My Mk3 GS430 Daily Driver Build

[Las Palmas]

Really impressed by the work you are capable of doing.

Yes the wheels look far better without the chrome thing on them. Long time ago chrome was needed for a car to be luxury, but luckily not now.

LPG probably is cheaper to drive with, but is it cheap or just not so expensive?

Looks better than the old MB300SEL 6.3 we were driving when gasoline was not really known as polluting. Probably as comfortable as well.

 

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/classic/take-moment-gawp-mercedes-300-sel-63

[Mike_Mac]

1 hour ago, Las Palmas said:

Really impressed by the work you are capable of doing.

Yes the wheels look far better without the chrome thing on them. Long time ago chrome was needed for a car to be luxury, but luckily not now.

LPG probably is cheaper to drive with, but is it cheap or just not so expensive?

Looks better than the old MB300SEL 6.3 we were driving when gasoline was not really known as polluting. Probably as comfortable as well.

 

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/classic/take-moment-gawp-mercedes-300-sel-63

Thanks - new wheels are on and TPMS is sorted (finally, no dash lights!). Just need to deep clean the car and I’ll get some photos up.

LPG equates to about mid-40’s to the gallon or about 13 ppm ish. Lot better than petrol and I do a fair mileage. It’s about 80 ppl now, but you can still find a few garages around 60, it is less economical but the price still makes it very worthwhile.

[BarneyTT]

On 10/7/2021 at 11:40 PM, Mike_Mac said:

(no way is a stock 'box going on there - way too quiet)

And expensive!........ Despite that I replaced the v-pipe/back boxes and went OEM on mine, the last thing I wanted was anything that would spoil the "waft-like silence"😉 .

[JDM-Fiend]

On 10/13/2021 at 11:23 AM, BarneyTT said:

And expensive!........ Despite that I replaced the v-pipe/back boxes and went OEM on mine, the last thing I wanted was anything that would spoil the "waft-like silence"😉 .

I bet it's nice having the relative silence. 

I've got a custom exhaust on mine but I test drove a few GS430's with the stock system on and the acceleration catches you off guard with the quieter exhaust. I quite liked it.

The GS430 = The Gentleman's Super Saloon 

[BarneyTT]

7 hours ago, JDM-Fiend said:

I bet it's nice having the relative silence. 

I've got a custom exhaust on mine but I test drove a few GS430's with the stock system on and the acceleration catches you off guard with the quieter exhaust. I quite liked it.

The GS430 = The Gentleman's Super Saloon 

Everyone is different, I just love the near silence and smoothness of the V8. I can see how the delivery of power could catch you out if your more used to some sort of engine note.

The Gentlemen's Super Saloon, that's not a bad analogy......if we can be classed as "gentlemen" of course😁.

Having said all that, the V8 does sound nice when coupled with a more free-flowing exhaust😉.

[Mike_Mac]

3 hours ago, BarneyTT said:

Having said all that, the V8 does sound nice when coupled with a more free-flowing exhaust😉.

Well mine will be in on Monday, so I'll know by the end of the week. Suspect it'll be quiet, though; as I said, it wasn't too loud with half of it hanging off!! 😄

[Mike_Mac]

Not GS related, but has relevance in the whole 'suspension setup' theme - I've just finished changing out my XKR's coilovers for a full set of XK (softer) ones.

I'll be doing a fair bit more work on the XKR over the next few months (it's due a bit of attention as I've been focusing on the GS a lot in the last year), but I will keep future videos off this thread, as it's not exactly GS-related 😇 Just thought it may be of interest...

[Mike_Mac]

Back to more GS-related things, a long time back now I installed OE flappy paddles, and they actually work perfectly - see here:

 

 

[JDM-Fiend]

2 hours ago, Mike_Mac said:

Back to more GS-related things, a long time back now I installed OE flappy paddles, and they actually work perfectly - see here:

 

 

Great job this Mike! I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to do the wiring part.

 

Reminds me of my younger days of swapping a Civic EK9 steering wheel into my Civic Coupe. Made a huge difference to the driveability of the car. 

 

Are the paddles more responsive than the gearbox back and forth limiter?

[Mike_Mac]

7 minutes ago, JDM-Fiend said:

Great job this Mike! I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to do the wiring part.

 

Reminds me of my younger days of swapping a Civic EK9 steering wheel into my Civic Coupe. Made a huge difference to the driveability of the car. 

 

Are the paddles more responsive than the gearbox back and forth limiter?

Yes, they are - not because the gearbox is doing anything different - but because it’s a far quicker action to flick a paddle with your hands already on the wheel, rather than reaching down to the shifter and then physically pushing/pulling it repeatedly!

 

The wiring’s also actually quite simple - just some splicing and crimping.

[Linas.P]

... I was about to ask what you did with ACC button... but you answered that in video. 

I actually found it quite strange that GS didn't have paddles wired, because for example in my IS there are all wiring for ACC, despite it having no ACC... well I guess the answer... some IS had ACC, some didn't and therefore wiring was there in case they had. But GS never had paddles so there was no point of wiring that in the loom at all. 

That said... in theory IS wheels with ACC button exists, they are just rarer than unicorn farts... so you could have both paddles and ACC. I suggest to look for IS250C wheels, because those had ACC little bit more often than normal IS250s. 

[JDM-Fiend]

1 hour ago, Mike_Mac said:

Yes, they are - not because the gearbox is doing anything different - but because it’s a far quicker action to flick a paddle with your hands already on the wheel, rather than reaching down to the shifter and then physically pushing/pulling it repeatedly!

 

The wiring’s also actually quite simple - just some splicing and crimping.

That's good to know, it's the one real criticism I have about my GS430 is that the IS steering wheel is far nicer in terms of feel plus the paddles.

Thanks, I'll have a think about it. I've got a full leather GS steering wheel to fit in order to replace that horrid wood effect, which doesn't feel nice when driving.

[Linas.P]

It definitely looks better as well. 

[Mike_Mac]

2 hours ago, Linas.P said:

... I was about to ask what you did with ACC button... but you answered that in video. 

I actually found it quite strange that GS didn't have paddles wired, because for example in my IS there are all wiring for ACC, despite it having no ACC... well I guess the answer... some IS had ACC, some didn't and therefore wiring was there in case they had. But GS never had paddles so there was no point of wiring that in the loom at all. 

That said... in theory IS wheels with ACC button exists, they are just rarer than unicorn farts... so you could have both paddles and ACC. I suggest to look for IS250C wheels, because those had ACC little bit more often than normal IS250s. 

The problem is that some of the wires for ACC and paddles overlap at the clock spring  (IIRC).
 

I was going to install my own switch and wire it in, as there was a way to do it that I’d found, but in the end it wasn’t worth the effort (although the ISC wheel is an interesting point…

[Mike_Mac]

1 hour ago, JDM-Fiend said:

That's good to know, it's the one real criticism I have about my GS430 is that the IS steering wheel is far nicer in terms of feel plus the paddles.

Thanks, I'll have a think about it. I've got a full leather GS steering wheel to fit in order to replace that horrid wood effect, which doesn't feel nice when driving.

IS wheel is better feeling to me too!