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That's Not a Buick! No it's a Mercedes.

33K views 222 replies 40 participants last post by  MBL87560SEC 
#1 ·
Guess it's time to stop being a lurker and get on the board. Been following the forum since Jan or so about the time this car showed up and it wasn't a Buick Grand National I thought I was getting but a 1990 560 SEC.

After the driver set my mind right, I had to own up to buying it after a crazy, impulsive lapse of whatever on a cold, dark, wet December Saturday afternoon in Seattle. Don't remember how it all came about but it did.

Got the car off E Bay out of Houston, delivered in early Jan and it's been a real trip since then.

Car had 128,00 miles or so and was in what I call excellent shape but maybe to an experienced MB man good or close. Every thing looked to be in good condition but the maintenance records were incomplete at best, most would say I did every thing wrong in buying this car but I got it and so far have no real surprises or complaints.

I have completed a list of most of the things I think you have to do to most used cars whether a MB or other make. And I have done a few things that I would call improvements to the overall great car, like changing the steering wheel, new exhaust system, modified air cleaner, and a few other small things, nothing radical or changing the essence of the car. A few pics
 

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#3 ·
Very nice, and you're right, it looks very clean!

Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg






...My only concern is how you could have confused that gorgeous ride with a Grand National. ;)
 

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#5 ·
That is a very mint looking coupe Doc with very desirable colour combo
040 black with MB "gray" interior is a superb combo
if you colour match the grey trim on the headlight surrounds it will improve it even further.
Another with the later style rims. Some like them but not my choice for a coupe versus the original MB rims or others like the AMG Aero 1 or 2 17" x 8" which looks great with 040 black - maybe next on your shopping list
Get some pics taken with scenic contrasting backdrop and post up
Welcome to the global W126 family
 
#13 ·
Very nice looking coupe. :thumbsup: But.., for goodness sake, please, please, please go and buy yourself some jackstands. :eek:

How drunk do you have to be to buy the wrong car?
Kind of what I was thinking. :D There must be a story behind this, so spill the bean, OP.
 
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#9 ·
What place did it come from here in Houston? Is that zebrano wood on the shifter area?
 
#46 ·
I didn't answer your question yet, sorry. Got car from indy/E Bay seller Sports & Imports Auto located on Beechnut Street, Houston. Was treated very well by owner Sean and have no complaints.

As for wood, how do you tell what type it is, is there a list of offerings available? I could post some close up pics if that would help.

Looks like our cars are close to a matched set or will be when I get all the stuff I want to do done, your car is a great example to follow.
 
#12 ·
Is that a us version? can you take a close up of both exhaust manifolds? exhaust coming down on both sides of the trans is not stock for us model would love to see more pics of exhaust and what they have changed. I am getting ready to change my exhaust to tri ys that come down on both sides like that. good looking car:smile
 
#17 ·
Looks somewhat similar to what me and SlowNRusty have, search our posts. We have very similar setups, installed by same fabrication shop here in Houston.
 
#14 ·
Funniest post in a while.
Thought you,bought a GN and 560 shows up.

I don't know.. I'd be pretty happy if a 560 like that came to me instead of a GN. Sure the GN is faster, but that's about it.
Nice custom exhaust , nice steering wheel too, does not look too out of place. I bet that previous owner was a w126 person.

Enjoy.
 
#15 · (Edited)
This must be a forum members former car. Too many things an enthusiast would have done on here. The ditching of the U.S. Exhaust and residing the stock locations too with the arms by the transmount. the polished air cleaner assembly and the Sportline Steering wheel. It's gotta be one of ours!
 
#16 ·
One thing I hate is when people put wheels from a newer model. Why just why. Is it to make it look newer? Top notch designers spent time,money and effort to design the car, and someone thinks that upgrading the wheels to a newer model rim is gonna make it look more modern or better? It's not like the stock rims are bad looking.
The only wheel I would think would look correct , in stock form , would be a 16 wheel from a 90-91 SL . It's a similar looking wheel, like the stock 126 wheel. Period correct Amg , lorinser wheels are also great.

On the street that I live, an 88 300SEL appeared from out of no where. Everytime I pass it I smile. White with tan. Stock, not even tints.
 
#18 ·
Got her up and got a few more pics of the exhaust system: 2 Magnaflow cats, 2- 2 1/4' I/O mufflers, one larger the other a bit smaller, used as res..
Used with nice coated set of euro logs. It ended a little lower than I wanted but I think it will be ok, if not it can always be changed.

As for who did the work on this, it is all my creation, set up, or whatever. Did get a lot of different ideas off the forums to see how some things looked.

I did all the mock up, layout, got junk yard bracket and flipped it for driver side. Did layout for cat stagger and ox sensor pickups, bracket pickup points. Started with nice set of euro logs off E Bay, installed then with all new hardware and heat shields. Got head pipes and s or z pipes from Timevalue, they made the pipes about 18" or so longer and I cut them to length as needed. This got me to the duel support brackets coming off the trans rear with slip joints at this point. Did cat layout and center muffler then headed to muffler shop. Installer bent up set of muffler connecting pipes and tip pipes and hung and weld everything up. The guy was a hot rodder and really worked with me on this. I know the bends are compression but the manifold opening is the smallest part of the system so I don't think there is too much performance loss. Might have to do some cutting if I ever need to work on the drive line, will deal with it as needed.
 

