New smoker - R230 Merc content
Discussion
Good evening all
Not posted for a while so thought Id give an update on the latest barge/smoker purchase.....
Last summer I had a CLK which I bought for a few hundred quid with an inoperable roof and some bodywork required. FIxed the roof in a day and put it on some lovely deep dish wheels. Had a great time driving it around in the summer (and what a summer it was!). Put it up for sale in September and it made really good money (was a nice example in the end).
I didnt bother replacing it and instead bought myself an updated bike - my VFR1200F was getting a bit long in the tooth and so I now have a beautiful Ducati Multistrada 1200 S to play with!
To be honest, car purchasing is a bit of an illness isn't it! Over the years, I've got into purchasing cars which need a bit of work as I get a real buzz out of fixing them up. Ive done 3 cars from Copart now as well as a few private sales that need work.
One evening I came across a R230 SL350 in blue - in my opinion the best colour! I've had a couple of R129s over the years and wanted to sample the later R230.
Seller was a young lad in his 20s - student - who had bought the car and dailyed it for a year. He had spent an absolute fortune on it - the last bill was £5K for all new rear brakes, a new hub assembly (seemed like a fortune - 1.5K alone), gearbox service, tyres - all sorts! Then the roof failed and he also had the dreaded SBC brake fault code on the dash.
On the upside the bodywork is mint, wheels are mint, it's had a fortune spent on it, interior is lovely tan leather, it has pan roof and its on just 100K miles.
Long story short - I bought it sight unseen for less than 3K
Seller's pics:
I got the car home and within a day I had the roof working - what a work of art it is!!
I have Merc specific software (ICARSOFT MB) and it indicated the issue was the rear window. I took the whole rear window out with the regulator and it was clear that it was sat in water. The drains were clogged up and the whole motor and regulator was drenched. I removed the whole assembly and dried it, regreased and managed to get it working perfectly. Once I reassembled everything, the roof came back to life!!
Next up was the SBC brake system. It was working perfectly but just had a warning check light. I plugged in and got the infamous code where the SBC system has built in count down timer. Once it reaches a certain number of activations, it triggers a code. It is a built in safety mechanism. Nothing has actually failed and it works perfectly but is clearly reaching end of life. Some people have had Mercedes change these FOC (even now!) but the other option (which is what I have done) is to get these countdown reset using STAR.
I then set about looking at the suspension. The car is a non ABC suspension car (thank god - the active suspensions are a nightmare - had it on a CL I had previously). My SL has standard shocks and springs - one of the reasons I bought it. However, from day one, the car has always sat very high. I decided therefore to fit some Eibach Pro springs - claiming -30mm. Several days of toiling with spring compressors and I got all 4 springs changed - what a mission. Those spring compressors are not nice.........I had several near misses!! Im not entirely happy with the look. The front has come down nicely, but the rear is still high. Hopefully they may settle a little more..... I also took the opportunity to paint the calipers.....
So here she is! Also did a machine polish.....
Plan is now to enjoy the summer and maybe go to a few local shows...... I also bought some 19 inch Carlsson alloys and refurbed them myself - see pic - but I just can't get on with the look.....so the original 18s are staying!
I think I got an absolute bargain.......Paid sub 3K (quite a bit less), roof fix for free, brake fix less than £100, bit of paint for calipers......
Not posted for a while so thought Id give an update on the latest barge/smoker purchase.....
Last summer I had a CLK which I bought for a few hundred quid with an inoperable roof and some bodywork required. FIxed the roof in a day and put it on some lovely deep dish wheels. Had a great time driving it around in the summer (and what a summer it was!). Put it up for sale in September and it made really good money (was a nice example in the end).
I didnt bother replacing it and instead bought myself an updated bike - my VFR1200F was getting a bit long in the tooth and so I now have a beautiful Ducati Multistrada 1200 S to play with!
To be honest, car purchasing is a bit of an illness isn't it! Over the years, I've got into purchasing cars which need a bit of work as I get a real buzz out of fixing them up. Ive done 3 cars from Copart now as well as a few private sales that need work.
One evening I came across a R230 SL350 in blue - in my opinion the best colour! I've had a couple of R129s over the years and wanted to sample the later R230.
Seller was a young lad in his 20s - student - who had bought the car and dailyed it for a year. He had spent an absolute fortune on it - the last bill was £5K for all new rear brakes, a new hub assembly (seemed like a fortune - 1.5K alone), gearbox service, tyres - all sorts! Then the roof failed and he also had the dreaded SBC brake fault code on the dash.
On the upside the bodywork is mint, wheels are mint, it's had a fortune spent on it, interior is lovely tan leather, it has pan roof and its on just 100K miles.
Long story short - I bought it sight unseen for less than 3K
Seller's pics:
I got the car home and within a day I had the roof working - what a work of art it is!!
I have Merc specific software (ICARSOFT MB) and it indicated the issue was the rear window. I took the whole rear window out with the regulator and it was clear that it was sat in water. The drains were clogged up and the whole motor and regulator was drenched. I removed the whole assembly and dried it, regreased and managed to get it working perfectly. Once I reassembled everything, the roof came back to life!!
Next up was the SBC brake system. It was working perfectly but just had a warning check light. I plugged in and got the infamous code where the SBC system has built in count down timer. Once it reaches a certain number of activations, it triggers a code. It is a built in safety mechanism. Nothing has actually failed and it works perfectly but is clearly reaching end of life. Some people have had Mercedes change these FOC (even now!) but the other option (which is what I have done) is to get these countdown reset using STAR.
I then set about looking at the suspension. The car is a non ABC suspension car (thank god - the active suspensions are a nightmare - had it on a CL I had previously). My SL has standard shocks and springs - one of the reasons I bought it. However, from day one, the car has always sat very high. I decided therefore to fit some Eibach Pro springs - claiming -30mm. Several days of toiling with spring compressors and I got all 4 springs changed - what a mission. Those spring compressors are not nice.........I had several near misses!! Im not entirely happy with the look. The front has come down nicely, but the rear is still high. Hopefully they may settle a little more..... I also took the opportunity to paint the calipers.....
So here she is! Also did a machine polish.....
Plan is now to enjoy the summer and maybe go to a few local shows...... I also bought some 19 inch Carlsson alloys and refurbed them myself - see pic - but I just can't get on with the look.....so the original 18s are staying!
I think I got an absolute bargain.......Paid sub 3K (quite a bit less), roof fix for free, brake fix less than £100, bit of paint for calipers......
Forums | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff