1995 C36 AMG

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Lovely car

If you ever want to part with the plate give me a shout!
 
It'll be interesting to learn your feedback on the B8s as you get some more miles under your belt @Notwen. It's an upgrade on my to do list as well.

Your car is such a beautiful example, the C36 is such a "hidden gem" in the world of performance saloons 👌🏼
Will do.
I have a longer run planned in a few weeks.
 
Lovely car

If you ever want to part with the plate give me a shout!
Thank you.
If you want to throw your hat in the ring for the plate, I will always listen to offers.
 
Well overdue for an update, though not a lot has been going on.
When I bought the C220d Sport it had a generic modern(ish) stereo in it, wanting to fit something more period, I chose to remove the Blaupunkt Pasadena from the C36 and fit a period Mercedes Becker unit to the C36 instead, which took me down a new rabbit hole of minor changes to the period “Classic”, “Special” and “Exquisit” offerings. Ending up with a Mercedes “Special” (BE1350) which was an £800 option back in 1995.

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The C36 gear shifter, has a grey leather covering over an embossed C36. Problem is, they get marked/damaged. My original one had some scratches on and I spoke with some leather repairers and they weren’t interested. Out of interest I looked up the OE number and Mercedes still had some in Germany, so I treated it to a new one. (mine must have been one of the last available ones, as a fellow C36 owner tried a few weeks after and was told NLA)



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Early in 2021 we sold the C43/55 and Jayne’s SLK350 and purchased a very nice CLK55, conscious not to ignore the C36, it has been used regularly for my visits to Oulton Park, racking up a heady 646 miles in 2021



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I had noticed the pads were giving off a bit more brake dust that previous, there was a reasonable amount of life left in them, looking back on the invoices Mercedes fitted new pads and discs 25,000 miles ago, but that was 2003! Discs were fine, so just fitted a set of Brembo branded pads, with a little help/hinderance from my Beagley friends. I also fitted a new steering damper, not an expensive part and the old one was 20 years old.


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The 3 Merc-migos



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Pleased to say the C36 sailed through its MOT. Talking to the tester afterwards, if there was anything, while not an advisory this year, he thought may be one next year “if I’m really picky, the front springs have a little corrosion starting where the powder coating is lifting”, fair enough.



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Once again my mind starts over thinking it, “well the suspension is over 25 years old, it’s could do with a refresh” next thing I am shopping for Shocks, springs and full suspension rebuild kits, to be done this winter.

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One thing I try and do, is keep any modification reversible (the back seat change for example), and/or only use period options. One thing that does annoy me on the early W202 is the lack of tie down points in the boot. The inside of the back panel is easy, as it has the recess for the tie down points. But deeper into the boot, there is no captive nuts for the loops. I chose to fit rivi-nuts to the metal back seat panel, rather than the boot floor and purchased one of the cargo nets for the W204/W205 C-Class.



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My big plan over winter had been to refresh the suspension, drop the subframe for strip and paint, replace all the rear link bars and freshen up under the arches. There was nothing wrong as such, but 27 year old suspension was likely passed its best.
Best laid plans and all that… Now having a bigger day job work area to cover meant a bit more working away and less playing in the garage.
As I bumbled into Spring, I was determined to make a start.
Deciding to do the front end arms and ARB bushes, along with all 4 shocks and springs.
While the Bilstein B8 were a no brainer, when it came to spring choice I finally went with Eibach, to give me a similar ride height and not overly harsh ride.
On the subject of ride height, the C36 has always had a slight rear down stance.

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Squared it up with string and poles for now, will get it 4 wheel aligned soon.

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I still had a slight rear down stance (by 5mm), the original spring pads were 2 pips, changed to 3 pips and sits well. Last Sunday a quick squirt down the motorway, to check it was all good. The run over the tops to Ripon on the Bank Holiday Monday was great.
Now sitting level

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Hi There, do you still have any more of the rear one piece AMG badges available?

Thanks,
Theo
 
Hi There, do you still have any more of the rear one piece AMG badges available?

Thanks,
Theo
I think I have a couple of unpainted ones left. I'm away until Tuesday, will check and come back to you.
 
It'll be interesting to learn your feedback on the B8s as you get some more miles under your belt @Notwen. It's an upgrade on my to do list as well.
I have done around 250 miles of mixed motorway and A&B roads. I'm really pleased with the B8's and Eibach springs. It's not too harsh, certainly more compliant than our CLK55.
If you do go down the B8 route, have a look on RockAuto.com in the USA, at the time they were less expensive than anyone else, even after duty and shipping to the UK.
 
