Sportline upgrade on 93 Cabriolet UPDATE
09-10-2012, 09:18 PM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Sportline upgrade on 93 Cabriolet UPDATE
Hi all,
The 300 CE Sportline II kit finally arrived from MB Germany after a back order on the rear sway bar kept the project off the lift for a couple weeks. In the meantime the hood liner has been removed and the new one installed, the rear trunk handle was replaced with NOS (its that plastic sucker that breaks after repeated slamming when the struts go south) and trunk struts replaced.
Dropped the exhaust, its in great shape so we keep it, and the flex discs and center bearing have been replaced. In order of bad to good, the center bearing had most of the damage, then front then rear. We think its heat related especially due to the way the "skid plate" plastic guard passes heat from the chin of the car and exits/ports out from the engine bay about where that front disc is. I will take pictures of everything coming off the car and save most of it for our future curiosity.
The kit has lots of bushings except for a few, as noted by one of you fine folks. Ball joints? Replacing them as well, since the lower control arm bushings are part of the kit. Up front, every dry piece of rubber or suspect hinge on the suspension is going to be reverted to new.
Out back, we're throwing in an 10 bolt main with a Detroit locker to keep it really heavy back there. I plan on driving it in the snow, a lot, and need that extra weight.
Just checking. I like to keep my audience riveted. Same drill out back the as the front, tie rod bushings and lower control arm bushings will be pressed in and this we feel is smart because they are probably dry and they have crush-settled into themselves with the old geometry and ride height. I suspect they would get torn up pretty good with the new pressures being exerted in a different locations. I am not exactly sure how to articulate that last line, but i think you know what I mean. We're going after the rod link bushings too for the same reason.
So, shoot, this is a major undertaking but I really believe it is the right thing to do. I still think this is better than replacing all the bushings and tie rods and keeping the same ride height and luxo slop. If this decreases the value of the car I'll be shocked, but **** it. I can't wait to feel that rolling mass moving over the road closer hauled to one vector instead of six.
So, I haven't seen the car apart or in progress but I am pretty hopeful Joe will be documenting it for his shops benefit. I can't just pop in like I wish I could, this is my busy time of year work wise.
I got the measurement for before and will post the deltas when we get to the after. I imagine there will be a little sag a few months after the install, so we will keep the data coming. I miss it terribly as the weather is balmy 74ish here, but all my air cooled bikes are loving it and they deserve some attention too.
Best,
Bob
The 300 CE Sportline II kit finally arrived from MB Germany after a back order on the rear sway bar kept the project off the lift for a couple weeks. In the meantime the hood liner has been removed and the new one installed, the rear trunk handle was replaced with NOS (its that plastic sucker that breaks after repeated slamming when the struts go south) and trunk struts replaced.
Dropped the exhaust, its in great shape so we keep it, and the flex discs and center bearing have been replaced. In order of bad to good, the center bearing had most of the damage, then front then rear. We think its heat related especially due to the way the "skid plate" plastic guard passes heat from the chin of the car and exits/ports out from the engine bay about where that front disc is. I will take pictures of everything coming off the car and save most of it for our future curiosity.
The kit has lots of bushings except for a few, as noted by one of you fine folks. Ball joints? Replacing them as well, since the lower control arm bushings are part of the kit. Up front, every dry piece of rubber or suspect hinge on the suspension is going to be reverted to new.
Out back, we're throwing in an 10 bolt main with a Detroit locker to keep it really heavy back there. I plan on driving it in the snow, a lot, and need that extra weight.
Just checking. I like to keep my audience riveted. Same drill out back the as the front, tie rod bushings and lower control arm bushings will be pressed in and this we feel is smart because they are probably dry and they have crush-settled into themselves with the old geometry and ride height. I suspect they would get torn up pretty good with the new pressures being exerted in a different locations. I am not exactly sure how to articulate that last line, but i think you know what I mean. We're going after the rod link bushings too for the same reason.
So, shoot, this is a major undertaking but I really believe it is the right thing to do. I still think this is better than replacing all the bushings and tie rods and keeping the same ride height and luxo slop. If this decreases the value of the car I'll be shocked, but **** it. I can't wait to feel that rolling mass moving over the road closer hauled to one vector instead of six.
So, I haven't seen the car apart or in progress but I am pretty hopeful Joe will be documenting it for his shops benefit. I can't just pop in like I wish I could, this is my busy time of year work wise.
I got the measurement for before and will post the deltas when we get to the after. I imagine there will be a little sag a few months after the install, so we will keep the data coming. I miss it terribly as the weather is balmy 74ish here, but all my air cooled bikes are loving it and they deserve some attention too.
Best,
Bob
09-20-2012, 11:08 PM
#4
Member
Thread Starter
Ack. The car is higher than before the sportline kit, any ideas?
I got this note from my mechanic today. Rats
Just got the car set down today, drove it to the alignment shop and they
informed us that an inner tie rod has too much play. The boys went down to pick it up and when the car was parked I noticed that it is sitting
noticeably higher than before. A quick measurement shows it to be nearly 1 1/2 inches higher in the front and about an inch higher in the rear. From
what I read on the web site I was expecting the car to sit a little lower.
