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You have to search his videos, but he's restored/fixed everything Benz related and has done his fair share of V12 repair, even the transmission.
You have 2 R129 AMGs!
I saw the TUV fender guard on your V12 in the "family" photo. You certainly are fearless in keeping your cars running. Most folks don't dive into car maintenance/repair like you do any more.
I noticed that both your AMGs have the original small ATE front brakes. I was always concerned with the braking performance on the heavy V12 until I upgraded (simple bolt on) to the R129 model year 1999 and up Brembo brakes. They stop a WHOLE lot better. The only drawback is you have to have at least 17 inch wheels AND a 17 inch spare in the trunk.
As i hopefully wrote, the SL60 is sold. A very powerfull car, but without ADS and: Not always the quicker car wins. And there are better cars for winter time. You know winter?
Thank you for the Youtube link, looks interesting, i will watch some of his videos. Visiting a repairshop not always is a good solution. Most of them treat my car like their cars, an d this is not what i want. And a lot of things lasts much too much time, so i have to do it by myself.
As a sideeffect, i can repair parts and dont have to change parts, only.
Does the brake caliper match, it is only the larger disc? Part number is different, so i don't follow this in the past. The spare wheel is not a problem, i haven't one.
Last edited by AndreasHannover; 08-27-2020 at 02:02 AM.
It has only snowed (a half inch) twice in my lifetime where I live (Florida). However, I married a girl from Ft.Wayne, Indiana and we go north for Christmas every other year. I'm actually disappointed if it doesn't snow when we go north. I don't think I would enjoy an entire season, 2 weeks of snow, cold and ice is enough fun.
Tranny work too! I see you've changed the contact plate and the usual broken spring. The first few years of the 5 speed does like to leak out of the electrical connection.
The big front brake swap is a great improvement and an easy swap. All you need from the donor car are the calipers (which are aluminum), flex lines, caliper bolts and rotor. Just unbolt your rusty iron ATE calipers, existing flex lines and rotors. You'll know you have the right calipers when you look on the backside and they have Brembo cast into them. Put the new parts on and I suggest Akebono pads for low dust and good braking. Bleed the system and hit the road to bed in the new pads. Mercedes uses this same setup for the Silver Arrow cars except the rotors are drilled and the calipers are silver instead of black. The front drilled rotors aren't expensive, but MB doesn't make them any more. Zimmerman makes a good drilled copy and I hear the matching rear rotors ARE still available at the dealership.
You will wonder why you didn't swap brakes earlier.
I change the electrical connection every time i change the transmission fluid. And the contact plate at every car we own (not at every oil change, only once). The calipers are used very expensive, new a fortune. And i just replaced rotors, pads and lines. @Frank, does your SL55 has these larger brakes? And if so, when will you part it?
Low dust is not important for me, the only thing counts is
Check with gsxr on the 500E board and BenzWorld. He's was my source for calipers about 8 years ago. I bought new rotors and stainless steel flex lines when I made the switch. Considering that the actual Brembo big brake kit was $3,400 back in the day, I got the calipers for $600 from gsxr and thought it was a pretty good deal. The SA brakes stop really well.
The soft top was closed. At this moment you are missing the hardtop. We drove 270 km/h openly, then you missed the hearing protection.
The original disc has a diameter of 320 mm, the last 334 mm, this is 14 mm more. That's about half an inch, 3 gallons, a foot, and 6 pence more The actual deals today are roughly double the price you paid, that is ... a lot. But it's a good idea, I'll wait and see, there's no rush. I have seen that the size of the rear disks is the same, but perforated. That's very funny, not even my R230 has that, i must have them. Yes, Mercedes does not make own brake disks any more. 95% of all disks are made in China.
I watched some of the Youtube videos from Victor, like the way he works. But i saw only pre 96 modells with the older LH injection, seems the later ones are more reliable. We owned a V8 out of this time. Because of the 4 gear transmission, the fuel consumption was a bit worse than the 97 V12.
By the way, fuel consumption: This is the AMG of my wife, the circus car
Looking funny. Plus shipping, customs, tax, foreign exchange costs and restoring the mess. Winter is coming! The VIN from the donor car is nice. I bought it before i read this
Knock on wood. Meanwhile, i had to repair something inside the headlamp, so i could make a picture of the AMG intake from outside.This is the AMG solution:
I notice in the second image with the factory intake, the 2 retaining push pins on the intake surround are gone (as usual).
The act of inserting the factory intake through the surround opening ejects the 2 retaining pins, always. So every time the oil is changed, the dealership dutifully loses both pins and fails to notice.
Getting the RENNtech (and AMG) intake boxes not only increases air flow, but saves you fitment issues with the original air-boxes. Worth every penny.
Your fine photos of the V12 AMG modifications have given me inspiration for another improvement project.
I couldn't help but notice that the radiator support surround on the AMG photos is trimmed higher at the opening. My regular OEM surrounds need to be cut about an inch and a half to take full advantage of the larger intake opening. Once again, thanks for posting such nice images.
It's a little hot in Florida right now, so I'll wait until the fall weather arrives (hopefully) in late October or November.
You will have your brake upgrade project and I will have my intake modification. Very nice.
Couldn't wait until cooler weather or Christmas before installing the new brakes?
No difference? Wait until the new pads fully wear into the new rotors before making up your mind. You will notice that they do in fact stop better.
Speaking of rotors, I see the Zimmermann box in the background, but those look like real MB OEM Silver Arrow front rotors. I thought they were all gone by now. You do know there are matching drilled REAR rotors too. The SA rear calipers are the same as the regular duty calipers except they are painted silver. Did you choose Akebono pads or at least something with low dusting, but good grip? I know your original front flex lines needed to be changed to match up with the new calipers, but did you upgrade your flex lines too?
The most time consuming part was to replace the old colour. The plain replacement lasts lazy 3 or 4 hours, no problems at all. The rotors and the breakpads came from Zimmermann. If the pads will nor work, i will try out the next level. The front flex lines are the same as for the 320mm (same part number). I renewed them some month ago, so i do not change them. But i pulled out the pistons, cleaned everything and renew the gaskets.
As I live in a warmer climate, my fan might see more action which would cause it to fail more often.
After 264K miles, the secondary air pump has started to complain. It's located just above the alternator and involves 3 short hose connections that have gone so rock hard they shatter. I also chose to replace the original small air filter for the SAP. Two of the hoses were stateside while the third has to come from Der Fatherland. I won't be finished with this maintenance until next week when it arrives so now I'm mostly concerned with cleaning the 2 decades of grime in the area.
Hard hoses just aft of the pump. From above. Hoses and check valve from below. Check valve to Europe only hose. Extraction of pump from above with fan and shroud removed. Supporting parts for pump check valve, filter and remnants of the 2 brittle stateside available hoses.
Bumping this old thread as I'm interested in a RENNtech intake for my SL600. However it seems like sourcing one will be more difficult than I thought, so I'll likely go the custom route. The space seems very limited on room to work but it seems possible to route some ducting and fitting a cone somewhere towards the front.
Desired outcome is something that looks and functions along the lines of a GruppeM or Eventuri piece.
Are you going to try a RENNtech modification which keeps the stock airbox, but alters the inlet part?
Have you tried to contact RENNtech in FL?
The only way a cone would provide any benefit is if it was ahead of the radiator and in cooler air. As you know, the V12 makes a little bit of heat under the hood and you would have to provide for the MAF and air temp sensor. Also, there is no room ahead of the radiator for a cone, much less two.
Having written this, it's your car and I'd like to see your solution. As would others.
08-26-2020 | 02:53 PM
