OWNER jlaa (500E & w210 E320)

gsxr · Feb 5, 2017

There's a pin on both ends. The bottom one can fall out of place easily, and requires a fair amount of disassembly to access. IS the lower end of your new shock not attached to anything?

:blink:

Jlaa · Feb 5, 2017

Right, my bottom end has no pin. I disassembled a spare junk armrest that I have and salvaged a pin. Now how do I get this pin in here? The force of the new shock is really tough!

Jlaa · Feb 5, 2017

Let me be more precise - I can get the pin in but it is precarious. The instant i open the thing, the pin and shock end pushes out of the u shaped well in the plastic. What is supposed to keep the pin in?

gsxr · Feb 5, 2017

IIRC, the pin is kept in place when the lower plastic compartment is installed into the armrest cavity. Should be a form-fitting area? I haven't had one apart in a while so I'm not 100% certain...

:scratchchin:

Jlaa · Feb 5, 2017

Ahh thanks you are right. The pin is held in place by the lower plastic U channel. One cannot open the armrest without installing it into the lower part else the pin shoots away. I had to salvage an extra pin from this from captruff so that my armrest may live. So weird .... my didnt have the lower pin when i took it apart.

Jlaa · Feb 12, 2017

I took advantage of the sunshine and the mild 65F weather today to clean the wheelwells. Certainly this is not lowman, captuff, or 600eric level work, but it is certainly satisfying. My method was the pressure wash, the scrub down w degreaser, and then pressure wash again.

Also, you can see the jackpoint jackstands I use here - one can jack up a car and set the car on jack stands using the factory jack points.

BTW the spring pads are 1 pt spring pads front/rear,and the springs are OE. The rear SLS is adjusted as low as it can go.

luckymike · Feb 12, 2017

Gorgeous!

600Eric · Feb 12, 2017

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Rouven036 · Feb 13, 2017

Nice work, this is how it must look in there

lowman · Feb 13, 2017

veeery niiiice .Love it

Jlaa · Feb 21, 2017

I had to change my spare / wheel tire because the original 16" spare won't fit. The original 16" spare wheel / tire will not clear the SL600 Silver Arrow brakes on the front. I picked up a refinished 17x8.25 R129 wheel cheaply to use as a spare. As well, I used a Sumitomo HTRZ III 245/45/17 tire for the spare because -

(a) it is not directional
(b) it has a narrow section width @ 9.4" from Tire Rack Data (whereas almost all other 245/45/17s have a 9.6" section width) as it lacks a rim protector molded into the sidewall
(c) it is inexpensive at $85

It turns out < EDIT -- the fit is really really really really tight! > Therefore, if anyone is thinking about using a 17x8.25 wheel as a spare, here are pictures to confirm that it fits <edit with="" barely="" any="" room="" to="" spare="" ---="" check="" out="" the="" last="" five="" pictures=""> </edit>. I know that gsxr has advised before that 17x8.5 wheels used as a spare do NOT allow the black plastic cover to sit well.

I will need to get 40mm shank length wheel bolts to get this spare wheel/tire combo onto the car.

SayHey · Feb 22, 2017

BTW, is this plastic bucket that holds spare wheel unique for e500 or not? I have an offer for a near new condition bucket from a japan e280.

gsxr · Feb 22, 2017

SayHey said:
BTW, is this plastic bucket that holds spare wheel unique for e500 or not? I have an offer for a near new condition bucket from a japan e280.

It is indeed unique to the 124.036 chassis, and last I heard it was NLA.

Jlaa · Apr 2, 2017

I found the slightest hint of corrosion or perhaps it was just a damaged finish from a previous owner's experience with a spill of some sort. I sanded it all off, shot rust converter on it, repainted it with signal red from automotivetouchup.com (thanks for the tip Zombie) and replaced the old felt with new felt. Very satisfying.

BTW the rattle can of signal red from automotivetouchup.com worked great. Big time coverage, easy to control, and dries very quickly.

Stevester 500E · Apr 2, 2017

I think red is one of those colors that look good on springs.
Painted springs green probably wouldn't look good, but red on a red car, looks spiffy !

