Merc Conversion Advice
Discussion
The build I was looking at are by a company called dynamic customs in Bolton, with the build you get seat retrim wheels and a full respray. I think they look great. I've owned fast cars before including a 640 BNP r33 gtr, most m cars and also cruisers like rr supercharged. My cars have also included cerbs and a tamora, and to be honest tvr are my fave. But I do big miles and like to look different and have a bit of poke in comfort. I love the looks of the black series but can't afford the gen article. Have a look on the site and see what you think
Edited by Hunter T on Thursday 21st September 18:02
Unless you go for the SL55 I think you will be disappointed with the performance then, all looks (questionable) and not so much go. The SL500 is no ball of fire and is more a cruiser than a sporty handling car.
I have seen a couple of these conversions and to be honest some of the panel gaps and panel fitting is not that good. It really is like a bit of mutton but if that's what you like go for it.
I have seen a couple of these conversions and to be honest some of the panel gaps and panel fitting is not that good. It really is like a bit of mutton but if that's what you like go for it.
Hunter T said:
I know il get all the "why would you" posts but here goes.
I really like the looks of the SL65 black wide arch cars and although i dont have the 200k to buy one, the look can be achieved for 15k, which is a realistic proposition.
Now my dilemma is whether to go for a SL 500 or a SL55 as a base car.
The 55s are making 15k ish and a 500 can be had for 8. Both go reasonably well.
Now with the 55 and the kit id have a car that looked great and gave me 90% of the performance, with the 500 it would be more like 70%.
Would i be taking value away from a possible classic by modding the 55?
I would would be trading in my 911 997 C4S to do this.
Cheers in advance guys
I've seen 3 with these kits fitted & fitted one at my bodyshop if you want it to look close to the original then prep work is the key & getting a good quality (we sent the first one the customer bought back as it was made of piss thin fibreglass & was ill fitting) body kit (the 2nd one was GRP & a much better fit) you'll also have to get the right wheels most of these have huge spacers on & they don't sit right (we used Vertini to make some 9.5x19 & 10.5x19 Monaco alloys) we could have fitted 10x19's & 11x19's.I really like the looks of the SL65 black wide arch cars and although i dont have the 200k to buy one, the look can be achieved for 15k, which is a realistic proposition.
Now my dilemma is whether to go for a SL 500 or a SL55 as a base car.
The 55s are making 15k ish and a 500 can be had for 8. Both go reasonably well.
Now with the 55 and the kit id have a car that looked great and gave me 90% of the performance, with the 500 it would be more like 70%.
Would i be taking value away from a possible classic by modding the 55?
I would would be trading in my 911 997 C4S to do this.
Cheers in advance guys
Go for the 55 there's no point having the look bit lacking the performance to match it, plus you can get the 55 to a very respectable 550-600bhp without to much effort.
I took a slightly different route with my SL55 I went for the SL63 kit & a lot of BHP
it was so good I bought it back after I sold it & eventually sold it again to fund other projects.
You have to buy the headlamps separately so make sure you've included that in your costs (I went for the Bi Xenons) for the build.
The company below is the kit we used in the end on the SL65 Black.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Hey thanks for that, when you say "your body shop" do you mean that you have fitted one of these kits? If i do decide to go down this route it will definitely be a 55 i use, just because of the umph. Whats the difference between the 63 and 65 kit? are they both wide arch? Have you had any issues with the kit / fitment? To be honest, the posts on here have made me have second thoughts. Have you any regrets about chopping up a 55?
Hi there,
Massive R230 fan here, seen a few of these and most look awful due to the reasons stated above, The best to my knowledge is the Prior Designs kit as shown in the last pic above. It's more pricey but everything fits properly.
As for the donor car.... if you want the performance to back up the looks use an SL55 and you can mod it further later to get even more poke should you wish. If you're really only into the look them an SL500 will be fine, but it is a massive step down from an SL55 performance wise and has very little tuning potential.
