Sinfull

Just got a 1999 E320, new to mercedes, garage find, sat last 10 yrs in a garage.

Just pushed it out of the garage after 10 yrs

MBpippo

Hi @Sinfull and welcome to the forum! All the best with your find 😀

chassis

Welcome! Looks great. Let's see some photos after it gets uncovered from 10 years of garage dust!

What is the story on how you found it, and what are your plans for the car?

Sinfull

My father got it from a family friend who passed away, figured it was time for me to have a really nice car. He has always driven MB.
I have always been into Honda and Nissan, and thinks that since I just turned turned 40 it is time for me to have a MB. Always had a swapped turbo honda, or a swapped turbo Nissan and of course I am always working on them. So his logic is since I am used to working on a car, I may as well be working on the MB. Since he is always working on his MB 😀

carid

Looks like you have a good starting point project. Make sure to keep us posted on the upgrades.

Sinfull

UP GRADE is definitely correct, going to try and get her to sit right on 32's 😀 Every one wants to slam them to the ground and run big AMG wheels, let's do something completely different and run big tires on stock 16's and just keep her clean and looking nice, after brakes this week and finish getting her ready to run, big tires are being ordered. Spark plugs and fluids are already ordered, trans fluid and filter. Old gas in tank is still okay surprisingly, gas is still clean and should run, fuel filter are on order, new fuel pump is in shopping cart, may not have to do it, fuse isn't corroded, car was sealed up with windows closed so nothing got inside the vehicle, I don't find any thing that would show that something got inside, no nests and no chewed wires, new battery powers up and everything works so far. She should start, even after 10 yrs, will find out after I get everything changed and ready to run

Sinfull

She is alive 😀

Sinfull

This was definitely a process, after changing fluids and plugs, 1st start was a disaster, miss fires, check engine light immediately, and alot of shaking and smoke. Pulled engine immediately and put her on the engine stand. Cracked her open and inspected engine. Piston bores still looked great, so no scratches or gouging, left them alone, bearings plastigauged correct, so did bearing because I already had the caps off, crank checked out so just new seals and bearing. Head leak down was decent so just did the valves, heads were off anyway so new timing set was ordered, least favorite part is the timing, but done a whole lot of timing belts on past v6 3kgt Mitsubishi, so this wasn't anything to difficult, new oil pump and all gaskets, new head bolts and reassemble. Transmission just did the usual service and new mounts. Put the engine back in with new mounts, new coils and wires and plugs, sent radiator and gas tank to be cleaned and got both back, new fuel pump since tank was already out, reassemble everything and now she runs so nice, butter smooth.

Sinfull

All I can say about the whole thing is that MB engines have a strange mystery about them that I don't understand. They are just normal engines, they come apart the same and they go back together the same, alot of people seem afraid to do anything with them, don't exactly understand why, if you can rebuild a Honda engine you can definitely rebuild a mb engine. I will say that mb engines have really good quality parts and you can probably get them cheaper than what I paid since I ordered all mine through my local dealer, used my shop discount and that was done to insure I got the mb parts, only real cost was having a valve job done at a shop that specializes in heads, they have never disappointed me yet. I probably could have not done the valves but it was was already off the car so just got it done anyway. Since the car sat for so long I chose to just get everything done and start off with a fresh start, probably could have gotten her to run decent since there was no real damage to engine and alot of the important parts were not worn out. But she is alive and running and I definitely will be keeping her

Sinfull

did a full clay bar, cut and buffed with medium compound, full hand wax after, and I get a nice deep shine but it will never be perfect, car has definitely been driven and paint chips every where, some one dragged something across the hood, probably used her for a storage shelf, looks like a box dragged with probably a few years of dirt underneath it, will definitely come out with a serious cut, not really wanting to do that since I really doubt that the clear coat will survive. Plus the fact that the paint is already damaged

Sinfull

see the paint damage, she can definitely shine up, but alot of damage is already done, so no real reason to risk doing a serious cut. Just going to keep a eye on the spots and keep her with a good coat of wax, she is a ten foot car, looks amazing till you get up close and personal. Besides Patina and originality are in now 😀

chassis

Great progress! Do you plan to replace the headlamps?

Sinfull

If you click on the picture and zoom in where my phone reflects, you can really see the scratches, not worth risking since you already see the physical damage spot that is there. Best thing to do is to just keep it waxed and try to do any more damage. Another cut will only further weaken a already weak clear. So she will only get a true wax from now on, no cleaning wax, and only clayed to remove the build up and what ever falls on her. Good news is I can still get a pretty decent shine even though every panel is scratches or chipped. Good news is it is all normal wear and tear, nothing out of the ordinary for a 20 yr old paint. Like I said she definitely was driven 😀

Sinfull

Headlamps are definitely in the to do list, probably after the full suspension redo, or before because they definitely look terrible. Have a couple ideas, if I do new lenses I will definitely be painting the inside houses black, don't really like the all white bug eye look. Maybe try a full sand and polish and see how it turns out.

MBpippo

Thanks for the updates @Sinfull