dragonfli_VF

howdy ya'll, comin to ya straight from da deep sawth.

I posted on some posts earlier, but I figured I'd start a thread for my entrance into merc-hood

I got me an old 89 300E with original paint that has no clear coat and slight rust spots on the hood back in 98 - gave it to my parents when they helped me pay for an 01 jetta... and recently I've been modding the VW more and needed a daily to get me to and from work and pick up parts along the way...

I bought the car from them (I know, kinda weird) to find out that the car was pretty neglected... (sad) - so went to cleaning her up a bit and do a little tooling around. started running premium in her again as my parents didn't know the difference and had been using 87 octane (recently I've been throwing plus in there every other tank because of gas prices)
The a/c unit was 1/2 converted from old to new so I have both hook ups and it's driving me nuts. the A/C fan was on it's way out and it's leaking a/c now or it won't hold a charge for even a day... tried to pull it apart to fix it, replaced the fan unit, and a couple of selenoids... last winter but now it doesn't work at all as it's getting warmer

recently my 300e has been leaking a bit of everything from fuel to oil to coolant and as I'm not completely familiar to the m103 engine, I don't know how to solve my little dilemmas. So I was hoping some of you fine posters could assist me

I did some research on the car through autos.msn.com and found that this car has an 9.2:1 compression weighs about 3265lbs, and blah blah blah.

I want to do an engine rebuild, but don't know what needs/should be replaced in the process. I figured this would aleviate my leak issues as it's all coming from the block...

shocks are blown - need to replace that but would like some input on viable options.

I replaced the wheels/tires with some 14lb CLK wheels and kumho ASXs
some ebay headlights that give my car that totally pimp racoon look
the front grill got damaged so got replaced...

Oil's been changed every 6000miles but I add about a quart every other week
coolant light usually pops up about every 2 weeks also

every time I get out of my car, I can smell fuel

the exhaust is still (oddly enough) in VERY good condition although I might want to look into some custom work on it soon

I need to replace the tranny fluid definitely because it shifts kinda ugly and was wondering if I can modify the shift points.

What else usually goes wrong with this model/year that needs to be addressed?

pic for views:

before my wheels

my helga as she sits now.



an older pic


a bit of a bad shot

help?

CDP

hahah damn. are you related to Henry?

looks like baby stormtropper

dragonfli_VF

nice - never really thought about it...

boo-ya! maybe I wrote too much and asked too much?

who's henry?

shadowgriffen

Moi





we have the same set up save for my Sach suspension.

Lower her and we will be twins

shadowgriffen

mgw_300e

it's stormy's long lost sister!

right down to the wheels - weird!

shadowgriffen

LOL truly bizzare!

Now the question is dragon, are you as ugly as I am? LOL

shadowgriffen

LOL@racoon

tell me the clk wheels are spectacular! they weigh absolutely next to nothing! GREATLY improve mobility!

dragonfli_VF

Oh Snap!

okay, the same wheels are a little eerie - I did this earlier this year because the old 15" stockies were just looking too stock for me... I fell onto these wheels for about $250 and haven't looked back since - and YES! I love the hell out of these babies! With my current nasty engine setup, I was hitting barely 300 to the tank... now it's up around 330+ ... definitely a reduction in overall unsprung weight... MONOBLOCKs FTL (although they are sooo hawt)

henry's wheels are shinier than my own I had no idea they only weighed 14lbs! the only issue I had was finding the right size wheel bolts for this upgrade... there's almost no hub! but without knowing I've created the sedan replica of a current member!

sach's suspension?

I'm thinking to just get smaller caps and go with a bilstein but I don't know the aftermarket world here...

shadowgriffen

Yea, Sachs is a german company that supplies suspensions for mercedes. They are Incredible.

You trust me once you lower good ol' Helgadohtir you will be HIGHLY impressed with the way the CLK-ies can take those curbs baby

We should do a photo shoot together.

dragonfli_VF

a photo op would be completely pimp!!! "North meets South" the long lost twins pimpin straight up racoon stylz

I'm not really looking to drop my daily driver... just want to get better gas milage, decent visual appeal, and I want to still be able to auto-x Helga in stock class in the event that I fix the leaking oil and coolant... I guess I'd want to keep it as close to OEM as possible... but perhaps a set heavy duty shocks and maybe a sportline drop... any one else tear up auto-x in a w124?

if I ever get my other car fixed...



I'd like to take Helga to the next level...

where can I source out progressive springs without really lowering the car?

