New daily driver for the family

[Jeff V.]

You'll know right away. Generally the 3/S cars red color is single stage. But, once you start buffing and you see red on your pad, you know it's single stage.

Hmm. I thought they started clear coating red and black in 94. It'd be odd that the Spyders would have cleared roof parts on a car that otherwise had none.

[Hans_GZP]

My red 97 vr4 was single stage. Parts of it were repainted and were done in base/clear. 94-95 models were jet black and single stage. The rest had a pearl in the black and were base/clear.... unless you're talking Stealth ES/Base models. Then they were all single stage black. The Stealth ES/Base in white was also a single stage color.

[BATMAN]

Educational

[vr4]

[quote=""Hans_GZP""]My red 97 vr4 was single stage. Parts of it were repainted and were done in base/clear. 94-95 models were jet black and single stage. The rest had a pearl in the black and were base/clear.... unless you're talking Stealth ES/Base models. Then they were all single stage black. The Stealth ES/Base in white was also a single stage color.[/quote]

My 97 is single stage too

[Hans_GZP]

Ok, finally got around to replacing some parts of the hydraulic suspension. There are 4 of these black ball shaped things. 2 accumulators, 1 pulsation damper, and 1 return damper. If you really want a read, this guy makes a nice webpage that explains how the suspension works and how to troubleshoot issues. http://mercedes-abc-drive-carefully.blogspot.com/

Our issue was that if you hit a bump, the ABC (Active Body Control) warning light would flash for a second and then immediately turn off. If you weren't looking at the gauge cluster, you would never know. I was able to replicate this by driving the car over the rollers of the dyno to be a more controlled environment.

So, I replaced all 4 of these guys. The pulsation damper basically dampens the pressure pulses created by the pump. This pump is both the power steering pump and suspension pump combined in one unit. In order to keep the suspension from fluctuating pressure due to pulses from the pump, this guy is inline first. All of these items that I replaced have a pressurized bladder in them. If the part fails (the bladder bursts) then the ball just fills with fluid and doesn't do it's job. It will cause a humming sound at low rpms... which this car had.

Next is a front accumulator for the front struts, and a rear accumulator for the rears. These are the same pressure bladder system. But, they offer steady pressure at each strut that the pump can't instantaneously provide. If they blow, then they also fill with hydraulic fluid (you'll notice your fluid level drop in the reservoir) and it can cause your warning light to flash on when you hit a bump. The front one was blown, but I replaced them both. They usually have a life of 80-100k miles.

Then, the rear accumulator. I guess this regulates fluid pressure going back to the reservoir. Not really sure there. But I replaced that bastard too.

Here's what some of them look like.



Now the suspension works just as it should and it's time to release this turd into the wild. So, here it is after a quick clean up.





I found the square bumper cover piece that covers the tow hook area in the trunk, so that's not longer missing. Just need a few more exterior details and it's good enough. Also, time to get rid of the minivan! Oh YEA!

[stealthee]

Hans bein a baller.

[Hans_GZP]

Yup. $3700 for that baller mobile lol. I'm baller on a budget.

[BATMAN]

3700? I'm just guessing but I'm sure you dumped that much into it to make it run like it's suppose to?

That's still awesome. I like reading about all your transplants

[Hans_GZP]

I think my total all in is around $8000. I'd have to run the numbers though. And that's working for free. But, the car is virtually new now and any other one that I bought used would need much of the same work. But I didn't have to pay 10-15k up front for a retail one. So, I'm way ahead of the game.

[DCIV]

8k and no labor....10k for done....don't know if you came out any better.


Coop

[Hans_GZP]

[quote=""DCIV""]8k and no labor....10k for done....don't know if you came out any better.


Coop[/quote]

I think you need to read back through what I typed. I'll give you a chance to edit.

[DCIV]

So you are saying all the others were 10k and then have to fix on top of that.

Are you not worried that so much has gone wrong on such a new car?

Coop

[stealthee]

I think I remember reading that cars are only made to last 7 years, so being it is 11 years old it has technically served its purpose.

[Hans_GZP]

[quote=""DCIV""]So you are saying all the others were 10k and then have to fix on top of that.

Are you not worried that so much has gone wrong on such a new car?

Coop[/quote]
Yes, most of these cars are around the 100k mark. With that comes maintenance. I didn't really do anything abnormal to this car when it comes to that. Only real odd thing I had to do was to swap the interior.

It has 100k miles on it. That's just general maintenance for a car with that mileage. Rubber bushings constantly go out on these things... that common. I didn't really have to repair anything. Everything replaced was just common wear and tear stuff. So, most of the stuff I did will be good for another 100k miles.

Lots of these cars were just lease vehicles or owned for a short period of time. Once a second owner got their hands on it (at a deeply discounted rate from MSRP), then maintenance programs start to degrade because they can't afford it. Maintaining a $130k car still takes a budget for that kind of car. It's not like I have to maintain a Honda Civic here

[Hans_GZP]

And since the theme lately seems to be crash tests, here you go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJb2Rv-vFXA

[Hans_GZP]

Crash test against a smart car.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqsztP5m_2k

[Jeff V.]

One of the Pick N Pulls near me just got an ML55 AMG. Don't see that often...

http://clients.actual-america.com/os/ve ... ion=&sort=

Anything worth grabbing off it?

[Hans_GZP]

I don't think much differs between the ML55 and the ML500. My model year, there was no ML55 offered.

[Jeff V.]

I haven't been to see it yet, but it looks like Brembo brakes were part of the package. I just figured I'd offer in case there were any bits you wanted.

[Hans_GZP]

Yea. I think all of the brake calipers are the same. I'd have to check though. Mercedes always uses massive brakes on their higher end models.