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Been a while since i updated you guys. A lot has happened with the build, and not good stuff. lol
Just for fun. Random pic from my friend who spotted my car parked outside Honolulu club.
My radiator took a huge crap. It was the last component of my cooling system that was still original. Not bad considering that it went 199k miles and 22 years without being replaced. The radiator didnt actually fail. The connection to the upper radiator hose cracked and blew open. Luckily i was a block away from home at a gas station. I got the coolant low warning, and i went straight home. So far, the water pump, hoses, and thermostat were already replaced over the past few years. The price difference between a "made in china" radiator and Genuine MB radiator was only like 80 bucks. I opted for the genuine product.
Pic after i replaced it. Was still running a bit warm so i added water wetter from Redline and it dropped my coolant temps around 10C. Pardon the messy engine bay.
Next issue was my front tires needed to be replaced. My front camber is pretty negative (-4 degrees), so the tire wear on the front is a bit extreme to the inner 2 inches of the tire. I got new Pirellis, but an issue arose.
The issue was that my front tires were only a few mms away from my front bumper and fender. It looked cool and didn't really rub except on very wide turns so i was fine with it. However, the new Pirellis are are couple mm wider, even though the tire size is exactly the same. It was rubbing on the edge of the fender where it meets the front bumper and rubbing on the bumper as well. I ended up buying some washers and installed them on the sides of the fenders and the bumper. It spaced out the fender and bumper about 5mm, ending the rubbing.
Another just for fun pic. Lowered my friends E63S so i snapped an "after" pic.
Last edited by FlatlineEF9; 06-08-2018 at 05:52 PM.
So i went on vacation and came back after a couple weeks. Car was running fine. I drove her to work and drove her back home, no problems. A couple hours later, the car wouldn't start. It cranked and cranked but no start. I'm having the notorious w210 warm start issue. I changed the camshaft position sensor. Still having the issue. I replaced the crankshaft position sensor see pic below (which was a PITA to get to) and its still having the warm start issue. It might be a fuel problem. The car as been sitting at home for the past few weeks. I'm scared to drive her and get stranded somewhere if i stop. 199k miles, currently.
More maintenance work. Neutral safety switch replaced this weekend. Got to tackle the flex discs too. The rear is ok for now but the front is super bad. Stay tuned. Next mods will be more interior work and some new exhaust work.
Replaced the sunroof seal and did some minor inner rust repair/sealing in the front sunroof drain. Note: when installing the new sunroof seal, lubricate with dish soap...makes the job waaaay easier. My previous seal didn't have an issue but i figured since i was going to pull it out for the repair, id just replace it with new. I dropped off some more parts to be leather wrapped. Waiting on the call to pick them up. More to come. Stay tuned.
One of the biggest eyesores on my car has to be the rockchip damage. After years of use and probably improper prep, a lot of paint has been peeling off the grille and the front lip has taken a beating by the rocks. I pulled off the front lip for a respray and bought a new grille to be sprayed body color as well.
I'm pretty satisfied with the result. Makes the front end look way cleaner and brighter. Update: Still waiting on getting the interior parts back from wrapping
Warning long post with lots of pics. Been away for a while and wanted to update you guys. Still driving the car daily. Almost 240k miles. So first thing i did recently was replace the rear lower control arm bushings. I didn't realize how bad they got. There was an audible squeak when i would drive the car, and i always thought it was my urethane camber arms that was causing the problem. After dozens of times lubing them and trying every trick in the book, i decided to closely inspect the rest of the arm bushings and discovered these guys pretty much destroyed. Replaced both sides...now no more squeak.
Next thing that happened in late November. I was driving home from work and started to hear a knocking sound from under the car. It sounded like a tire had separated and was flapping on the inner fender well. I got out to inspect my car and couldn't find anything wrong. I figured it might be some other problem. In accelerating back on the freeway, the car didn't make noise until 50mph...so i rode the shoulder and kept it under 50. I took the sidestreets home. About 3 blocks from my house, the knocking got louder and then disappeared. Car drove fine. In doing some research, i concluded that it was most likely the drive shaft spline dust boot. Upon removing my exhaust, and driveshaft...i was correct.
Since i was removing the driveshaft, i changed out the exhaust hangars, driveshaft center bearing, dust boot, and re-lubed everything. Also replaced the rear flex disc.
Reassembled everything and she runs like a champ again.
Next to the mods. I know that's what you guys really view this thread for...not my maintenance. Ordered the euro display plate and plate frames from Brabus in Germany. I like the look of it. I removed the german plate i had that read "BRABU5" we will get into what i did with that, in my next post.
Some of you know that i have been in search of a euro spec trunk. Its been a long time coming but I'm happy to say that i was finally able to make it happen. Finding a seller who was willing to ship a $200 trunk all the way to Hawaii from Europe was quite a challenge. I reached out to dozens of sellers and finally found one in Germany who spoke english and was able to ship via DHL and UPS to Hawaii. There was also an issue with customs, which seized the trunk and held it in a warehouse in LA for almost 30 days. I had to register myself as a customs broker and pay the custom duties. With shipping, the trunk ended up being more than the blue book of the car...or the new IPhone. lol.
As you can see, the trunk was kind of beat up. Dents and surface rust galore. Believe it or not, this was the best trunk i could find from the german seller. I gave it to the body shop for bodywork and paint back in September.
The reason i wanted a euro spec trunk is 1) its rare here in the US, even more so in Hawaii...i don't know anyone with one in a 210. and 2) my oem trunk has crazy rust.
You can see that with the license plate on, little rust is visible but you can start to see the bubbling.
Once i removed the plate and the trim, the full extend of the rust is apparent.
Finally got the trunk back from the bodyshop 2 weekends ago. The paint is perfect. They said their bodyguy took about 6 hours to clean the trunk up and remove all the surface rust to prep for paint. Painted OEM pearl black to match.
Here is a pic before
And after. I'm super pleased with the result. Also changed the rubber around the key hole. Kept my original star emblem from the USDM trunk for sentimental reasons.
And lastly. Installed the BRABU5 plate and plate frame that was on the front of my car. Love the way it turned out. The trunk wasn't aligned in this pic. truthfully i stripped one of the nuts and had to borrow a tap from my friend. I aligned the trunk on Wednesday.
Another little added feature is the euro emergency triangle. The oem USDM trunk doesn't have this, but the euro trunk does. Kind of a cool touch that no one will see or notice.
Thanks Illest. I put my Hawaii plate over the euro one but it looks ugly. Will take the plate off and just run the euro one for events and photoshoots.
i love your thread, if you can assist in how i can locate such BRABUS items that would be amazing. I own a 02 Tectite grey E55 200k miles and still strong.
You made your car look very tasty.
Looks nice with the Brabus toys.
Unfortunately I couldn't see any interior photos in this thread only exterior photos?
Do you also have door pins and gear knob?
I would like to see your steering wheel.
Makes me wonder how you can have rust on your car when you're located in Hawaii?
Must be the sea breeze in Hawaii eating your metal?
hey do you still have that car you put the brabus 200mph cluster? How did it work out for you? Was it just plug and play? Would appreciate your help trying to buy one for my W210
Originally Posted by SerbNerd
Dat Brabus cluster with the 200mph reading...oh how I wish. Did Brabus ever do a w210 facelift cluster?
06-08-2018, 05:41 PM
200k miles and still strong.