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#21 ·
Since I need a little rest from all the crawling underneath the car to get this done (when you hit 69 you need a little more rest) I'll spend some time answering some of the question asked.

I have always wanted a 560 series but for years it was the SEL but maybe a couple years ago I started taking a closer look at the SEC and made the switch to look for one. Been checking local listings, local Craig's list, and E Bay on and off for years for SEL and then SEC but things never worked out to get something.

I was killing a dull, gray, cold and wet Dec Sat in Seattle (hard to believe) and was checking out the latest E Bay listings and ran across this car with about 2 hrs to ending. It had a ton of pics and from what I could tell looked in pretty good shape. The current bid seemed too low so I put in a +$200 increase not really thinking I get it and didn't raise my initial bid and ended up high bidder, I thought I would be out bid in a few minutes but wasn't and ended up winning the car.

I know I did everything wrong but went ahead and got the car and so far things are working out ok. I did know I was getting a SEC I just used the punch line form the current "That's Not a Buick" ads for the thread tile, it's hard to come up with a good title, didn't want the "I'm new, or just bought this SEC, new to the forum got this car, or some other variation.

After the delivery and a month of driving it I had an indy do a short check on it, nothing major found just a lot of small items to work on. So I went to work on the list and added a few things I wanted to do to it. I think on any used car you need to do some thing just to get things on a schedule you know.

Did motor mounts, cap/rotor/wires/plugs, pass side upper control arm, idler arm kit, front shocks, new rotors, pads, brake hardware both front and back, and parking brakes. I spent a few sessions cleaning everything I could get to on the underside, a lot of spraying chemicals and cleaning shit and some serious power washing time, didn't blast or cut anything loose as far as I know yet.

Didn't like the looks of the driver side air cleaner snorkel, so I got a 560 SL super clean air cleaner with the Big Assed driver snorkel off E Bay and used it and the existing SEC cleaner to make the one I have now, a little tin snipping and pop rivets, and now a balanced looking air cleaner. Also had to relocate the fuel lines behind and under the new air cleaner. Had to replace the lines anyway so add a tubing bender and some new line and a few clamps and the job was done.

I replaced the steering wheel with what I consider the best looking option a nice clean w140, I like this a lot better than any AMG wheel, they are great looking wheels but to me still look aftermarket not MB. Had to dye this wheel, it was mushroom and that wouldn't cut in, got some good dye and dressing from local Tandy, wear gloves that dye is some nasty shit, lasts a long time.

A few other things done, new speakers front and back, new tires, full paint detail on original paint, am working through replacing all fossilized rubber and vac lines, cooling system flush and new hoses, and anything that comes up. Some of the stuff I did was not truly needed but I wanted everything off to a clean start. I did all the above work so far the only thing not done by me was the final exhaust work.

Thanks to the guys concerned about the car setting on blocks, I repositioned the layout from the pics and always make sure the car is setting firm and solid before getting under it, but one should always reassess their work methods.

Better stop this post before it gets boring.
 
#22 ·
Welcome Doc, you've done a lot but as everyone will likely agree, no matter how much one does to their car we're never finished. Besides the maintenance items there is always something not quite right that needs our attention, sometimes THOSE items make our car unique and one of a kind

Oh and an SEC is comPLETELY different from a GN :grin
 
#23 ·
not boring at all! Did you replace the timing chain tensioner, chain guides, and the cam oilers?
 
#24 ·
Any exhaust manifold pics? would like to see the driver side and what kind of clearance there is with steering.

Sounds to me like you are already in love you just may not know it yet:grin
 
#26 ·
There is plenty of clearance, it's just a single downpipe on each side, just like the factory euro log downpipe. The driver euro log opens pointing down at the same location the US driver log goes out the side to the crossover pipe.

Will see if I can get a pic from under there.
 
#25 ·
I pulled the rocker covers to paint and put in new cover gaskets and took a look at cams, chains, followers, and timing marks, everything looked good to me and what I could tell from looking a pics from others. The marks were about 1/8" to 3/16" off TDC mark at TDC crank so some stretch, inserts were light brown not dark.

I'm going to start getting the parts together for next year sometime to replace above since I don't really know when they were done last. For now it should be good for a few miles, I need to get some seat time in the meantime. Hoping to take it to car show this Sunday.
 
#27 ·
Someone requested better exterior pics, so here are a few;

And yes I'm thinking about some different wheels, will post some of the candidates soon-just hope I can handle the feedback! You guys are a hard crew at times.
 

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#33 ·
Someone requested better exterior pics, so here are a few;

just hope I can handle the feedback! You guys are a hard crew at times.
OH I had to put on me shades from the shiny paint :cool:

We are passionate about our and other's cars, all part of the SEC bug (mine bit hard the latter part of last year) Just wait, it will be suggested to you about several things to enhance your car to make it look like it should have (NA specs vs Euro) but also to make it unique and one of a kind. Different wheels as you mentioned, Euro headlights, lowering springs. You already did the snorkle fix, I think a couple of others did theirs too
 
#30 ·
VERY NICE car, and very nice work. Congrats.

I have the same wheels on my 90. Previous owner install. I like them better than the bottle caps, but about ten percent as much as I like AMGs. They're first on my wish list.

Have you considered EU headlamps? They make a huge difference. I can only imagine the groan emitted by Mr. Sacco when he saw his first NA coupe.

Again, very nice work on a very nice car. :grin
 
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