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Added a windshield decal from Acromann, kinda digging it but glad I got the smaller version, haha. It may not be for everyone but the first Renntech car I saw in a magazine had one and it's been a little iconic and nostalgic for me ever since, plus the logo colors go with my theme and new red interior accents. Excuse the dirty car, haven't had the time for a hand wash yet since the new paint! Also a small note on maintenance at 56k miles, replaced the serpentine belt and idler pulley along with performing a Service B (mostly filters). Oh and I figured out the SDS message related to the SRS system for the front passenger which has been on since I purchased the car, I thought it would be the typical seat belt buckle replacement but it turned out to just be dirty sensors so that's finally taken care of too. I need to add some resistors to the fog light circuits since I deleted them and that will be the end of SDS messages. The body panel fitment, especially around the headlights was tightened up and adjusted during the paint/body if I forgot to mention it. The car is in better shape than when I bought it, I need to get around to changing the wheels out for summer already! I refinished the lips on the gold GT-V but I think I may get some tires for my Brabus wheels and try them on before I settle into the Volks. Anyway, on to the pics:
Last edited by Nero Tenebre; 05-09-2017 at 01:52 PM.
Has it been established what grill that is? Looking to emulate some of this car's blackness onto my C55. Absolutely love the car.
Thanks, I love the C55 as well! The grille is just oem painted black as are the trim pieces that were chrome.
The Brabus wheels sold unexpectedly so luckily I had picked up these SL65 titanium gunmetal wheels that I always wanted to try out on this car. I like them because they look like the twin spoke AMG wheels that came on the C55/CLK but are multipiece and larger.
Last edited by Nero Tenebre; 06-08-2017 at 06:15 PM.
Appreciate the replies and those may be my favorite OEM wheels. Just had my stockers refinished last year and almost went with gunmetal on all but the lips. Wasn't sure how a one-piece wheel would've pulled that off so just went with original paint.
Any wheel I like enough to run ends up being half the amount the car's worth now and I just can't see it.
I've been working on the interior and sound system lately, so here's some teasers. I removed the interior trim and clay bar'd the painted surfaces then wrapped them with a UV resistant carbon fiber vinyl. It took a lot of patience but turned out nice IMO. Taking this opportunity to replace the bubbled up radio screen and put a screw through the shift boot where the leather tugs the clip and breaks it (both common W209 nuisances). I'm thinking about a carbon steering wheel to finish off the look, but they are pricey at nearly $3,000! I did one in the R8 and NSX though and they really add value as the focal point of the interior.
Last edited by Nero Tenebre; 01-05-2018 at 09:10 AM.
Nice, looks like it came out good. I like the alcantara pieces too.
Also, 3000$ for a steering wheel? Shop around a little. I had all my interior trim pieces done in actual carbon fiber for 1000$. Steering wheels, provided you supply the wheel, go for about 750$ in any CF/alcantara combination.
Also, 3000$ for a steering wheel? Shop around a little. I had all my interior trim pieces done in actual carbon fiber for 1000$. Steering wheels, provided you supply the wheel, go for about 750$ in any CF/alcantara combination.
I only really looked on eBay but I'll have a look around, in the meantime here's what I found on there. I'll check out your posts to see how your interior turned out too 😎 P.S. How do you like that CL63?
I only really looked on eBay but I'll have a look around, in the meantime here's what I found on there. I'll check out your posts to see how your interior turned out too 😎 P.S. How do you like that CL63?
I haven't posted any pics of the CF interior yet but I will. You can get a custom wheel done at any place that handles CF for 700-1000, based on options. I think the eBay prices are higher because they include the wheel?
The CL is pretty nice. Makes a great GT for like comfortable, long distance driving. Feels like a huge pig compared to the CLK (size wise) but it's pretty agile.I already took many things on it apart and the build quality is much better in certain areas..but that's to be expected.
I'm considering another direction again so if I were to part out the modified genuine OEM CLK63 front bumper, fenders, rear bumper with molded diffuser- would anyone be interested in purchasing these direct replacement OEM parts? If you have a black car, it would be a simple bolt off, bolt on affair you could even DIY.
