[B Child]

OK I have a few cars (mainly German or German derived UK models - 8 last count) I tend to have cars for different reasons as I'm not a "one car does all" person

Lets just state for the record I have champagne tastes but beer money budget so my cars tend to be older than most people

I've already had an R170 230K as the all year round daily driver (technically it's Mrs BC's car) - great little car for about 7 years no intention of changing it as it did exactly what I needed it to do

Even used it for the odd track day when my track car decided to fall over (rolled it)

Airfield track days are hard on paintwork so I subsequently did a few things to it to make it my own - full repaint in satin black - lowered, changed the wheels, ditched the charger silencers and enjoyed the 200 bhp

Last year it started getting a bit temperamental with me occasionally bring on the traction control light on the dash and breaking random wheels with my foot no where near the brake - this culminated in a 360 spin travelling on a straight country road - seems the body control module had issues

So I parked it up intending to fix it but the more I looked at it the more I saw rust and then a good inspection underneath decided it's fate - I don't need another project but I did need a new daily as as most of my cars are in the impractical fuel guzzling catagory so I had a mid life crisis and bought a white Skoda with a modern turbocharged small capacity engine........... (no pics of the Skoda - just think of a fridge with 5 doors)

Mrs BC wasn't happy she liked the wind in the hair motoring even in winter and a "white goods" Skoda was not floating her boat at all - the whining from the passenger seat was louder than an unsilenced supercharger.

So I bought a BMW 130i Coupe - Mrs BC was once more happy it made the right noises and was black on black

However it wasn't an SLK and the roof couldn't be opened (well I have a plasma cutter but that wasn't exactly what she meant)

Then a guy at work mentions he's selling his SLK - it's poverty spec (engine wise - 163bhp so SLK 55 it ain't) and got it's fair share of dinks and marks inside and out but it was beer money (well cheap - a months salary and I could afford it without borrowing any money)

Here it is (not exactly the best pic I know)

The wheels are horrid - it has 5.5 AMG badges everywhere and the brakes have been painted red!!!

Anyway deal done and he delivered it and I wasted no time sorting it out

Wheels from the old SLK were refurbished (again) and shod with Uniroyal Rainsport 5's and the brakes got repainted black (the next day)

The badges went in the bin and the front one got blacked

The inside is relatively tidy need to sort out a split in the drivers seat

Whole car got a deep clean - the tailpipes took some polishing (I thought they were black not chrome)

And the engine also got a deep clean in prep for a full service (annoyed I didn't take a before picture because it was minging)

Jobs List

Full service
Fix the AC
Repair/Replace the driver seat
Black the rear badges
Remove charger silencers
Smaller pulley on the charger - currently 75mm (from memory) 62mm should help

Needs to lose a little height as it looks like it's seen a mouse

 

[B Child]

So with 4 new tyres first job (not on the list) was a full alignment/geometry check (with adjustment if required)

I know this is a car enthusiasts forum so this won't seem unusual to you all I always get a full geo check when I fit new tyres (roughly every 4 - 5 years on my cars to use up a set of tyres because I don't use all of the cars all the time)

Experience is what you get when you don't want it - many years ago (as a teenager just starting off with cars) I had 4 new tyres fitted on a "lowered" car and they were trashed in less than 5000 miles - you either learn from those mistakes or you don't - I still like lowered cars I just like them with the correct geo

So my logic is

1. Tyres are an expensive purchase (especially if all four are replaced)
2. You don't want to prematurely wear tyres with bad geo
3. The car drives bad if the geo is out and I like a car to drive well

Rear Toe on Drivers side was out as well as camber - Toe was corrected/adjusted but appears there is no adjustment for camber so that will be a bush issue somewhere - need to do some investigation

Front tracking was out on both sides but camber castor were all good - break out the oxy acetylene (this car has lived in the UK and we salt our roads in winter)

The garage I use are great and I get to have a good poke around underneath whilst the car is in the air - looks to me like I need to do a little rust prevention and paint underneath in a few places (rear subframe doesn't look great) and the front bushes on the suspension arms look a little long in the tooth so I'll add those items to the shopping list but overall underneath is pretty good for a 14 year old car that has lived in the UK all it's life.

I will probably have a good look as the old SLK subframes/arms etc and do a part number check as I could have those refurbed if they fit and make the job easy to do in a weekend

Car drives much nicer now as expected so new job list

Investigate rear camber issue
Front end bush overhaul
Full service (All parts sourced from Mercedes - Pollen filter cost was a shock!!!)
Fix the AC
Repair/Replace the driver seat (replacement on order)
Replace the faded C panels (Purchased)
Black the rear badges
Remove charger silencers (probably same time as a pulley change)
Smaller pulley on the charger - currently 75mm (from memory) 62mm should help

Needs to lose a little height as it looks like it's seen a mouse

 

[B Child]

Dunno what you want to do with badges exactly, but I saw black ones on Aliexpress

Template

Remove

Scuff up etch primer and colour code to same colour as the car (met black)

