CLK500 project with geniun AMG bodykit and AMG exhaust.
03-05-2013, 03:14 PM
#1
CLK500 project with geniun AMG bodykit and AMG exhaust.
Hi guys.
Just want to share with you, the project i have going on my 2004 clk500. Pictures can be found on a link further down.
*Update 7th march 2013: Started to take the car apart. More pictures added.
*Update 6th march 2013: Added more pictures of the parts.
Bodykit is still at paintshop, so no picture of the bumpers, but all the reinforcement can be seen on some of the pictures. :p
About the car:
CLK500 coupe
M113 engine and 722.6 trans.
Brilliant silver
75.000km (about 46.500 miles)
Completly stock
Has all equipment except dynamic seats
About the project:
Retrofit AMG bodykit (front, sideskirts, rear and boot spoiler)
Retrofit ORGINAL CLK63 exhaust
New wheels for summer and winter
Why?
Becouse i love cars and love modifying them. I have been looking for a 209 for about 6-8 months now, and never found one with the right color, the right equipment, the right engine and of course low milage. When i finaly found the car, it took me less than 2 weeks to decide to buy it, travel to germany, look at the car and testdrive and finaly the contract. The journey home was very fun with 250km/h on the clock at the german autobahn. 80-110km/h at the rest of the journey. (Germany - Denmark - Sweeden - Norway = 1150km or 715 miles).
Anyway, I found a car with right color, right engine and low milage.. BUT... The only criteria it didnt meet was the AMG bodykit. I thought, what the F***.. I will proppably never find a CLK again with that low milage and in that good condition. So i went for it.
Since it didnt have the bodykit, why not retrofit? Then it started. My first time owning a V8, so i had to get more exhaust noise. After a few nights on youtube listening to CLK exhaust notes, i descided that the CLK63 was the one i wanted. Yes, genuin AMG exhaust is a bit more expensive than aftermarket, but then again, its the real deal and fitment is 98% (i will get back to this later).
The car must have wheels. When i bought the car, it had 17" winter wheels. Those went right in the dumpster when i got home with the car. The summer wheels is 18" OEM AMG wheels with tires that wouldnt have lasted one summer season. The tires was taken off the rims and i threv the tires. So, here i was.. 4 18" AMG wheels and no tires, summer or winter.. And trust me, you want propper winter tires in Norway, not some "All-year-round" tires.
The shopping list
Rims and tires:
CL63 AMG replicas. 19" and 8.5/9.5 wide with ET35
2x Pirelli P Zero Silver 245/35-19 summer
2x Pirelli P Zero Silver 275/30-19 summer
2x Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7 225/40-18 studded winter
2x Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7 255/35-18 studded winter
Total 35.000 NOK (6.100 USD) including shipping and sales taxes.
The bodykit (all genuin mercedes):
AMG Front bumper
AMG Sideskirts
AMG Rear bumper
AMG Boot spoiler
AMG CLK63 rear bumper insert
Painting
Total 31.600 NOK (5.500 USD) including shipping and sales taxes.
The exhaust (all genuin mercedes):
Left CLK63 rear exhaustpipe with silencer and tips
Right CLK63 rear exhaustpipe with silencer and tips
Gasket between left and right pipe with screws and nuts
Left and right rear heat shield with screws and nuts
4 rubber suspensions rings
Rear CLK63 crossmember (mounting pins for suspension rings)
CLK63 spare wheel well
CLK63 rear sway bar with bushings
Total remains to be calculated. I havent recieved all the parts yet, and sales taxes is not paid yet. Maybe i also need some more parts. To be calculated later. But in the
range of about 30-40.000 NOK (5.200 - 7.000 USD)
The project
The rear boot spoiler came painted from the factory, so that was a simple glue on jobb. Wash the rear lid, degrease, peel of the protective film from the pre aplied m3 double sided tape, place the spoiler and press it firmly on to the lid.
The bodykit is still at the paint shop, and i am still waiting for the rear crossmember and some screws for the exhaust. I will start to take the car apart tomorrow.
The boot paneling is removed, and the same with the rear bumper. Removal of these two was fairly simple. I also removed the rear exhaust pipe, crossmember and spare wheel well. Everything that i needed to remove on the rear is removed.
