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I am the 5th owner. It has a good service history.
Good things are that it has upgraded Aluminium radiator, new fan clutch and majority of coolant hoses and recently replaced filters, engine vacuum hoses, fuel pressure regulator, transmission neutral safety switch.
AC blows cold, no check engine light, no dents damages or rust, soft top hydraulics work and the first original soft-top is in good condition.
Areas of attention are bushings, brake pads were all worn (i have alredy replaced them), headliner is loose
Some photos from California when I bought it in March 2022
Imported to Slovenia on July 22. Once I got it I replaced brake pads to drive the car for a few days on probation plates. Oil pressure was not working so I replaced the oil pressure switch that solved the issue. Also replaced the belt with a tensioner.
Until now the car was parked in the garage. Will soon start preparing it for the summer season.
On agenda is:
- suspension bushings
- new leather on seats (waitting for new covers from USA)
- top hydraulics seals replacement (also waiting for delivery from USA)
- new hardtop headliner
- new hood insulation
- some interior plastics replacement
- new paint on front bumper
- lower springs
- 17" or 18" monoblock wheels
- engine service (all filters)
Ordered some 3d printed replacement parts. Quality could be better since I broke one sun visor cover... maybe I tightened it too much. Will order metal ones in future and have them color painted.
I was also missing the vanity mirror cover.
Removed the front bumper and headlight wiper trim to have them welded and painted.
Received majority of suspension bushings and stabilizators.
Nice looking car. I looked at several of those before I settled on a w210 E55 which led to a w211 e55. I would be willing to bet that there was much excitement at your home when the truck pulled up to deliver your vehicle! Keep posting what you're doing as it makes for a good DIY for others who follow down this path.
There are a few endemic issues you might have to deal with on this beautiful car. The A/C evaporators are prone to failure from a 'running crack' on the header. That will require complete disassembly of the dash and removal of the front seats to get to it. Change the heater core while in there. The engine compartment electrical wiring insulation will all fail. turning brittle and failing. Be sure and rewire the system before they fail and short damaging the computers and actuators.
There are a few endemic issues you might have to deal with on this beautiful car. The A/C evaporators are prone to failure from a 'running crack' on the header. That will require complete disassembly of the dash and removal of the front seats to get to it. Change the heater core while in there. The engine compartment electrical wiring insulation will all fail. turning brittle and failing. Be sure and rewire the system before they fail and short damaging the computers and actuators.
Thanks for the tip, I will investigate for sure. Was the engine compartment electrical wiring problem on all r129 or only early models?
Nice looking car. I looked at several of those before I settled on a w210 E55 which led to a w211 e55. I would be willing to bet that there was much excitement at your home when the truck pulled up to deliver your vehicle! Keep posting what you're doing as it makes for a good DIY for others who follow down this path.
Thanks! I like w211 e55 such a classy design. Future classic car for sure.
I have delivered quite a few cars over the years and the excitement of waiting the last few minutes before the truck delivers it always gives me that special nervous-exciting feeling.
Replaced rear suspension bushings - majority was still good but anyway just to have peace of mind.
Wheel bearing bush was a bit of a pain in the ***.
Also replaced hub bearing. One was bad and the other side I have on stock in case it goes bad (would replace it preventive but already assembled one side before realizing the other side is bad).
Front end has Bilstein struts that is a plus.
Brake lining was cracked so I replaced all 4 as well. Also front arm bushings were replaced.
I realized that idler arm bushing is having a lot of wiggle so that is next on the agenda. Also ordered tie rods and steering center drag link.
Replaced tie rods and steering center drag ring. I have ordered LEMFÖRDER idler arm bushing 1244600019.
Sadly they did not fit. I wanted to experimente and save some money but ended up buying the original idler arm bushing from Mercedes.
Suspension is now done – only lowering springs and that's it. Waitting for parts to arrive to sort top hydraulics and seat leather. Also ordered 17 & 18 inch Mercedes monoblock style wheels. 17 inch all four wheels 8J ET 30 and 18 inch 8J ET35 / 9J ET 35. So I think I will go with 18 inch.
Are you going to check into upgrading the brakes with newer model R129s? I think even the regular brakes from the mid 90s (not the 99 and up SA brakes) are larger (front and back) than the early setups. Although, I do recommend the SA brake upgrade especially on earlier V12 cars.
When I got my car (a long time ago), the suspension parts looked OK, but they weren't. Nothing beats new suspension bits.
