OWNER lowman (Norge)

[FU2]

Looking good! Love the gold fasteners. It's like knowing your wife/gf is sporting a little something special beneath her tight skirt.

hahahahahahaha thanx man..that cracked me up right there

 

[FU2]

Does anyone know if the plastic cover for the "*ASR" pressure acumulator ,Down in the bottom corner of the left front Wheel well liner...is this available for itself..?or do you have to buy the Whole Wheel well liner?

 

[FU2]

just a little update on my underside mini restoration
The stabilizer bare has come off.Gonna get it powdercoated and get some new bushes in there
Also took it off to get more room to do the front wells more proper.


Next up was to sort out the front bumper side mounts..as they were completely toast and rusted.Unfortunatly the bolts that fasten them to the body snapped...so i had some extra work there..but was able to drill them out..and use the original nut threads thats welded in the bracket on the body.
Just mounted the new brackets temorarilygotta get some proper steel quality bolts to fasten them with..and not the cheap 8.8 strength bolts you see on the pic.







And finally...a little job i was looking forward getting done..was to clean up the side ventilation plastic covers below the front frame.
A good example that you do not always have to buy NEW stuff to make the car shine once again ( i obviously cleaned both of the covers.but only pic of one of them.

Before


After



thanx for looking

 

[nocfn]

Hot soapy water and some 303 work wonders.

 

[FU2]

and a good rag and alot of time is also needed

 

[FU2]

A little update on whats going on.I have shot a little video too...but here are some pics of some of the progress And nerdy stuff
First of all i got new clamps for the brakelines and fuel lines under the car.The SLS clamps have not arrived yet.
Here is the old clamps and rubbers.





All New parts








And nerdy me..i cant put em on without putting my touch on it.Soooo.... i put a coat of 1K primer..and three layers of paint..and two layers of clear coat.





And finally on the car...and i am really happy with the result.
I even got to mount the rear clamp where i repaired the rust in the floor...made a new pin in the floor..so i could use the original plastic screw/nut in the middle of the clamp





Finally ..a couple of shots ...of a part of my rust repair.
Its from the right hand side front wheel well.Rust is grinded away...treated with Permatex rust stop,It transforms the remaining rust thats there..and transforms it into a hard plasticy surface.Very nice stuff.
Before putting Permatex on:


After:


This is the process i do on every part where there is surface rust.
After the Permatex...ill put a coat or two with 2K Epoxy primer..as you might seen on my rear wheel wells...and then stonechip and paint

Thanx for watchin

 

[FU2]

As we all know..its wintertime..and personally---i needed some inspiration
And that made me bring up some summer pics of my car...even though with the "wrong"/"old" wheels...damn i want to go out for a nice summer drive,I cant wait
I also want to drive my focus Rs ,which snuck into one of the photos











Thanx for looking

 

[Marc R]

*like*

 

[FU2]

Thanx, Marcopolo

 

[sheward]

Nice pictures, norge. Hang in there, summer will come.

drew

 

[FU2]

Thank you so much Drewster

yeah hopefully the summer is coming..and my oh my im looking forward to that
But still alot to go on the car though...but i am really getting there at the moment..and looking forward to the weekend and getting more stuff done to the car

 

[FU2]

hey there people
Here is a little update on my ongoing underside resto of my 500e ,1992

i have really been carried away..and almost doing the whole car,,at least all the wheel wells,,and i will "wait" in excitement to see if i also will lower the rear end ,,,i knew i would be going totally bananas on this when i first started.hehe

Well....here are some pics of how HE sits
I ended up just doing it proper..and taking down the lower control arms..and removing the springs to do the spring cups and the cavitites where the control arms are fastend to the body.Im really happy with my descisioooon.







