Merc_Cosworth

If you've got a discontinued model that is.

I'm getting the Cossie bare metal sprayed, and in line with this I'm replacing all the exterior trims, rubber strips, badges, door handles, mirrors and both rear wings. All exterior bolts/screws/nuts etc. £1400 the lot inc. VAT!

Every component of the car is available on a maximum 3 day wait from germany - considering the 2.3 production was just 20,000 units and stopped in 1988 I'm gobsmacked!

Top work Stuttgart fellas!

Stephen Read

Impressive!

I fell out of love with my 1984 Alfa GTV6 2.5 in 1995 when I couldn't find an replacement wing mirror for it ANYWHERE and was later told that once the 10 year (legal?) obligation to maintain spare parts was over some companies actually scrap perfectly serviceable spare parts because they can't manage this potentially valuable inventory properly!

P.S. I have heard that even Lotus have done this in the past!

P.S. 2 A bare metal re$pray eh? Sounds a bit $pendy.

bdrought

I posted this yesterday but the server died as i posted it !

Yup, Merc parts supply is excellent. They hold all the parts for my 1992 500E in stock in the UK warehouse. Amazing since they old sold a few hundred over here.

(I'm told the German warehouse stocks all the parts for every car going back to 1950)

Bri

Merc_Cosworth

Spendy ain't the word for it...

Full concours level bare metal respray by a guy who spends most of his life doing MK1 Golf GTIs, Beetles and old British Pap.

Anyone who's seen a Golf GTI concours event will know the standard of work involved.

Currently in his workshop in various states of bare shell restoration are:

3 x E-Type
3 x MK1 Golfs
Lotus Cortina
Mercedes 190 SL
Dodge Charger
Trumpet Herald
Datsun 240z
Ferrari Dino
Some pre-war British thing
Several MGs

Mines gonna look the business - minimum spend on this is gonna be £5-6K....

cjones944

Who is doing the respray for you? Name, number, website, etc...

Cheers

Merc_Cosworth

Chap called Roger Turnball at Reflections in West Sussex. Haven't got the bizz card.

Don't think he's got a website either.

His work is undoubtably the best I have ever seen - by a long long chalk. Basically, I'll be expected to go in at the end of each stage of prep and painting to discuss if I'm happy with each part of the work!!!

cjones944

Sorry I think I may have misunderstood......

The bits you are replacing are going to cost you £1400? and the bare metal respray is going to cost you 5-6K?

Merc_Cosworth

Budget is this:

£1400 on replacement stuff - but this includes replacing the knackered air-con system, condenser, aux fan and all.

Then

£3000 - £3500 on labour in the spray shop. This is just prep and paint at £25 per hour... 140 hours worth of prepping and painting!!! Beauty!! (I've taken all the bits off myself - bodykit, door handles, badges etc)

Plus

£700 on primer, paint & lacquer

Then of course

VAT

Which makes it about £5000 to paint, plus £1400 on bits


See? You scooby boys don't know the first thing about throwing money at cars!! On top of all this, I've spent approx £3000 on servicing and tuning in the last 6 months, and will be spending another £1500 or so later this year replacing shocks, springs and self levelling system.

Overkill? Maybe, but its my passion, and I have a perfectionist streak that means everything has to be new, genuine and done properly.

Example: The NSR wheel bearing was rumbling back in September, they are adjustable old skool bearings... Instead of adjusting them, I simply replaced all four!

Expensive habit I know, but my 16 yr old Merc drives like new...

BTW - its only done 86,000 miles

cjones944

Any pics of your motor?

Merc_Cosworth

Not at the moment.

Had some, deleted them - been meaning to take some of it in its current semi assembled state...

Why you wanna see it?

bdrought

Cripes... full restore of a 190 Cosworth?

I looked at doing that, then bought the 500E instead ! ;-)

XT

My father has a 35 year-old Mercedes Dealership(Unimogs and Trucks) in Greece and we NEVER had a problem ordering parts from Germany. When they send us the EPC program(parts finder program with drawings of the parts), the EPC includes every part of every vehicle with its price, including a drawing of the part, from the last 40 years and the delivery time is about a week at most.
Talking about being organised....

bdrought

Merc_Cosworth

Do you do concours shows with it ? (or will you be?). My 500E has won a couple (before I bought it!) and I'd be interested in doing one again.

Pics here btw
http://193.130.62.193/500e/

Bri

Stephen Read

Sounds like a nice project Merc_Cosworth but hope you don't get bitten by the Concours bug.

