PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

duxthe1 · #1 02-03-2015, 10:44 PM

Ever since I picked up the 91 300 CE in the fall there hasn't been a single tan interior 124 in the junkyards, and this thing needed a bunch of interior parts. Last week or so a 92 300E showed up in the u-pull-n-pay inventory so I headed out to see what color it was. Lo-and-behold it was a tan interior, but better yet it was a sportline. A real sportline even. I grabbed the visors and steering wheel and planned to come back with a bunch more tools. By the following weekend I was disappointed to find the shifter knob and fender badges were gone. Thankfully the goods were still underneath. I proceeded to drop the rear subframe out and harvest the springs and sway bar. On to the front, which worried me as I approached cause I noticed the sway bar wasn't on the car. Quite relieved to find it a couple feet away. Somebody obviously didn't know what they were unbolting. I can only assume they wanted the brackets as they were missing. I didn't waste much time or safety yanking the front springs out.

I brought the coupe in the shop today and set to swapping the parts out. I took a few pics along the way. The first pic is a comparison of the stock front spring with the sportline spring. Unloaded it stands just over a full coil shorter. It was obvious in the compressor that they are a fair bit firmer too. The second pic is the rear spring comparison and like the front just over a full coil shorter and quite a bit firmer. I re-used the 2 tit spring pads on the front and 3 tit pads in the rear.

The third pic is a comparison of the end of the bar between the sportline and E420 swaybars. The E420 bar gradually tapers from full thickness to the end bushing diameter. The sportline bar tapers below end bushing diameter and then tapers back up to nominal bushing diameter. As measured at the center the E420 bar is 27.5mm and the sportline is 29mm.

Over stock the E420 bars (front and rear) were a marked improvement in handling firmness. Its difficult to quantify a comparison between the E420 and sportline front bars because of the spring change at the same time. I can confidently say that as a package the sportline gear is night and day better and that is with worn out KYBs all the way around and way too much play in the front ball joints. I'm not going to install the rear sportline bar unless I can measure a difference over the E420 bar. To the eye it looks the same. I was in a rush to set it down and didnt measure.

The springs dropped it between 1-2" I'd guess. It was dark when finished so I don't have the comparison pics... yet. I'll get it soon and post it though.