Jlaa said:
I got these back from the powdercoater today - 4 springs, front anti-roll bar, and various hardware that holds the hard fluid lines to the underneath of the car. I went non-stock color with these just to have a little fun ---- rear anti-roll bar was nice and clean with the stock OE black finish so I didn't see the need to go full-bore OCD on that. Only 1/2 bore OCD.

Jlaa · Apr 10, 2017

Woke up on Sunday with a hankering for fish tacos! Took a 210 mile roundtrip day trip down to San Jose for fish tacos and then through miles and miles and miles of mountainous switchback roads to get to James Lick Observatory - the largest refractory telescope in the world when it was built at the end of the 19th century.

Dia De Pesca is an excellent standby here in NorCal for fish tacos ---- and this trip reminds me that the 500E is such a fabulous mile-eater of a car, especially on picturesque I-280 between San Francisco and San Jose. As well, while not a lithe canyon carver, it performed admirably going up/down Mt Hamilton to the observatory.... no family members with bellies full of tacos got carsick ..... what a comfortable car.

I got a chance to explore the accuracy of my (questionable?) recalibration of my 300E-swapped fuel gauge/econo gauge .... see picture below .... how different is this from anyone's standard 500E gauge? You can see where the indicated fuel level is .... the needle is somewhat below the half-marker after consuming 15.9 gallons of fuel. (Ummmm ..... for 210 miles with only one full throttle event, an economy car this not

)

Glen · Apr 10, 2017

Your mpg seems low to me. My daily commute is 40 miles including city traffic, stop and go on the freeway and short bursts to 80 sometimes 90 MPH. I have been consistently averaging about 18 MPG.

At 1/2 tank indicated, I generally see 190 to 200 miles on the ODO. I usually fill the tank at ~350 miles with a bit over 19 gallons.

Jlaa · Apr 10, 2017

Glen said:
Your mpg seems low to me. My daily commute is 40 miles including city traffic, stop and go on the freeway and short bursts to 80 sometimes 90 MPH. I have been consistently averaging about 18 MPG.

At 1/2 tank indicated, I generally see 190 to 200 miles on the ODO. I usually fill the tank at ~350 miles with a bit over 19 gallons.

Ah! Thanks.

To be fair a lot of time was spent yesterday with the econo meter in full red - going up the switchbacks of Mt Hamilton from sea level to 4400 ft elevation. There is still snow up there.... even in April! The rest of time time I spent at an indicated 80-85mph on the Freeway.

Are you ever on 101 going south from Carlsbad through Ventura to Thousand Oaks? That big uphill grade there ..... right before you hit Wendy Drive .... If you can get 18 mpg going up that grade could consistently ... then thats impressive!

Glen · Apr 10, 2017

Jlaa said:
Ah! Thanks.

To be fair a lot of time was spent yesterday with the econo meter in full red - going up the switchbacks of Mt Hamilton from sea level to 4400 ft elevation. There is still snow up there.... even in April! The rest of time time I spent at an indicated 80-85mph on the Freeway.

Are you ever on 101 going south from Carlsbad through Ventura to Thousand Oaks? That big uphill grade there ..... right before you hit Wendy Drive .... If you can get 18 mpg going up that grade could consistently ... then thats impressive!

Nope, don't travel that area and I think you mean Calabasas...Carlsbad is in northern San Diego county. Anyway, your MPG seems fine under those driving conditions. Sounds like you really enjoyed the drive!

Jlaa · Apr 10, 2017

Glen said:
Nope, don't travel that area and I think you mean Calabasas...Carlsbad is in northern San Diego county. Anyway, your MPG seems fine under those driving conditions. Sounds like you really enjoyed the drive!

Doh! You are right. i mixed up Carlsbad with Calabasas. :doh:

ZombieBranz · Apr 10, 2017

funny....I just drove thru Carlsbad and stayed over in Thousand Oaks before heading back up home. Traffic in LA is just awful. San Diego to Thousand Oaks took me 4.5 hours...left at noon....but I did get my fill of Fish Tacos in San Diego...I prefer the socal style of mexican food to the stuff up here. Jlaa the trunk paint came out nice are you happy with it?

