Newbie: W210 - possible to keep long term, or am I completely insane?

[Richard1973]

New battery today. Got a decent deal from CES. Yuasa silver should be £180, £120 online and got it for £109 in store! Ordered new front shocks and adjusted the front wheel bearing. Also got the penetrating oil onto the pipes and mountings for the rear spheres.

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[Richard1973]

So, the car has spent the week at Swadlincote Diesel to sort the non starting issue. 6 new injectors later and £800 and it's now running beautifully! Expensive lesson in buying second hand cars!

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[mj2k]

So, the car has spent the week at Swadlincote Diesel to sort the non starting issue. 6 new injectors later and £800 and it's now running beautifully! Expensive lesson in buying second hand cars!

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But at the end you've got a car to be proud of

And to put it in context, along with the £7000ish I've already spent on my Alfa in the past 1.5 years, I've just spent another £900 on a new exhaust!

 

[Richard1973]

It properly goes now when you floor it, and the EPC fault has gone. Pleased I didn't take it to the place that did the injectors last time as they fitted the wrong ones. Supposed to be a Mercedes specialist as well.

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[Richard1973]

Car has again been fighting me today. Decided to do the rear spheres on the drive. N/S was easy, only took 45 mins start to finish. O/S was going well until the feed pipe decided to snap! Fortunately we have a workshop where I work, and a quick call to the workshop manager and he came and made me 2 new pipes. All done now and the ride is lovely now. Just the front shocks to do now.

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[Richard1973]

I am now getting close to answering the original question. Changing front shocks today. Siezed bolts, but overcame that only to discover the o / s / f spring is broken. So I am fast thinking we are insane!

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[mj2k]

I am now getting close to answering the original question. Changing front shocks today. Siezed bolts, but overcame that only to discover the o / s / f spring is broken. So I am fast thinking we are insane!

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My n/s/f spring snapped on a big speed bump! I replaced the springs all round; you need a special Merc spring compressor if you don't want to risk your life. This is the cheapest set - A-SD1001 Telescopic Spring Compressor KIT, 5 PCS Coil Shock Absorber Repair ASTA | eBay

And I bought a cheapish set of lowering springs - LOWERING SPRING SET W210 E280,300,320,420 SAL 95- MERCEDES E-CLASS (W210) SALOON | eBay The ride is a bit harder, but it corners really well on them Worth a check if they do estate ones too...

Also make sure you scrape the gunk off the spring hangers, sort any rust you find and give it a good coat of underseal afterwards to make sure you don't get the fabled W210 spring collapse.

 

[Richard1973]

My n/s/f spring snapped on a big speed bump! I replaced the springs all round; you need a special Merc spring compressor if you don't want to risk your life. This is the cheapest set - A-SD1001 Telescopic Spring Compressor KIT, 5 PCS Coil Shock Absorber Repair ASTA | eBay

And I bought a cheapish set of lowering springs - LOWERING SPRING SET W210 E280,300,320,420 SAL 95- MERCEDES E-CLASS (W210) SALOON | eBay The ride is a bit harder, but it corners really well on them Worth a check if they do estate ones too...

Also make sure you scrape the gunk off the spring hangers, sort any rust you find and give it a good coat of underseal afterwards to make sure you don't get the fabled W210 spring collapse.

Don't want it any lower, as it's an Avantgarde it's low enough. We have many speed ramps where I live!

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[mj2k]

Don't want it any lower, as it's an Avantgarde it's low enough. We have many speed ramps where I live!

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Mine's only about 1cm lower, it's an Avantgarde too (with the AMG arches / alloys) but the old springs had sagged so much the car was effectively lowered anyway. Nice cheap way to get new springs too, was about £60 less than buying 4x standard springs, but I can understand not wanting to ground an estate on speed bumps

Make sure you get the correct spring compressors though if you haven't already got a similar set - because there's no shock to contain the spring they could take your head off if a standard claw spring compressor let go...

 

[a111r]

Mine's up for sale with its Brabus D6 box.
Go on...some fairly easy jobs left to do.

 

[mj2k]

Been immersed in the world of Alfas (aka world of expense) for a while now, but finally got the chance to make a start on the rear of the sills:

Yes, you really can see daylight in three directions through the o/s/r sill! Still, it's all good welding / fabrication practice...

 

[mj2k]

Mine's up for sale with its Brabus D6 box.
Go on...some fairly easy jobs left to do.

Really, you're selling your S210?!

Having just spent the best part of 2 grand on brakes / exhaust for the Alfa my finances are a little stretched unfortunately, and I suspect I'm going to be trying to find a 4x4 of some sort soon since I've just realized both of my cars are useless in the snow, and the roads round here aren't likely to be gritted!

Hmm, wonder how easy it is to retro-fit 4matic to an e320...

 

[mj2k]

Bums, gave myself metal fume fever welding the Merc. There must be some galvanized steel or something similar in there, I'm sure the metal plates I'm welding in aren't galvanized...

 

[mj2k]

Metal fume fever - Wikipedia
Turns out I was using galvanized steel to weld it, and because I used so much in a confined space with no ventilation and no breathing apparatus (though ironically I'd got a suitable mask but didn't think I'd need it) I've taken 48 hours out of my life and could very easily have taken a lot more or even killed myself.

Sadly that means only one thing - the Merc's got to go once I've finished the last bit of welding and got it a new MOT; much as I love it and feel I'm rescuing a car with a lot of history and character, it's simply not worth gambling my health / life on. No car's worth that.

 

[mj2k]

And if anyone's even remotely interested, these are the results of my near-deadly work...

I was planning to carefully shape and weld a new lower wheelarch-sill lip but that's covered by the bodykit and is a rust trap anyway, so better to do without.

Would have far preferred doing some more 'finessing' to make it blend in perfectly, but my family says "No way!"

 

[mj2k]

Hmmmm, OTOH....

It's back together and I've driven it for the first time in ages...

And...

Er...

Well, who could dislike such a pretty face