R63 AMG The Unicorn of my Destruction

The drivers side fog lamp was broken when I picked the van up. A two minute internet search said $180, fine, the sales guy wrote into the contract that they'd cut me a check for it.
I can't help but try to save money, even when it's other people's money, so I found the light on Rock Auto for $76. It came today and seven screws later it was in. Small fixes. Now we wait to see how well the reimbursement check from the dealership works.

berkeley, I need an AMG something63 in my garage.

The early E63's are stupid cheap for what you get.

I have noticed this, though the CL63 is damned attractive.

A great report, keep it coming as you add some real world miles please.

Pics of that engine. :D. Its hand built right?

One of the deucekids figured out that the female end of the drivers side seat belt in the second row wasn't working. It would latch but you had to push down the button to plug it in. I probably could have complained to Mercedes and gotten a free one but the part was $20 shipped off eBay. It was a single bolt repair. Easier to do myself.
When I popped the plastic cover off earlier to confirm part numbers, I discovered difinitive proof that this van was used extensively for kid hauling. Cheerios, sparkly beads, pencil eraser. Kid stuff. As to the engine, it's a bit tucked in there. Luckily most of the structure above it unbolts to free up some space. It looks like there are more than few pieces that require pretty extensive disassembly to get at. My engine was built by Guido Nordheim (if I read that right) in Germany, shipped to Alabama, and installed in my van. I wonder if the builders knew what vehichicle their builds were destined for?

Shipped to Alabama to be put into a mini van. haha so stereotypical yet true.

http://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w204/312631-guido-nordheim-engines.html

slowride wrote: http://mbworld.org/forums/c63-amg-w204/312631-guido-nordheim-engines.html

I got some crazy spam warning off that link....

hmm, I didn't get anything, but I'm running an ad blocker. Anyway, it's nothing too special, just other people with the same engine builder.

So, a bit over a month, a bit over 2500 miles so far. The last 1000 miles have been a pretty good representation of me hauling the family around and I'm at 14.2 mpg over that time. Could be worse?
The plates came in and I needed to mount the front plate. I didn't want to drill the front bumper for the stock plate holder. I didn't want to use a tow hook holder because they block the parking sensors. I needed to mount it in such a way that it didn't block airflow to the brake ducts or the old cooler. This was my solution. I was able to use existing bolts on the van, no new holes, and not block anything. I need to re-make the mount that comes through the grill because I'm not as good at eyeballing things as I thought I was. I should have used cardboard first.
The van is everyones favorite. Even Mrs. Deuce claims it for running around on the weekends. No problems other than a CEL that I induced by forgetting to plug in the outside air temperature sensor when I was reassembling things after making the plate holder. Easy fix and a quick scan showed no other codes, so that's nice. So far so good.

I had the wagon and the van out at the same time so I snapped some pictures. The wagon is actually longer, but the van is much taller (and with AWD, 1000lbs heavier). If you sit in an early Civic and then a Fit you get a feel for how moving everything up changes the dynamics of space. Pretty much the same thing with these two. The top of your head is at lest a foot lower in the V. They're both great in their own ways.

mazdeuce wrote: I had the wagon and the van out at the same time so I snapped some pictures. The wagon is actually longer, but the van is much taller (and with AWD, 1000lbs heavier). If you sit in an early Civic and then a Fit you get a feel for how moving everything up changes the dynamics of space. Pretty much the same thing with these two. The top of your head is at lest a foot lower in the V. They're both great in their own ways.

its a rare moment when you can have a combined 1000+ hp in one picture... of a wagon and a mini-van...

So much practicality in one place. Awesome.

edizzle89 wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: I had the wagon and the van out at the same time so I snapped some pictures. The wagon is actually longer, but the van is much taller (and with AWD, 1000lbs heavier). If you sit in an early Civic and then a Fit you get a feel for how moving everything up changes the dynamics of space. Pretty much the same thing with these two. The top of your head is at lest a foot lower in the V. They're both great in their own ways.

its a rare moment when you can have a combined 1000+ hp in one picture... of a wagon and a mini-van...

Probably the first time ive ever seen it.

And now I look at the two of them and think, "what if I put a big single turbo on the truck, then I could have three 500hp vehichicles."
It is fun to play eenie meenie miney moe to figure out which one to drive.

Some posters in this thread will probably care deeply:

R63 AMG Rare 1 of 3 less then 100 built - $34500 (Bellingham)

In reply to Mike:

If only I could talk my wife into a "mini van"

I've been driving the van around and it has become the favorite family vehicle. We're headed off for the summer soon so an oil change was in order. 10.5 quarts of oil. Also my first car with a cartridge oil filter, so that was pretty cool.
9 of the 10 bolts holding the splash guard on were present which is pretty darn good on a 10 year old car in my experience. The only one missing has a stripped hole, I'll have to sort that later. There might be a very small oil leak at the back of the motor. I'll keep my eye on it.
The van has at LEAST five coolers. Radiator, AC, transmission, oil, and what I think is power steering. There might be more. Quite an elaborate system of ducts and shrouds around all of them, one of which was loose which is what I think led to this pile of leaves and bugs getting sandwiched between two of them. PB Blaster is just for scale. They were pretty effectively blocking airflow for the bottom five inches of the radiator and whatever the cooler next to is is (AC I think) Things seemed to be cooling fine but it can't hurt to be cleaner.
So now it's time to head off on the 4-5k mile usual summer trip. I did buy an AAA membership for the first time in my life. Not that I think anything will go wrong, but if something does I'm a lot further from a quick Autozone fix than I've ever been.

After having our R for 6 years I am sold on cartridge oil filters, so easy and no mess. Ours has made trips from Ohio to Austin and Sebring with no issues but in the last month it has developed a miss that is driving me nuts.

Driving across the country. The level of road fatigue when driving is shockingly low. Three kids, a dog and 1000k miles in the last two days and I feel rested. Not all is well.
I've been watching the rear tires wear faster than the fronts. Known issue with these so I was trying to get a feel for it rather than just doing short rotations. I think the wear is worse on the freeway with chip seal when the air bags squat down.
I went from "I should probably rotate those before I leave" to "I screwed that up and am going to need two new tires before I come home." in 1k miles. Incidentally, these tires were very close to new 6k miles ago. I read about 20-25k tire intervals on the R's but super careful rotation might get me 15k. Time to sort out the geometry I suspect. Anyone know how to adjust rear toe on these?
This is the first time I've bought tires on the road. Stopped in Knoxville TN and asked a tire shop if they had any in my size. They said they could have them by 9:00 in the morning so we decided to stay here instead of an hour up the road. As you can tell by the picture I'm not at emergency replacement yet, but in four days I'll be running around the UP as a rally service vehichicle for Chris Nonack and the van doesn't have a spare. Grabbing new tires where I could seemed like a good idea.

In reply to mazdeuce:

Rally support vehicle? I'm pretty sure you'd be way faster than his rally car!

But the rally car is louder whis is what's really important.

mazdeuce wrote: Driving across the country. The level of road fatigue when driving is shockingly low. Three kids, a dog and 1000k miles in the last two days and I feel rested.

A million miles in two days! That thing is a rocket ship!