05 CLS55AMG project brutus #2

[General85]

What wheels are these? Looks good so far! Following.

 

[chris-durham]

hello - so little update -

Subframe - with all new mounts in, 4 for the frame to floor, 2 for diff rear and 2 for suspension arm. Care should be taken when fitting the diff ones as they do not sit centrally in the frame - they are offset.

Anti-roll bar cleaned up and painted - mounts were fine.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

The diff was then fitted to the front carrier along with the air reservoirs, it was easier to do it this way, as you can locate the prop pinion very easily as the diff is lifted into place,

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

Any light surface corrosion found was removed with wire brush, rust converter, zinc primer and finally black hammerite.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

new rubber on prop as old showed signs of wear

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

new hoses and clamps on the reservoirs.
Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

 

[chris-durham]

while waiting for some more bits, i started to tackle the offside rear hub. The back-plate had rusted through, had to be replaced. To do this the wheel bearing or the drive flange need to be removed - as per usual, 3 of the 4 bolts sheared in the hub.

Given that the thread is only in the wheel bearing i decided to sacrifice the wheel bearing to get the whole lot apart. This was fun, lol a 4" grinder and dremel done the trick here without damaging the hub carrier.
Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

I ended up having to press the drive flange out the bearing, which unfortunately left the bearing outer shell on the shaft...

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

 

[sturgeon]

No stone unturned! Great work!

 

[chris-durham]

Hello, thought i would update the thread!

So the above bearing outer shell I managed to remove, but carefully cutting through with a dremel to weaken it, then lots of heat, then using a chisel to move it up the shaft enough to allow me to get a puller on it.

New bearing being fitted now.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

All this to get to the offending item lol

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

on close inspection, near side diff seal was looking suspect so a new was fitted.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

 

[chris-durham]

It was then a simple (so I thought) matter of fitting the driveshafts and all the suspension arms back on.

It soon became clear that id dropped a clanger. The front upper link rod can only be attached to the subframe when the whole lot is lowered! LOL

I may have said a bit more than LOL at the time. A quick check on WIS and it confirmed these arms can only be replaced with frame down.

So i pressed in new bushes to those arms, as I dont want to have to drop the frame again.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

Note these are pressed in with an offset for anyone doing these.

Also remember to replace these little plastic retaining clips when removing the rear air struts, they are a one use item.

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New antirollbar drop links also either side

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New back plate in

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New flexi hoses and correct retaining clips fitted.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

Made a new spacer - these little things are fitted between the rear track arms and the subframe.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

 

[chris-durham]

OK, so onto the test drive and snag list...

• brake bleeding - was an interesting task, LOL. the rear offside bleed nipple had been rounded it seems, i managed to get this out with a removal tool. none listed for 55amg, but ordered a stock cls one, which are identical - however, the one on the n/s is different! hmmm. I used a pressure bleeder set at approx 2 bar to do the job with the help of star.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

• ESP/ABS light. this triggered just after leaving the drive. the steering was also mega heavy which was weird. I plugged it in and a fault was shown on the r/os rpm sensor. So, jacked car up, plugged star back in to rear live data and there was no speed signal from the offending corner. Now it seems this was clanger #2 i dropped. :+) On refitting driveshaft on that side, I removed what i thought at the time was a silly dust shield as it was fouling on the hub. It seems this was the remains of the abs ring :+(. Back off with that side. and as you guessed - no reluctor ring listed for 55AMG. a quick google, identified an abs specialist who supplied a std cls item.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

I specified it with the fitting tool - which turned out to be shite. as it was a fraction too big, meaning the ring was not driving on straight. so i used a hammer to gently tap it on without damaging.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

All the arms back on a torqued (at ride height) grrrrrr.

all faults cleared on star and a test drive confirmed all was well.

• Airmatic ride height. The car has always sat slightly off, i took measurements a while back and from memory there was about 9-10mm difference from side to side which wont have helped the handling. I did take it to a so called specialist who I asked to adjust, but it came back the same. Now I have star, there is a basic autocal routine which is quite cool to watch. I set this away and it made the necessary pressure adjustments. I took measurements this time, from hub centre to arch lip and they were no 1mm +/- side to side.

The good news - the thudding noise coming from the back that necessitated this part of the project is now gone - thank god for that.

jobs still to do on this chapter - full 4 wheel alignment, tighten exhaust now its settled, new battery, possibly replace airmatic t-piece (this i found had one union that was also stripped), look a bit closer at these bleed nipples!

 

[AMGeed]

Great job Chris. Looks to be close to completion?

 

[french]

Ooh I wish I lived near you...I need an excuse to use my new(ish) impact driver...looks good fun though

 

[Stevedegal]

How do you find the ride on such ultra low profile and how do the wheels not crack on potholes?

 

[merc85]

Great job Chris. Looks to be close to completion?

ROTFL, i thought that said Great job Chris. Looks to be close to competition? lol

I think this has over taken the Original "Brutus" lol, Awesome work your doing Chris, it's certainly been a journey and a half!

Keep up the good work

 

[chris-durham]

Haha, yeah these things are never 100% completed! always something else to do!

Ride is fine imho, i generally only have it in comfort mode.

Tonight, I made a start on adjusting panel gaps. they have been annoying me for a while - haha.

The main offender was bonnet to wing gaps. after some fine tuning got these down to under 0.5mm variance top to bottom and side to side.

Done some work on front bumper, but I suspect some mounting clips are broken, so this will be a bigger job to resolve properly.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

 

[Merc55k]

Love the grilles and the lights. I know some folk frown on the headlights, but I really think it looks nicer. Do you mind if I ask where you got the grille from and did it come gloss black?

 

[chris-durham]

Love the grilles and the lights. I know some folk frown on the headlights, but I really think it looks nicer. Do you mind if I ask where you got the grille from and did it come gloss black?

hi, grill was on it when i bought it - so no ideas where it came from :+)
but yeah it looks nice and mean from the front.

 

[clk320x]

Love the grilles and the lights. I know some folk frown on the headlights, but I really think it looks nicer. Do you mind if I ask where you got the grille from and did it come gloss black?

There’s one for sale in the classifieds
Second post: Bits + Bobs , again.

 

[chris-durham]

Bit more progress on the bodywork, f/o/s wing to pumper gap has always been miles out..

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

On inspection, culprit was this metal bracket that holds the wing to bumper - it has been deformed at some point.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

after re shaping in the vice, the finished result looks good.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

Same was repeated on the f/n/s which wasnt as bad.

Decided it was time to start detailing, so i touched in the chips on the bonnet and done a 2 stage cut using poorboys products.

Bonnet, boot and nearside done. Looking not too bad.

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

Untitled by chris pollin, on Flickr

 

[merc85]

Boy has that car fallen on it's feet finding a Owner like you! Cracking work there bud, Looks stunning!

 

[Brian k]

Fabulous.... loving the thread.

 

[fabes]

Those wheels

That kerb wall

 

[Horizon666]

I've got a soft spot for a big Merc. Lots of hard graft one into this, bloody well done.