And as you can see here..ive gone and really done ALL the rust in the front end of the body. ..or front frame structure.
And i have also gotten a proper stone chip in the proper GREY color ,,like it is from factory






Thank you for looking

 

[FU2]

hey there again
Been doing more to the front end today.
Got to cover the bare area with permatex last night..and today i have done the 2k Epoxy primer on the front end subframe structure(and in the cavitites where the LCA is mounted to the frame.
Here is how it looks with the permatex rust stop BEFORE the 2k Epoxy primer .





Coated every part with the 2k Epoxy primer.VERY HAPPY with the result i must say
AND YES...it looks like a five year old did the masking..but it was good enough to prevent other parts beeing sprayed with the epoxy primer









Thanx again for looking

 

[Zuffenhausen]

love the color

 

[FU2]

thank you very much ,and hopefully you mean the outside of the car

 

[FU2]

Today i havent been able to do veeery much to the car,as the 2k epoxy primer is supposed to stay untouched for 24 hours.
So i waited for almost 20 hours before i decided to put on the body sealant around where the original body seal was where i took it off..and i also did a thin coat of this body seal here and there around the spring cups.
Here is how it looks at the moment.and its gonna sit like this until next weekend to really let it harden and cure properly before adding paint and stone chip.



So then i got the time to do the recently arrived SLS line brackets.
Doing the same as on the brake line brackets,,,primer and paint and clearcoat on the brackets.
The rubbers i had to reuse , because we could not find them on the EPC....and they are even not in a very bad state..so fully reusable.

What came of the car


Painted brackets,and cleaned the rubbers.The nuts are also brand spankin new



How it looks under there





thank you AGAIN for looking

 

[500ebeebe]

wow! this car definitely lucked into the right owner! fantastic effort and work.

 

[FU2]

wow! this car definitely lucked into the right owner! fantastic effort and work.

Thaaaank you very much dude...very kind of you to put it in those words.Cheers from Norway

 

[FU2]

Front lower control arms are now ordered.Aftermarked once..and very cheap...but should be of good quality..so i am looking forward getting these..and will post some pics and opinions about them when i get them into my workshop

 

[FU2]

Two keys to alot of joy

 

[FU2]

helloooo people
First of all....excuse me for the extra poor photo quality as my phone has gone dead..and this is my backup 4year old phone.But at least you will get to see whats up

Been working all weekend as i have got some new parts
I will start of with this one




Next up was new lower front controll arms
Though they are aftermarked..i really feel that there was somekind of quality to them,and did search around for pros n cons for the company..and it is a german company..though i have not been able to find out WHERE the parts are made.
Any whoooo...the parts are a good price..and i have nothing to loose actually by trying these.

Here are some pics of the arms themselves

Old one


New ones.Brand :Optimal ,Feels very solid,both the arm itself..as it is even abit heavier..so i kinda "like" that..bushings have no brand marks on them ,even though they do have the correct numbers of tabs on the bushings.
Have a look









And now..here is the painting of the front subframe done..and the new arms mounted..and even got to paint the thin cross bar as you can see.
Pretty happy with the result...even though the front end is not done..i still have the wheel wells themselves to be finished.
Also did a quick wheel alignment as you have to tighten the front arms when the car is on its wheels...so the bushings wont be twisted if you tighten the bushings to the frame when the suspension is unloaded.












Hope you like
And thanx for checkin it out ,despite the poor quality photos

 

[gsxr]

Looks nice! FYI... you have the "early" LCA's on that car. Works fine with 300mm front brakes, but will not clear 320mm or 334mm front rotors if you ever decide to upgrade.

BTW: the gold-painted cross brace looks way cool!!

 

[Marc R]

Nice upgrades! keep 'em coming!

 

[FU2]

Looks nice! FYI... you have the "early" LCA's on that car. Works fine with 300mm front brakes, but will not clear 320mm or 334mm front rotors if you ever decide to upgrade.

