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OWNER - bendover

I´m still waiting for the cats to arrive. However I will post some pictures on the final result.

Bing, no i dont want to delete anything. I kind of like it when she runs smoth as silk :)
 
She´s alive! Season 2013 is about to begin! She havent been lonley during the winter. One 190E 2,5 16v and one 300SEL Diesel have kept her company:
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Yes, please, a few shot of the 16Ver !!

The diesel looks to be in great shape too...nice !
 
Hello!!

Here comes the result of the muffler exchange. I switched the two mufflers today.

The muffler fitted very well on the car I think. They are not exactly alike but for me its good enough.
I cant understand though why the rubber-bushing for the rear end muffler (you can see the bracket with the muffler in one of the comparison pictures) is supplied when the new muffler dont have this bracket...?!

The catalytic converter unit will arrive tomorrow but I dont have the time to replace it then (Its a Mercedes meeting in Sweden on Saturday that I´m going to attend to).
I will continue with an update when that unit is fitted on to the car...!

Did not make it on my own. My sisters dog, Dino helped me allot :)
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Comparison nr.1
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Comparison nr.2
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Comparison nr.3 (rubber bushing vs. zero rubber bushing)
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Comparison nr.4
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Result nr.1
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Result nr.2
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Result nr.3
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Result nr.4
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Result nr.5 (which I love the most :) )
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Looks like a nice fit, does it sound the same as stock?
One thing to note is that the original system is a form of stainless steel, obviously, not completely rust proof but pretty resilient all things considered. You may want to keep your old system and slowly clean it up. My guess is that it's still quite functional. JMO.
 
Looks really good!

Is it much lighter than the original exhaust ?

Oh, Did you get my PM ?
 
Glen, you are probably right! Maybe I should keep it and clean it up. You never know what the future holds. Thanks for the that idea!
The sound did change a little bit. It sound more clean/pure/sharp-way´ish now.

195910, No. i havent recieved your pm (?). Send it again please :) ! Did not compare the wheight but I think it´s the roughly the same give or take a few pounds.
 
The catalytic converter-unit have finally arrived. Its going to look allot better than the race cat I have installed right now. The unit looks like this:

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As a matter of fact I did`nt. I did not talk to anybody of them. They were all over the place and I dont know them by person.
But I have created a thread on our swedish website mbsca.com/forum. So they will get the info, trust me.

I will check the dates you suggested with my calender.
I have a new job and have only been working there for a week. So I don´t really know how flexible I can be (week 29, 30 and 31 = vacation and that would be fantastic dates...!)
 
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Hi Bendover,

I saw your 500 at Hedemora yesterday and i must say it is a wonderfull car that is absolutley mind-blowing!

Keep up the :goodjob:
 
Thank you SO much Johan H, that means a lot to me! And I can assure you, I will keep it up :)

I think I saw your car to! I belive it was two E420´s on the gtg? And I sure must say, your car looks great to!
If I quote my friend: "That´s an awsome car, a REAL sleeper"
 
Thanks! Yes it was a boronite and then my brilliantsilber. I love that car but after a spin in Snowmans 500a i think i must have one more mistress..;).
My plan is now to seek a 500 and then my V8 W124 addiction is stilled.. ;)

I pulled against the astounding 300TE 3.4 AMG on the way home. We hit aprox 220km/h. It was fun to test the performance of the two sleepers!

bendover said:
Thank you SO much Johan H, that means a lot to me! And I can assure you, I will keep it up :)

I think I saw your car to! I belive it was two E420´s on the gtg? And I sure must say, your car looks great to!
If I quote my friend: "That´s an awsome car, a REAL sleeper"
Click to expand...
 
I tried a very similar aftermarket catalytic converter about 8 years ago. I was working with Bergwerks and they dyno tested my OE stock system vs the one pictured below. The results were not too good...as I recall we lost 8 to 10 HP. Needless to say, I still have my original factory cats.
 

