Smart 451 Rear Bodywork Removal and Engine Cradle Lowering
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- Опубліковано 30 лип 2024
- In this episode on Project Brabus, I'm removing the rear body panels and lowering the engine cradle subframe onto special Mercedes service bolts.
Smart Tech Series Playlist: • Smart ForTwo Tech Series
Instagram: @pbgaragelive
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0:00 Scope of Work
0:25 Bodywork Removal
5:02 Issues Removing Body
7:24 Issues with Car
9:00 Long Bolts For Lowering
10:27 Cradle Lowering
13:40 Conclusions and Issues - Авто та транспорт
Your Video is much appreciated and nicely done. Very 'real-world' approach. We have a Brabus and thoroughly enjoy it as our daily 'puddle jumper'. Nice views of what is beneath the panels and how everything looks from normal use. Fantastic for DIY. Great voice and commentary; also enjoyed the subtle injection of humor. Wrench turners are a unique and special group of folks. Thanks so much for your time in making this video. We consider the Brabus our Lambo-trainer because of the paddle shifting [which is something of a fun art-form]. And yes, jacking a car is serious undertaking, but your risk level was reasonable and acceptable. Please make more videos. We think the Brabus 451 is a peer to the 1957 Porsche Speedster [BUT - without rust, real A/C, a Tridion crash cage, airbags, electric assist steering and power windows]. The styling is spot on. And the front wheels being frangible for impact safety shows some high quality engineering.
I’m glad you enjoyed the video, thank you so much for the kind feedback!
Just did a clutch job on my 451 and removing that filter duct and intercooler + fan was a real pain. Wish I had tried those, really simple.
The bolts make life so much easier!
thank you so much! will be replacing my alternator tommorow forums werent super clear on how to do this. helps a lot!!
Glad it helped!
Those sub frame bolts are awesome looking I will be purchasing a set from my smart mechanic of 24 years here thank you I learned something new today
Nice Video - I always remove the back in one piece by removing the tailgate. I remove the two Nuts inside the trunk and place the tailgate into the trunk. By doing so there are no obstacles which prevent you from unbolting the back as a piece.
That would be a great way to do it for sure!
Thanks for showing. I used to use the rear bolts up front with a jack. Today I’ll be lowering it with the bolts. Needed to know how they went. That and I never had it that far down so all the hoses and cables wow . Again many thanks
Thanks for watching, appreciate the feedback!
@@PBGarageone of the bolt (had it out a year ago) is frozen. Got a better impact socket on the way and a bigger impact gun. Did the starter last year. My first taste of how hard it is. Now the high pressure pump ugh
Hello PB Garage,
Watched the video with great interest and now have dropped my cars engine cradle assy to the service bolt location. Ready to lift back into position, but parking brake "hole" is not clear on how to adjust and re-fit.
disassembly notes are so much appreciated and drop to "service position" went without any issues.
Cheers and great info.
P
The little flap at the end of the parking brake cable should slide back up into place, but if it gets hung up on the way in, sometimes I’ve had to remove the plastic cover on the ebrake handle inside the car and guide the little pad into the holder on the handle, might have to move the handle slightly too in order for it to slide in. From there it self adjusts so nothing more is needed than guiding it into the holder.
Ebrake was holding my engine cradle in place! Thanks for the tip. It really helped.
Glad to help out!
@@PBGarage how did you re-engage the ebrake upon lifting the whole assembly back up into place? I got mine back up, then noticed the ebrake handle in the car was raised (it had been down). Tried lowering it and lifting again, but I can feel it's not engaged. I should add that I made sure the rod went into the hole when I lifted the engine back up.
@@jodybond Yeah they can be a bit tricky to get the flat little rack to slide into the holder. I had to pull up the carpet to get in and guide it in properly, not just from in the engine bay.
@@PBGarage much appreciated!
What an absolute nightmare fixing this car ! The fact that you have to take the car apart and drop the engine to service alot of the major components,you would be wise to replace everything you can while its out of the car. What were the engineers at Smart thinking???LOL God bless you buddy that you have the know how and the patience to do this job
It’s not that bad once you know what you’re doing. Tough to package an entire car in a half a car footprint otherwise.
