Well gentlemen,
this is the time to present to you my 1991 300CE.
I bought this car for $1,600. It was in great running order, with a no accidents body and a great interior. The body was a bit rough, the paint was faded and it has 157,000 miles.
I knew from the time I saw it, what I wanted to do to it to suit my taste.
I always have loved the looks of the coupe, but I never knew that they could be had for so little money.




When I got her home the first thing I knew I had to do was change the suspension parts as the parts were tired. I went with Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers. I rebuild all the suspension parts that looked tired, including bushes, steering dampers etc.
While the car was on jacks in my garage, I decided that car needed new 02 sensor as preventive maintenance, new transmission fluid, new engine oil and filter, new fuel filter and new differential oil. When the above were done, I took her of the jacks and did a tune up as well as parts replacement.
New cap and rotor, new plugs, new crankshaft position sensor, new air filter, new temp sensors, new vac hoses and a few cosmetics in the engine bay, like header high temp black paint and new valve cover high temp paint as the original was flacking. I also got new 17" rims and tires.







I drove the car to decide if she was worth a full make over and fell in love with her so I decided to go ahead.
I decided that the speakers were too old to give any decent performance so I swapped them. I added some more sound insulation on the door panels, removed all the carpeting and washed it thoroughly to remove 20 year old filth.
The original wood around the shifter was beyond help and IMHO would not match the future look of the car, so I decided to cover it with 3M dinoc carbon fiber.
I bypassed the fader switch and added in it's place an antenna up/down switch I acquired from a 300E from the bone yard.
I replace rear glass with a new one ($$$$) and all the surrounding gaskets and metal trim (it had faded to yellow chrome finish) and painted all the rest with automotive satin black paint. All the trim, I mean everything was removed and I prepped all pieces for paint.
I bought the AMG Gen II body kit from ebay, it is made by Extreme dimension. I also got an OEM facelift hood from the dealer (all aftermarket ones were not up to par), DEPO headlights and side markers and facelift grill.
(you can follow this part in this link)

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...tallation.html

and sent her of too paint. I decided on single stage paint because it can be polished and brought back to great shape easier than 2 stage down the road.
For now I have decided to not install the ducktail although it was painted and prepped as well. I do not know what I will do with it in the future. It requires permanent installation and I am not sure of it as of yet.
I lowered the car further with using the lowest spring pads on the rear (#1) and #2 in the front.
I was thinking of tinting the windows slightly, but decided against it. It does limit visibility slightly and I like the no tint look.
So with no further interruptions, I present to you My 300CE!!!

 

 

 

I hope you enjoy this long winded thread and maybe you will enjoy the car as well.
I also hope that this helps future and current owners with their cars.
If any of you have any questions, please feel free to ask, I will do my best to answer any and all questions.

And I would like to thank everyone who has given me their input and has helped me along this wonderful journey!!!

 

Very nice!

the ducktail is more a prefacilfted car era. But i still think it will make the car look very special. I would install it! and i would have gone with the smoked rear lights (depo makes it too i think).

Will you be installing the front fog lights?

 

Thank you chlippo.
The ductail will wait. I like it as is, when I get used to the look, I will decide. I do agree that it will give it a special look.

I am not into smoked lights. I wish I could find the front turn signals in the Euro look, but no big deal. I will live with what I have.

As far as the fogs go, very hard to find and expensive. The entire car as it is sits has cost me roughly $6k+/-. It is not meant to be a show car, just a daily driver. It even sits outside the garage as the other 3 (more valuable) cars are inside. Plus here in SoCal, fogs are never really needed. If I could find a pair for $100 or so, I would put them on. The openings now have satin black mesh. Hard to see in pics. As far as aftermarket, maybe later on.

I am pretty much done with the car, as I am about to open my second restaurant and I am working 7 days 16 hours to get it done in 2 months. My first Bar and Grill place.
That will suck up around $250k for remodeling alone, not including buying etc.
So that is my #1 priority as of now.

 

good luck in your project!

 

Thanks chlippo...it should be fun and scary at the same time!!!

 

Looks great!

 

Looks VERY good Sam! Hopefully next time I am in the area you will be able to show have it with you. Too bad my car is not black, or I may be interested in the duck tail. Maybe with a test fit I would like it enough to have it painted. That is, if it is for sale!

 

Thank you gents.
J, the ducktail for the coupes is specific to the coupes. It will not fit the sedans due to trunk shape differences etc. Plus, I will keep it. I tend to hold on to stuff just in case I might need them in the future!!!
Can't wait to have you guys come down and play some jams at the new place

 

 

Clean as hell man!

 

Very awesme indeed. What was your final spend if I may ask?

 

Nicely done! What's the finish on the trunk star, matte?

 

Ahh I don't know how that little detail skipped my mind. Although, to protect my pride, let's just say I was interested for a coupe I have lined up for purchase (lie). And yes I understand, I have a closet and garage full of parts I will likely never even look at again.

Sweet! We can't wait either. Working on getting some new stuff ironed out. Looks like you won't be open for a couple months? Maybe we can play your grand opening. Though, that's probably more of a subject for PM's. Back to the car!

 

Nicely done. I like what you did with the dash. The wood is looking tired on my 90 300 E and am trying to figure if I should just replace the p-lam(similar clear material) or do what you did. The p-lam is cracked but it is really bad in the shifter area. It is leaking oil so I am getting cam cover and shaft replaced to see if this helps. I read somewhere else it might be the head gasket causing the leak(hope not). Still a work in progress although I drive it locally(20 miles or less) weekly.

 

Oh yeah, I am interested in those rims for my 90 300 E. If you could point me in that direction, that would be helpful.

 

Beautiful !

 

Thanks guys!

The paint on the trunk star is satin.

Entire project including buying the car etc. was around $6k. I did all the work besides shooting the paint and polishing.

The rims are these:

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Wheel...All&sort=Brand

but I painted them sating black. From tire rack, brand: sport edition

Hey Justin, yup I am shooting for Oct. 1st but things can get weird with the city, permits, construction etc.
You guys at the grand opening sounds good!!! I have the car at the restaurant almost every day, so text me when you are around and I will be happy to show the coupe. Talk soon.

 

looks good!

 

Car looks fantastic. What radio is that? Blaupunkt? I like that for mine. Real nice job.

 

Thanks gents!

black-55, the head unit is a Blaupunkt Manhattan CD 148 (I believe the number to be correct if memory serves). I like it because it is simple!!! Not like the newer ones that have menus within menus. I do not think this is made any longer though. It was on the car when I bought it.

 

i like the center panel very clean

 

Gorgeous.