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Glen, that aftermarket cat looks nearly identical to Ben's. Any idea of the brand or price? Note that the rear hanger/pipe is too large for the stock rubber donuts, so a different donut will be needed to support the rear of the aftermarket pipe.

I've mentioned this previously, but the stock cats are quite good. In general I wouldn't replace them unless they are plugged (causing severe power loss), or the car is failing smog due to the cats. The stock cat pipe may be a little heavy (it's 40 lbs total) but it flows pretty well.

:seesaw:
 
I don't know the brand. Bergwerks was planning to offer the cats for sale as a performance enhancement but after testing I believe they dropped the project.
 
Gotta admit that looks way better than my cats, especially since they hang a bit below the car and the shop had to chop up quite a lot to get them to fit. The main advantage of mine is they look almost hollow, and won't restrict air in any way :)
 
Glen said:
I tried a very similar aftermarket catalytic converter about 8 years ago. I was working with Bergwerks and they dyno tested my OE stock system vs the one pictured below. The results were not too good...as I recall we lost 8 to 10 HP. Needless to say, I still have my original factory cats.
Click to expand...

Well, that does it, the OEM system complete, is very good, performancewise and also comfortably quiet. Aftermarket syst. seems a bit narrower, maybe for a 4.2
it will be suffice. 5 and esp. 6 liter need a little moore. We'll have to dig deep into our wallets to get the real thing. Roger

ps. should it not also be isolated to keep the heat all the way to the catalysts?
 
That looks great! It matches our interior design too, very nice :-)
 
That is a great looking unit !

Clean lines...hmm, my old car sure could use some love like this. Was it plug and play for you or a bit more involved than that ?
 
Thank you all for the nice comments!

BE-code:
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Operation guide:
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Jimbo: Yes, for me it was "P n P". I had an old Becker Traffic Star-unit installed.
 
A good looking unit, but posting those codes online isn't wise. I believe there are tools online that transform a Becker product number into the password you need to unluck the device (yes, I tried this before and it was correct). Don't know if that's still the case, but still...
 
Nice head unit! Very in keeping with interior console .

Jelmer said:
A good looking unit, but posting those codes online isn't wise. I believe there are tools online that transform a Becker product number into the password you need to unluck the device (yes, I tried this before and it was correct). Don't know if that's still the case, but still...
Click to expand...

Not sure this makes sense, mate. That's a serial number which is no good to anyone unless they have the unit in hand! Yes, well known fact u can decode almost any headunit these days via internet based on model/serial numbers.

However, "Posting the actual Code to activate it/unlock is not a good idea"...Serial/model number no harm! :-D:wormhole:
 
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Bendover.....wondering if upgrading to this headunit makes a noticeable improvement in sound quality over the OEM unit? My stock 1994 E500 seems to provide very good sound quality, especially with the rainbows in the dash.
 
mistermiata said:
Bendover.....wondering if upgrading to this headunit makes a noticeable improvement in sound quality over the OEM unit? My stock 1994 E500 seems to provide very good sound quality, especially with the rainbows in the dash.
Click to expand...
Andy, most of the newer Becker (and Harmon-Kardon) head units are plug & play with your 1994 E500, if you still have the stock head unit installed. The auxiliary input usually requires an accessory item from Becker, but that is also plug & play. You can get new ones from Becker USA for around $500, but if you are patient you can usually find good used ones for $150-$300. Photos of various different Becker / HK models are on my website here.

The newer head units are a fantastic upgrade from the stock 1492, especially since you can easily add an iPod input using the accessory kit shown here. Note that the newer head units will not control the factory CD changer, but with MP3 input capability, you may not want the CD changer anyway.


:star:
 
mistermiata: Yes, the sound did improve even if I have my original speakers installed. They work quit well :)

gsxr: No, no satellite/GPS function. BTW, I bought mine for ~$400 (New in carton, never installed).
 
One more update! My car spent a little time over at the local workshop today. They helped me to switch the catalytic converters among other things (engine oil change).

