1999 Mercedes CLK - Back in one piece + new wheels

[rr69h]

Hi everyone,

this thread is dedicated to what will become my new winter beater.



Let's start with answering a few questions, shall we?

1. "WHY OH WHY?!?"

It's been a similar experience to the other car I've recently acquired: I remember these things from when they were new and I was young. Too young to drive in fact. My substitute back in the day was a now very dated looking racing game called Need For Speed 4 "High Stakes". Does anyone remember this? I certainly do. This was the time when the internet just started to kick in and I've been part of a modding community creating all kinds of cars for the game.
My humble additions back in the day were the then-new Porsche 996 GT3, old Mercedeses like a model of my very own W123 and a few other cars. One of which was this:


The CLK was a brand new car 20 years ago and I never dreamed of being able to drive let alone own such a thing. They were quite expensive for what they were, but now they are dirt cheap. So cheap in fact that good examples struggle to sell for anything near what long-time owners think they're worth and the rough examples get sold in parts.
I felt now was a good time to treat myself to one of the last Bruno Sacco designs and saving one example from the crusher.


2. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? IT'S SCRUFFY AS FORK!!!"

Yes. This is a car with lots of little niggles, but the base is solid. I'll improve it with time. Promise.


3. WHAT IS IT? IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A BADGE ON THE BACK!"

Ok, what have I actually bought then? It has...
- 325.000 Kms on the clock
- Rusty panels all around (but it's the fixable 90's Mercedes kind that won't require welding)
- four broken shocks
- dirty inside/out with an overdue service

But it also has...
- a smooth running 320 engine
- automatic transmission of course
- no rust around the chassis, the rear axle seats, the sill of any other structural part
- a sunroof
- heated & pneumatic leather seats
- climate control
- Xenons
- ESP

I feel this will be an interesting one. Plans are to get it up to par mechanically before fixing the rust over the summer. A trip to the painter will take place when fall comes so I should be good to go when winter arrives.

More to follow soon.
Felix

[peter96]

Seeing as how good your other cars are Felix I'm sure this will turn out well. A neighbour of mine had a black one for a few years and it was a cracking machine. Only problem was my 190 that was about 15 years older had less rusty bits. Something he wasn't too happy about. The coupes really are cheap at the moment. No no mustn't look at any car ads.

[SmokinWaffle]

Interesting. Love a good underdog story. Will keep up with this thread. How many miles do these engines generally last?

[rr69h]

Cheers lads,

well I hope to get this one into decent shape soon-ish. New shocks and a heap of service parts are in shipment as we speak and I've just ordered a few clips and bits from the dealer. I'm getting excited!

As to how long the engines will last: I haven't heart any horror stories about premature failure on these. As the V6 is generally low-revving and understressed I feel it has a fair bit of life still left in it. It idles well, sounds like it should and doesn't consume water or oil in worrying quantities. It did return 28MPG, too!

Next up: pretty pictures!

Felix

[Geordie]

Looking forward to the pics.

My S320 returns 28mpg. Pretty decent for a big V6.

[rr69h]

28 MPG is indeed very respectable.

In fact it's more frugal than the smaller engines while sounding better, delivering more punch when you need it and the bigger engined cars are often better equipped, too.

Felix

[rr69h]

So it's picture time!

With the limited time I currently have I haven't even washed the car by hand yet. But since the paint is in need of a full compounding and polishing session anyway a trip to the automated car wash didn't do any harm. This is what it now looks like:







As you may have guessed from the last pic the car is has had a healthy 40mm drop all around. It looks okay in the front, but the rear seems too low for my taste. As it has H&R lowering springs my only option to raise the rear is to fit slightly bigger spring spacers so that's what's up next along with new shocks all round.

Since the shocks and all of my service items are still in the mail I'm currently limited to the not-so-important stuff. One thing I did manage to do on a rainy day was a bit of under-bonnet hygiene. Take this...




...subtract that...


...and end up with this:




Another area of bother was the driver's side window. For some reason it was totally out of alignment which luckily was an easy fix. All the adjuster screws were turning freely so after a bit of faffing around I now have a watertight window with no wind noise.

Next up was the trim panel on the a-pillar which looked something like this:


The upmost two fixings were simply gone so I decided to replace all of them with new parts which was surprisingly cheap. Here's the panel off and all new fixings in place (which were something like 4€ from the main dealer):


Now everything is looking as it should:


Another job crossed off the list. Next up was to find out why the tailgate gives you a shower every time you open it. It turns out the light clusters didn't have any seals on them. Nothing the dealer can't fix for a surprisingly low amount of coins, too:


I've filled this gaping hole...


...with a new trim panel...


...and managed to dye the leather steering wheel which now looks factory fresh again:


Phew.

