Back on the road

Got the following installed:

• New rear suspension arms
• New rear sway bar links
• New front sway bar bushings
• New drag link
  

Also got the car emissions tested and registered so she's officially mine. Noticed a couple of other minor issues:
Intermittently it misses, based on the way it's doing it, I think it's plug wires
Every once in a while there is a groaning from the power steering. Likely replacing the filter will fix this (which I already have)
I also ordered a set of #3 front spring pads so that I can raise the front of the car about 10mm. Eventually I might get Sportline springs, but I'm going to give the H&R's a chance. I also got a set of #2 pads for the rear. Currently the car has #1 in the front and #3 in the rear. I'm going to put the #3's up front, and see if I need to add the pads on the rear to level it.
Other items on the todo list are:

• Brake fluid flush
• Coolant flush
• Shocks
• Alignment

Cost: New spring pads: $60

Pimpy

Put an old Momo in the car. A bit sacrilegious in a Mercedes, but this is about feel not looks. I'll probably replace it later with an all-black Momo Competition, but this should give the car a little sportier feel and a little more space in the cabin. That stock wheel just felt like it was meant for a boat not a car.
Later I'll pull the airbag warning light. I always use my seatbelt, so I don't have much use for an airbag anyway.

Cost:

• Momo Hub: $75
• Momo Race Wheel: free, already had it lying around
  

New wheels

Got these off Craigslist for $200. They are a 16"x8" version of the wheels it already had. I also had some 225 tires already, so I slapped them on. Here is a pic:
Also got the oil change, transmission flushed, and the front upper strut mounts installed.

On closer inspection I discovered that the car has H&R springs already installed, but they appear to be installed on stock shocks. With the lower ride height, and poor damping, the new tires do rub in the front, so I'll need to address that. I plan to raise the ride height a little with some pads, and then eventually get Koni's, but it's entirely possible that a tire this big won't work on this car. If that's the case then I'll have to get some SLK staggered wheels, as those are probably the best fit.

I also discovered that the rear thrust arms are bent, on both sides. If you look closely you can see the rear wheels aren't centered in the wheel well, they are slightly forward. This probably happened in the accident that totaled the car. I planned to replace them anyway, but this accelerated my plans.

I just ordered:

• Full set of rear Meyle control arms
• New drag link
• New front sway bar bushings
• New rear sway bar links

Total: $287

Next Round of Parts

• Transmission pan seal
• Steering damper
• Both upper strut mounts

That should stabilize the front end so that I can drive the car some, then do the full rebuild later.

Cost: $75

Up on Jack Stands

Finally got it up on jack stands. Had to go get a factory jack from a junk yard ($10) as the car sits too low for my floor jack. Overall it looks good. Don't see any sign of frame damage. Here are the notes:

• Front brakes are in great shape, will just do a fluid flush
• Rear brakes need pads
• Suspension bushings all around are worn out, torn, or cracked
• Front ball joint seals are cracked

Overall not bad, expected worse. Can't see if the shocks are blown or not, but don't see any oil leaking. Still plan to replace with Koni's, but might wait for that till I've driven it a little, we'll see. Bilstein TC's are $410 for a set of 4, Koni's are $615, so the Koni's aren't much more than the cheaper TC's.

I also pulled the air filter housing to look under and see if there were any obvious issues, don't see any.

No tint

The tint that was in it was affecting vision too much so I removed it. Fortunately it was cheap tint so it came out easily. Unfortunately now you can see the ghetto speakers very well (under the blanket...maybe I'll leave it there)

Damage

Pulled the carpet to get a closer look at the damage repair on the back. Honestly it doesn't look as bad as I though it would. There is a slight kink on the frame rail right behind the shock. This tells me that the left side of the truck is likely pushed down slightly, so the trunk is never going to align right. However, it's behind the shock mount, so that makes me hopeful that the suspension alignment is ok.

I'll get in there and sand/treat the rusty spots, and clean out the wells, get rid of the rust tint.