Mercedes Benz uses upper spring bushings of varying thickness to adjust
ride height. They are marked by nubs at the edges. We removed shims with a single nub from all four springs. These are the thinnest available. The kit came with shims, the fronts are ones and the rear are twos.
I just wanted to talk to you about this before the alignment, changing
ride height would require re aligning the car.
There is really nothing that could easily be done to lower the front and
putting thinner shims in the rear would cause the car not to sit level.
So, anybody have any ideas before i call my boys at Peach Parts?
Thanks,
Bob
Just got the car set down today, drove it to the alignment shop and they
informed us that an inner tie rod has too much play. The boys went down to pick it up and when the car was parked I noticed that it is sitting
noticeably higher than before. A quick measurement shows it to be nearly 1 1/2 inches higher in the front and about an inch higher in the rear. From
what I read on the web site I was expecting the car to sit a little lower.
Mercedes Benz uses upper spring bushings of varying thickness to adjust
ride height. They are marked by nubs at the edges. We removed shims with a single nub from all four springs. These are the thinnest available. The kit came with shims, the fronts are ones and the rear are twos.
I just wanted to talk to you about this before the alignment, changing
ride height would require re aligning the car.
There is really nothing that could easily be done to lower the front and
putting thinner shims in the rear would cause the car not to sit level.
So, anybody have any ideas before i call my boys at Peach Parts?
Thanks,
Bob
09-25-2012, 09:21 PM
#7
Member
Thread Starter
Its done!
Ta da. The Sportline project is completed and I will be picking up the car tomorrow.
Overall the process had a lot of add ons as the car was on the lift, as some of you know I am curating a rolling restoration on a pretty clean example and am done for the 2012 calendar year.
The biggest ouch was a broken stud found in the rear manifold when removing the exhaust for the flex disc and bearing replacement. Pulled and replaced, I think all is well.
I had a second alignment performed after a spirited 95 miles on the car, bouncing it in and hitting some of our south suburban forest preserve twisties to "accelerate" settling. We have pretty severely curfed roads in the urban areas so finding truly flat concrete takes a long walk south. It was re aligned and detailed today so I am excited to get it home.
I will post the data of the before and after ride height soon. As far as the ride, for a 20 year old 2 ton convertible it is a significant improvement on an already refined setup. The bigger rubber on the AMG 17s plussed it up, but the Sportline heavier sway bars have really pulled it all together.
Cheers,
Bob
Overall the process had a lot of add ons as the car was on the lift, as some of you know I am curating a rolling restoration on a pretty clean example and am done for the 2012 calendar year.
The biggest ouch was a broken stud found in the rear manifold when removing the exhaust for the flex disc and bearing replacement. Pulled and replaced, I think all is well.
I had a second alignment performed after a spirited 95 miles on the car, bouncing it in and hitting some of our south suburban forest preserve twisties to "accelerate" settling. We have pretty severely curfed roads in the urban areas so finding truly flat concrete takes a long walk south. It was re aligned and detailed today so I am excited to get it home.
I will post the data of the before and after ride height soon. As far as the ride, for a 20 year old 2 ton convertible it is a significant improvement on an already refined setup. The bigger rubber on the AMG 17s plussed it up, but the Sportline heavier sway bars have really pulled it all together.
Cheers,
Bob
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10-28-2012, 08:26 PM
#8
Member
Thread Starter
Not bad actually
So I had the car up in the Northwoods of WI over the weekend and was really worried about rubbing as the path to the cabin has some very steep transitions from road to gravel, and even with the trunk loaded and all of us in the car we did fine. I know this ride height could go down at leas an inch on the right wheels but for the way this car will be used in the summer I'm destined to just keep it like it is at the normal non dropped Sportline height.
What a great car. Wife and I were rocking out and I think I finally killed the front right speaker. I'll search the forum for the right replacements.
What a great car. Wife and I were rocking out and I think I finally killed the front right speaker. I'll search the forum for the right replacements.
10-28-2012, 09:28 PM
#9
MBWorld Fanatic!
MB Quartz typically come highly lauded.
Myself, I'm a big fan of my Rockford Fosgate t142c and t152c that I have installed. Worked fairly well, and required no gutting of the enclosures to install. However, they obviously don't fit in the MB speaker brackets, so you'll have to affix them another way.
They don't deliver great bass, but they are clean and sound nice overall. Adding a small sub and cross-over would likely keep them much cleaner and give me a fuller sound. A project for another day :P
Myself, I'm a big fan of my Rockford Fosgate t142c and t152c that I have installed. Worked fairly well, and required no gutting of the enclosures to install. However, they obviously don't fit in the MB speaker brackets, so you'll have to affix them another way.
They don't deliver great bass, but they are clean and sound nice overall. Adding a small sub and cross-over would likely keep them much cleaner and give me a fuller sound. A project for another day :P
10-29-2012, 12:09 AM
#10
