300 CE.... Sportline - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

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.

duxthe1 · #2 02-05-2015, 07:18 PM

Nice weather today so I snapped a pic comparable to the only pic I had of the coupe at original ride height. Here they are. After a bit of driving today it seems the front end has settled down a bit more, maybe 2 inches lower than original. A little less in the rear. It is riding on staggered 17" wheels that are maybe a little bit wide for the 124. I've bottomed it out once so far but used to do it all the time on the stock springs. Stiffer > shorter.

whipplem104 · #3 02-05-2015, 07:45 PM

looks good. remove the rear spring pads and get that rear end down.. you have to roll the rear quarters with those wheels

duxthe1 · #4 02-06-2015, 07:51 PM

Thanks. I've never made it a secret that I abhor doing anything paint or body and I cringe at the thought of actually getting those wheels to fit under the rear fenders. I'm going to leave it be for the now. I think I like the little bit of rake it has anyway.

ccrelan · #5 02-06-2015, 08:52 PM

I have 17x7.5 et30 wheels on my wagon with 225/45/17s. A body shop advertised fender rolling on my local CL. I think it was maybe $100 and took about a half hour. I have not had an issue since.

remotemark · #6 03-31-2015, 09:25 AM

Man, you gotta get the steering box out of the sportline.

duxthe1 · #7 03-31-2015, 01:16 PM

I know. The one i have now is slow and heavy. Unfortunately the sportline isnt still there. RIP

duxthe1 · #8 06-10-2015, 12:38 AM

I put new lower control arms in the front and managed pretty good camber numbers. It ended up 1 degree and 20 minutes on both sides. I can live with that. The rear on the other hand wound up at just under 2 degrees and 20 minutes. Thats enough to end up with a sidewall blowout. Ask me how I know.

Action had to be taken. I made a jig to allow me to cut and weld a stock arm to any length and ordered a pair of arms. My math says they need to be about 6mm longer to get my numbers in line. Took a few pics along the way. First pic is an arm in the jig showing the gap to be filled. The filler comes from an old arm, seen in the background. Next pic is a piece of C channel that is welded to reinforce the patch. These reinforcements were welded in top and bottom. Last pic is the finished arms, painted even.

I'll bolt them in and throw it on the alignment rack tomorrow. Im gonna press in new rear lower ball joints at the same time. Im planning a trip to the western slope this weekend and want it tip top for the journey.

400Eric · #9 06-10-2015, 08:46 AM

Man, I wish I had seen this thread back when you first started it. I too would have implored you to grab that steering box right away. If somebody had said it right when you first started this thread, maybe you would have gotten it in time?

whipplem104 · #10 06-10-2015, 09:01 AM

Just want to point out that when you lengthen the upper arm to adjust the camber a few things happen. One is that you are going to have trouble getting toe in spec. The other is that you introduce a lot of bump steer. The other upper arm needs to be adjusted as well and the tie rod needs to be adjustable. It is better to shorten the lower control arm. You still need to be able to get toe in adjustment though.

duxthe1 · #11 06-10-2015, 10:29 PM

I brought the coupe in after work and set about getting the rear suspension fixed up. You can see from the pic that the rear lower joints were pretty whooped. They're even worse than they look.

I hadn't noticed before that it had the early rear upper arms. Luckily we had the updated bolt kit needed to swap in the new style arms. The new longer arms bolted in without much fuss.

Onto the alignment rack and measurements were taken. Initial rear camber was 57 minutes on both sides

. The toe was also even at 23 minutes per side. At the shop by myself at this point with nobody to high five.

Still had to take a minute for a happy dance. The rear toe still had a lot of adjustment. I locked both sides at 13 minutes. There was enough adjustment left to pull it into negative numbers.

After tweaking the front toe and taking the final measurements I ended up with a perfect 1 degree on the left rear and 59 minutes on the right.

. I've only driven it home but its never been better. Western slope here I come!