11 July 2025:
The interior project continues. And yes, the above pictures are only part of the mess. So much time consuming figuring, cutting, welding, screwing up, and redoing were involved. There are some things that have to be done right because safety is on the line. Steering is one of those things. The R170 (and hence, the Crossfire) uses an "old" style steering shaft and coupling system that went away in just about all Mercedes Benz of the next generation. Since W209 was actually close to two generations newer than R170 (W203, then W209), the steering needed updating to accommodate the full power steering column. Yes! We will have power up/down and in/out on this setup! Here's a comparison of the R170 vs W209 steering shaft:
Crossfire shaft on top, CLK shaft on the bottom. CLK is slightly longer, but that's not the issue.
This is the steering column connection, and you can see the difference
Same thing on the steering gearbox side of the shaft. Totally different. Actually, CLK slides into yet another piece, but that's not important right now
So what is needed is a way to mate the W209 steering column with the Crossfire steering gear. To do that took some experimentation, but will save that to say that the easiest solution was to use the bottom half of the Crossfire shaft, and mate it to the W209 column piece. To do this, a couple of steering shafts were sacrificed to find the "proper" method to disassemble the u-joints in the shafts, and press them back together. Simple once you know the trick. Two other shafts had to die to get us there!
Final 'hybrid' steering shaft
The body parts of the u-joints that died to get us there.
Next, the fresh air intake of the W209 box is the same shape as the Crossfire, but in a totally different location and angle. So, arts & crafts time, kids! This is super ugly, but I didn't have the time to model and 3D print a proper piece. Perhaps in the future. In the mean time, I did utilize all of my CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) skills. This one is made of ABS sheets, JB Weld, and patience. Looks terrible, but is a completely passive part that no one is likely to ever see again. Publishing pics of this publicly shows my lack of pride!
Wiring progressed, and started getting neater, and more organized.
