Thanks Dave,

It's the non-metallic black, so 040 I believe. I didn't check too closely for options; there's a spot for the ASR light in the speedometer but I didn't see a button to switch it off, so I'm not sure if it has it and it's just not defeatable on these cars or if it doesn't have it and Mercedes used the same speedometer for cars with and without it. I didn't really look that closely though; if my memory is correct and it does have it, the ASR light will illuminate with the key in position 2 and the engine off, along with all the other lights, right?

Don't think it has heated seats or the roller blind; doesn't have a phone or orthopedic seats, either (I'm half-convinced that nobody ever ordered that option. Ever. I haven't seen a car with it yet.). I'll have to check on the reading lights.

Out of curiosity, do the 93+ rotors and calipers bolt in or do you have to replace suspension components as well? (in which case it might make more sense to just throw SL brakes at it, eh?)

Also, he was looking @ wheels on tirerack, and I noticed while looking with him that there are quite a few more options for my 300D according to their site than there are for the 400E. This wouldn't be the first time they've been wrong... As far as I know, any wheel that will fit on the 300D will also fit the 400E, as long as it clears the bigger brakes. Right?

And yeah, the 6 is probably a better choice, from a performance standpoint. That'll come down to how much my parents trust him. He's not as irresponsible as most 16 year old boys are (not that I'll admit that anywhere that he can hear it, of course). But then, neither was I. And I still had my 560 more-or-less flat out a couple of times.

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-Kevin
Past: '67 250SE, '86 & '87 560SELs
Projects: '73 Buick Riviera, '75 350SE (grey market, stick shift)
Cars that actually run under their own power:'87 300D Turbo, '03 Corvette Z06, '07 Subaru Impreza WRX STI Limited

If there is a yellow triangle light in the top/center of the speedo, yep, the car has ASR. There is no defeat switch from the factory - you can add one if you like, but the only purpose would be for hooligan antics, or doing a burnout to warm the tires at the dragstrip (as seen here).



Most of those items are pretty rare. My E420 has all options (including the dealer-installed CD changer), except for the phone, which is fine with me... I like having the center visor above the rearview mirror. I had never seen a car in person with the orthopedic seats, until I bought my E420. I kinda like the ortho seats, particularly the adjustable side bolsters! But, ASR is the most important option, so if you have that - you're set. The bun warmers are #2 on the desireable option list. Roller blind & reading lamps are just bling you'll never use.



You can bolt up any brakes you want, no suspension changes needed. To install he 93-up 400E brakes, you just need the later calipers & rotors. You can also install larger brakes from the 500E or SL600, but those would require 16" wheels.



Basically - yes. I would highly recommend getting used OE wheels. They are cheap, look great, and are often available with decent tires. Donors are most anything except an S- or SL-class... 170, 202, 203, 208, 210 are the primary ones. 16 or 17" diameter, with 7.0 or 7.5 width, is ideal - assuming the offset is correct. If you go with 7.5's you'll likely need to roll the fender lips and maybe add the fender spacers up front. Also make sure the tire size is correct, I drives me nuts when I see people put narrow tires on wide wheels to help with 'clearance' when they should have just used a narrower wheel in the first place.



Yep - that's what I'd be concerned about, lol! Maybe sneak in a 1994-95 LH module when he isn't looking.

Almost forgot... if you don't yet have an LED blink code reader that works for the 38-pin diagnostic connector, you'll want to get one. And for serious diagnostic work, you'll need a digital scanner to access the live data available from the engine management system. But, you can worry about that if he ends up buying the car!

FWIW: My 93 400E took rotors and pads for a 92. I think it was made in late 92 and MB must have been using up the old parts. I didn't realize this until the pads I purchased for a 93 wouldn't fit in the caliper with the pistons fully pushed in.

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1993 400E, 256,000 miles (totaled)
1994 E420, 200,000+ miles
1995 E420, 201,000 miles

The 93-95 has 25mm thick rotors, so the thinner (22mm) 1992 rotors will bolt up to a later car, but at the end of the pad life the pistons could be dangerously close to coming out of their bores. The break was by model year, not production date... all 1992's should have the 22mm rotors, all 1993-up should have the 25mm rotors. It's also possible that someone installed used calipers at some point from the "wrong" car.

Or someone at a shop decided they wanted 93 brakes for an earlier model.

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1993 400E, 256,000 miles (totaled)
1994 E420, 200,000+ miles
1995 E420, 201,000 miles

They didn't do the 25mm upgrade until production date mid 11/92 (also same 25mm rotors are in 94-95 E320/E420)
You can run minimum thickness 22.4mm rotors but the center vents must be at least 10.5mm wide (not 8mm like predecessor 400E, they will rub inside the caliper because of a small lip protruding down), and you must run the thicker pads.

My car was lucky to be included in the upgrade (since it was made in 11/92) it has ASR (with snow chain switch that allows additional (upto 25mph) wheel spin, heated seats, phone cabling (phone & mount were gone when I bought it), Mercedes labeled 6 CD changer. About every option except the rear window shade (windows are tinted 18% anyways)
I dislike having the cap & rotors since my previous 96 C280 had the coil packs, though I don't mind having the upgraded 275 hp vs the 92's 268 hp

Slow starting is a fuel pressure regulator. My 400e was exactly the same. 7 or 8 seconds of cranking to start. I swapped out the fuel pressure regulator (its on the top of the engine on the drivers side near the firewall) and it starts right up in about 2 seconds.

The upgrade to 25mm rotors varied by chassis. The EPC indicates that the 400E (124.034) received the 25mm rotors as of model year 1993, regardless of production date. The 6-cyl cars received the larger rotors based on a VIN break (which seems to begin as of 11/92 production). See the attached screen shots of the EPC. Also, click here to see the specs in the factory service manual, page 3, footnotes #4 and #11. If you disagree with this, talk to MBNA, but don't shoot the messenger.



Yeah, it's a shame the 124 never got the .98x engine with ME injection (which used the coil packs). I also hate distributors.

On a side note, if you swap in a 1992 LH module (which has WOT enrichment) into your 1993-95 engine, it will boost power to approx 290hp. I've got the dyno sheets to prove it (back to back dyno runs) and also dragstrip data. The 93-up engines have 11:1 compression ratio, 1992 had 10:1 ratio. I personally think the 1992 engine was mis-rated at 268hp, but that's a whole separate argument. Note that the identical 119.975 engine in the 1992 S-class was rated at 282hp. And, some of the factory service docs (click here) also indicate that the 119.975 was rated at 282hp, not 262, in both 124 and 140 chassis. 93-up are all rated 275hp regardless of chassis. I think MB was playing a numbers game. The only place that 262hp number appears is in the USA sales literature.

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