C36 AMG, C43 AMG (W202) 1995 - 2000

started tear down for paint

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Old Jun 24, 2013 | 01:53 PM
  #901  
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12' W204 C63 AMG coupe "T-Rex", 12' W451 Smart Fortwo Pulse (99' W202 C43 AMG + Ultima Can-Am sold)
Looking forward to the next report
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Old Jun 25, 2013 | 11:53 AM
  #902  
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Only managed to find an hour last night to work on the car, and so the only progress was to fit the engine to transmission bolts. Still have to tighten them down, but that shouldn't take too long. Will get to that tonight, and also hopefully button up the exhaust so I can minimize the time underneath the car.

I actually hate lying on the concrete floor working underneath the car. Gets me all headachy...

Once those steps are done, then it's just a matter of buttoning everything else up. I should have all fluids on hand too. But again, this week in the evenings, I'll probably only have an hour or so every night, so just a bit of progress each night. Hopefully I'll have it all sorted out on the weekend!
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Old Jun 28, 2013 | 03:43 PM
  #903  
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A bit delayed, unfortunately, this week - haven't done much more on the car, so will hopefully wrap it up this weekend. Delay due to work and a bit of a slight concussion (!) suffered in a ball hockey game. I think that will be the end of my ball hockey career - not that I'm not okay now, but rather I can't afford the risk of injury! Not when my head is my most valuable muscle, and I have to be healthy for work and my family.

At any rate, managed to work on the car a bit last night, tightened up the engine-trans bolts and the engine mounts. Was about to bolt up the downpipes, but because the whole exhaust had dropped a bit during the transmission removal, it wouldn't go back into place very nicely. So I ended up removing the whole exhaust and disconnecting the passenger side downpipe. Unfortunately, that basically took the balance of the time I had to work on the car last night, so not a lot else got done.

Hopefully that will be the last snag and I can finish off everything else nice and smoothly. Picking up some fresh washers for the banjo bolts that bolt up the trans cooler lines later, then just a matter of connecting up everything else.

I will say one thing though - the exhaust is heeeavy! I really want to ditch the secondaries and the reasonator, that alone would probably save 20 lbs I think. Perhaps I will save myself the effort of refitting the entire exhaust and have a shop put in straight pipes to the back muffler....
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Old Jun 29, 2013 | 05:01 AM
  #904  
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Good luck mate! I agree the secondary cats and resonator are HEAVY! As I have to swap back my exhaust with the SS bypass pipe, I'll take my scale and do some before and after recordings
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Old Jun 29, 2013 | 01:54 PM
  #905  
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Progress is still slow, only an hour and a half into it last night. Got the down pipes mated up last night, new washers on the trans cooler banjo bolts, and connected up the O2 sensors. The down pipes were most time consuming because the longer passenger side one is heavier and I had much difficulty balancing it on the jack and bolting it up.

Tonight, hopefully I can bolt up the trans cooler lines and tidy up anything else underneath the car (other than exhaust) and then get started with hoses and the rad and such. Fingers crossed I can still fire it up this weekend, but as it is Canada Day, we have a long weekend so that will help!
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Old Jun 30, 2013 | 09:53 PM
  #906  
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Just fluids and exhaust left to do now...

I also disconnected the driver's side midsection pipe, the one leading to the resonator, and connected that up on the car. So now the rear section and the resonator are still off the car, so. Need to bolt that portion up again, and just fill with fluids. Hopefully can do that tomorrow.

started tear down for paint-a9fc61c1-730c-40b5-961d-e9b01cb5789c-4020-000006f529874143_zps34d6f7c5.jpg
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Old Jun 30, 2013 | 10:47 PM
  #907  
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C43 w/clk55 Organs
Must feel good to finally get the 5.4 back in!?, Even I feel good!!! this has been going on for ages ^^

I would be really interested in knowing the wieghts of each part of the C43 exhaust system, the custom 3" system I have laying around home is fairly heavy too and would be interesting to compare against.
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Old Jun 30, 2013 | 11:52 PM
  #908  
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Fail, if you had mentioned wanting to know the weights of the exhaust not even two days ago, I could have weighed them all! LOL. Too late now, most of it is back on the car already, oh well.