Jlaa · Apr 10, 2017

ZombieBranz said:
funny....I just drove thru Carlsbad and stayed over in Thousand Oaks before heading back up home. Traffic in LA is just awful. San Diego to Thousand Oaks took me 4.5 hours...left at noon....but I did get my fill of Fish Tacos in San Diego...I prefer the socal style of mexican food to the stuff up here. Jlaa the trunk paint came out nice are you happy with it?

There must be some strange spatial awareness that ties us all! Indeed I find the North/South Gradient exists on both a Micro Scale and a Macro Scale. When I get tired of Mexican Food in the North Bay, I go to the South Bay (San Jose) for better food. And of course, when one tires of Northern California one goes to Southern California (San Diego) or better Mexican food ---- or perhaps Mexico proper.

I'm really pleased with the trunk paint --- thanks for the tip ---- automotivetouchup.com's spray paint is REALLY EASY to work with and REALLY EASY to get very nice results with.

ZombieBranz · Apr 11, 2017

Jlaa said:
There must be some strange spatial awareness that ties us all! Indeed I find the North/South Gradient exists on both a Micro Scale and a Macro Scale. When I get tired of Mexican Food in the North Bay, I go to the South Bay (San Jose) for better food. And of course, when one tires of Northern California one goes to Southern California (San Diego) or better Mexican food ---- or perhaps Mexico proper.
.

the beauty, weather and diversity must be keeping us all here paying all these taxes lol

looking forward to seeing your immaculate 500E sometime. I imagine it's even that much more stunning in person. If you come down for the Monterey car events in the fall hit me up. Rennsport Reunion is a blast.

Jlaa · Apr 25, 2017

With gsxr's guidance, I was able to recalibrate the 300E fuel gauge to work with the 500E's fuel level sender. This time I did it properly. As promised, I am putting my notes up here to share with the board if anyone else wants to attempt this. Stevester --- I know you were asking me about this a while ago---- this is how to use a 300E fuel gauge with the econometer with the 500E.

Notes from the field service manual ----

The w124 fuel level senders all work the same way. When the float is high (full tank), the fuel level sender outputs very small resistance ---- around 4 ohms as measured @ the dashboard. When the float is at the bottom (empty tank) --- the 300E's fuel level sender will output 85.6 ohms when the tank is empty. The 500E's sender only outputs 80.4 ohms when empty.

The result then if you use a 300E gauge with a 500E without recalibrating the gauge is that the fuel gauge will always be optimistic!!!!! YOU WILL RUN OUT OF GAS ON THE ROAD unless you recalibrate the 300E gauge! This is because the 300E gauge expects 85.6 ohms to show empty ---- but the 500E's tank is already empty when the fuel level sender has risen to 80.4 ohms.

I used a bench-top power supply (at 12 volts) to run the fuel gauge on my bench, and simulated an empty tank with a combination of resistors and an adjustable rheostat. Gsxr pointed out to me that the car will actually run higher --- 13.6-14.4 volts, which will affect the reading. I figured if I matched my stock 500E gauge's behavior @ 12 volts with a re-calibrate 300E gauge then all should be fine.

What you want to do is adjust the rheostat on the 300E's fuel level gauge (my last picture shows the rheostat) so that the fuel level pointer registers "R" @ 80.4 ohms.

I have attached pictures with notes. Hope this helps someone.

Jlaa · Aug 26, 2017

Aside from driving the car a bunch this summer along CA-1 up through Hopland,California (where they used to grow lots and lots of hops for beer) and along CA-175 to Clear Lake, I haven't had to do much to the car at all lately - all systems are nearly new and it has been a model of reliability. Its up to 65,xxx miles now. Maybe I will take Gerry's advice and change the lock cylinder soon for preventative measures.

