2mAns Daily Driver Thread - who knows what it is today...

[2mAn]

So the first major thing I wanted to tackle was to take the extra set of foglights off. I inspected them a few times to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into and overall seemed straight forward. FAMOUS LAST WORDS...

I had a plan for the parts, here she is inside the garage next to my Fairlady Roadster



The official "BEFORE" pic


Looking underneath and the brackets were riveted on to the hood. No problem!



Drilled the rivets out and with some prying, I got these loose. Next up was the lights themselves and for being just over fifteen years old, they look like they came from my fifty year old Datsun

The passenger side started with a major headache. I simply could not get the big nut loose, and when it finally began turning it was the entire nut and threaded inner shaft was spinning together... insert your favorite bad word here.



The driverside light I was able to break it the big nut loose but the small phillips was a bit of a disaster. Took half a dozen different screwdrivers to finally get one that worked, but I was staring at this for way too long



Ultimately I got the driverside one off, but the pass side will need another attempt. The wiring is at the firewall and once I figure out which direction to pull it through (into the car, or into the engine bay) I will finish off the auxiliary light removal

Today, this is the view haha

[2mAn]

As you have probably figured out by now, I have a problem with cars. While not as bad as some (looking at you Julien), I definitely have a problem.

I've been trying to get a nice daily driver forever but my desire to modify and personalize cars tends to suck more money than I always plan to spend. This, combined with some other issues that popped up over the last year and I was looking to simplify into one car that sucks all the cash rather than two. Originally the plan was to sell both the E30 and the Roadster and dump all that money into a Cayman.

However, as life would have it, just after I sold the E30 and was looking at the reality of selling the Roadster I was hesitant to do that after spending nearly all of 2019 working on making it true to its potential. Within a few days of that a few other things happened and it became obvious the Cayman wasnt going to happen now...

So the mission was to find something that I would enjoy driving, but would have limited potential so that the desire to modify would be minimal. My buddy has been DDing a Mini Cooper for a while now and I quite enjoyed it. Its new enough that I dont have any smog headaches to worry about, its not the supercharged one so no point in trying to make it fast because it never will be, but its light enough that the 115bhp was good enough. Went and saw this one and was sold. Kinda wanted a 05ish one with the Getrag transmission, but loved the one I found, even with its flaws... so here it is!



Notice the missing a-pillar trim. More on that soon...

Our ~40 mile drive back from Upland and I was grinning from ear to ear.





Once home, I had a list of things I wanted to address. First was the A-pillar trim, I decided to buy a brand new one and dealt with that. realoem is still in play which is great



Notice the assortment of incorrect hardware that was removed from the broken trim. Fixing things that dumbass previous owners have done...



With that addressed, the next thing was the mismatched tires. The two in front were different than the two in back, and all were old... I searched and searched and ultimately decided on another set of stock Mini wheels that had good Michelin Pilot Sports. Went and got them... They all fit in the Mini. Love hatchbacks!



Im diggin this look with no center caps (didnt include them anyways) and some less white is a good thing.



This is basically the look going forward, unless for some reason the SSRs find their way back to me. Im not anticipating it because the new owner loves them and I think its time for me to move on... but should they pop up!... haha

The (hopefully) short list is to do some basic maintenance, make it handle a little better (already bought a Eibach rear swaybar) and that is probably it. A few other things too, but nothing wild. No engine builds, no crazy mods. Just DD goodness... until further notice!

[2mAn]

The Daily Bitch: my 08 C350

Finally was able to get the rear installed. I didn't have the correct spring compressor so I let my friend deal with it along with the Service B that was due.

The overall look doesn't look too lowered but it sits nice and handles pretty damn good with the H&R springs with the AMG struts and shocks. Im pretty much done now except for the magnaflow x-pipe and probably some tint on the windows.





I still have the 15mm rear spring pads so I can go a little lower in the back if I want but I think I'll just leave it alone.

Here's a fun side by side of the AMG rear shocks vs the sport setup. Much larger tubes and much tighter valving



Edit: didn't want to bump the thread because this bitch is gone. It was ok but I have a better Daily in mind now that the aluminum monster is sold too

[2mAn]

So I finally had a chance to install the front struts. We didn't quite have time or the tools to do the rear. It feels pretty tight right now, can't wait to get the back done, but I need the proper spring compressor.

Starting to look sharper



Mr Burgundy helped get me the new strut caps and bearings. Pics of the parts slowly coming together







edit: hopefully it will settle down a little more, we'll see

[Staszek]

Very nice I actually always liked that version of the C. I still to this day consider a nice S class from that era as a daily. So many cool cars that are so cheap to buy right now.

[DIIRTY-30]

And Brabus wheels...

