started tear down for paint




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!




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....








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!




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.
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.




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.
The Best of Mercedes & AMG




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.




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.





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....

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....
however you might come up with somethin new later on?








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.
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.
I can't remember them?








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.





I feel your pain, at least you are 1 step closer to completion




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...
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...





