W202 owner saying hello

[jizzy]

Hi to all,

Ive owned my 2000, C200 elegance for 3 months now and im itching to start work on it but still need a few more bits before i get into it.

I paid £300 for it knowing that it would need some money spending on it to get it driving as it should and looking good but thats exactly the kind of car I was looking for. After a good once over and a good test drive I could see past the cosmetic problems and underneath was a good, honest car.

During the last three months ive put a fair few miles on it and it hasn't missed a beat. The M.O.T had a couple of weeks left to run and I did notice when checking the car that the BAS/ASR light was on, the nearside rear tyre had a deep cut in the sidewall and the nearside front tyre had excessive wear on the outside of the tyre. Luckily the two offside tyres were the same brand and had similar wear with good tread so I moved the good rear tyre to the front and put 2 new Goodyears on the rear. The BAS/ASR light was fixed with a replacement brake light switch and with that the car flew through the M.O.T without any advisories.

I have been browsing the forum for a few weeks now and some of the info available from past posts has proved priceless already so thanks to everyone for that and there are also some questions i have and will have in the future that hopefully forum members will be able to help me answer in the future.

I bought the car as an ongoing project and am currently a few parts off being ready to do a complete suspension overhaul, basically if its got a bush or a ball joint, shocks and springs, roll bars are all being replaced.

Ill be doing all the work myself and will be renting a 2 post lift for ease of access.

Im unable to start a thread in the projects section at the minute for some reason but when its possible ill do so and document my works and plans in more detail.

 

[BlackC55]

Im a massive fan of 202's. An underrated MB IMO.
Good luck with your project.

 

[jizzy]

Im a massive fan of 202's. An underrated MB IMO.
Good luck with your project.

Cheers Black .

I agree, they are very underrated. The last part of my project will be some engine work. Not sure whether it will be a transplant or mod but my end goal is to create a sleeper aka Q car, I want it to look stock.

My intentions are to renew all suspension components, which im almost ready to start, retrofit some interior extras, electric leather, double din unit, sort out the body and paint then ill decide what to do with the engine.

Keep an eye out for my project thread, hopefully ill be able to post there soon

 

[jizzy]

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Some pics

 

[BlackC55]

Cheers Black .

I agree, they are very underrated. The last part of my project will be some engine work. Not sure whether it will be a transplant or mod but my end goal is to create a sleeper aka Q car, I want it to look stock.

My intentions are to renew all suspension components, which im almost ready to start, retrofit some interior extras, electric leather, double din unit, sort out the body and paint then ill decide what to do with the engine.

Keep an eye out for my project thread, hopefully ill be able to post there soon

If you choose an engine transplant then save your pennies. Going non merc engine wise will be the cheapest way.

The 202 loves to rust everywhere. Make sure you have a solid car to start with.

 

[jizzy]

If you choose an engine transplant then save your pennies. Going non merc engine wise will be the cheapest way.

The 202 loves to rust everywhere. Make sure you have a solid car to start with.

Yeah rust is a pain. Ive had a look underneath and all looks well but when i renew the suspension ill have a better hunt around and repair, treat and seal where necessary.

Engine wise i was thinking of an OM613 lump as a doner car is easy and cheap to source. Ive not looked into whether it would fit but i would of thought so. Some fabrication might be needed but im up for it. Still a long way off that decision yet.

 

[Grahamcol]

I love the 202 and yes these are vastly underrated. I'm on my 4th, a 2000 C280 Elegance which I've owned for the last 9 years. Absolutely wonderful car, comfortable, effortless v6 and very very refined. Yes they can rust and mine's no exception. I keep on top of all the silly little places where rust starts and I deal with any little rusty bits as soon as I spot them. As a result of this my car still looks pretty much pristine. Mechanically they're as solid as a rock.
OP please keep us updated and good luck with your car.

 

[Abb]

Good luck with it OP. I have just began a vey similar project having bought a 43 variant, as I knew it provenance.
Just completed a full suspension overhaul replacing it all with Bilstein B8s and Eibach springs (Bilstein B12 kit IIRC), brake overhaul, ball joints and now have decided to replace the body panels oppose to trying to sort the rust out.
Was some usual bubbling/blisters in places, some worse than others and I figured time and effort trying to remove and repair it, even with used replacement items (of same era will no doubt have same/similar issues) I am sourcing new OEM panels.

 

[Abb]

Where are located Jizzy?

 

[a111r]

Yeah rust is a pain. Ive had a look underneath and all looks well but when i renew the suspension ill have a better hunt around and repair, treat and seal where necessary.

Engine wise i was thinking of an OM613 lump as a doner car is easy and cheap to source. Ive not looked into whether it would fit but i would of thought so. Some fabrication might be needed but im up for it. Still a long way off that decision yet.

Body looks good.
First job ... sill covers off. That will inform well on the overall rust status.

Fitting an OM613 in this is going to be one HELL of a lot of work due to all the extra electronics and control modules .
Seen that 201 om613 conversion? It will be the same.

A C55 conversion would be easier, better and will actually have some end value.
Although starting with a C43 might be better...

 

[jizzy]

I love the 202 and yes these are vastly underrated. I'm on my 4th, a 2000 C280 Elegance which I've owned for the last 9 years. Absolutely wonderful car, comfortable, effortless v6 and very very refined. Yes they can rust and mine's no exception. I keep on top of all the silly little places where rust starts and I deal with any little rusty bits as soon as I spot them. As a result of this my car still looks pretty much pristine. Mechanically they're as solid as a rock.
OP please keep us updated and good luck with your car.

