SL 600 upgrades

[euro 287]

Thought everyone would like this , customer has decided to upgrade his 94 600 sl . Did the valve body coversion today (for first gear) . Did alot of maintnance and electrical fixes also. We are installing a GPS navigational system that is built into radio by Blaunkpunkt . Front timing cover reaseal and of course all the bad harness' . Have alot of other things in works on this car but one thing at a time right now. Car has to be (perfect and fast) when he gets it back. After this one he is gonna bring us his 96 600sl for same thing. I personally love v12 engines so I am in heaven right now.

[elau]

I had been thinking to upgrade to a SL600 recently since the price of those cars are really coming down, but a few posts later I decided the car may be too expensive to maintain. Do you find the SL600 require more maintainence, and is it hard to work on since the engine is so packed in the bay?

[euro 287]

The labor time on an SL500 for the 30k service and an SL600 30k service are the same 5.0 hrs , this includes plugs, coolant flush , brake flush , diff flush, fuel filter, lof, tranny service, adjust tire pressure , clean and lube all door , trunk , and hood hinges, air filters , inspection of brakes and belts etc,etc. I know there is alot of debate on fuel filters and coolant ,brake and diff service but we perform these every 30k and our customers seem very responsive and insist this. The only thing that is more expensive in comparison is the (slide) filter for tranny, 4 extra plugs for v12, after that it is a simple service . These labor charges is what we charge I am sure you can tack on more if you go by the book.

Is it a European valve body? How much does the part and labour cost?

[euro 287]

Its not a european valve body it is one modified to start in 1st. They cost around 1300. from rentech and all it takes is removing bolts from your old valve body and a simple swap, adjust control pressure and I replace modulator valve and adjust at it also.

[phelan]

What if any improvement do you get with valve body change? Gear ratios remain the same.

[euro 287]

These cars start off in second gear so with the improved valve body acceleration is alot better. ( now starts in 1st gear) Big differance from off the line starts.

[euro 287]

We are doing the timing cover and engine and starter harness today. He is putting a woodgrain steering wheel and some other wood stuff inside . This engine is in perfect shape the valves are clean like new and even the pistons dont have any carbon build up on them. This is probably the cleanest motor I have ever seen . He runs royal purple 30 weight synthetic . We will post some pics for all you sl lovers later.

[euro 287]

Well besides all of the other work, now we are replacing all accumulators for the suspension, alternator starter harness assy, and replacing steering wheel with woodgrain type ( 700.00 )
After all repairs are done we will drive and high speed balance wheels. We are replacing all the components on the engine that can fail fairly quickly , ignition , water pump ,all hoses , and canister and hoses under intake for posotive crankase ventilation system. Dont ask about final bill cause it will make you cry. One thing we know is this car will be in excellent shape after all of this . Did I mention car only has 34k original miles on it. I have alot of pictures and will post them after I get them in jpg format.

[euro 287]

Well car was done by saturday like planned. Coming back wednesday to add more stuff , Sorry havent posted any pics ( gotta e-mail em from work). This is probably the biggest bill I have ever seen an individual spend on one car. But they love it.
We are going to get his other 600 sometime in the next couple of weeks. Gotta love projects!

[euro 287]

Well we just did his V12 BMW with this system so now he wants it in his Mercedes also. Neat little system I think I will get one for my Durango now.

[Holson Adi]

wow! sounds like a lot of fun! I wish I had a lot of money, I have so many things that I wanna add to my car (no performance upgrade... none can be done to the diesel anyway..)

I do like the V-12's and if I had the money for a R129, I think I'd shell out a bit more for the V-12.. just cuz'

I have a 2000 SL with the integrated/voice activated cell phone. I'm interested in the GPS upgrade in your 600 SL. If I were to do this would I have to:
a. change the entire radio?
b. add it to the existing radio?
c. if I have to change the radio, what happens to the cell phone?

[euro 287]

The one we install replaces the whole head unit. They do have the ones that can be installed seperate from the head unit . I did one that flips down with the passengers visor assy. It was tilted so the driver could see it. Personally I would have installed it on the center console somewhere but it looked good. Your best bet would be a radio shop and pick it out and then have your favorite technician install it.