BTW: the gold-painted cross brace looks way cool!!

thank you very much

yeah ive read about it..but i have ALSO read about people actually fitting the SA brakes without the newer style LCA"s....its seemingly just a tiny bit different and it is enough to take off abit of the dust shield for the brakes.as it is only due to the different offsett on the discs..?
But brake upgrade is not on my list for the time beeing..though i do feel that the standard brakes are not excactly UP there...would like abit more BITE in them...but that will be a project for later i think

 

[FU2]

Nice upgrades! keep 'em coming!

thank you very much Marcopolo glad you liked it

Yeah ,i almost knew what i would go totally banans on this when i first started the underside.though it is not a complete TEAR DOWN...i am doing bit by bit..but in the end it will be almost the same as a complete tear down ,only in small steps.
I do not have the possibility to have the car hanging in the air for longer periods of time than weekends.....so i have to do it in steps ...abit shitty ..but at least i CAN do stuff to my car,,not everyone have even that oppurtunity.so im happy bout that

 

[gsxr]

yeah ive read about it..but i have ALSO read about people actually fitting the SA brakes without the newer style LCA"s....its seemingly just a tiny bit different and it is enough to take off a bit of the dust shield for the brakes. as it is only due to the different offsett on the discs..?

The air gap between the rotor and LCA is 6-7mm or so, and the dust shield takes up 1mm of that air gap. The SA rotor sits about 6mm deeper, so if you cut a hole in the dust shield, it will either just touch the LCA or have maybe 0.5-1.0mm air gap. However, in reality you need closer to 2mm minimum air gap, or the disc will rub the LCA when cornering. (Don't ask how I know.) Sooo.... if you are fitting SA brakes, you either need late LCA's, or you need to cut a hole in your dust shield AND grind 2-3mm off the outer end of the LCA to provide the appropriate clearance.

I've never heard of "Optimal" brand, maybe it's a European supplier?

 

[modzona]

I have seen people use wrong LCA's and touch the rotor with the shield removed so it can go either way.

 

[gsxr]

I have seen people use wrong LCA's and touch the rotor with the shield removed so it can go either way.

Yes, there is some amount of manufacuring tolerance in all of the parts... hub, wheel bearing, spindle, rotor, LCA, ball joint, etc. If you have a "favorable" tolerance stack, it MAY be possible to fit the SA rotors with the wrong LCA's, with the dust shield cut. Bloody unlikely, but theoretically possible. If you have an "unfavorable" tolerance stack, the SA rotor will touch the LCA and bind up so the wheel won't even turn. Pics are here.

 

[FU2]

I've never heard of "Optimal" brand, maybe it's a European supplier?

thanx for info

and when it comes to the Optimal brand..where i work they have good experiences with the brand.No faulty parts.And yeah it is a german company (yeah even FEBI is..but still shit...cause of lowcost production and stuff..so beeing a "German" company does not make everything allright as the company may be german..but production may NOT be
But like i said..and tried to get across is ,that they "feel" very good.You can kinda feel that they are very "solid" balljoint looks and feels nice, and got no more than the original side movement..
So i guess time will tell how they hold up
I do plan on restoring the original arms though...put new original bushings and balljoints in them..and get them powdercoated..but i noticed that the old ones where of TWO different types...though there is a Mercedes Star on both of them..but some design diffference..so that made me wonder.

ill get a picture uploaded sooner.

 

[FU2]

New phone ordered today Soooooooo looking forward getting it.Ordered a Samsung Galaxy S6 64GB,in Gold so hopefully that will result in more and better upcoming videos on my youtube channel
And i have also ordered myself a new USB connection for my old phone which stopped working..so im gonna try and fix that one too the old one is a HTC One M8 ,which i love..but abit poor on the camera side

 

[FU2]

hey people
Here is just a couple of pics of how my car sits.
Have shot a video ..but not uploaded yet.
Hope you like

 

[luckymike]

lowman, this is so amazing. You're going to have to just place the car on a coffee table for people to admire!

 

[TerryA]

Lowman, If you keep this up your going to have a new car by spring. It's really looking good!!!Keep the pics coming.