I have done around 250 miles of mixed motorway and A&B roads. I'm really pleased with the B8's and Eibach springs. It's not too harsh, certainly more compliant than our CLK55.
If you do go down the B8 route, have a look on RockAuto.com in the USA, at the time they were less expensive than anyone else, even after duty and shipping to the UK.
Thanks for the feedback 👍🏼

Sounds like they're a worthy investment then, I'll take a look at Rock Auto, cheers 🍻
 
I have done around 250 miles of mixed motorway and A&B roads. I'm really pleased with the B8's and Eibach springs. It's not too harsh, certainly more compliant than our CLK55.
If you do go down the B8 route, have a look on RockAuto.com in the USA, at the time they were less expensive than anyone else, even after duty and shipping to the UK.,
Notwen Hi
do you still have the AMG emblem/badges as fitted to early C36's and E36's boot/truck lids and spark plug covers?
best
alberto
 
Hi Alberto, I'll check tomorrow, I think I have 1 unpainted one left.
 
Not done any updates for a while.
Still haven't got round to refreshing the rest of the suspension.
Back in 2021 I did a longer run to the Midlands for a C-Class day, my post journey check over revealed I had a small stain of oil on the engine under tray.
It had been the first longer (over 3 hours running) for a while. It appeared to be coming from the rear of the head, so it was either the M104 head gasket fatigue, or the rocker cover/half-moons.
I crossed my fingers it was the later and changed the rocker cover and half-moons.

Over the next few months, I was still getting a small weep following 160 mile round trips.
So, I braced myself and started preparing my parts lists, with a view to doing it last winter. Finding the genuine MB/AMG head gasket discontinued and mixed reviews of some of the after-market gasket offerings (all 2 of them it seems). The only viable offering was from Elring, though that was circa £450 with shipping and VAT.
Following a dose of CBATW (can’t be ****d this winter), I decided to monitor it.
While it doesn’t seem to have got worse, my mild OCD can’t live with the oil weepage, so I had been gearing up to do the job.

Having a long gestation period, I managed to get hold of a PDF copy of the M104 engine manual to peruse and treat myself to a new digital torque wrench along some other bits and bobs.
Plenty of take-away tubs to keep various bits separate and marked.

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When I took the front upper chain cover off, I could see it had been done previously as it was the later green U seal, (and it didn’t leak). Timing it up in readiness to remove the cam pulley I noticed 2 dowel holes on the exhaust cam, with one marked U.

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I couldn’t find anything in the M104 PDF, except in the chain timing being a 4mm hole on the back of each camshaft to line up “except AMG engines”…
Well this sent me down a rabbit hole of searching the internet for C36 cam timing. The consensus being the AMG version of the M104 should utilise the U dowel hole and the 4mm holes on the back should not be level with the rocker cover surface, unlike the C280.
Now, my cam timing was set as per the C280, I can only believe that whoever did the seal previously, set the timing as per the M104 book for a stock C280.
When it goes back together, I decided to set it to the U dowel and the slightly different cam timing.

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While the head was off, it made sense to have it checked and required a light skim.
New OE spec gasket

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As I needed a bit more precision in lowering the head into place, I used my leveller this time, makes it much easier.

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As I hadn’t used my old manual torque wrench for many years (nor had it recalibrated), I decided to pony up for a nice digital one, game changer and my new favourite tool.

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After many hours of googling and going down rabbit holes, the consensus seemd to be;

Inlet cam sits a smidge up

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the exhaust a smidge down

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I fitted new exhaust sprocket mounting fixings as the manual suggests these are stretch items.


Aside from the various gaskets, head bolts, O rings and crush washers, I also replaced the guide pin.
It was a bit knarly when I stripped the front. It’s a press fit, with an internal M6 thread.
When I was stripping the head, to draw it out you should be able to use a HT bolt and socket to draw it out, it was having non of it, so had to resort to a slide hammer, so replaced that with a new one too.

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Built up and running sweet. Have done a couple of runs out, all seems well with no apparent leaks.
While I'm sure the correction of the timing has improved performance, without a back to back it's hard to say what/if anything is different by the seat of the pants feeling.
 

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