It feels good to slowly fix all the little stuff to turn back the clock on this one. You do get the feeling that this is still a 60 grand car, only a very neglected one. So with every fix it feels more and more like the premium motor it once was. There are quite a few things left to be tackled, so watch this space!

[Davey]

Several pictures not working for me, but the ones that are look great.

[Geordie]

Loving the attention to the small stuff. Makes all the difference.

[rr69h]

Thanks lads.

Btw: anyone else have problems with the pictures?

Felix

[vitessetony]

Mar 22, 2017 14:06:45 GMT rr69h said:

Thanks lads.

Btw: anyone else have problems with the pictures?

Felix

No, I can see them all. Cracking car, I've always liked these so you get a bookmark from me and I look forward to updates

[Davey]

Whatever the issue was for me is now sorted, can see everything. Do you have a before picture for that steering wheel? I would like to do my MG's one. Was it a simple process?

[rr69h]

Ah,

glad the pictures have sorted themselves. And hooray for the bookmark!

As to the steering wheel: I don't have a before-pic of the CLK's wheel, but it looked rather similar to the last wheel I did after sanding. The process is simple: clean and degrease the leather, give it a bit of a key and apply the dye with a foam pad in thin layers. Tapping works better than brushing. Depending on what you're starting with you'll get a nice even coverage after 2 coats, but it's only really durable after about 4-5 coats.

I've been using Colourlock leather dye for a number of years now - in my case supplied through German Lederzentrum. On the Porsche I've used a different manufacturer since they had the blue colour of my interior in stock and had similar results - so I guess it shouldn't be too hard to find a similar product in the UK.

Felix

[euroshark]

Bookmarked! Always thought these were so cool. I'm a big fan of your 996 and this car. Definitely will be watching to see what you do with them.

[rr69h]

I've been busy this weekend.

Instead of enjoying the sunshine with a tasty brew it was time to get going on the mechanical side of the CLK.

First up: the cabin air filter. I'd say it was a bit overdue:


After that it was time to get four new shocks under the car. I'm glad to report: not a single sheared bolt and don't they look good:


Two of them were quite past it and so was the old steering damper. It came apart in my hands so it was a good decision to throw in a new one:


Oh and a bit of an owner's alert to everybody driving a W202 C-Class, a W210 E-Class, R170 SLK and A/C208 CLK: next time you're under your car have a good look at your front lower wishbones. This is how they should look...


...and this is how they often look:


The difference is that little drain hole near the outer ball joint. While my left wishbone had one the right wishbone didn't. They often got clogged with primer when these cars were being built resulting in a rather nasty place for hidden rot. I've seen people on the German forums reporting of snapped wishbones because of this so this has to be taken seriously.
A little poke with a screwdriver is all it takes to open up the drain hole (or clean the muck out of your existing drain holes) followed by the liberal use of Fluid Film to be on the safe side.

Next up was one pig of a job: changing the spark plugs. There are 12 of these and access is rather limited. Much cursing was necessary just to get the first one out:


And even more for the remaining 11 ones, so no pics here. But: we got there in the end. With many broken fingers and bruised knuckles. Nasty.

Back under the car there was one last job on my list which I suppose may be a bit unpopular: I've raised my rear suspension. It just looked a tad too low in the rear so I've changed the rubber spring tops for slightly bigger ones. New one at the top, old one below:


This raised the rear by about 1,5cm. It's definetly not much, but it now has the "lowered" look rather than the "broken suspension" look to it:


So a rather eventful weekend that was. As the sun is out today I'll limit myself to only mount the latest result of ebay scambling to the car. A genuine license plate from of the Berlin Mercedes dealership with 3D-lettering and everything:


These are quite rare outside the dealership from what I hear. The three dealerships I've contacted wouldn't sell me one - strange as you'd think of the free advertising... There was one who was willing to give me one for free, but theirs are silver with a rather nasty looking white print. Nah.
I do admit that spending a considerable amount of time on finding an old genuine license plate frame is a bit silly, but I do like the story this part seems to tell. It's of very high quality and it comes with a URL that's still valid today. And in 1999 when this car was made I got my first broadband modem at home if that helps the reasoning.

And after that I'll have a beer. I think I've earned it.

Cheers,
Felix

[SmokinWaffle]

Ride height on the rear looks so much better, really makes the car look more purposeful than broken as you said. Good call.

Interesting about those drain holes, that's some poor design right there. And that's coming from someone who had a MK1 Eunos so I know all about clogged drain holes and rust..how much did that plate cost you? It's a nice little addition. Looks smart.

[peter96]

Definitely looking much better.

[Davey]

That pollen filter seems to be a common theme, seems they never get replaced even though that's the air you're always breathing...

Great work.

[Mercdan68]

Nice work I like these cars and it's another one on my list to own at some point

[kevralpina]

Go for it Dan I run a clk 200 as a daily for the past couple of years after loads of bows love it kev