps, so I replaced the H&R sway bar bushings and oem sway bar endlinks from ECS Tuning and the car drives great now. Wheels are curbed all around, both sets, or clear oat peeling on the lips. Will need to refinish eventually. Will also take it in for an alignment. The rear sits a little low in the pics because it was loaded with tools and a Jack, but it’s set at a pretty decent height, no rubbing or scraping anywhere. Bought a new tire for the full size spare as well, previous one was blown from rubbing on the KW coils. One area of concern, the rear brake rotors look like the aluminum hats are cracking. Looked it up and seemed to be a pretty common occurrence with Subarus running a Stoptech BBK in the northeast, exposed to the elements. Will need to get them replaced but I’m not sure if they even make these parts anymore. After some research, I might try to retrofit AMG rotors onto this brake setup, but will require some intricate test fitting. Current setup is 355x32 front and 328x28 rear, and AMG rotors from a W209 CLK63 are 360x32 front and 330x26 rear, may require some minor spacing but we’re talking like 1-3mm on the calipers, if they line up correctly. Plus those brakes are very well priced for what they are. Any thoughts on this?
Miscellaneous: I gave it a wash/wax, but it didn’t help the paint too much, still dull but better than what it was. Will have to try to clay bar and use a compound wax to really clean it up. Also need to detail the interior, but it’s in pretty decent shape with no rips in the leather. Replaced the halogen headlights with LED bulbs, still need to try to polish the headlight covers. Also got a new flat hood emblem as the old one was rusted out. Would like to repaint the grill and the bumper eventually. It’s obvious the hood and trunk spoiler were repainted as they are pretty faded compared to the rest of the car. I did a cabin air filter, wiper blades, and a shift knob because the old one was broken.
Like I said, slow restoration but definitely a fun car to drive and a fun project. Has been running pretty well and have been driving it every couple of days without any issues. Nothing major planned just want to get it back to good condition, which shouldn’t be too hard given its low mileage.
Looks great! I’m doing the same project with a white 2002, and absolutely love it. Where is that shift knob from? It looks like a nice alternative to the C32 ($200 dollar) one that is peeling/failing on mine.
Looks great! I’m doing the same project with a white 2002, and absolutely love it. Where is that shift knob from? It looks like a nice alternative to the C32 ($200 dollar) one that is peeling/failing on mine.
Shift knob is from Amazon, about $45 but it took a few weeks to arrive. Also had blue stitching which I colored black.
A better alternative would be to order a shift knob from Gerry who runs the website formymercedes.com, great guy and really good quality on the shifters.
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