I tried to fit the AMG exhaust to the stock cat., but the flange is different. The stock exhaust is scewd, but the new AMG exhaust has a clamp that joins the two parts. The best solution i found was to make a flange for the AMG exhaust. I didnt want to cut or weld into the stock cat becouse i want it original if i someday need to put back the stock exhaust. Well, i cut of the end part of the AMG exhaust and started to make a flange. Look at pictures.
That was all i managed to get done today. 5 hours work, with too many cofee brakes and sitting around. :P Also, i found out that i didnt need the CLK63 rear sway bar. The only difference between 500 and 63 is the thicknes of the bar..
Progress will be updated here in the first post!
Pictures are with new Nokian tires on AMG wheels and with boot spoiler mounted.
New pictures will come when i take the car apart and get the bodykit back from paint.
I am planning to finish this project within 2 months. I can use the garage at my work place, but only after opening hours, one or two days a week.
PICTURES
* All pricing from NOK/EURO converted to USD is calculated with exchange rate from 5th march 2013. (Norwegian central bank rates)
* Everything was done by myself, exept painting the bodykit. Therfor, no labour cost is added to prices.
* I will list up all the part numbers i have used when the project is completed.
* When i refer to "63", it means CLK63 AMG, (NON BS)
Just want to share with you, the project i have going on my 2004 clk500. Pictures can be found on a link further down.
*Update 7th march 2013: Started to take the car apart. More pictures added.
*Update 6th march 2013: Added more pictures of the parts.
Bodykit is still at paintshop, so no picture of the bumpers, but all the reinforcement can be seen on some of the pictures. :p About the car:
CLK500 coupe
M113 engine and 722.6 trans.
Brilliant silver
75.000km (about 46.500 miles)
Completly stock
Has all equipment except dynamic seats
About the project:
Retrofit AMG bodykit (front, sideskirts, rear and boot spoiler)
Retrofit ORGINAL CLK63 exhaust
New wheels for summer and winter
Why?
Becouse i love cars and love modifying them. I have been looking for a 209 for about 6-8 months now, and never found one with the right color, the right equipment, the right engine and of course low milage. When i finaly found the car, it took me less than 2 weeks to decide to buy it, travel to germany, look at the car and testdrive and finaly the contract. The journey home was very fun with 250km/h on the clock at the german autobahn. 80-110km/h at the rest of the journey. (Germany - Denmark - Sweeden - Norway = 1150km or 715 miles).
Anyway, I found a car with right color, right engine and low milage.. BUT... The only criteria it didnt meet was the AMG bodykit. I thought, what the F***.. I will proppably never find a CLK again with that low milage and in that good condition. So i went for it.
Since it didnt have the bodykit, why not retrofit? Then it started. My first time owning a V8, so i had to get more exhaust noise. After a few nights on youtube listening to CLK exhaust notes, i descided that the CLK63 was the one i wanted. Yes, genuin AMG exhaust is a bit more expensive than aftermarket, but then again, its the real deal and fitment is 98% (i will get back to this later).
The car must have wheels. When i bought the car, it had 17" winter wheels. Those went right in the dumpster when i got home with the car. The summer wheels is 18" OEM AMG wheels with tires that wouldnt have lasted one summer season. The tires was taken off the rims and i threv the tires. So, here i was.. 4 18" AMG wheels and no tires, summer or winter.. And trust me, you want propper winter tires in Norway, not some "All-year-round" tires.
The shopping list
Rims and tires:
CL63 AMG replicas. 19" and 8.5/9.5 wide with ET35
2x Pirelli P Zero Silver 245/35-19 summer
2x Pirelli P Zero Silver 275/30-19 summer
2x Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7 225/40-18 studded winter
2x Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7 255/35-18 studded winter
Total 35.000 NOK (6.100 USD) including shipping and sales taxes.
The bodykit (all genuin mercedes):
AMG Front bumper
AMG Sideskirts
AMG Rear bumper
AMG Boot spoiler
AMG CLK63 rear bumper insert
Painting
Total 31.600 NOK (5.500 USD) including shipping and sales taxes.
The exhaust (all genuin mercedes):
Left CLK63 rear exhaustpipe with silencer and tips
Right CLK63 rear exhaustpipe with silencer and tips
Gasket between left and right pipe with screws and nuts
Left and right rear heat shield with screws and nuts
4 rubber suspensions rings
Rear CLK63 crossmember (mounting pins for suspension rings)
CLK63 spare wheel well
CLK63 rear sway bar with bushings
Total remains to be calculated. I havent recieved all the parts yet, and sales taxes is not paid yet. Maybe i also need some more parts. To be calculated later. But in the
range of about 30-40.000 NOK (5.200 - 7.000 USD)
The project
The rear boot spoiler came painted from the factory, so that was a simple glue on jobb. Wash the rear lid, degrease, peel of the protective film from the pre aplied m3 double sided tape, place the spoiler and press it firmly on to the lid.