It is a disease and NOT a hobby!

I would love to cheque-book engineer an 'as new' 3.0 Ltr Alfa GTV6 but I'd still want to take it out in the wet so that i could enjoy the wheelspin in third on pulling away from greasy junctions at 2,500rpm....

Merc_Cosworth

Well, I didn't buy it as a restoration job....

Bought the lowest mileage example I could find, and therein lies the problem. 82,000 miles in 16 years. I'm sorting out all the mess caused by it sitting still for so long - it covered just 6000 miles between 95 and 02. (I bought it in August last year)

Discovered some rust holes behind the rear arch extensions when I took it off the road for the winter. Then discovered some light surface rust on the front bulkhead and brace bars.

This is compounded by the fact that it had been 'touched up' by the dealership that sold it to me, and its a poor job. Silicones under the lacquer and micro-blisters. On top of that, they only sprayed the metalwork, and didn't bother with the plastic bodykit (of which there is a lot on these cars) and they left rubbing down compound everywhere.

I decided that if I was gonna get it done, I may as well start from scratch and get the whole thing sprayed. Why concours? Well, even a cheap respray is a lot of cash, and if I'm gonna spend, I may as well get the best I can afford. This fella in particular because I don't want a **** job.

Its not intended to be a concours car - but it'll be of the same standard.

I bought it for two reasons;

1) to transport my little girl around in at the weekends - as my daily driver is a 2 door coupe and totally unsuited for the job

and

2) to rag it senseless down A-roads when I haven't got her in it!

A rough ***-packet calculation will put the cost of this car upon completion of paint and suspension at £17,000 since August 02 including purchase. Seventeen grand in twelve months of ownership ain't bad is it?

The only plus is it costs me £242 pa fully comp @ 26 yrs old.


[Edited by Merc_Cosworth - 1/29/2003 4:20:25 PM]

ustolemyname??stevieturbo

iTrader: (1)

Definately sounds nothing like a subaru. My Legacy has done over 130,000 miles, and needed nowhere near as much work as that. If yours has only done 86,000 miles and is in that state, then I think I will remember not to buy a mercedes. Any wonder they have such a good supply of parts, if things need replacing that often. The spare parts trade must net them a fortune.
Brilliant???? I dont think so.
With regard to Scooby owners not knowing anything about throwing money at their cars?? Maybe to an extent that is true. I think most of spend our money wisely on ourt cars, instead of just throwing it at it. We get a better end result for it that way. I also think that the approx £5000, isnt exactly spending that much. Id say a lot subaru owners have easily spent that on their cars in modifications alone, with many more spending 2 or 3 times that amount. I guess some cars are just worth spending the money on more than others.

[Edited by ustolemyname??stevieturbo - 1/29/2003 10:52:52 PM]

bdrought

thats only one case, and Merc_Cosworth is replacing a lot of things that dont need replacing.

My old 300CE Coupe had 210,000 miles when i sold it, and had no work done on it ever (bar oil changes etc).

My mums old 230E is still going strong with 450,000. Totally original, and again only oil changes and the usual brake pads/coolant etc. It does smoke a bit on startup though ;-)

Merc_Cosworth

Stevie - the Scoobie jibe was a joke. The Merc is bomb proof, but I have this tendancy to do far more than I need to. Example, I always change the brakes when I buy a car. With the Cossie I did all the lines, fluid, hoses, master cylinder, discs, pads, handbrake clobber.

Didn't need to - but thats the way I am.

Mercedes Parts dept are fantastic. Pity I can't say the same about the other areas involved in the dealerships.

My other choice of cars was;

E30 M3 - fantastic, but mega expensive M-Tech replacement parts
UR Quattro Turbo - the daddy, but can't get half the bits these days

MarkCSC

what you wanna do is spend your money on one of these

372bhp turbo conversion
click here for info

bdrought

Now if only they did a twin turbo for my 5.0 V8 !

The Sauber LeMans cars back in the early 90s used the exact same engine as mine (they used 20,000 mile old production blocks so they were heat treated). They then changed the C/R and bolted on two huge turbos.... 1000bhp. Yikes!

Bri

Merc_Cosworth

Tempting...

I've got a spare 2.3 engine and 'box which is gonna be blueprinted sometime in the future.

Supposedly the Supercharger from the SLK/CLK four cylinder range fits and will give another 60hp on the standard pulleys.

The real swine is the semi mechanical Jetronic fuel injection. Not really remappable.

Nope - paint first!