Refit

 

[B Child]

OK today I was supposed to be working on the BMW 740 but well it was a nice day and I had a few parts to fit to the SLK

First stick a biocide bomb in the interior set it off and leave it fan on full and set to recirc for 15 mins - while that's going on might as well give it a good clean - snow foam first

Then rinse and dry followed by a good dose of TFR

Then the claybar treatment (it's clearly not seen one in a while)

Then "Lime Prime" pre wax cleanser followed by a coat of "Dodo Juice"

Better now a few of the service jobs - Air filter while the oil was getting removed as well as the oil filter

Looks nice and clean inside the filler

Surprised me how much oil this car has - the oil extractor holds 6 litres and was almost full when it finished

New oil added and then it was time to fit the rear window trims

Following this thread DIY - Replace rear window trim cover

Thank you @garylight for a lovely detailed thread that was easy to follow I love it when people take the time to document their experiences - I can't say thank you in the thread because it's closed to further comment

Wood in the hole

To be continued.........

 

[B Child]

So to finish off the trims old ones

New ones

Cleaning seals as access is good when doing this

Then it was swap out the wipers for new ones and that was pretty much it for the day except this arrived - I'd started to unwrap it to see just how much cardboard and tape they had used - answer is my recycling bin is now full!!!!!

Can you guess what it is yet (Rolf Harris Voice)

Of course you can Exactly as described so very happy with that - no holes in this one

So been cleaning and feeding that in the kitchen (Mrs BC is a keeper although when I cleaned a set of AP racing calipers in the dishwasher I kinda found the limits of her endurance for my car related hobby)

So tomorrows activity will be both seats out deep clean of the carpets - do the pollen filter whilst the seats are out as it's far more comfortable, then refit the old passenger seat which has been cleaned and fed today and the better "used" drivers seat

Plus clean the glass and interior trims and then it'll be back to the mechanicals

 

[B Child]

Hmmm cheap seat maybe not quite as perfect as I’d like - seat belt pretensioner has been fired and runners are twisted - so looks like I will be making one good seat out of two

anyone know how to get the lever arms off and the clam shell off the back of the seat?

 

[B Child]

Well that was so much fun..............

Seats out time to deep clean

Originally I was going to just swap the pretensioner that had been fired with the one from mine that hadn't

De-pinning these is so much fun......

However it quickly became obvious that there was way more wrong with the seat that just a fired pretensioner

So Plan B try and make one good seat out of two - decision made fit replacement seat back rest onto the original base

If anyone needs to get the clam shell of an SLK seat two screws at the lower back then peel the seat gently away from the back and poke the black clips through the slots

There are two T20 screws hidden behind the headrest bellows - miss these and the locating brackets will break off and you need a new clamshell - luckily I had a spare

While this was going on I took the opportunity to make the SLK a wedding car

Cable tied the seatbelts after a through wash to the bonnet catches to let them dry - seatbelts that are slow to retract are often given a new lease of life with a damn good clean

With the seats out I could also get access to the pollen filter so that got replaced (found a phone kit hidden behind the centre dash which was a bit weird - I need to read the manual and see if the car is BT equipped as it has phone buttons on dash and steering wheel)

Old one was pretty manky

By the time I got the seats all apart and swapped the back over and fitted them back in the car it was dark so no more pics from me today but it does look a whole lot better - smell is now neutral again

On a level surface I checked the oil level and topped up as required so that's a few jobs ticked off the list now

Full service
Black Front badge
Deep clean interior
Clean and polish the outside
Replace Rear window trims
Repair/Replace the driver seat
Refurb Wheels
New Tyres all round
Full Alignment
Black the brake calipers and de-rust the discs

Remaining jobs in the planned order

Black the rear badges
Replace the wheel centres - the old badges are tired
Smaller pulley on the charger - currently 72mm (measured it) 62mm pulley ordered
Remove charger silencers
Fix the AC

The only other thing that was a first for me I found zero coins in the car - every car I have ever bought always has the cost reduced by shrapnel (small change) found in the car - this one is going to go down in the records as £2200

 

[B Child]

Am I wrong in thinking there should be another cover on the front of the engine - saw some pegs on the front that would only serve a purpose if there was another cover

 

[B Child]

Sorry should have stuck in a picture to illustrate where I mean

 

[B Child]

Adding to the job list

Remaining jobs in the planned order

Black the rear badges
Replace the wheel centres - the old badges are tired
Fit the new front wheel bearing caps at the same time (they were removed to fit the silly wheels)
Gas struts for boot lid (Tired originals) - Ordered
Gas Struts for Bonnet (Tired originals) - Ordered
Replace inlet pipe and silencer for later A2710902137 version - ordered
Smaller pulley on the charger - currently 72mm (measured it) 62mm pulley ordered
Remove charger silencers
Fix the AC

 

[B Child]

Tonights jobs

Gas Struts for Bonnet (Tired originals)