The bodykit is still at the paint shop, and i am still waiting for the rear crossmember and some screws for the exhaust. I will start to take the car apart tomorrow.
The boot paneling is removed, and the same with the rear bumper. Removal of these two was fairly simple. I also removed the rear exhaust pipe, crossmember and spare wheel well. Everything that i needed to remove on the rear is removed.
I tried to fit the AMG exhaust to the stock cat., but the flange is different. The stock exhaust is scewd, but the new AMG exhaust has a clamp that joins the two parts. The best solution i found was to make a flange for the AMG exhaust. I didnt want to cut or weld into the stock cat becouse i want it original if i someday need to put back the stock exhaust. Well, i cut of the end part of the AMG exhaust and started to make a flange. Look at pictures.
That was all i managed to get done today. 5 hours work, with too many cofee brakes and sitting around. :P Also, i found out that i didnt need the CLK63 rear sway bar. The only difference between 500 and 63 is the thicknes of the bar..
Progress will be updated here in the first post!
Pictures are with new Nokian tires on AMG wheels and with boot spoiler mounted.
New pictures will come when i take the car apart and get the bodykit back from paint.
I am planning to finish this project within 2 months. I can use the garage at my work place, but only after opening hours, one or two days a week.
PICTURES
* All pricing from NOK/EURO converted to USD is calculated with exchange rate from 5th march 2013. (Norwegian central bank rates)
* Everything was done by myself, exept painting the bodykit. Therfor, no labour cost is added to prices.
* I will list up all the part numbers i have used when the project is completed.
* When i refer to "63", it means CLK63 AMG, (NON BS)
Last edited by phingoc; 03-07-2013 at 04:38 PM.
03-05-2013, 11:53 PM
#2
MBWorld Fanatic!
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Oakland
Posts: 1,226
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2018 E43 | 2017 GLS450 | 2004 CLK 500
good luck. strange, I didn't know you could purchase a 500 without the AMG Kit. When I bought my car, there wasn't an option to not have it. Only the 320's had it.
03-06-2013, 02:17 AM
#4
03-06-2013, 05:32 AM
#5
Very interesting project. It will be interesting to see the outcome.
In addition to your list, I'd consider:
- New suspension setup. The CLK63 bodykit may look a bit odd if the car sits visually too high and honestly the OEM driving characteristics are not a decent match for the CLK63 kit. It calls for good quality coil-overs.
- Rear 9.5" wheels with ET35 may also be a bit shy, looking too narrow. Either smaller ET wheels or 10-12mm spacers would rectify this.
- Front headlights seem to be a bit hazy (normal aging stuff), maybe a new headlight set could be a nice thing to add to the shopping list?
Good luck and happy times with the car and with the project!
In addition to your list, I'd consider:
- New suspension setup. The CLK63 bodykit may look a bit odd if the car sits visually too high and honestly the OEM driving characteristics are not a decent match for the CLK63 kit. It calls for good quality coil-overs.
- Rear 9.5" wheels with ET35 may also be a bit shy, looking too narrow. Either smaller ET wheels or 10-12mm spacers would rectify this.
- Front headlights seem to be a bit hazy (normal aging stuff), maybe a new headlight set could be a nice thing to add to the shopping list?
Good luck and happy times with the car and with the project!
03-06-2013, 10:39 AM
#6
Very interesting project. It will be interesting to see the outcome.
In addition to your list, I'd consider:
- New suspension setup. The CLK63 bodykit may look a bit odd if the car sits visually too high and honestly the OEM driving characteristics are not a decent match for the CLK63 kit. It calls for good quality coil-overs.
- Rear 9.5" wheels with ET35 may also be a bit shy, looking too narrow. Either smaller ET wheels or 10-12mm spacers would rectify this.
- Front headlights seem to be a bit hazy (normal aging stuff), maybe a new headlight set could be a nice thing to add to the shopping list?
Good luck and happy times with the car and with the project!
In addition to your list, I'd consider:
- New suspension setup. The CLK63 bodykit may look a bit odd if the car sits visually too high and honestly the OEM driving characteristics are not a decent match for the CLK63 kit. It calls for good quality coil-overs.