 

[FU2]

lowman, this is so amazing. You're going to have to just place the car on a coffee table for people to admire!

hey there Mr

Thank you veeeeery much i am afraid that i am doing TOOO much..and makin the car abit more NOT SUITED for other than dry weather use now..and i kinda knew i was ending up that route when i started..but at least i can look at my car and know that it kinda is in super great shape..and that it looks as good on the underside as on the outside
Thank you again for looking

 

[FU2]

Lowman, If you keep this up your going to have a new car by spring. It's really looking good!!!Keep the pics coming.

hey man
apreaaaaciate your kind words.As i have seen a couple of other super nice cars in here..im not afraid of it beeing like new...but i can agree that it definetly starts to stand out abit from the crowd..not TOO many 500e"s do look super clean underneath..but i guess it got both advantages and disadvantages..when it comes to USING the car.
Im so caught up in keeping my cars clean..that i almost forget how to drive...though i really do actually drive them alot alsr at least my Ford Focus Rs...as i have not had my 500e for that long..bought in June/july...2015..and most of that season consisted of getting to know the car...service the car in every possible way..and abit of faultfinding ..as you might know

thanx again for looking..and yes...the pics will be rolling in like strawberries on a straw

 

[FU2]

hepp hepp

I have been fiddling with my car this weekend also...but not as much this time..as i am experimenting abit with undercoating seals..and paints and stuff..as this is the next and final step in restoring and refinishing the wheel wells.

But i have done some other stuff.
I have fitted my other exhaust crossover pipe.
Obiously not a new part..but "rust hole free"...as opposed to the one that was on my car
Here is how it looks.They are also different regarding the heat shielding around the pipe..as you can see.
ALso got to polish it abit as it was dirty before the pics where taken.











I have also taken down one of the heatshields up front to clean them proper..both upperside and under /visible side.

Here is how it looks pretty happy with the result i must say

Before:


Did not get to take this one down..as it was not enough room to take it all the way down..and was no need to either.....i got to clean it as it sat in its place


After...and mounted back on the car




I have also painted the support bracket for exhaust that is mounted to the rear of the gearbox






AAAAAND finally ...after ONE friggin month of waiting..i have got my new steering wheel
And tomorrow im picking up an airbag/steeringwheel for the new steeringwheel...with the chrome Mercedes Star in the middle,and the hardware that goes inside the steeringwheel to mount the airbag and so on.

Hope you like



And a little photo of my new beauty of a phone..which actually i have not dared to start to use ...as i do not have a screen protector or case for yet.
Its a Samsung Galaxy S6, 64GB ,Platinum Gold finishLove it.Been a HTC guy for quite some years now..but i really would like to try this one out mainly because of its supposed superior Camera quality,so im looking forward trying it out


Thanx for looking

 

[jnes]

Which steering wheel do you have? Brabus? Really nice! Keep pics and story coming, it's really nice to read your stories.

- jnes

 

[FU2]

Which steering wheel do you have? Brabus? Really nice! Keep pics and story coming, it's really nice to read your stories.

- jnes

hey man
thank you so much
The steering wheel is just a "cheap"(not thaat cheap retrimmed one.But i reckon it looks like an "Amg " steering wheel ,,,i read somewhere that it is an AMG "style" steering wheel.
But i bought it at a dealer here in Norway..but i do think its the same as the ones you can find on Ebay..from Taiwan or somewhere.
But i must say..the quality..at least for now(as i have obviously not tested how it holds up ...is just spot on.Really nice stiching ..really nice leather..smeells nice leather too And the woodwork is also very good..almost the same as in the car..even though abit darker..as the one in the car is 23 years old..so abit faded but luckily in my car not thaat faded.


thanx

 

[FU2]

It's really hard to beat the elegant business-like look of those AMG Monos on most MBs. Love your Focus, too! Especially with those bitchin' OZ's

Thank you very much and i agree...hard to beat the look of those Wheels...and that goes for the OZ Wheels on my Focus too..even though i was not tooo fond of them at first when i got them on the car...but as i have always been a massive fan of those OZ motorsport Wheels..i just had to have a set on the Focus..and after some time,,i really like them on the Focus too

Cheers

 

[Roma_500E]

Love this owner thread ! You really care about small details like most of folks here on board which is cool ! Keep us posted with new pics ! Car must be super happy with that care !

