Made a little purchase today.

Hoping to turn this into a build thread at some point.

Any advice is appreciated. trying to figure out where to start, and figure out whats missing, so any help there is appreciated.

WOW.....good luck bro. You have def got your hands full. I would look at dropping that motor in a CL or a SL. It looks like you are missing most of the cooling stuff upper front.

I would look into getting the Wald Black Bison kit for your car, since you need new fenders and front bumper. Might be worth it. Look at the cost difference on an AMG front to the Wald.......if memory serves me correctly I think like about $1000. Well worth it in my opinion. Good luck though.

I dont know if I should congratulate you or smack you over the head for making that purchase , just kidding! Hey nice find though for a project car, did you get that at a salvage auction? What year is that S55 you have if you dont mind me asking?

Where to start....em....I would suggest finding a indy mercedes mechanic with the star diagnostic tool and get a write up of the list of parts you need from A to Z. Then hop on EBAY or call LKQ for parts and start scraping up parts. I would Prioritize my needs first so you can firstly get her started up from getting the essential parts first of course. Then move on etc... Be warned though looking at how much work you need, its a lot and be ready to throw down a lot of $$$ OR you can just make money of scraping her piece by piece . Your interior looks superb from the pics. But anyhow I wish you luck with whatever you decide upon doing with her. REgardless once you get her up and running you won't be disappointed at all , it will be well worth every penny you spent on her.
Cheers!

Yes, there's a lot to be done. It will be interesting.

Just a quick summary of background. I've been doing this type of stuff off and on for about 12 years. I've done fraken buildes like my rb25 s14, and normal stuff like turbo s2k, hpf m3.

A really good friend of mine works for a place called Eurosport here in OK. I should be able to get a lot of the parts cheaper than usual.

The car is an 04 with 56k on it. 1 owner

I'm thinking about doing some type of headlight swap, such as a more traditional round Mercedes headlights.

Going to widen the fenders, maybe put coilovers on it with rims And call it a day for now.

Ps I have 2k in the car as of right now.

In case if you change your mind sell it to me...

i may sell it in a year or so, but I have already tore the front end off, the suspension, and the seats out to clean.

Its sitting on a rack in my shop for now

I would part it out.

looks like you need a new steering wheel. Should be good after that.

Looks like you got your hands full by looking at that front end. It could be worse though. Good luck.

I think saying you "drive an S55" may be putting the cart before the horse. looks like a very significant project, but you'll have fun when you are done. You are missing a bunch of stuff, I don't even know where to start!

Going from memory on my '03 S55, you're missing/need to be replaced: radiator, ac condenser, intercooler, intercooler pump, trans cooler, p/s cooler, rad support, headlights, snorkel tubes, and about a bazillion other small things (hoses, fasteners, etc).

Might want to check motor mounts, tranny mount, s/c clutch, p/s ABC pump, ......

If you only have $2K in it, you should seriously think about parting it out and putting the money toward a project that is more of a "build" rather than "repair". You can get more than $2K just for the wheels and brakes. Just a thought. If you do decide to keep it, please continue to update the postings. Good luck.

There's a LOT of parts needed there, and many of them will be sought after and quite valuable, like headlights and fender.

I think I'd start by buying another salvage car that had rolled - something with no front end damage, and use that as a donor.

Nick

Maybe someone with an s55 should take a picture of the front of the car to show him what it should look like...I agree about getting a donor car that has been rolled, rear ended, or t-boned is the only way to go, it looks like about 30k in parts retail(uneducated guess). I'm thinking all the parts mentioned plus frame damage repair, hood, fenders, undercarriage, front suspension possibly.

$30k in parts? Wow!!! Considering I just sold my S65 for $25,000, I am thinking you have your work cut out for you man! good luck! And why not go with a running S55? They are going for under $18k

He would never buy the parts retail, just find a nice clean totaled one with a complete nose.

You make it sound so easy! LoL I'm sure your junkyard has a ton of W220 AMG's just sitting around in ever color of the rainbow but where I'm from (SoCal) I can't find any of these! And we have a ton of Mercs on the road. So for me it wouldn't be worth it to buy a wrecked S55 (unless I found it for free with less than 20k miles on it) then spend all the time & money to try to fix it up when you could have bought a running S55 for like $15-$20k. That's just me though. I worked on cars for decades (and at a Benz dealership for over 5 years as a Master Tech) and I would much rather spend my time with my family than going through junkyards every weekend looking for parts. Not to mention when you sell it, it will be as a "Salvaged Car" and youll be lucky to get $6-$9k for it! But some people love that so good luck to him!

Don't get me wrong, I am 100% with you on this, I would do the same as you. Plus, it proly will never run quite right. I would never try this path. But the op seems to be headed in that direction. Nice 65, btw. I love mine!

Pretty rare color. I like it.

Part it out. It will be a pain sourcing the parts secondhand and buying them new at wholesale will be in the five figures.

Not worth it.

This car may not be in the same condition as the pics above, but any chance of taking the 3rd picture again but without the toilet paper or what ever it is in the way please.

Iv dropped something in mine which i believe has gone under the oil filter housing, just trying to see what it looks like under there and where it may have possibly got stuck.

Thanks.

I sold an AMG bumper complete with support $2200. Silver color. Side skirts sold also $800 set. That's pretty much the only things that are "AMG" as far as body parts. Head lights and front parts are basically from any other w220. There's plenty of aftermarket cooling parts that are cheap too. Good quality none of that China/Taiwan ****. Honestly that's nothing as far as damage. It you paid 7-10k depending on the mileage then you got a decent deal. PM me if you ever need parts for it.

^This....You could get a crap load of money if you did. I personally don't see a huge benefit to a build like this. Salvage title for newer car = zero worth ever. I could see doing this to a much older car...

And coilovers...really? Just get some link to lower it and call it a day.

But than again, if you have a crap load of money and time, why not.