I've always wanted..
 

.. a 300 CE. After owning two 124 wagons, I've finally managed to procure a 300 CE. Its a 91 300 CE with the 24 valve 104.980 engine.

The good: it cranks and runs pretty well and the trans seems to shift pretty good for 162K. CLK 430 staggered wheels look pretty tough.

The bad: the interior is pretty rough and a lot of it is coupe specific stuff. The left front was wiped off previously and the seams leave a lot to be desired.

The ugly: the aftermarket grill gets lots of comments either how cool it looks or how ugly it is. I think I like it but I want to delete the star on top.


So far I've replaced the starter with a bosch reman from the jyd. Repaired the aux fan wiring which somebody previously spent 3x more effort butchering than I actually spent repairing it. I re-riveted the A pillar external trim clips and got the trim solid. I fixed the poor stereo wiring and added a sub to replace the missing one. I pulled the driver's seat to weld up the seat frame. You dont realize how important a square seat is until you're in one that isnt. I did an alignment and it wasn't too far off but had to stick a right tie rod in it. Should have done the drag link too and will likely be redoing it soon.

The to do list includes .034 sway bars and brake booster, 1st gear start, heating and ventilation repairs, left handover arm repair. I plan to pull the wiper and reset the park position. Everything that has been worked on in this car was very obviously done by someone that didn't know anything about Mercedes. I'd like to add heated seats too but the wagon is a great winter car so that isn't a high priority. The power antenna is barely more than a coathanger with a wad of black tape as a base so an antenna motor is on the list. I'm going to have to add an air pump and egr valve before I can get it though emissions.

What is it that they say "Be careful what you wish for":D

Looks nice. I love that CE styling. The grill looks very bright. Sounds like you have an excellent start on curing all its ills!

I really liked my 94 cabrio. Best w124 ever

I picked up some parts at the junkyard today. I got the front and rear sway bar from an E420. Grabbed a nice antenna motor with mast too. My wiper transmission took a dump so I pulled another one while I was there. My aux water pump had previously been "fixed" by eliminating it completely so that was on the shopping list too.

I got the antenna and wiper transmission installed today before a 2 hr road trip. The alignment is still an issue despite the new tie rod and drag link. I think it comes down to the poor condition of the lower c-arm ball joints and crappy front tires. The up side is that that the first tank of fuel through it averaged 19.5 mpg. While not spectacular its quite a bit better than the wagon gets on premium.

Biggest disappointment has been the door speaker covers. They are not available from MB any more and the nice set I had available from a sedan (in the right color even) turned out a few mm smaller than the coupe covers. Dammit.