P.S. By the way Samsung looks sharp and classy and really best value for the money ! Easy too use and very cool design !

 

[FU2]

Love this owner thread ! You really care about small details like most of folks here on board which is cool ! Keep us posted with new pics ! Car must be super happy with that care !

P.S. By the way Samsung looks sharp and classy and really best value for the money ! Easy too use and very cool design !

Thank you very much for havin a look,man
And yes..i can tell you ...the car loves it

yeah i hope the phone is good...or else its straight back to HTC.hehe

 

[FU2]

and here..is a little video

you have seen it in pics already..but here it is anyways

 

[TerryA]

Lowman,

Great Video!

I liked it. Like I said you are going to have a new car by spring. Keep after it!

Terry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[FU2]

Lowman,

Great Video!

I liked it. Like I said you are going to have a new car by spring. Keep after it!

Terry


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

hey there
Thank you very much again for kind words been alot of work though...no rest in the weekends..but hey...its showing some results now...luckily

Wont stop until im done...which most likely is not until ive done the whole carno..its enough now ..dont think im doing the rear end this year..gotta have some time relaxing before the spring gets here

thank you again.apreaciate it man

 

[jnes]

hey man
thank you so much
The steering wheel is just a "cheap"(not thaat cheap retrimmed one.But i reckon it looks like an "Amg " steering wheel ,,,i read somewhere that it is an AMG "style" steering wheel.
But i bought it at a dealer here in Norway..but i do think its the same as the ones you can find on Ebay..from Taiwan or somewhere.
But i must say..the quality..at least for now(as i have obviously not tested how it holds up ...is just spot on.Really nice stiching ..really nice leather..smeells nice leather too And the woodwork is also very good..almost the same as in the car..even though abit darker..as the one in the car is 23 years old..so abit faded but luckily in my car not thaat faded.


thanx

So it's new steering wheel from the dealer? Do you have part number for that steering wheel? Or is it secret? ;-) Is it W124 steering wheel? I want also!

 

[FU2]

hehehe no its not from a MB dealer
But yes it is a Original BASE......but it is retrimmed with new leather and new wood..so it is a "new" steering wheel.
The partsnumber is just the same as for any 210 / 140 class...as it is a "standard" 210 or 140 steering wheel that has been retrimmed by whoever did the retrimming

thanx for looking

 

[FU2]

AND there my lovely steering wheel is beeing shipped back

Fitment issues de la grande.
The airbag hardware wont seat in the steering wheel as it should..even though there is some new bolts with the steering wheel..to fit the hardware in another way...its not good enough.
And the distance betweeen the two bolts holding the airbag...is almost half an inch shorter..so the screws are standing not straight...

And i was wrong.i put my glasses on and can that the steering wheel is a re made one..its NOT a mercedes RE TRIMMED unit..its a Re manufactured one...

hopefully there will be no problems getting my money back as it is from a company here in Norway..

Will post a video soon.

 

[FU2]

here is a little video showing you the problems with my steering wheel

 

[FU2]

Hi

Just realized that i have bought the early type lower controlarms for my 1995 124.036....but the supplier have the later style ones also.

Dave / gsxr, is it okey if i use your pictures of the controlarms to highlight the differenses to the supplier?

BR
Totte

Dont know why you are talking about gsxr in my thread....and asking him a question where he might not read it...as this is "my"thread..
But you are welcome to do so anyways But it was just a "weird" post making no sense

 

[gsxr]

Dont know why you are talking about gsxr in my thread....and asking him a question where he might not read it...as this is "my"thread..
But you are welcome to do so anyways But it was just a "weird" post making no sense

Moved that post (and answer) to this thread: http://www.500eboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4858