Furyguy

Nice cars Dragon. I'll look for you on the streets here in Maconga!

bjay51d

Youre getting over 50 more mpt than I do.

dragonfli_VF

eh? how much are you getting? on a good week of running around town, trying to stay in half vacuum when accelerating, but when driving around, I have a tendency to be top end heavy...I drive like a ... well.. hmm... how to describe...!!! a storm trooper with a racoon rammed up it's waste gate... sideways... I hate slowing down in this car because it takes ... SOOO.... FAHHH...KING... LONG... to get back up to speed... the Jetta is so much faster at it... possibly because of the 10.5:1 compression.. that and it's supercharged ..., ,and it still gets better gas milage than my 'Coon Trooper... sigh.

the recent wheel upgrade back in Feb recently turned the tables because now it truly gets significantly better gas milage...

other things to note for driving variables... when I'm part throttling it, my car shifts all the way to it's last gear when I get to about 40mph... WTF!? so I have this false sense of saving gas (or that's what the vacuum gauge says) when I force the tranny to drop a gear instead of pushing the pedal all the way to the floor to make it downshift. it's probably bad, but with city/highway mixed with my speed being about 30-45/75-85 respectively - I'll eek somewhere areound the 330 (recently)

how does one modify the shift point on the automatic tranny? is there anyone that does ECU reflashing for our cars? I've wondered because a more agressive tune can sometimes give you BETTER gas consumption when not gunning it around...

ZorroAMG

Before my headgasket/valve guide replacement, I was getting 400km/tank (250 Miles per tank) in the city...barely and it leaked like a dirty pirate hooker....

AFTER my new gasket and valves, I now get over 550km city (343 miles) and on the highway I got over 700km/tank! ...thats over 440 miles...well worth the $2000 for the whole job....doesn't smoke, sputter or anything...

dragonfli_VF

I purchased the car for less than that... I want to do the work myself and start learning the ins/outs of der uber helga...

2000 is just for parts?! ...:Eek:

ZorroAMG

nonono, $2000 (canadian btw) was for parts, labour, machining the head, everything...out the door...parts would be like $50 for the gasket, maybe $80/valve guide....sp around $550 for parts...its the labor that kills...11hrs to remove head etc and at 80-100/hr it adds up

dragonfli_VF

woah, okay ... it's not USD!

items need to be replaced:
chain
tensioners
head gasket
water pump
valve guides

some head work (port and polish maybe) and possibly true the head and "Accidently" raise compression

what else is needed for this rebuild when you do this?

Garfunkle_W124

ugh, Just for everyone's information, all Georgians do not sound like this, haha. Welcome to the forums fellow Georgian. I live in Lawrenceville just North of Downtown Atlanta. You sure seem proud to be a southerner.

shdoug

You can adjust the Bowden cable to change the shift point. It's located below the intake (It's probably elsewhere on yours. If you have ASR, I don't have a clue where it would be.) It probably stretches out over time and makes the shifts occur sooner. To delay the shifts longer, turn the cable nut toward the right as you are standing in front of the grille to reach it. Be careful not to break the plastic vacuum tube that goes to the brake booster because it's kind of in the way. Turn the hex nut about 4-6 flats at a time and then test-drive after each adjustment. It takes a while. When I did it it seemed to make no difference for quite a while and then it became very sensitive. Also, if you push the pedal down fairly hard it will activate the kickdown switch for maximum shift-down and move out fairly good.

Don't worry about getting on the gas. I drive mine fairly hard and still get 20 MPG in town. Going easy on it does not seem to make the mileage any better so just have fun.

What is all the talk about miles per tank? How do you know when the tank is empty? Do you wait until the car dies on the side of the road? I never let mine get below a third of a tank before I refill it.

rivcal4life

Now the real...REAL question...


Do you hate your headlights as much as I hate mine?

(I have the same ones)

shadowgriffen

LOL if you hate them so much why not get rid of them?

dragonfli_VF

ha ha ha .. yeah.. I guess I yam kinder prawd ta be suthern... don't let any o dem ATLANTA folk make ya think otherwise... it's a red neck world - we all gotta assimilate the new age of country crunk rock

but all seriousness aside, I'm just a short china man from New York who used to work at Waffle House...

dragonfli_VF

I'm like, totally all about my panda bear lights! - it's all glass, it's all enclosed, the light output is tremendously better than stock dry rot and cracking lights...
I've done retro HID projectors before, and these would be complete cake to do these because of how they're set up...

shdoug! thanks man, I need to go tinkering around and find those shift points... as for gunning the car around town just to down shift... I don't like having to floor it just to make it shift...

rivcal4life

I mean...they look nice and everything, but mine are assembled kinda cheaply.

I put in brighter lights and they looked even better, but one of the center ones burnt out not too long ago. And Ive only had them for a couple months.

I would get rid of them and get euros if I could get what i paid for them.