I second this... I wish I had the cheese I'd get them for my 500 :D:D:D


Would look so proper on your whip Simon

[E30SPDFRK]

And Brabus wheels...

[2mAn]

Was meeting up with a guy to pick up my shortened housings for the E30 and the car was looking good so I thought I'll take a few quick pics.






I can't wait until this car is lowered. Once the E30 has its coilovers on and dialed in this thing is getting its suspension installed too

[DEV0 E30]

They really are nice cars, my only wish is that the navigation would be a much more modern unit with current traffic conditions, but I have no clue if thats even possible with these.

I actually really wanted a clownshoe. They are on my list of cars, but I would modify the sh!t out of one if I got it. I was really getting an itch to trade this in for one at some random car dealership here in LA, but it was just the M52 (not M54) and it had the 4 speed auto which of all the options available is the worst, so I never bothered to look further into it.

The main thing I need to do now is to buy the strut caps so I can get this suspension installed.

Indeed they are. Cheaper than I expected too, compared to when they were new. I just figured out of warranty they'd be a nightmare, but probably aren't bad.

Clownshoes are awesome. Of course the M cars are preferred and it's the car I shouldn't have sold /broken record. But yeah the 4 speed auto is tragically bad in Z3's or many BMW 4 speed autos in general IMO. James May had the same auto in a Z3 he had in the middle east special on Top Gear did a few years ago. It's just not worth it when you can get a 5 speed manual car. You made the right call.

[2mAn]

My friend had one just like that. I really enjoyed driving and riding in it.

They really are nice cars, my only wish is that the navigation would be a much more modern unit with current traffic conditions, but I have no clue if thats even possible with these.

I actually really wanted a clownshoe. They are on my list of cars, but I would modify the sh!t out of one if I got it. I was really getting an itch to trade this in for one at some random car dealership here in LA, but it was just the M52 (not M54) and it had the 4 speed auto which of all the options available is the worst, so I never bothered to look further into it.

The main thing I need to do now is to buy the strut caps so I can get this suspension installed.

[DEV0 E30]

My friend had one just like that. I really enjoyed driving and riding in it.

[2mAn]

Finally got a few minutes today to add on these depo side markers I got from the guy selling the h&r springs. Subtle change but really adds to the look.

Before:


After:

[2mAn]

I got mine for a lot less than 15k. The 08 is (I think) the first year of the w204 body and I guess they came out with a lot of the sport models initially. Navigation sucks but I never use it anyway. Car has good power and is really nice inside. You should be able to find a nice one with under 100k for no more than 10

[Cptcarisma]

2Man,
Too funny/Ironic! I'm thinking of getting into this same exact make/model of Benz! lol
My current daily is a 2004 BMW 330ci & I'm thinking 2008-09 Benz C350. I need to read up on maintenance for this car. I'm looking to stay under 15K..
Any words of wisdom?
CAPP :-)

[2mAn]

That's funny, I'm in the same boat. The only MBZ cars that ever appealed to me are old wagon's, cosworth 190E's and this exact model. I've never even known what it's called but whenever I pass one on the freeway, I think "that's the only newish Mercedes that I like". This is just aesthetically speaking though, I've never actually driven one.

A diesel would be sweet, it's too bad we don't get more of them in the US. I was just in Switzerland/Italy for the past two weeks and was admiring the huge variety of diesel cars they get there.

Great minds think alike. My brother already has a gray market 190e-16v, so that's already in the family and we've both owned several German diesels in the past but the selection of newer ones is lacking. I like the smaller cars so I didn't want an E-class but that's the only diesel sedan they offer here. I like the 250 diesel they offer though. A twin turbo 4 cylinder diesel? Yes, please. I dream about swapping that into this car but then I laugh myself back into reality at the thought of doing such a swap.

Besides these 350 motors are pretty bulletproof from what I've seen. I don't know the engine codes besides the M154, I think, but I really like the AMG 6.3 too.

This car has been great and I just picked up some h&r lowering springs yesterday to pair with the C63 struts and shocks. No
Pics of the springs but here's everything I got from the C63



It hasn't been all fun though, about a month ago I couldn't get the car to start even though everything seemed fine the hour prior when I had driven it. It wasn't turning over or anything. Turns out there's a known problem with the electronic steering lock. Luckily I have a friend of a friend who's a Benz tech at an Indy and got it repaired for less than half of what a dealership charges.

It still wasn't cheap but when you see what is involved in the repair it makes sense.... well everything except the whole reason of requiring the repair but I digress.

Here's the pics the tech sent me



Yes that's the steering column removed from my car



There's the trouble maker





Anyways now that that's out of the way I should have some cool updates coming up with the goodies I just bought