13 Jan The Project SL: An Introduction
We thought we’d take some time today to introduce you folks to our newest project car – A 1993 Merecedes-Benz 500SL. Classic Merc styling is going to meet Fluid MotorUnion customization in a very classy way.
One of our favorite parts of receiving a project car (much like the RS6 we’ve had forever) is when the owner hands us the keys and says, “Do what you want, and take all the time you need.” When it comes to scheming ideas for project cars, we don’t like rushing to conclusions or deadlines; one good idea can be easily supplanted by another in a day or two.
Measure twice, cut once. Other trite sayings.
But let’s get down to business, shall we? Well, the first order of business. We’ve got a few orders, here.
First things first; let’s role-play. It’s 127 Hours, we’re James Franco, and we’re stuck in a mountainous area, between a rock and a hard place.
Now we’re back at Fluid MotorUnion. The 500SL doesn’t have many good aftermarket suspension options (short of physically shortening the stock springs).
Both of these situations require only one solution: Cut the arms down to size.
And that’s exactly what we did to achieve a solid drop on all four corners.
For the front control arms, all we needed to do was cut out the spring perch from the top of the hollow control arm, weld it to the bottom of the control arm and boom, there’s your drop. Since we’re all about safety and increased rigidity and whatnot (not unlike Trojan or KY’s business interests, I suppose), we also planned to weld some additional strength to the front arms. After all, we like things leaving the shop in a more bulletproof state than when they arrived.
Here’s a shot of the front control arm with the perch cut out, followed by gratuitous shots of Tom making sparks, followed by the results of the front arm modifications:
The rear arms were a bit more interesting to modify. Since the spring perch already sits at the bottom of the hollow arm in the rear, we had to add material to drop the perches by a couple inches. Tom, however, remained unfazed by this, and set about creating some pretty boss rear control arms:
So we’ve got them together, and the next step is to slap ’em back into the SL and see how low they get us. Stay tuned!
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