Phase 2 - AMG Overhaul - Suspension and Diff

While the core maintenance and convenience items taken care of during Phase 1 of the overhaul process, what I'm most particular about with all my cars is the suspension.  

Anytime I buy a car over 10 years old I assume anything rubber has started to deteriorate so while the car was on the lift it was pretty obvious that the suspension hadn't been touched since it was new. One way would be to try and source bushings and then spend a ton in labor removing the old ones and pressing them in but I opted for the "spend more money on the parts than labor" approach. I got all new OE Mercedes/AMG bushings for the subframe, controls arms all around, shocks all around, and new diff mounts (engine and transmission mounts were taken care of in Phase 1). 

New arms and bushings installed

New arms and bushings installed

The C55 AMG also ships with an open diff which in my opinion is not great when you have this much power and rear wheel drive. I picked up a Wavetrac LSD and had that installed instead. The hardest part for sourcing was the Timken bearings needed to install it which I had to get imported from the UK.

New diff next to OEM diff

Wavetrac installed

The car feels absolutely incredible now with everything nice and tight like it should be. The wiring for the headlights also got sorted. I got the lights from the later gen CLK so they weren't exactly plug-n-play but it's all working as it should now.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 78,906

- New OE front struts and strut mounts

- New OE rear shocks and rear control arm links

- New lower control arms and sway bar links
- New OE tie rod assemblies
- New OE sway bar links

- New OE boots
- New OE Control arms all around

- New OE subframe bushings

- New headlight ballasts

- New Wavetrac LSD into diff

- New OE diff mounts

- Alignment 

Heater Flap Fix

I noticed that when just driving around in the 944, regardless of whether my heat was on, my vents would blow hot air. Thankfully it turns out this is a common failure mode. The clip that holds the rod for the heat flap breaks causing the rod that actuates it to fail open (so you don't freeze in Germany during a failure). The actuator is located behind a plastic cover under the dash and you just have to replace the plastic clip and retainer, reattach the rod and you're good to go.

Broken heater flap rod clip

Clip and retainer replaced

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 99,056

- New heater flap clip and retainer

CLK Grill Conversion

While I like the traditional look of the C55 AMG grill and hood ornament, I wanted a cleaner sportier look so I did the CLK (W209) grill conversion. Also the C55 grill is super rare so I didn't want it damaged just case so replacing it with a grill that is easier to source new also seemed like a smart idea.

CLK grill conversion

The parts itself is pretty straightforward, just the new grill, new grill bracket, new hood release pull (shorter to clear the grill) and new flat MB hood emblem.

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
- Acer Titanium wheel bolts

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. I also sanitized and replaced the air cabin filter

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 87,186

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

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)

J's Racing Intake

I ordered a J's Racing Intake from Japan late last year since I wanted a snorkeled carbon fiber intake like my PasswordJDM intake that takes up less space and doesn't block the radiator as much. With it raining all day, I figured it'd be a good time to install it. Installation could've been smoother. I had to use a Dremel to open up the snorkel tube hole to actually fit the air filter and it was a bit of a pain lining everything up and to clear my cooling plate but overall it's a nice piece and should function well.

Coolant Sensor Fix and New Battery

For a while now at cold start I'd get a temporary "Failure Detected" message on the Cayman with the coolant temp gauge showing no value. Once the car warmed up, this would go away. After some research I found that this is a symptom of the coolant temp sensor going bad. Given that the car is now 19 years old, I suppose that's not completely unexpected. 

New coolant temp sensor, o-ring and reitaining clip

I ordered a new OEM sensor along with a new o-ring and retainer clip, dropped the car off with Lee at Hybrid Motors and he made quick work of replacing it and topping off the coolant. Unfortunately on my way home after picking it up, I got a nice bullseye from a rock and cracked my windshield. I used a Permatex repair kit to prevent further spreading for now but I will probably get the windshield replaced once I find a place I can trust to replace it with OEM glass. 

Cracked glass

Attempting a temporary repair using a Permatex repair kit

My Antigravity lightweight battery is also approaching 7 years old and while it's still fine, I don't want to run the risk of a battery failure when I'm out somewhere due to age so I pre-emptively bought a new 40Ah version to replace it.

New Antigravity Battery

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 56,258

- New Antigravity 40Ah battery

- New coolant temp sensor, o-ring and retainer clip

Noisy Idlers, ABS sensor woes, and Washer fluid leaks

Earlier last year I noticed wiper washer fluid was leaking all under the Jeep. The typical fix for this is replacing the washer fluid pump strainer which I did. Unfortunately this didn't really fix the problem so I decided to complete just replace the whole washer fluid bottle since the pump itself wasn't leaking. This is someone annoying to replace since it comes with a full tray assembly for where the ECU sits so I had SJF take on this project. Turns out the existing bottle itself was fine and my main issue was with the hose but whatever, I already had the new part so why not put it in anyway.

new wiper washer bottle assembly

Since the Jeep was going to be with SJF for a while anyway, I figured i'd address a few other things like replacing the 4 ABS sensors since I would get the traction control light go on when driving on the highway for extended periods of time. This is typically caused by a bad sensor so got some new OEM ones to replace them. Turns out the rear rear abs wire had gotten damaged at some point and that was the main source of it but glad to have these sensors replaced anyway. I also had the crank sensor replaced which a very typical item to go bad on these vehicles. It's 10 years old now and I don't want to get stranded somewhere because of a bad sensor so a new OEM one went in as well.

New hub assembly

While the ABS sensors were getting replaced, the right front hub was showing some play so that got replaced. There were also some wear issues on one of the brake caliper bracket so had both front brake calipers and brackets completely replaced as they were pretty cheap anyway. 

New front brake caliper

New front brake caliper

The front bumper stops were also completely worn out and falling apart so those were both replaced with fresh new ones. I had this whining supercharger like noise too from the engine when it was cold. At least one of the idler pulleys was not happy at all so I got them all replaced along with the tensioner and the main drive belt and now it's back to being silent. 

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 84,485

- New wiper washer fluid tank assembly

- New idler pulleys

- New belt tensioner

- New main drive belt

- New front bump stops

- New front calipers

- Brake fluid flush

- New front right wheel hub

- New right rear ABS sensors wire 

- New ABS sensors all around

- New crank sensor

JCW Suspension

Ever since I got the Mini, I wanted to do an OEM+ upgrade by doing a JCW conversion since they don’t make a 4-door JCW. I already completed most of that conversion shortly after buying the car and even sourced the JCW suspension new but just didn’t get the opportunity to install it to complete the transformation. After a few years of procrastination I decided it was time so I dropped it off with SJF so he could complete the install.

JCW suspension

The JCW coilovers are height adjustable but have a fixed valving and are made by KW. Since the car has almost 85k miles, I figured I’d also get brand new hardware, top hats, etc for the install to just freshen things up since putting those old components with new suspension seemed like the wrong thing to do. 

New front shocks and springs

New rear shocks

New top hats and associated hardware

The overall installation went pretty smoothly and I had the ride height set to just a little under factory height since it’s winter and the suspension settled maybe around 0.25-0.5” after sittting around before alignment. 

Front suspension installed

Rear suspension installed

New ride height

The car feels really amazing to drive. The ride is a bit more firm but very well controlled just as you’d expect from a KW tuned suspension setup. I’m definitely very happy with the upgrade and I’m glad that the JCW conversion is finally complete.

While the car was there I also had SJF flush the brake fluid since that was due.

Maintenance Update:

Mileage: 84,996

- New JCW suspension (made by KW) all around

- All new suspension bolts, top hats, etc for the suspension

- Motul RBF600 brake fluid