Just for fun, I've been playing around with lighting. Here, I've installed red LEDs in the brake lamp positions (outer corners) and wired incandescents in parallel in the inboard positions --- to improve visibility (I'm always paranoid of being rear ended). The rear foglight functionality is retained and the brake-lamp-warning indicator does not trip.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131935320386 (I used the "50watt" (quotes intentional) versions)
http://www.500eboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11530

I put Lamin-X on the Euro headlight lenses. Of course in my hamfisted efforts, I got a couple of small water bubbles underneath the material upon installation. I just couldn't work them out. However, much to my surprise, after two weeks the water bubbles have disappeared!

Here I have installed warm white LEDs in the city light positions. The city lights are wired in (thanks Jeff0093!) with the parking lamps.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-BA9S-641...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Below is a shot of the city lights and the low-beams (incandescent Osram H4 bulbs) turned on.

Below is a shot with high-beams turned on as well. I used Hella-Optilux H3 yellow halogen bulbs just for fun. I rarely have an occasion to use the high-beams.

And below is a shot with just the city lights / parking lamps turned on with PIAA yellow halogen bulbs turned on in the fog positions. It gets very foggy here (August is actually "Faugust!") and I appreciate the yellow nature of these PIAA H1 bulbs. It looks much more yellow on the road than it appears in the photograph ---- in contrast to the Hella-Optilux H3s.

Jlaa · Aug 28, 2017

Following Gerry's great howto guide here - http://www.500eboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11418 , I replaced the thermal paste on the back of my EZL today. Notes ..... brake parts cleaner, even when lightly wiped across the face of the EZL, will remove the white printed info on the EZL .... gggrrrrrrr....
The white OE paste was thin but not yet dried out. The replacement grey thermal paste I used is some MEAN stuff .... impossible to get off anything w/o solvent. Also, the squeegee thing that LaminX gives you makes a great thermal paste spreader....

Jlaa · Sep 6, 2017

Arrrrrggghhh! My father, who is getting up there in age, hit my car! Frankly speaking he really should not be driving --- he misjudged distances while parking and scraped my rear fender. And of course being the man that he is, he won't apologize for it. Sigh. At least I still have him around and the damage is not bad. Still ... ugggjhh. .... painful

Glen · Sep 6, 2017

Bummer but you're right, it's not too bad. A good paint guy should be able to make a near invisible repair.

sheward · Sep 6, 2017

Unfortunate, I understand the frustration. It could have been worse. As Glen said, seek out a great spot painter if you don't already know one.

Drew

Trae · Sep 6, 2017

Man, I am sorry. Hope you can get a good paint man and keep your pristine car pristine.
Don't know much about the damage, but does not look that bad to me.

Jlaa · Sep 12, 2017

As I wait for the spot-painter gentleman to show up later in the week to fix the rear fender, I decided to install the headlight leveling switch along with the assorted vacuum tubing to make it all work with the Euro headlights. Very straightforward --- and I found that I did not have to drill any holes whatsoever to run the vacuum tubes to the vacuum receptacles @ the rear of the headlights. There were rubber grommets already in the headlight housings to run the vacuum tubes through.

As well, the yellow vacuum receptacles (attached to the purple tubing from MB) just snaps into the vacuum receptacles on the back of the headlights.

I had to cut the rosette that holds with switch plate to allow for the steering column beauty ring to snap-in ---- I did a horrible looking job with a drill bit but realized that even my horrible looking cutout works --- and you can't see the cutout anyways.

Now I have to adjust the headlights ----- everything is pointed way too far up.

JC220 · Sep 13, 2017

Jlaa said:
As I wait for the spot-painter gentleman to show up later in the week to fix the rear fender, I decided to install the headlight leveling switch along with the assorted vacuum tubing to make it all work with the Euro headlights. Very straightforward --- and I found that I did not have to drill any holes whatsoever to run the vacuum tubes to the vacuum receptacles @ the rear of the headlights. There were rubber grommets already in the headlight housings to run the vacuum tubes through.

As well, the yellow vacuum receptacles (attached to the purple tubing from MB) just snaps into the vacuum receptacles on the back of the headlights.

I had to cut the rosette that holds with switch plate to allow for the steering column beauty ring to snap-in ---- I did a horrible looking job with a drill bit but realized that even my horrible looking cutout works --- and you can't see the cutout anyways.

