Phase 1 - AMG Overhaul

The first order of business after registration and inspection is to get everything in the car fully up to my standards. This means, no shoddy bushings, no sketchy hoses or wires, fluids all in a known state and basic creature comforts. I dropped the car off with Lee at Hybrid Motors and he took care of my top priority issues.

There was noticeable vibration in the cabin at idle and I knew right away those were symptoms of old motor mounts. Pretty expected given the age of the car and it's just one of those things that I think owners don't take care of because "it doesn't have that many miles yet". Ok bud, it's 21 year old liquid filled rubber, how long do you think they last. I replaced them with beefier OE mounts from the CLK Black Series which are not only better but also don't add any noticeable NVH to the cabin along with a new transmission mount. 

Most of the fluids in the car had already been replaced at some point based on the records but I always like to start with fresh engine oil for sure that I know is both new and the brand and viscosity I want to run. In this case, it's Liquimoly 5W-40. The valve cover gaskets had some leaks in them so had them both replaced. Pretty common for this engine so glad to take care of that. Also brake fluid was flushed. 

I have no record for when the battery was last replaced and I'll be damned if I get stranded somewhere because of an old battery so a new AGM battery was installed. 

CLK Xenon headlights

For the convenience side of things, being able to see the road is a must so the OE halogen headlights needed to go. These came with a xenon option so I picked up fully refurbished CLK 55 xenon headlights that are a direct bolt though they needed to be coded in to the computer. They're not working perfectly yet, some wire need repining for high beams to work and these are adaptive lights so that also needs wiring and coding in. I also paired it with Hella yellow fog light bulbs.

Lastly, being able to navigate easily and listen to music is a must and I can't stand suction cup window mounts. I wanted a head unit with CarPlay but didn't look out of place in the interior. The Dynavin D9 is perfect. It has buttons and knobs that mimic the OE radio look except it has modern guts and perfectly handles CarPlay. 

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 78,849 miles

- 8L Liquimoly 5W-40 engine oil
- New Mann Filter
- Brake fluid flush
- New valve cover gaskets
- New CLK Black series engine mounts
- New Lemforder transmission mount
- New AGM battery
- New Hella 9006 Yellow fog light bulbs
- Refurbished CLK xenon headlight assemblies
- Dynavin D9 headunit

Bumper Plugs

It seems like at one point the car had front plates drill into the bumper directly. Now, I typically run front plates on my daily since I drive into NYC where they can get pretty strict about this stuff but I wanted something I can take off if I want. I decided to go with a front tow hook mounted license plate bracket but the car already had 4 holes in the bumper for the plate. 

existing holes

I don't want to fill and respray the bumper yet so I opted to just get a set of bumper plugs of the right color (Brilliant Silver). It requires expanding these holes to about 1/4" then putting the plugs in. I'll admit it's not that great but it looks at least a bit cleaner than 4 random holes.

Bumper plugs installed

Prepping the Mini for transfer

With the addition of the C55 AMG to the fleet as my new daily, I didn't want the Mini to just sit around go bad from not being driven but I also didn't want to sell it so my compromise decision is to let our nephew use it as his first car. Doing some final maintenance before handing it over and removing the JB4 tune so that the power would be more manageable for a teenager.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 87,186

- 5L Liquimoly 0W-20
- New Mahle oil filter
- New oil drain copper washer
- New rubber oil drain gasket

C55 AMG - Mando

A few years ago I was looking for a C55 AMG as my daily but didn't find one that was well sorted. I restarted looking for a new daily recently and came across one on Bring-A-Trailer that looked very clean and well sorted. I'm a firm believer that if you're buying used, always buy the seller and after some questions, I felt very comfortable being aggressive with the bid and ended up winning it. 

C55 AMG "Mando" - 5/24/2026

I'd never bought a car off an online auction before and was pleasantly surprised how smooth this transaction was because the seller was super easy to deal with. I wired the funds shortly after the auction ended which cleared pretty much the next business day so he overnighted the title and bill of sale to me and I was able to quickly register it. I then few out to Chicago the following weekend with my wife and we took in on a fun 750 mile road trip back to NY. I'm calling the car Mando. 

I already have a bunch of parts that have arrived for it. I'm keeping it mostly stock, just doing a few important maintenance items and some slight improvements including CLK Xenon headlights, a Dynavin headunit so I don't have to get a phone mount and just navigate using Apple Car play and a Wavetrac diff. The car was super fantastic to drive. The V8 has lots of grunt and and sounds amazing and even as a 21 year old car, really drives fairly new. The motor mounts need replacing for sure. I've got a set from the CLK black series that will go in as well as a new transmission mount. 

We'll see what else needs replacing once it goes into the shop. 

Mileage: 77,534

Historical maintenance from previous owner:

11/9/2023 - 67K miles

- windshield washer pump

- Air cabin filter

3/25/2024 - 68K miles

- Engine oil

- Transmission Oil

- Diff fluid

- Coolant

- Brake fluid

- Power Steering fluid

- Vbelts replaced

- Transmission connectors replaced

8/27/2025 - 72.6K miles

- Breather hoses replaced

- Iridium plugs - NGK5344

- Plug wires replaced

- Valve cover gasket replaced

- Crank position sensor replaced

Nasty air cabin filter

I'm usually really good about maintenance but since I don't put a ton of miles on the S2000, I figured the air cabin filter wouldn't be that dirty. Clearly I was wrong.

New cabin filter

Time flies so I think it must've been 5 years now since I last replaced it so noting it here so I don't forget in the future.

Maintenance Updates:

Mileage: 69,675

- New air cabin filter

Oil change for the 944

I realized it’s been a bit longer than usual since my last oil change on the 944. I had meant to do it last year while other work was being done but I must’ve forgotten so no better time than the present. 

Oil change time

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 99,055
- 6 quarts Valvoline 20W-50 VR1
- Porsche/Mahle OC142 oil filter

9ElevenHeadlights Raven Headlights

During the first iteration of the 911SC build, we installed LED headlights from Audette Collection with Bosch fluted lenses along with an H4 harness conversion. While aesthetically it looks great, to be frank, I found the lights to be dim and a bit scary to drive at night. I wanted to get something that was really well engineered and have been eyeing 9Eleven Headlights for some time now. 

9Elevent Headlights Raven headlights in Gunmetal

The headlights are an engineering work of art and while they are quite pricey, I'm more than happy to support small business who do things the right way. Installation was pretty straightforward since I already had LED lights before with the H4 conversion. The kit came with a harness that connects to the H4 socket and then their connector on the other side that goes to the headlight.

H4 adapter harness

I also got fresh headlight gaskets. Even though my old ones were still fine I figured it's cheap enough to put a fresh set in. I've never bought anything that actually included white gloves to ensure you don't mess up the lights during install. 

included white gloves

The lights look absolutely gorgeous installed and the brightness is spot on. I opted for black headlight rings and I think it gives a nice aggressive look.

Raven gunmetal headlights installed

Raven gunmetal headlights installed

Lights on

Audette Collection headlights (left) vs
9Eleven Raven Headlights (right)