I think I will definitely delete the resonator and the secondaries. One shop I called said they wouldn't do it, because there are O2 sensors before and after the primaries. I told him I just needed the secondaries deleted, but he still refused because he thought the car wouldn't run properly afterwards...duuuh. I'll find another shop instead.

Last edited by Saaboteur; Jul 2, 2013 at 12:32 AM.
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Old Jun 30, 2013 | 11:55 PM
  #909  
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C43 w/clk55 Organs
Damn! haha, It's ok I want to take mine off at some stage so will record them then!
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Old Jul 2, 2013 | 12:29 AM
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Well, tonight I finished bolting up the exhaust and filling fluids, and went to start....and nothing. Cranked but not firing. Got an error code -P1580 - re: throttle body. Disconnected it twice and still nothing. Disconnected battery, still no luck. Decided to look at ECU connections and the largest of the plugs wasn't seated properly.

Fired up right away. Finally! What a journey! Begun nearly two years ago!

Car is still a bit low on fluids, I don't have enough power steering fluid on hand and everywhere is closed due to Canada Day (plus it was too late anyway) so I'll sort that out tomorrow. Then an AC recharge and basically good to go! Resonator and secondaries have got to go though.

Next project - swap the C32/55 calipers around so they are the correct orientation, using the various off the shelf it things and lines I figured out so long ago, then maybe go back o stock front lower control arm bushings to ft rid of the squeaking KMacs, and that's it.
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Old Jul 2, 2013 | 03:40 AM
  #911  
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Great news. You must be really happy now! Get some driving done and give us your impressions.
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Old Jul 2, 2013 | 06:09 AM
  #912  
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Originally Posted by Saaboteur
Well, tonight I finished bolting up the exhaust and filling fluids, and went to start....and nothing. Cranked but not firing. Got an error code -P1580 - re: throttle body. Disconnected it twice and still nothing. Disconnected battery, still no luck. Decided to look at ECU connections and the largest of the plugs wasn't seated properly.

Fired up right away. Finally! What a journey! Begun nearly two years ago!

Car is still a bit low on fluids, I don't have enough power steering fluid on hand and everywhere is closed due to Canada Day (plus it was too late anyway) so I'll sort that out tomorrow. Then an AC recharge and basically good to go! Resonator and secondaries have got to go though.

Next project - swap the C32/55 calipers around so they are the correct orientation, using the various off the shelf it things and lines I figured out so long ago, then maybe go back o stock front lower control arm bushings to ft rid of the squeaking KMacs, and that's it.
please let us know what solution you come up with for C32 calipers orientation
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Old Jul 2, 2013 | 11:02 AM
  #913  
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Originally Posted by kowalski
please let us know what solution you come up with for C32 calipers orientation
See my posts 409 and 411 - I discussed it quite some time ago!

Got the power steering fluid and spare coolant this morning. The shop was out of the Fuchs Titan ATF, but will have more later today, so I'll grab it tomorrow morning I think.

Tonight, should just have to top off the power steering, and then fire it up again and cycle through it all.

I may have the shop do the AC recharge and give a quick run through with the Star diagnostics just to clear everything, but that's still to come.

Now that the C43 is basically done, I can finally turn some attention to my other cars! I still haven't fully detailed my S2k or the LR3, plus I have to do a plugs/wires/front brake/brake lines service on my C55, not to mention gathering some parts to fix my beater Audi!! Summer's half over!! Yikes!

I'll post a vid of the C43 running later tonight....
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Old Jul 2, 2013 | 12:10 PM
  #914  
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Originally Posted by Saaboteur
See my posts 409 and 411 - I discussed it quite some time ago!

Got the power steering fluid and spare coolant this morning. The shop was out of the Fuchs Titan ATF, but will have more later today, so I'll grab it tomorrow morning I think.

Tonight, should just have to top off the power steering, and then fire it up again and cycle through it all.

I may have the shop do the AC recharge and give a quick run through with the Star diagnostics just to clear everything, but that's still to come.

Now that the C43 is basically done, I can finally turn some attention to my other cars! I still haven't fully detailed my S2k or the LR3, plus I have to do a plugs/wires/front brake/brake lines service on my C55, not to mention gathering some parts to fix my beater Audi!! Summer's half over!! Yikes!

