[W126 Coupe] lowering suspension

[Bruce Mendel]

You can play with the alignment too....put some negative camber in the front tires to get it to turn in a bit better and not understeer (plow) as much. 

With rear roll bar, if you make one custom, make it thick diameter and stiffen the mounts. That will also help with turn in, but getting the rear of the car to rotate more and give less understeer, which you probably figured out by now is the biggest problem in the corners.

Bruce
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Mike R. 
  To: 'Mercedes Coupes Mailing Lists' 
  Sent: Sunday, February 04, 2007 10:40 AM
  Subject: Re: [W126 Coupe] lowering suspension


  In a stock condition, the SEC is indeed pretty bad in a corner, but it is a world class highway cruiser  that can be modified into a car that does just fine on a track. Kirk Salvatore campaigned one in the Seattle area for years.

   

  For your purposes, put in a set of H&R lowering springs. That will stiffen up the suspension and lower the car. New shocks will help and in your case since it won't spend much time on city streets, the heavy duty Bilsteins will do fine or a set of adjustable Koni's. H&R makes a set of springs for an SEC with self-leveling suspension and a different set for a car without the SLS. To keep the car balanced, put on all four springs from the lowering kit.

   

  Get a set of 17" or 18" rims, 8.5" wide on the front and 9.5" on the rear. The front roll bar is VERY difficult to replace so it's pretty much what you have to use. The back one isn't hard to replace but without changing the front one at the same time, it will unbalance the car. I'd suggest at least a set of ATE slotted rotors all around and some semi-metallic brake pads. Larger rotors would be a good thing, but they're hard to find for an SEC this old. Brand new brake fluid is a must. I didn't flush the system on my SEC and after four laps on Laguna Seca track, my brakes had faded away completely. It made the hairpin at the end of the front straight VERY interesting!

   

  You have a very heavy car that is very rarely put on a track in earnest. Not much specialty technology out there that will assist you but the normal race car prep will help. Lighter is faster, more power is faster, wider tires help as well. A 500SEC is lighter than a 560SEC but the 560 has more power. You might want to look into the differences to determine which one will give you a quicker path to a faster car. FYI, an '86 and newer 560 engine won't drop into an '85 or older SEC without a significant rewiring. 

   

  Later,

  Mike R.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  From: mbcoupes-bounces at mbcoupes.com [mailto:mbcoupes-bounces at mbcoupes.com] On Behalf Of Divov
  Sent: Saturday, February 03, 2007 9:41 AM
  To: mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com
  Subject: [W126 Coupe] lowering suspension

   

  Hi,

  I have embarked on racing my W126 500SEC in a standard production class of Historic racing.

  The car is absolutely stock standard and I would like to gradually improve it for each race meet.

  Of course the car is not ideally suited for racing, particularly on a tight circuits - but boys will be boys...

  After the first race I can report that she's a pig in the tight corners. (we are on road tyres!)

  Mercifully I kept her on the black stuff and didn't make too much of a fool of myself!

  I really had a lot of fun but I want to go faster next time out.

  My car has always stood particularly high in the front.

  The first thing I want to do before the next race is to lower the suspension.

  I see from the members cars that many are lowered so I hope to get some tips from the guys who have done it.

   

  How do you lower the rear suspension with all that self levelling kit?

  Lowering the front, do you get shorter stiffer springs or lop a piece off the standard springs?

   

  Any input would be greatly appreciated.

   

  Regards

   

  Alec Divov

  (Kyalami - South Africa)



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  The MB Coupes Website!
  W126 SEC Mailing List
  Postings remain property of MB Coupes, L.L.C.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.pairlist.net/pipermail/mbcoupes/attachments/20070204/2fb55015/attachment.htm