New front A-arms would finish your suspension refresh.
That rear wheel bearing is killer hard to replace (not the lower bushing), bravo for doing the replacement at home. Seeing as you are comfortable with the tough stuff, take a peek at your differential bushings as well as the 4 sub frame bushings. Also, your flex discs.
You have a very nice two tone early car that has a higher build quality than the later R129 cars. For one, your seat motors will never fail.
Are you going to check into upgrading the brakes with newer model R129s? I think even the regular brakes from the mid 90s (not the 99 and up SA brakes) are larger (front and back) than the early setups. Although, I do recommend the SA brake upgrade especially on earlier V12 cars.
When I got my car (a long time ago), the suspension parts looked OK, but they weren't. Nothing beats new suspension bits.
New front A-arms would finish your suspension refresh.
That rear wheel bearing is killer hard to replace (not the lower bushing), bravo for doing the replacement at home. Seeing as you are comfortable with the tough stuff, take a peek at your differential bushings as well as the 4 sub frame bushings. Also, your flex discs.
You have a very nice two tone early car that has a higher build quality than the later R129 cars. For one, your seat motors will never fail.
After inspection I saw a small leakage on both the main cylinder and passenger side of the Tonneau cover had a massive leak.
I started with removing and rebuilding the Tonneau cover since it is most accessible.
Next I went to the rear lock and Tonneau cover lift.
This week I will rebuild front lock cylinders and distributor and then I will start working on the ones that require the most work to get to: main cylinder and bow extension cylinders.
Some cylinders were already replaced in the past since they have some writings with marker on them. But not knowing when or if they were replaced with new parts or used ones I will replace all of them.
Front lock cylinders were the easiest to access and take apart.
Both main lift cylinders were taken out and restored. Not much about DIY to rebuild these older style cylinders but I managed.
Seals in the main lift were in the worst condition of all of them. They were falling apart in my hand.
I also dropped the bolt of the main lift cylinder on the passenger side and spent 1hour getting it out. My method was to fish it out with a magnet to this hole. I put wire around the head and then managed to get it out from the hole where it is bolted to the main lift cylinder.
Also taken out and rebuilt both bow extension cylinders. Have to put the driver side back in and test the roof since I also took out a micro switch to prevent damage when moving the roof by hand to access all the pins.
Last edited by RTHLSS1; 12-12-2023 at 04:59 AM.
Reason: Forgot to write something
My top did not work after rebuilding cylinders. Roof stoped in this position when closing
When opening it stoped in this position:
I thought I messed up some of the microswitches but after help from a member on benzworld forum (https://www.benzworld.org/threads/top-not-working) I was able to test all switches and all were working. At the end I realize the top works if I help it move so the most probable thing was an internal leak.
Both main cylinders had some small leak after rebuilding them so I would have to change gaskets again anyway but after opening them I saw one piston ring was broken.
Since I didn't have them I took them to a hydraulic shop to have them replaced. Also had them make new rod seals and place them inside.
Top now works. Will test it a few days before putting everything together in case of any leak.
Spring is here so I have been busy to finally put my SL on the road this season.
I have vacuumed bits of interior I had to remove to access top cylinders
I have replaced springs - now sitting on KAW ( Lowering Front: 40 mm Lowering Rear: 30 mm)
Alignment was done
Test fitted 18" wheels to check what spacers will fit
I have bought and mounted Pirelli's p zero on 18" AMG reps (245/40 front and 265/35 on the rears)
Installed wooden center console storage cover (found old one inside with broken handles) and since Becker radio was out I sent it to Germany for bluetooth conversion.
Bought material for engine oil service (managed to buy oil filter and all air filters wrong) so I had to buy it again. Much easier buying BMW parts with website like http://bmwfans.info/...
Also replaced transmission fluid and filter (was expecting original filter but seems to already have been replaced), sparks, power steering filter and gas filter.
Vacumed cleaned the rest of the interior.
Produced custom front stainless steel license plate to avoid drilling into the bumper for euro spec holder. Will try to figure out what to do on the rear panel in the next few days.
Due to wheel/tyre and springs change I will have to make another homologation of parts to be road legal... that is plan for now and then detail job + ceramic and roof impregnation.
Last edited by RTHLSS1; 03-02-2024 at 09:20 AM.
Reason: typing mistake
01-27-2023, 04:27 AM
