Cruise Missile

Clint@MMS AUTO

BMWFanatics Advertiser
Official Advertiser
Small update:

I started the Merc today and it sounded louder than ever. Since I finished up with Pete's car this weekend and the lift was free again I decided to put the Merc up to check if anything had come loose and also start making a list of parts to get for future maintenance... suspension rubbers.ect
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Thats when i noticed the Exhaust center box had worn down and cracked due to it rubbing over speedhumps..
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I thought about taking it to an exhaust shop but I recently purchased a small welding machine to build a gate and I figured I'd use it to attempt my first ever exhaust repair...

Safety first... Protect yourself at all times..
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Getting organized..
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Cleaned the Metal and Clamped it with a Vice grip.
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I then weld it up, grind it down and painted it with High Heat paint i had laying around... I Could have grind it down further to get it neater but the metal was already thin, i didn't wanna risk taking off too much with the grinder so i left it with meat still on.

Pics of the finished product...
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Once i was done, I started it up and checked for Leaks, No more leaks and the car sounds nice and healthy now...

I also did a full inspection of the under side and picked up the rear main seal has started to sweat a little, Its noting major for now, i will clean it when i do the upcoming service and then monitor it to make a call if it needs to be addressed now or later when i plan to service the transmission...

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The car is in very good condition, every nut and bolt is original and in its place... i've got a lot more confidence now that i've had a proper look everything from below.
 

Clint@MMS AUTO

BMWFanatics Advertiser
Official Advertiser
Another small update:

I registered for the VW Club SA DubRun 2019 event taking place next month 14th - 17th June... Basically a Weekend where around 150 cars (not only vw's) drive from JHB to DBN and have a blast there for the 2 days attending a Dyno day and the Gas Motorshow and then we all come back on the monday... I've done it back in 2010 and it was an awesome experience so it should be even better now..

I decided I'd start getting the Merc ready for this trip so i made a small list and started attending to it:
1. Minor Service (Oil, Oil Filter, Cabin Filter)
2. Fix Leak on 1 Tyre and then balance and alignment
3. Inspect suspension rubbers, bushes, prop shaft couplings.ect

Whilst i was busy fixing the exhaust, I inspected the undercarriage and all its friends... the suspension, guibo's, ball joints.ect were all in decent shape (no cracks.ect) and dont need any attention now, maybe in the future i will look at replacing the ball joints and arms when its needed.

I know i said that the previous owner did the oil service not too long ago but being the pedantic individual that i am, I decided I'd service it now before i make the long journey with it to KZN... Also 10L of oil, Oil filter and cabin filter (non activated charcoal) came to R1300 with my discount, which is cheaper than an oil service on my M car... So it was a no brainer, just do it now, its cheap.

Pics:
The M113K V8 in all its glory... Love the way Merc Bonnets open...
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Drained oil, This car has 2 sump plugs, so you have to drain it at both locations... No pics of this process.

Old Cabin Filter out
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New Cabin Filter in (They didn't have the Coal one in stock so i took the paper one for now - will change this out later, its cheap)
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Pulled the oill filter out
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replaced the seals and filter and closed the OFH. No pics, hands where dirty..

Filled up with Liqui Molygen 5w40 ... Green like HULK PISS...
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Went with Molygen over Hightec and TopTech because of all the awesome reviews of this product... here's one that also added to my decision...
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The Molygen is cheaper than both the Liquimoly topTech and HighTec and it provides just as good if not better results... So why not :)

Once all that was done, I started her up and went for a drive...
Here's a Cold Start Vid and one after i came back from a drive with some revs to 3500RPM for that snap, crackle and pop.. The exhaust is about 60% quieter since i've welded the crack on the center box, now it sounds more civilized and has a nice clean deep v8 tone...

[video=youtube]

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I then took it to the tyre shop, Fixed the leak by remounting the tyre and had balancing and alignment done... reset the Tyre Pressure monitor and we are good to go...

Thanks for looking...
 

Gokugt86

Member
The E55 has me hooked to this thread. Please keep posting anything and everything about this beast. Loving thsis thread. Nice work Sir :bravo:
 

Clint@MMS AUTO

BMWFanatics Advertiser
Official Advertiser
About time for an update…
About a month back I registered and paid for the VW Club’s annual Dubrun event, a 3 day weekend for car people with entry covered for all those who registered… its a really cool experience, this would be my second one, the last being 9 years ago.
(13/06) It starts off on Thursday night where most of the GP guys meet to collect their dubrun packs and tape up / decorate their cars for the drive the next morning..
(14/06) Everyone meets at the total garage Heidelberg between 5am and 6am and we convoy down to kzn.
(15/06) Dubrun Dyno day at one of the locations in Durban.
(16/06) Free entry to the GAS Magazine motor show. See street outlaws murder nova, farm truck and azn.
(17/06) Take a cool drive back to GP.

This being my first long distance trip with the Merc, I figured I would daily it for 2 weeks to make sure there’s no issues.

While all this was going on, I get a call from one of my oldest friends who’s looking for a new car to add alongside his M4 and 335i and wanted to find out if my M Coupe would be considered. Definitely not I responded. But he did also make a good offer on my brothers M3 to which he agreed and a sale was setup. We would now also use the Dubrun as an opportunity to deliver the M3 to its new owner so my brother took a these last few days to get the car as perfect as he possible could for the new owner while I was busy was busy making my own preparations.