I'll post a vid of the C43 running later tonight....
i know you did b4.
however you might come up with somethin new later on?
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Old Jul 2, 2013 | 01:26 PM
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Fuchs Titan ATF = good choice and perfect for the job
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Old Jul 2, 2013 | 03:12 PM
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Originally Posted by kowalski
i know you did b4.
however you might come up with somethin new later on?
Nope, what I figured out before is what I will try.

The only difficulty will be to bleed the calipers with them not mounted on the car - going to stick a couple wrenches or an old disc in between the pads to be sure the pistons don't fall out. There is no reason why it shouldn't work - those adaptors and the brake lines are designed for such a purpose.
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Old Jul 2, 2013 | 03:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Saaboteur
Nope, what I figured out before is what I will try.

The only difficulty will be to bleed the calipers with them not mounted on the car - going to stick a couple wrenches or an old disc in between the pads to be sure the pistons don't fall out. There is no reason why it shouldn't work - those adaptors and the brake lines are designed for such a purpose.
what adapters do you mean?
I can't remember them?
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Old Jul 2, 2013 | 06:01 PM
  #918  
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The adaptors are in the picture in the previous post - the lines are -3 (or -4, I can't remember). The fittings on the caliper and on the hardlines on the chassis are metric. The adaptors are required to go from metric to the line.
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Old Jul 3, 2013 | 02:46 AM
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Good news - car fires up nicely and new engine is very strong!!

Bad news - trans is stuck in limp home mode, and won't engage the higher gears. Getting intermittent DTCs - 0763, 0753, 0743 and 0758 - all apparently related to solenoid issues. When the trans came out, the front electrical connector had a bit of stress out on it as I had neglected to disconnect it before started dropping the trans. Sigh, another likely cost mistake.

Hopefully I will drop it off at the shop tomorrow night, it they are probably a bit busy now. We'll see. Car needs to go there anyway for AC recharge, so another thing to worry about.
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Old Jul 3, 2013 | 03:10 AM
  #920  
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Hope it's a simple (and cheap) repair...
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Old Jul 3, 2013 | 11:27 PM
  #921  
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I'm hoping the car just needs a hook up to Star diagnostics to clear the codes. Fingers crossed, dropped the car off at the shop this evening, hopefully have answers soon.
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Old Jul 8, 2013 | 06:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Saaboteur
I'm hoping the car just needs a hook up to Star diagnostics to clear the codes. Fingers crossed, dropped the car off at the shop this evening, hopefully have answers soon.
I thought I was the only one who ran into issues like this...

I feel your pain, at least you are 1 step closer to completion
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Old Jul 11, 2013 | 06:38 PM
  #923  
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FINALLY.

Almost two years to the date I started this project (or rather, started the various ****ups! lol) the car is ready. Just heard from the shop - all the trans needed was a touch more ATF and crucially, resetting of the error codes. They also charged up the AC, which is something I can't do at home. I understand to clear the trans error codes requires Star diagnostics or a specialized add on module to high end Snap-on scanner - of course I have neither of those.

Going to pick the car up tomorrow. Will fit the 5.5 badges too, I've been waiting a helluva long time to do that.

Next I will do a more thorough comparison between the C43/55 and my actual 203 C55...
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Old Jul 11, 2013 | 07:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Saaboteur
FINALLY.

Almost two years to the date I started this project (or rather, started the various ****ups! lol) the car is ready. Just heard from the shop - all the trans needed was a touch more ATF and crucially, resetting of the error codes. They also charged up the AC, which is something I can't do at home. I understand to clear the trans error codes requires Star diagnostics or a specialized add on module to high end Snap-on scanner - of course I have neither of those.

Going to pick the car up tomorrow. Will fit the 5.5 badges too, I've been waiting a helluva long time to do that.

Next I will do a more thorough comparison between the C43/55 and my actual 203 C55...
Congrats dude and I'm glad you stuck it all thru. You will fully enjoy this car and I'm looking forward to you starting a thread with some comparisons between the two cars power wise. Excellent job!
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Old Jul 11, 2013 | 08:01 PM
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Great news Vince...,,

you will definitely pleasure with a real new power,

Keep us posted when you try it.....

ZAYED,,
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