Cheers Graham.
My first W202 was a 1996 C280 Sport. Lovely engine. From what I can remember mine had the straight six instead of the V but was still a joy to drive.
My current W202 is 17 years old but everything inside is still solid and rattle free. Driving at motorway speeds the cabin is such a peaceful place to be and the car tracks straight and true. Ive driven cars a lot newer that have rattled like mad and been an absolute pain to keep in a straight line at motorway speeds.
As soon as im able ill start a project thread and keep everyone updated with my progress

 

[jizzy]

Where are located Jizzy?

Cheers Abb,

The C43 is a nice piece of kit. I thought about replacing panels too. The front wings are relatively cheap and easy to source but the rear panels with the rear arches are very expensive and difficult to find. When i get the car up on the lift and have a good look around ill decide what route to take. Keep me posted on how you get on sourcing the panels.
Im based in Peterborough, are you local?

 

[jizzy]

Body looks good.
First job ... sill covers off. That will inform well on the overall rust status.

Fitting an OM613 in this is going to be one HELL of a lot of work due to all the extra electronics and control modules .
Seen that 201 om613 conversion? It will be the same.

A C55 conversion would be easier, better and will actually have some end value.
Although starting with a C43 might be better...

Thanks a111r,

Yes sills off will be the first job once its up on the lift. I had a good old poke around underneath while the M.O.T was being done and all looked good but the sills are definitely an area that needs thorough investigation.

A C55 conversion would be nice but I do a lot of driving, long distances mostly and would like to keep some level of economy where possible. Once the car is finished I intend to use it as my daily driver, weekend driver, pretty much everything rolled into one.

My plan is to replace all steering and suspension parts then work on the interior. I need to fabricate a new dash fascia panel to accommodate a double din sat nav unit, im a pre-preg composite laminator by trade so this will be an easy adaptation, ill also have to add some holes for new switches.

Regarding the wiring ill be replacing all interior seats and door cards, while they are out ill be removing the carpet for a good clean. Also i think ive seen a W202 with a grey dash, (might of been a W210), and would like to have some similar colour coding in mine so it will be coming out anyway. With all this removed ill just transfer the W210 wiring into mine. Yes it will be a pain but should make it all plug and play once its all installed.

There is a lot of work involved going down the OM613 route but the biggest expense should only be buying the donor vehicle and they are available pretty cheap at the minute.

I could go on but ill save it for when I can finally start a project thread.

You got me thinking though. There is a C43 engine on the bay of E right now

 

[Abb]

Cheers Abb,

The C43 is a nice piece of kit. I thought about replacing panels too. The front wings are relatively cheap and easy to source but the rear panels with the rear arches are very expensive and difficult to find. When i get the car up on the lift and have a good look around ill decide what route to take. Keep me posted on how you get on sourcing the panels.
Im based in Peterborough, are you local?

I am sourcing brand new OEM panels from all over the place at the min, as MB don't make a lot of them anymore and the ones they do are pretty expensive. Having said that, the wings from MB are about £140 each.
Have bought a OEM bonnet today (£270)

Am quite a distance from P'boro, up in the North East, a small place called Yarm.

 

[jizzy]

W202 C200 project car

Ok, after searching the forum ive found that you cant post in the project section, only admin can, so if I start here hopefully someone will move it over at some point.

So, I purchased a 2000 C200 elegance auto as a project car. I have the better halfs blessing as long as when finished it has, leather interior, built in nav and front and rear parking sensors. To keep her sweet it also has to be at least as good (or bad whichever way you want to look at it) as it currently is on fuel which kind of forces me down the diesel route. We do a lot of driving and the big petrol engines are all too thirsty. Anyways, its still early days so more on that later.

Firstly I want to sort out the handling of the car. The steering is sloppy, it tracks straight and true but its just sloppy with it, the springs are shot, they are there but as it stands a bedspring would offer more resistance than they do. On a run the ride is still silky smooth so I suppose the shocks are still doing their bit but ill replace them anyway.

Rather than chasing problems im going to replace all bushes, balljoints, arms, shocks, springs and im going to change out the anti roll bars for some oem sport ones. Ive gone for H&R springs which are 40mm lower and oem sport shock absorbers. I wanted springs with a higher spring rate but I want an oem sport height which is why I went with H&R and im hoping that with the biggest spring pads in I should be somewhere roundabout where I need to be. Because im keeping the stock oem sport ride height I went with oem sport shocks. I still want to retain the silky smooth ride qualities but I just want to tighten it up a bit for the twisty bits.

Ive been shopping since I bought the car but have not fitted anything because I just want it all done in one hit.

So far ive got, for the front: steering centre link, tie rod ends, idler arm, sport anti roll bar, anti roll bar inner and outer bushes, bottom ball joints, lower control arms, shock absorbers, springs, engine mounts left and right and gearbox mount.
Still need: upper control arms and spring pads.

For the rear ive got: springs, shocks, sport anti roll bar, anti roll bar bushes and subframe bushes front and rear.
Still need: suspension arm kit, anti roll bar drop links and spring pads
If ive missed anything please say.

Ive bought new arms with bushes installed wherever possible so I can just remove and replace parts easily. Ive already had a look under the car at all the arms and the subframe and I was surprised to see there was no rust in sight so ill keep the old arms and press new bushes into them ready for when the suspension starts to feel tired again.

I dont want to replace all the prop shaft and diff bushes if I dont need to as these will change with an engine swap, the same could be said for the engine mounts but they need changing so I got them. Ill have a proper look at the prop shaft and diff bushes and replace as necessary.

I should have the rest of the parts in a couple of weeks but ill update new parts as I source them.