R129 SL600 Sport...new acquisition!

[PHAB]

Hi everyone,

After a fair bit of looking and umming and erring I took the plunge on a 1999 SL600 Sport a few weeks ago. I have a weakness for big engines and wanted a toy to play with in the summer so it had to be covertible. Having seen Harry Metcalfe's video a while ago I set upon finding an r129 SL600 and that was that.

I am not afraid of getting my hands dirty but did not want electrical gremlins, hence why I went for a late version and parted with required extra cash. I was not keen on replacing wiring looms, wanted the later 'box and the later "AMG Sport" bodykit appealed to me, along with the little cosmetic tweeks that came with.

I am lucky enough to have a Italian V12 car in the garage beside it for which I keep a seperate thread updated to try to demonstrate the realistic costs of running/gently restoring what were the absolute tip of the sword of their time. The Merc, much like the other, is relatively high mileage (90,000) but crucially only 2 owners; the previous owner since 2004 and had always been serviced at Main Dealers.

If there is the interest out there I would love to share the "journey" of bringing this car back to what I would consider to be sensible "showroom" condition, both cosmetically and mechanically and also to try to put to rest some of the doomsday stories one reads about V12's, hydraulic suspension and the like.

For now Ill just put a single picture up of the new project to whet the appetite!

 

[C240Sport97]

b e a u t i f u l !!!

 

[Doodle]

The only doomsday story I can envisage is the roof mechanism. Everything else is fairly well understood, if sometimes expensive (perhaps uneconomically so) to fix.

Nowt wrong with a resto story though.

 

[Ierton]

Very nice though the Sport moniker never appeared on any R129.

 

[Swotty]

Absolutely lovely.

I really wanted one of those but we have the XKR convertible and the missus said two similar cars was extravagant, so put the mockers on it.

Took me 2 years to persuade her to let me get another car (we had 2 already - she doesn't drive) and I had to compromise to get a "discrete and functional coupé".

So I got the CL600. Makes the Jag feel like it's standing still!

More pics and updates would be good .......... you couldn't share the price you paid, could you? I was looking at a couple around £10-12K last year (I was still looking and hoping!) but they seem to have risen since.

Enjoy!

Stuart

 

[sharps]

Beautiful car... Solid and built to last

 

[gaz_l]

Nice.. I'd always promised myself a V12 one day. I think it's increasingly unlikely it'll happen now - but in the meantime I'm happy with my "little" V8..

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[crisc204]

They are proper cars!

I was lucky enough to drive one of those exactly the same as that, owned by a guy from Surrey with a butchers shop. His son is also an absolute Petrol head into big numbers Skylines. Absolutely hooked after that.
My brief stint with a SL500 will have to do!

 

[Gav78]

Stunning car, I for one would subscribe to your restoration thread!

 

[acej]

Lovely, congratulations.

 

[Doodle]

Very nice though the Sport moniker never appeared on any R129.

Sport package - different bumpers, side skirts and wheels.

 

[PHAB]

Thanks everyone for the kind comments and to Doodle for clearing up the Sport bit!

I paid £11,000 for the car which I thought was a fair price. I knew having driven it that it felt like it needed the usual wear and tear stuff done but also knew that the previous owner had dropped £1650 at Merc on spheres and other hydraulic bits and pieces and that it had only done 2000 miles since its last MB service. As always its a big punt but I did the best I could to check the fundamentals. I took the roof through the cycle 10 times! On top of that it passed an MOT the day I purchased it with no advisories.....I wont name and shame the garage that did this but having done some work on the car I'm pretty shocked about this!! :fail

Oh and the engine passed the "standing 50p test" and revved cleanly and smoothly.

First things first I have been focussing on front suspension because it felt loose at the wheel and having done 90,000 miles it's the first thing I always address. On top of that the brakes were terrible so I wanted to investigate.

Ordered new discs and pads all around as they were near the limit...took off the front (brembo) calipers and discovered a few things.

1. Both front wheel bearings were slightly worn and needed replacing, which I half expected. (parts cost £40)
2. Both lower ball joints were worn and needed replacing - pain as the later R129 (after 1998) requires new lower control arms with bushings and ball joints rather than just new ball joints. It means spring compressors to drop out the existing control arm etc. (parts cost £250)
3. Inner and Outer anti-roll bar bushings were worn needed replacing. (part costs £20)
4. Trackrod end joints were worn and needed replacing. (£60)
5. Engine Oil sump gasket had a slight split and was weeping oil and needed replacing (£41)
6. In each of the front Brembo calipers a seal around the lower piston had split and the piston had seized in the caliper. A lovely discovery to explain the awful braking! Managed to free up and clean/polish the pistons and have rebuilt both calipers with new seals and now all is better. (part cost £19)
7. Whilst at it I removed the front anti roll bar and brake backing plates, wire brushed them down to remove all corrosion and rust and undercoated and repainted them; silver for the backing plates and black for the roll bar.

Apologies for the lack of photos of the work, I will take some and post them as soon as I can. In the mean time I have been oggling the refurbished and re-shod rear wheels that have arrived back from Lepsons....

Before (painted and shod in perished Dunlop SP's):

After: (Diamond cut dish with new centers, metal valves and Michelin PS2s)

(A lot) More to come!

 

[Swotty]

Thanks for sharing the price, PHAB - pretty sure I had seen yours on sale somewhere - I still look at the ads for the SL600s.

Sounds like the fettling will not be too bad if you can do some of it yourself.

Yes, the wheels look great and really suit the car.

There's only one way the prices are going to go on those, so don't reckon you'll be out of pocket.

Stuart

 

[Greek God]

Very Nice
I have been looking for a while now for either a 5 or 600
Reckon you paid a reasonable price -the ones I've found for 600s are asking ridiculous money!

 

[SamW]

love this - one of these is on my bucket list of cars to own....

I always thought they had the more mono block style of wheels rather than this style...? looks superb tho, keep the pics coming!

 

[C43AMG]

Great looking car. Keep the reports coming

 

[Ierton]

Sport package - different bumpers, side skirts and wheels.

These were options and carried no title to the car itself.

 

[PHAB]

These were options and carried no title to the car itself.

My mistake, I apologise. Guess the "Sport Package" was rather like the "Performance Pack" in that respect.

Photos coming but having done the front corners I turned attention to the rear corners.....sort of anticipating the same sort of result and thats what it turned out to be:

1. New Discs and Pads (£115)
2. New Rear Wheel bearings (£65)
3. New control arms all round - 4 on each side (£150)

Again removed the brake backing plates and wirebrushed/undercoated/silver coated to brighten up the disc/hub/wheel area. Also wirebrushed and re painted the rear calipers in gloss black as they were looking a bit tired. Pleased to say the rear calipers were not seized but the pads were worn to within a few mm of their life and the discs were badly scored. Driveshafts and UJs were fine. No hydraulic leaks (so far!)

Also replaced the bonnet pad before starting on any engine work. It seems to be a problem on pretty much all the R129s whereby it perishes and falls to pieces. Cannot understand why people would leave it dropping crud into the engine but most do! Really simple (if a bit messy to do) but looks great once its done. (£80)

 

[Doodle]

While you're in there, it's worth looking under the central cover at the rear of the bonnet. It hides the joints for the washer tubing, which are wrapped in a foam silencer/protector. Being foam, it holds moisture nicely and tends to start corrosion on the relatively unprotected underside of the panel.

These were options and carried no title to the car itself.

Never said it did, that's why it's called a Package. Just explaining the difference.

 

[BTB 500]

Yup bonnet pad is a common thing, had mine done at the same time as the hood windows.