I wanted to get the windows tinted but the guy that did all my previous cars and customers was MIA so I said FCK it, I’ll give it a shot myself… I ordered my smash and grab and got busy…
Started off with a wash, so everything was nice and dust free before I started..
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Got a towel on the rear shelf so it doesn’t get wet when I start washing the glass and applying the tint.
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Ready to shrink the rear glass
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And then finished off the rear glass, then the sides and applied the stickers.
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Before tint
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After Tint
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Then I continued to drive the car to work and back until trouble struck 2 days before the Dubrun event.

On Wednesday 12/06 on the way home from work in the traffic, the engine just dies, no warnings, no error codes.ect. A quick swing off the key and the car is back on.. continue on my way home and it happens again once more… Now this is worrying… I do some online searching and see that some other people experienced this when the crank position sensor stops working and needs to be replaced…

So Thursday 13/06 the day of the tape up…. I go to work, on the way there the car runs perfectly fine without any issues. So I decide to step out and get a new CPS from Diesel electric… On the way there, the car dies once but starts up like normal, on the way home from work the engine shuts off 3 times within a 1km space and on the 3rd time would not start… In peak traffic on sandton drive it refuses to start, luckily we were all waiting at the robot and I managed to force it to start on the 4th attempt this time an error pops up P0335 Crank position sensor. I get the car home and on the lift and left it to cool down.

After 45 minutes I start stripping to replace the CPS then I find out I don’t have the E8 torx to open the 1 bolt, now panic sets in and i'm under pressure! this car is not going to make it for dubrun. I go to make some calls and see where I can borrow one after 6pm. Osiris and PLV checked and was going to loan me one quickly (Thanks Guys!!) … but my brother managed to perform a miracle and remove the sensor using a 6.5mm socket which worked perfectly…
All The drama thanks to this little sucker!!
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We replace the sensor and get the car down on the ground at 9pm. I decide to go for a test drive and use the opportunity to go to the tape up event to collect my dubrun pack. I managed a good 100 km’s of test driving without any issues before arriving home at 11pm, slapped some tape and stickers on my car and then went to sleep for 4 hrs before having to get up and hit the road.


DUBRUN Friday!! 14/06 – We leave at 5am, fill up fuel and head to the meeting point…
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Once we arrived at the Total garage in heidelberg, we were greeted by ice cold wind and loads of cars, there was no parking, just people and cars everywhere… the Admin and Marshals inform everyone of the rules and we are on our way around 6:30am…
The first half was nice and cold, we were somewhere in the front of the convoy and took a nice relaxed drive down to Bergview. The Merc handled it well, managed to get it down to 10.6L/100km and with all its comfort, we cruised to halfway.
Taking off from the toll was fun, some guys hitting launch control and blasting off leaving the toll attendants screaming and waving wanting more… it was nice to hear the thunder so early morning lol
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On our way to halfway we get this on the GPS, seems that there is an accident just was we get into the 2nd half of the journey. And it seems the road may be closed ahead..
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Regardless we reach halfway hoping that when we leave in around 60-90minutes time the road ahead would be cleared.
Some of the cars at halfway.
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We then left halfway and about 15minutes later hit standstill traffic.
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I waited in it for about 15minutes and only moved a few meters ahead…. That’s when the Marshalls posted in the group to say turn back and lets go through the Drakensberg. So we did, before no time we were on those beautiful mountain roads…
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Eventually we were back on the freeway and heading toward Durban, at this point we decided its time to leave the convoy as we needed to get to DBN and this trip was taking too long…
On the open road the M3 and E55 performed well and managed the drive down with 1 tank of fuel. Which was awesome for these beasts.
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After 8.5hrs of driving, We arrived in Durbs, we went to drop off the M3 but the owner asked that we come tomorrow when the M4 is out the garage and he has found a way to get all 3 bmws in there with his Fortuner..
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The next day we popped by the dyno for a bit, it was busy so we left.. took a pic of these cars in the line hiding around the corner...
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we went to drop off the M3.
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I like this setup… a must for any guy zone..
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We shared a few drinks with the new owner whilst celebrating and then left..
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Sunday – fathers day and car show day, I decided after hearing the entire Durban population complaining about the traffic around the car show that we would not go, we said our farewells and left Durban for home… It was a nice relaxed drive back home without much traffic on the roads… what a great weekend, until next year… Dubrun 2020..

Got this whatapp to say it all fitted.
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and there she lived, Happily ever after...
 

///Avi

///Member
Great read Clint!

I wish I was in line to buy that E46. It looks beautiful.

Sounds like a weekend of fun!
 

Clint@MMS AUTO

BMWFanatics Advertiser
Official Advertiser
///Avi said:
Great read Clint!

I wish I was in line to buy that E46. It looks beautiful.

Sounds like a weekend of fun!
Thank you sir.

Yeah we were sad to leave the M3 behind but there's a time and season for everything. I'm glad we handed it over to someone we know so well. it was one of his dream cars growing up and he will care for it the right way. Plus I'll still get to see and drive it whenever i'm down at the coast.
 
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