Result:

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It looks really nice but if we talk in terms on how the car feels/sound compared to the version with the race cat... I just wanna cry. These cats is pure SHIT!
They make a strange noise while driving progressive. And the car feels almost dead compared to the race cat! I will change back to the race-variant.

Lesson learned...!

But one really funny thing happend at the workshop. Thang had his car at the shop at the same time as me. Not every MB-workshops has two w124.036 at the same time these days :)
I just had to take a photo. Hopefully mr Thang doesnt mind! Nice car with some very interesting equipment. Black wood (Limited, birds eye), larger calipers (dont remember the brand) and brake discs, limited edition rims.
I dont think it´s a limited edition though! Not that interior, not the limited entery guards and its a 1993 I think... So no "by the book"-limited edition. But I could be wrong. Mr Thang can start up his own thread and tell us the truth.

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bendover said:
It looks really nice but if we talk in terms on how the car feels/sound compared to the version with the race cat... I just wanna cry. These cats is pure SHIT!
They make a strange noise while driving progressive. And the car feels almost dead compared to the race cat! I will change back to the race-variant.
Click to expand...
Which race cats did you have before switching to the ones listed above, same manufacturer?
 
No, I had one cat installed last year. One made for 650 hp. Dont know the brand.
 
Last edited:
bendover said:
One more update! My car spent a little time over at the local workshop today. They helped me to switch the catalytic converters among other things (engine oil change).

Result:
It looks really nice but if we talk in terms on how the car feels/sound compared to the version with the race cat... I just wanna cry. These cats is pure SHIT!
They make a strange noise while driving progressive. And the car feels almost dead compared to the race cat! I will change back to the race-variant.

Lesson learned...!

But one really funny thing happend at the workshop. Thang had his car at the shop at the same time as me. Not every MB-workshops has two w124.036 at the same time these days :)
I just had to take a photo. Hopefully mr Thang doesnt mind! Nice car with some very interesting equipment. Black wood (Limited, birds eye), larger calipers (dont remember the brand) and brake discs, limited edition rims.
I dont think it´s a limited edition though! Not that interior, not the limited entery guards and its a 1993 I think... So no "by the book"-limited edition. But I could be wrong. Mr Thang can start up his own thread and tell us the truth.
Click to expand...
Hi Johan,

I guess you may be the first one here experiencing that race cats may give something on the 036. However those new cats are not OE, so the comparison is not directly valid. I agree with you, switch back to that race cat, enhanced breathing doesn't hurt on these cars.

A really nice coincidence to park along Thang's car outside Biltjänst. Here is his owners thread: http://www.500eboard.com/forums/showthread.php?1594-OWNER-mbforever

Ciao
 
bendover said:
Just for information, I have sold the car. An eleven year romance has come to an end...

I had to buy a family car instead: S212 E200 cdi Avantgarde 2012. Nice car but I sure do miss the w124.036.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that.

212 is not that nice at all compare to 124.036. 212 drives/handles amazing but the rest is just as the other cars on the road.

Nothing special at all.

Hope u will get back to 036 one day ...
 
Get back to the 036! Yeah at what entry level would that be? Many that has in a weak moment, sold the car of their Dreams, know
how hard and epensive it often is to get back on track. Yes I'm sorry for his sake and happy for the new owner.

Think twice and a couple of more times, Before executing such a decision, mind you, Before the Point of no return.
I do not mean to rub this in But..........
 
I´m really aware of the fact that I can´t buy another w124.036 for reasonable money again. Believe me, I have thought this through many times.
I also would like to add that I did´nt give her away. I got an offer I couldnt refuse basically.

My view of the "problem" is: I have had the possibility to own, drive AND REPAIR my dream car for 11 years :)
If I want one in the future I´ll buy one. They are not unicorns ;)

W212 is a great car but not in any way comparable with a w124.036...

Ps. Right now I´d rather be a house owner and a father to be instead of a proud w124.036 owner.
 
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