Hotsauce55

This will be over the next month or two. Plugging away a bit here and there. Starting phases today, removed air compressor and started on the electrical connectors and links.

The connector's to the shock and to the linkage are off. Where do they connect, run and what have you guys done with them?



Do I pull both connectors from the top shock tower remove the wiring or just leave?

tw2

Sorry I can't help but I thought I would mention there is a YouTube video of a guy doing the install and ripping out the airmatic in his carpark. Might pay to have a look if you haven't seen it already. I think he ended up just taping the electrical connectors out of the way.

Hotsauce55

Watched a few on YouTube. Didn't see anyone completely strip the electrical wiring out. I suppose I can cut out the airlines and remove the distribution block completely?

tw2

I think he removed all the air lines but not the wires. I don't think you will save much weight on the wiring and a lot of it will be very hard to access. The hardlines pump and air springs are where the bulk of the weight will be.

Hotsauce55

Access is an issue for sure, I'm more concerned with cleanliness than weight savings. I'll just tape em off & remove as many of the air lines as possible.

Alex L

I removed everything related to the Arimatic from mine, including the centre console rising/lowering button.

Hotsauce55

You spend the time unwrapping wiring harness to do it? Was it a pita?

tw2

Did you replace the button with a blanked off piece from a non-airmatic w211? Was it difficult?

Alex L

Wiring harness, air lines... Fiddly but not impossible to do. Depends on what you're used to I suppose lol.

Yes, I used a blanking button. Not difficult but you have to lift the trim and undo two screws from underneath to swap it out. Looks much cleaner too:

Hotsauce55

Can the BC racing coilover's get the car high enough to keep my alignment in check?

Hotsauce55

Started this up, things have been slow with renovations of entire home.

Procedure for removal of fronts:
- pull wheel off
- remove wheel well liner and bolts, requires some force getting that out
- remove connectors top shock, level sensor and shock itself
- cut air lines if you're done forever with airmatic
- tape up all connectors to indicate they are related to airmatic
- remove lower control arm bolt 21mm
- remove 3 upper ballpoint bolts T45
- remove 3 shock tower bolts 13mm
- remove shock
- remove level sensor

fronts are really little trouble

​​

Hotsauce55

I'm into the rear now. Removing the airmatic LCA. 2 questions:

1. Do I need to remove the brake caliper and if so how do I make sure it doesn't eat my fingers?
2. To remove the bolt connecting the LCA to the spindle it appears to be a 21mm on the back side and some other massive 6 point male socket. Anyone know the size?
​​​

bbirdwell

All of your questions answered in this thread:
https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...sion-help.html

Hotsauce55

Hotsauce55

Hotsauce55

bbirdwell

Install everything. It helps if others can give you starting measurements; i.e. number of turns or inches/mm from the bottom of the threaded sleeve to the bottom of the spring perch.
You want a half-tank of fuel and the equivalent driver's weight in the driver's seat (170 pounds of cement in plastic bags in my case). Then corner weight to get the diagonals as close as possible. Remember, when you raise the spring perch, you put more pressure (weight) on that wheel, lower the perch, you put less pressure (weight) on that wheel. Again, you want the diagonals to be as close as possible. If you have the LF to RR combined weight of 2,100 pounds, and the RF to LR is 2,125 pounds, you're good. I always aimed for +/- 10 pounds difference on the old turbo Miata but it only weighed 2190 pounds empty (with >260 rwhp). On the Mercedes, I would allow a bit more leeway. Perform an internet search on corner weighting and read to your heart's content. Rather than purchasing the scales (expensive), it would be worthwhile for you to just take it to a shop that can perform corner weighting one time and leave it at that. Be advised if you decide to change ride height later, I would again recommend corner weight verification.

FWIW, Flyin' Miata (FM) out of Colorado has some great stuff for corner weighting but it is aimed at lower weight vehicles (like 2400 pound Miatas with 530 horsepower Corvette engines installed). Our 4,200 pound E55's are above the recommended load-bearing capacity of FM's offerings. :-(

drothgeb

Just in case you didn't get it answered, if you just unplug the large plug on the SBC module you are good to pull the callipers off. Easy to access and not tricky to unclip or anything. I would opt for a 1/2" drive hex head socket instead of an allen key. All of the bolts on mine were super hard to break. Maybe you will have better luck than me but I don't think I would have been able to break that one suspension bolt with an allen.

Hotsauce55

bbirdwell

Everything I used (Ground Control) used a fixed upper and adjustable lower. So...I would hypothesize use lower spring perch to set height and, if adjustable upper perch(?), use that to adjust preload. Again, I repeat, again, use corner weighting. Read. Read. Read. Study. Learn.

Hotsauce55

drothgeb

I can't say about the inner LCA bolt and the exhaust sorry. I took mine apart to put in a LSD so I had the exhaust off already and left the LCA hanging by the inner bolt so I never touched it.

bbirdwell

LOL! My apologies. I was close to finishing off a bottle of very good red wine about that time and got a little verbose.

Looking at photos from the time I worked on the rear suspension it appears I did have to lower the exhaust. I just unbolted the brackets under the rear bumper, the brackets just in front of the rear axles. and removed the center tie bar between the exhaust pipes and let the exhaust just hang.

Hotsauce55

All good, you are an immense help to the community, who doesn't get a little chatty when the booze is flowing anyways
I might look at the shorter triple square bits to avoid the incremental labour of the exhaust

Hotsauce55