Now I have to adjust the headlights ----- everything is pointed way too far up.

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w

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oNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w

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ontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> Hi Jlaa – great work!

I am going to be creating a How To on 500E board very soon on the subject of aligning your headlamp beam Aim & pitch correctly. I have a system I have been using for years involving only electrical tape and a measuring tape – with very high accuracy. (Our MOT test requires the pitch & aim to be tested for accuracy with a digital machine)

Jlaa · Sep 13, 2017

JC220 said:
 Hi Jlaa – great work!

I am going to be creating a How To on 500E board very soon on the subject of aligning your headlamp beam Aim & pitch correctly. I have a system I have been using for years involving only electrical tape and a measuring tape – with very high accuracy. (Our MOT test requires the pitch & aim to be tested for accuracy with a digital machine)

View attachment 67738

Oh, I would be interested to read your HOWTO, thank you for doing this!

Indeed, I would be interested to hear from others what the real world value (as opposed to theoretical value) of the headlight leveling mechanism is on our cars, particularly given that the 500E has a self levelling rear suspension. What do folks use this feature for? Surreptitiously aiming the headlights a little farthet down the road when no one is watching????

Anyways, as I understand, setting 0 is supposed to be "normal" and settings 1,2,3 are supposed to be ever increasing levels of downward tilt to compensate for load. I adjusted both L/R headlight on the adjuster on the back of the hl housing 4 turns counter clockwise, and now "2" seems to be where my lights were aimed at previous to adding this feature.

JC220 · Sep 13, 2017

The headlamps should first be aimed correctly (both aim AND pitch) with the level adjuster at zero position.

There are many factors that can alter the headlamp pitch and aim- concentrating on testing / setting the headlamps for a moment:

Tyre Pressures (Set them first)
Fuel tank (Half fill it)
And changing bulbs can upset / alter the alignment.
Besides all that if the physical lamp housings are removed / re-installed then the alginment is out too.

So in effect the headlamp adjustment should be in 0 and adjusted if passengers are in the rear seat. Hence settings 1 - 3

Thus the beam pitch is adjusted (drops lower) to prevent dazzling oncoming cars.

I will do the DIY this weekend which will explain all of this in extreme detail

- but provide easy to follow instructions for setting your own lamps with higher accuracy than shops would - in about 30 minutes.

Jlaa · Sep 24, 2017

Well! I replaced the upper wiring harness. I thought that car ran fine before but after looking at the old wiring harness that came out - like - WTF - how did the car even run???? Everyone's comments were spot on. Straightforward job - took me, a novice, 3 hours taking my time. The clamshell was fiddly but not bad. I'm done but havent been able to start the car up --- had to go to a birthday party w my kids!

Below two pics are of the clamshell area - first with old and then with new harness. I did my best to maintain the routing.

Next are 3 pics of the completed product

And then finally the old wiring haness split open. Like ?????? Cant wait to het her started up... crossing my fingers....

Jlaa · Sep 24, 2017

And here is the old wiring harness ---- how did it even run??

Jlaa · Dec 24, 2017

Putting this here for posterity - this thread is ending up to be a journal of sorts of car maintenance.
Mileage is 66,500 now. With Jono / GSXR / NoCFN's advice, I adjusted the bowden cable for the transmission - thread for reference - Check out these pictures - need I adjust the bowden cable? | Transmission and Driveline . I dialed the tension nut 4.5 turns out. Now, as the pictures show, the two pointers on the adjustment mechanism are pointing at each other at the "default resting position".

At part throttle, the car now responds with renewed alacrity - upshifts are executed at somewhat higher RPMs than before, and downshifts are more readily available with increased throttle openings at part throttle. The first gear start valve body now seems to have a renewed sense of purpose as well. Under part throttle, 1st gear used to be only good up to ~7mph at which point the car would shift to 2nd under nearly any throttle angle other than full throttle. Now, 1st gear is a useful gear!

EDIT 2017-25-12 --

I finally settled on 5.5 turns out -- thus giving no slack whatsoever on the cable. The transmission shifts nearly perfectly for me now.
- At super light throttle, the 1st - 2nd upshift occurs around 1850 rpm.
- At very mild part-throttle, the 1st - 2nd upshift occurs anywhere from 2000 rpm - 2500 rpm.