2012 Mercedes CL550, 2004 Mercedes CLK500, 2010 Audi S5, 2005 BMW X5, 2009 BMW X6, 1968 Pontiac GTO
Originally Posted by Nero Tenebre
I'm considering another direction again so if I were to part out the modified genuine OEM CLK63 front bumper, fenders, rear bumper with molded diffuser- would anyone be interested in purchasing these direct replacement OEM parts? If you have a black car, it would be a simple bolt off, bolt on affair you could even DIY.
If you ever wanted to sell your car entirely, I would seriously consider it. That said, I might also consider the parts you mentioned as an alternative.
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Are the SL65 wheels you are selling
19 x 8.5/9.5 -
What is the ET front / rear -
Interested -
Thank-You
D.B.
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Sorry for the hugely late reply, I sold them a long while ago now!
Originally Posted by ejt83
If you ever wanted to sell your car entirely, I would seriously consider it. That said, I might also consider the parts you mentioned as an alternative.
let me know.
Doh! I have all the parts from it ready for sale so I’ll get with you about that. Wish you had found this a year ago because I have a crazy story about the car and if you wanted the whole thing that was the best time.
Last summer I was tapped on the rear bumper in stop and go traffic not that long after I had got the car back from paint it seemed. Last time I got it back I was hoping for that new car feel but didn’t achieve that result fully. This time was different because the blue I wanted so badly before didn’t work with the rounded body lines, but now I was thinking about going all out on the chiseled black series bodywork and there was a better chance the color would fit the contours. Another reason I was at a crossroads with the car since someone had previously offered to trade me a 2JZGTE swapped RX-7 FD for my car and I had agreed since I had tried several times over the past decade to get into an FD (scared off by the terrible and pointless rotary). I was initially just going to restore the car back to how it was for the trade but soon after the agreement, the buyer backed out of the deal and sold the RX-7 from under me. I was pretty upset that we had a deal and he screwed the plans our agreement set in motion, so I had no choice but to re-evaluate the scenario. It was either go all in and make the car how I would most enjoy it, or sell it and move on since I am approaching double digits in vehicles though half of them are project cars that are down half the time 🤣. I thought it would be difficult to get any value for all the money the car has in it and impossible to find another comparable car, so I should just make the best of the opportunity. That’s how I ended up on the long road to a Black Series widebody kit with a twist. Since my car was already widebody, putting the rear flares on required a good bit of custom work and made it really wide- 4 inches wider than a CLK63 BS! Measurements reveal I can fit 345 rear tires on the rear if I had 12” wide wheels but I ordered 325 for my 11”. Pretty rad considering the wimpy wheels and tires the black series carries as OEM equipment.
So long story short- I’m so far into the car now I would have to price it approaching the bottom of the black series market to make a sale sensible. I doubt others would value this car the same way as the conventional thinking is that I could have just bought a black series by now. But while that’s true, I still would rather have this lightweight car with the far more reliable motor than the nightmare 6.3 engines with their head bolts snapping among other troubles even if it’s not “real” enough for internet elitists, haha!
Oh and about that 2JZ RX7- I ended up buying it a few months later (almost locally this time) from the buyer that the deal breaker seller sold it to since it had undisclosed blown head gasket and other issues. That buyer spent some good money fixing those issues and documented the process via YouTube but still couldn’t solve the common 2JZ cooling issues (closed deck block) so he put it up for sale too. I resolved some of the remaining mechanical issues to finish sorting the car out and just redesigned/fabricated a revised turbo piping/intercooler system myself- dropping the air intake temps by a whopping 40-50 degrees AND keeping the AC system fully functional. Now I have maybe the only 2JZ swapped RX-7 in the world that is a functional street car so mission accomplished. 😎
Crazy how life works out sometimes. Now I need to post some pics!
Last edited by Nero Tenebre; 08-26-2019 at 11:35 PM.
Just wanted to share a few photos of how it turned out in 2020. I still have a few things to tackle to refresh the car on the interior in 2020. If I ever wanted to keep going with this car I would either keep the V8 and try to swap in a manual transmission to make it a more driver centric car, or I had the crazy thought that in addition to wider tires, the Black Series cars should have come with a twin turbo V12 from the factory if Mercedes were really serious. We can dream can’t we? 😬
Adding H&R spacers to make these wheels fill out the surgically enhanced hips. +45mm each side with 325 width tires mounted on the 11” rears (room for 355 if I had a 12” rear made) and 275 on the 9.5” fronts with an added 10mm spacer on each side. Final stance. Precision tuck.
04-26-2017, 11:37 AM