- Rear 9.5" wheels with ET35 may also be a bit shy, looking too narrow. Either smaller ET wheels or 10-12mm spacers would rectify this.
- Front headlights seem to be a bit hazy (normal aging stuff), maybe a new headlight set could be a nice thing to add to the shopping list?
Good luck and happy times with the car and with the project!
About the rear wheel and ET.. I have to wait for the damn snow to melt before i can put on the summer wheels and measure how wide spacers i need in the rear. :P
Front headlights are just fine, the car is dirty on the pictures. :P
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03-26-2013, 04:19 PM
#8
Here comes a bit late update.
Since i could not edit the first post anymore, i will have to do the update in this post. When the project was beggining to take shape, i forgot to take pictures. but those pictures i have is on the gallery.
Yeah, the project is pretty much done right now.
The exhaust system is complete
The bodykit is mounted
But i am stil waiting for the DAMN snow to melt before i can put on summer wheels. I think they are going on the car in a few weeks.
So, here is what i did for the rest of the exhaust. :P
I cutted of about 5cm of the cat end side of the amg exhaust. I made a flange with right diameter hole and right boltpattern for screws. After i had made the flange, i mounted it to the piece i cutted of and welded back together..
The rear crossmember just bolted right in and this member has all 4 mounting points for rear mufflers. The exhaust system mounted on with no problems..
The bodykit was a pretty straight forward job. Frontbumper off, build the new AMG bumper with all the innersupport, PTS and stuff.. Bolt right on the car again. Same for sideskirts.. Take off, bolt on.
The rear bumper had to be modified becouse i got the 55 amg rear bumper with muflers on the left side only. So i had to cut out the bumper for the right muffler. That went well, and glued on the black plastic trim over the exhaust.. No signs of the bumper ever beeing modiefied. Bumper bolted on to the car with no problems..
When i got the rear bumper on, i had to adjust the "pins" for suspension rings since the exhaust was "off center".. It seems the pins had been bent under transport. I just took a huge pray-bar and adjusted the pins, and now its perfect.. or, 99%.. I didnt have energy to fine-bend in the last 1%. :P i think is about 1-2 mm further down on the left side compared to the right side.
So.. Thats it for this project.. I will post again with new pictures once the summerwheels are on.
Take care.. Btw, the sound is awsome..
Pictures: http://phi.huynh.be/#11.0
Sound clip: http://huynh.be/IMG_0453.MOV (66,5MB)
Since i could not edit the first post anymore, i will have to do the update in this post. When the project was beggining to take shape, i forgot to take pictures.
but those pictures i have is on the gallery. Yeah, the project is pretty much done right now.
The exhaust system is complete
The bodykit is mounted
But i am stil waiting for the DAMN snow to melt before i can put on summer wheels. I think they are going on the car in a few weeks.
So, here is what i did for the rest of the exhaust. :P
I cutted of about 5cm of the cat end side of the amg exhaust. I made a flange with right diameter hole and right boltpattern for screws. After i had made the flange, i mounted it to the piece i cutted of and welded back together..
The rear crossmember just bolted right in and this member has all 4 mounting points for rear mufflers. The exhaust system mounted on with no problems..
The bodykit was a pretty straight forward job. Frontbumper off, build the new AMG bumper with all the innersupport, PTS and stuff.. Bolt right on the car again. Same for sideskirts.. Take off, bolt on.
The rear bumper had to be modified becouse i got the 55 amg rear bumper with muflers on the left side only. So i had to cut out the bumper for the right muffler. That went well, and glued on the black plastic trim over the exhaust.. No signs of the bumper ever beeing modiefied. Bumper bolted on to the car with no problems..
When i got the rear bumper on, i had to adjust the "pins" for suspension rings since the exhaust was "off center".. It seems the pins had been bent under transport. I just took a huge pray-bar and adjusted the pins, and now its perfect.. or, 99%.. I didnt have energy to fine-bend in the last 1%. :P i think is about 1-2 mm further down on the left side compared to the right side.
So.. Thats it for this project.. I will post again with new pictures once the summerwheels are on.
Take care.. Btw, the sound is awsome..
Pictures: http://phi.huynh.be/#11.0
Sound clip: http://huynh.be/IMG_0453.MOV (66,5MB)
Last edited by phingoc; 03-26-2013 at 04:27 PM.