Perfect.

Jlaa · Jan 1, 2018

66,500 miles.

Replaced the strikers on the B-pillars, and also adjusted/moved them inboard about 1mm on both the front driver's and passenger's side.

- The door shut sound from the outside has little difference.
- The door shut sound from the inside has a little bit more metallic "twang" to it.
- The door opening action on the exterior handles now has a lot more positive defined "click" action when pulling on the handle.

See pics --- as mentioned in previous threads, the design of the striker has changed.

nocfn · Jan 1, 2018

Rubber insert is what wears and is Sold separately - wonder if the insert is old or new style?

lowman · Jan 2, 2018

very nice

Did replace the strikers on my car aswell earlier..
If it was a placebo effect or not..i dont know..but the sound of the door just sounded different for some reason.But they also really lift the "appearance" of the car...looks so much better with new ones in there

Also good catch with the wiring harness...that was indeed toast...and like you said..how could it even run, i guess you dodged a SLUG there

Jlaa · Jan 2, 2018

nocfn said:
Rubber insert is what wears and is Sold separately - wonder if the insert is old or new style?

Hmmm. I've attached 3 pictures of the newly installed strikers here --- is this "new" rubber or "old" rubber. I bought these strikers from Naperville (Renee --- awesome) about 7-8 months ago --- I think they were $25 a pop. I didn't know that the rubber was replaceable.

lowman said:
very nice
Did replace the strikers on my car aswell earlier..
If it was a placebo effect or not..i dont know..but the sound of the door just sounded different for some reason.But they also really lift the "appearance" of the car...looks so much better with new ones in there

Also good catch with the wiring harness...that was indeed toast...and like you said..how could it even run, i guess you dodged a SLUG there

Hahahaha. That wiring harness was ?!!?!?! The strikers --- I'm not sure I understand why all the original strikers on these cars always look so corroded. Is it because of 25 years of exposure to humidity in the air? Are they made of aluminum? I'm not really sure. The metal on the new strikers looks nice and un-pitted. I wonder how long it will take for the new strikers' metal to look corroded. Hopefully a super long time (I understand your appearance comment) ---- I'm OCD enough that the car doesn't see any precipitation and lives in a heated garage.

nocfn · Jan 2, 2018

I believe the best effort would be to buy new. Replacing the insert is nice if you don't care about appearance but unlike the 250 USD MB striker for the c126, nothing to just replace to the new ones and collect old ones from the yards.

JC220 · Jan 2, 2018

Jlaa said:
Hmmm. I've attached 3 pictures of the newly installed strikers here --- is this "new" rubber or "old" rubber. I bought these strikers from Naperville (Renee --- awesome) about 7-8 months ago --- I think they were $25 a pop. I didn't know that the rubber was replaceable.

View attachment 71732

View attachment 71733

View attachment 71734

Hahahaha. That wiring harness was ?!!?!?! The strikers --- I'm not sure I understand why all the original strikers on these cars always look so corroded. Is it because of 25 years of exposure to humidity in the air? Are they made of aluminum? I'm not really sure. The metal on the new strikers looks nice and un-pitted. I wonder how long it will take for the new strikers' metal to look corroded. Hopefully a super long time (I understand your appearance comment) ---- I'm OCD enough that the car doesn't see any precipitation and lives in a heated garage.

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ontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--> I do wonder is the ‘newer’ part merely a substitute of a striker from another model – OR is it a re-design / updated part? Note the original striker had ‘W124’ embossed in it’s underside wheras the new one does not. Although the new striker is larger also......

The MB finish would be bright Zinc Plating and it does degrade over time like your originals did – that’s quite normal as Zinc plating simply does not age very well. Zinc plating is actually very cheap – there is a professional plater’s near my home and a set of 4x strikers like that re-plated would only be about $10 USD total.

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nocfn said:
Rubber insert is what wears and is Sold separately - wonder if the insert is old or new style?