I don't think the donor car will make that much difference to the value of the final project, it's more about doing it right in terms of the conversion than the ultimate performance, but it will have some bearing obviously.
Whichever you choose make sure the ABC and roof seals are sorted, ABC can throw up massive bills in the thousands if it fails... look for replacement ABC pump in the history and ABC fluid refreshes. Boot seals - make sure the boot is not wet and no water getting in. Fuel tank can rattle - if so it's the baffle - tank has to come out so listen for that too.
Good luck and don't be put off by the naysayers, but don't skimp on it either. Personally the Bolton car doesn't look great to me, but I'd need to see it in the flesh to really be sure. Have you seen examples of their work up close?
Massive R230 fan here, seen a few of these and most look awful due to the reasons stated above, The best to my knowledge is the Prior Designs kit as shown in the last pic above. It's more pricey but everything fits properly.
As for the donor car.... if you want the performance to back up the looks use an SL55 and you can mod it further later to get even more poke should you wish. If you're really only into the look them an SL500 will be fine, but it is a massive step down from an SL55 performance wise and has very little tuning potential.
I don't think the donor car will make that much difference to the value of the final project, it's more about doing it right in terms of the conversion than the ultimate performance, but it will have some bearing obviously.
Whichever you choose make sure the ABC and roof seals are sorted, ABC can throw up massive bills in the thousands if it fails... look for replacement ABC pump in the history and ABC fluid refreshes. Boot seals - make sure the boot is not wet and no water getting in. Fuel tank can rattle - if so it's the baffle - tank has to come out so listen for that too.
Good luck and don't be put off by the naysayers, but don't skimp on it either. Personally the Bolton car doesn't look great to me, but I'd need to see it in the flesh to really be sure. Have you seen examples of their work up close?
Hunter T said:
Hey thanks for that, when you say "your body shop" do you mean that you have fitted one of these kits? If i do decide to go down this route it will definitely be a 55 i use, just because of the umph. Whats the difference between the 63 and 65 kit? are they both wide arch? Have you had any issues with the kit / fitment? To be honest, the posts on here have made me have second thoughts. Have you any regrets about chopping up a 55?
Yes the guys have fitted them 1 SL65 kit & 2 SL63 conversions.The 63 kit is basically the Side skirts Bumpers Wings & Bonnet with the headlights being extra, as was the Carbon Diffuser/later style wing mirrors etc also it's narrower which on an already wide car will make a big difference to the drive..
All of the above means that you don't have to destroy any of the original bodywork.
The 65 means you have to (as you already know) mess the rear arches & to do it properly you have to reseal them properly (some don't do this & moisture gets in.
You'll also have to budget for a lowering module so you can lose the 4x4 arch gap they all seem to suffer with (just look at the link below) with this I used a Brabus module or you can use lowering links (the 2nd Link) to do a similar job.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2008-MERCEDES-SL350-SL65...
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=...
Or you could buy one already done & then spend the money saved to get it looking right for example the one in the link below looks semi decent.
In terms of fitment as I said the first kit was absolutely s
t the 2nd was much better in terms of quality & fitting.Done properly conversions have a value in their own right.
A professionally done Dimma 205 is actually quite a classic now. I think it was Dynalyx who made the Audi swb Quattro conversions and these have a following too.
Don't skimp. Get as much info as you can and keep it looking like a standard Black Ed. and it will be a cool car.
Skimp on any part of it.
Rush it.
"personalise" it in any way and it will look naff.
IMHO
Good luck! I look forward to the thread on the build of this car!
A professionally done Dimma 205 is actually quite a classic now. I think it was Dynalyx who made the Audi swb Quattro conversions and these have a following too.
Don't skimp. Get as much info as you can and keep it looking like a standard Black Ed. and it will be a cool car.
Skimp on any part of it.
Rush it.
"personalise" it in any way and it will look naff.
IMHO
Good luck! I look forward to the thread on the build of this car!
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