Pretty clear when the old ones were removed which one was very tired - could have probably just replaced one as one felt as strong as the new ones but better to replace in pairs and keep the old one as a spare

Replace inlet pipe and silencer for later A2710902137 version

No pictures but it was following on from this thread

M271 Supercharger Intake Resonator upgrade

I decided to change the original Intake Resonator Pipe (Up) to the last version (down) as the new version is less obstructive than the old: I did this when checking my timing chain this weekend (all good at 130k Kms, thanks to Mobil 1). The car is really different, feels more responsive at...

www.slkworld.com

I will add a comment on my findings in that thread but in a nutshell no difference in the way the car drives and no increase in charger whine - does look neater mind

And last thing was a general comment

Nice beading after a good coat of wax

Reminder to self new R171 SLK gets you wet when you drop the roof with a load of water on it - old R170 SLK didn't...........

Remaining jobs in the planned order

Black the rear badges
Replace the wheel centres - the old badges are tired
Fit the new front wheel bearing caps at the same time (they were removed to fit the silly wheels)
Gas struts for boot lid (Tired originals) - Ordered
wet sand and polish the headlights
Silvered indicator bulbs to get rid of the fried egg look
Smaller pulley on the charger - currently 72mm (measured it) 62mm pulley ordered
Remove charger silencers
Fix the AC

 

[B Child]

Todays progress - just three tasks completed as the weather has been awful

Gas struts for boot lid
Fit the new front wheel bearing caps
Removed wheel centres ready for the new ones

Missed a few jobs off the list so re-instated them below

Investigate rear camber issue
Front end bush overhaul
Black the rear badges
Replace the wheel centres
wet sand and polish the headlights
Silvered indicator bulbs to get rid of the fried egg look
Smaller pulley on the charger - currently 72mm (measured it) 62mm pulley ordered
Remove charger silencers
Fix the AC

 

[B Child]

Wasn't raining first thing this morning and I had chance to tick off another job I thought I see if I could do a quick job on the headlights (slightly cloudy)

So quick tape up to protect the paint

Started with 1000 wet and dry then fished up with 1500 wet and dry

Then cover everything up that is likely to get splattered with polish and hit it with the rotary and a bit of compound

All done - strip the tape off and wash the paintwork down

All done

Then the heavens opened again!!!!

So I went and did some other stuff - stripped the wheels off the old SLK to get them cleaned up for ebay

Then a bit of garage re-organisation which never seems to get organised

 

[B Child]

Trim above the screen now body colour and the wheel trims have finally arrived so they've been fitted and Mrs BC had her first drive out in the car today

Mrs BC - it's not a lively as the last one

BC - Yes dear that's why there is a new supercharger pulley on the kitchen table

Mrs BC - And you spent all afternoon dicking around painting a window trim

BC - And fixing your cousins clutch

Mrs BC - Yeah but besides that........................

BC - yes dear

 

[B Child]

My R170 SLK230 the heater was thermo nuclear

R171 200K - frankly piss poor - OK today was cold but with temp settings at max the car was still bloody cold

Question is why - thermostat replacement first unless people know different

 

[B Child]

Do you have heated seats
?,obviously no air scarf
But went out with roof down yesterday and it was still toasty🙂

No heated seats and no air scarf - poverty spec car

The heater is rubbish - fan speed air flow is fine just temp is poor even on max red - I was just looking to see if thermostat was a common issue (they do tend to go lazy) and with no temp guage to look at on the dash it's not so easy to determine if the car is running colder than it should

 

[B Child]

Great job reviving this SLK!

Thanks for the positive comment

It has another chance of a good life with me - it was pretty much close to banger territory (use, abuse and fix or replace nothing at all)

I'm pretty fussy about my cars like to have them right mechanically and cosmetically where possible

I'm not sure if you figured it out, but you are missing the front plastic cap on the engine, on the other hand, it's a useless cap that just starts looking tired every time you replace it. I'd just leave it missing.

You are the only one that has so far confirmed my suspicions I'll see how much one is from Mercedes and go from there - the front of the engine does look a little bare

 

[B Child]

OK all I have in the centre is speed in KMH - if it can display other things I haven't found out how

 

[B Child]

Well looking at your pics you have scroll buttons on steering wheel,on mine it is when miles are showing
Left inner scroll button 👆 press twice

Thank you - it seems yours runs very cold

Found it - took it for a decent run and it reached the giddy temp of a smidge over 60 dec C - So I'll start with thermostat (although the last time I had a car that ran this cold it didn't have a thermostat fitted and that turned into a whole can of worms that was eventually resolved)

Unless the knowledgeable members of the community think I should start somewhere else

 

[B Child]

i'm sure the temp gauge is in the scrollable options, even for a "poverty spec" car!

You were correct

Perhaps it would be a good idea if I trawled ebay for a relevant handbook hahahahahahaha then I could find this sort of stuff out - but then again I'd probably not read it anyway it's normally the first thing to ignore when putting stuff together