That’s a good question! I would likely have an original set re-plated and new rubber inserts fitted. (Just because I enjoy restoring original parts the car had on it when new) I’m placing another order soon with my dealer I will check stock / price of the rubber inserts and maybe order up 4 for giggles

gsxr · Jan 2, 2018

JC220 said:
I do wonder is the ‘newer’ part merely a substitute of a striker from another model – OR is it a re-design / updated part? Note the original striker had ‘W124’ embossed in it’s underside wheras the new one does not. Although the new striker is larger also......

The new / replacement striker is p/n 208-720-01-04 and is also used on the 129, 140, 170, 202, 208, and 210 chassis.

Currently $17 USD list, ~$13 Naperville, although the 2018 price hikes will take effect soon and may change those numbers slightly:
https://www.mboemparts.com/oem-part...er-2087200104/?c=aT01NzE2MzY1NSZyPWxheWVyXzEy

:strawberry:

Jlaa · Jan 2, 2018

gsxr said:
The new / replacement striker is p/n 208-720-01-04 and is also used on the 129, 140, 170, 202, 208, and 210 chassis.

Currently $17 USD list, ~$13 Naperville, although the 2018 price hikes will take effect soon and may change those numbers slightly:
https://www.mboemparts.com/oem-part...er-2087200104/?c=aT01NzE2MzY1NSZyPWxheWVyXzEy

Thanks GSXR. Indeed -- my memory is a little fuzzy. I went back and found my receipt ---- I bought 2x of the 201-720-01-04 for $25.16 on Dec 8, 2016 from Naperville --- so it looks the price is still the same since the current price as of 1/2/2018 is $12.56 each.

Jlaa · Jan 22, 2018

I should have done this when I first bought the car. Anyways --- I fitted a vent tube to the battery on the negative side and plugged the vent on the battery's positive side. I punched a hole in the rubber grommet right under the battery dry to run the rubber tube through.

I'm amazed though ---- that grommet was original to the car, and since I was the first one the punch a hole through it, it means that the car has never been fitted with a battery vent tube in its entire life. As well, I have records that the MB-branded battery was installed by MB of Danbury in CT a few years ago --- and *they* didn't install the vent tube either???!!?!?

When this battery goes flat, I'll put in an AGM battery. Given that this battery is on a tender 99% of the time, and that the climate here in Northern California is super mild, I suspect that the battery still has quite some life to it.

Ntrepid · Jan 22, 2018

Jlaa -

Given your P-car affinity and ownership, I'd expect no less than you to use this battery in your 500E:

http://press.porsche.com/news/release.php?id=510

Robert

Jlaa · Jan 22, 2018

Haha! Well those extortionist P-car prices are absurd. For some reason that picture makes that Lithiuim Ion battery look like it measure 2”x3”...

a777fan · Jan 23, 2018

Jlaa said:
I should have done this when I first bought the car. Anyways --- I fitted a vent tube to the battery on the negative side and plugged the vent on the battery's positive side. I punched a hole in the rubber grommet right under the battery dry to run the rubber tube through.

I'm amazed though ---- that grommet was original to the car, and since I was the first one the punch a hole through it, it means that the car has never been fitted with a battery vent tube in its entire life. As well, I have records that the MB-branded battery was installed by MB of Danbury in CT a few years ago --- and *they* didn't install the vent tube either???!!?!?

When this battery goes flat, I'll put in an AGM battery. Given that this battery is on a tender 99% of the time, and that the climate here in Northern California is super mild, I suspect that the battery still has quite some life to it.

Ah hah! This reminds me that I have to do the same.

I feel a little silly for asking, but was there a P/N for the elbow and tube? Or did you go rouge and make one yourself? :shocking:

View attachment 72414

Jlaa · Jan 23, 2018

a777fan said:
Ah hah! This reminds me that I have to do the same.

I feel a little silly for asking, but was there a P/N for the elbow and tube? Or did you go rouge and make one yourself?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm not lowman, I don't need to go OE for that!

I went to the local autoparts store and they had a whole passel of little elbows that fit into the group-93 batteries that they also sell --- and I bought some generic vacuum tube to fit the elbow.

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