My Smart is at this point in need of repair of the PVC valve. My mechanic isn't up to doing the job. I just bought the car 3 months ago. It's running so bad now. I'm at a crossroads of fixing it or junking it. It has 78 k on it. It's in mint condition. It's going to cost me a small fortune if I keep it or cut my losses and sell it as is.
Wow that's a lot of work.
Excellent excellent video
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for sharing
No prob thanks for watching!
Good morning, thank you so much for the video, I wanted to ask you if you could kindly tell me how I can dismantle the intake pipe with the whole pipe resonator? Thank you
If you lower the engine you can get it out, but otherwise there really isn’t a good way to get it out without cutting it.
Super-Sketchy using those side jacks to support the vehicle while working on it..!!
I use my quickjacks now.
Great video
Thank you!
thanks for sharing this video man. Where can i buy those long bolts for 2008 Smart Fortwo?
I got them from the Mercedes dealer.
Can you do the headgasket with the engine dropped on those bolts> Mine needs doing so just wondering if its a full engine unit out of the car or just leave it on the extended bolts is enough room..? cheers
I haven’t tried to do one but I would think it’s totally doable on the bolts.
Brilliant thankyou. What year is this 451 given the rust ?
It’s a 2009 but spent it’s life in Montreal Canada which is super hard on cars in winter. They use some kind of road salt there that eats cars like I’ve never seen.
How about rear engine bay insulation pad, can it be fixed diy and if yes how to glue it back on to avoid fire damage ? Ty
As far as I know the pad is not glued in but just held in place with little push-on plastic clips. I’ve never tried to replace one, all I have done is cut away damaged portions to avoid the fire risk.
these bolts seem SUPER handy.. now are these something that stay in the car? or do you swap back to the OEM shorter ones after any service that reqiuires dropping the motor?
You can’t leave those bolts in, when you lift the motor back up you have to reinstall the factory short ones.
Wow, great video, quick question, do you need to drop the subframe to change out the ac compressor? Or is this something that can be shortcutted a different way, thanks!
I think you’ll have to drop it to get the compressor out, it’s jammed right up against the firewall otherwise.
Just put the rear subframe bolts in the front and hold the back up with a jack, drop it a couple inches, should be fine.
@@PBGarage awesome thanks for the help, bolts are on the way!
would you be able to replace the pc valve by dropping just the rear of the engine
I feel like you may even be able to do it without dropping the motor at all, the valve cover is quite easily accessible. But I haven’t tried doing a pcv valve yet.
Wow! why did you remove the fenders and tailgate? I swapped the complete engine/transaxle/frame from one car to another and never removed all the parts you did.
I was in the midst of a whole “restoration” of the car when I did this part so all that stuff was off for other things. Think of it as two separate videos in one. “Rear bodywork removal” as a guide. And then “engine cradle lowering” as a separate video. I just happened to do them both at once.
Do you know if the rear subframe on a 450 and 451 are the same?
I don't think so. Now whether or not one would bolt in to the other or not I have no idea.
I tried to buy some of the lowering bolts, but they are not available. I plan to make some, so can you please tell me the length of both the long and short ones, please. And also the length of the threads on each of the short and long bolts. Thank you. And yes your video was very helpful. My cable from the alternator to the starter and then to the battery got so corroded at the alternator that it stopped conducting current to the battery. And then trying to undo the nut on the alternator the stud broke off. So, I cut the wire off between the starter and alternator and am replacing it with a battery cable. No reason to replace the whole darn thing. And yes, now am replacing the alternator, as I have to now.
Well, no reply to my request for additional information...., sorry, not pleased.
However.... want to give anybody doing this some additional information.... there are some additional steps you need to do so that you do not cause any damage. You must remove the screws from the back plastic muffler cover and the clips when lowering the cradle, you must remove the ground wire on the passenger side and you must remove the wheel fender (not not the fenders... but the inside wheel fender thingins, sorry, not sure what the name is) attachments (both sides) to the engine cradle. Once you do all of this, then you can pretty much do all that you need to do to lower the cradle without damage, including what is said in the video. I would recommend removing both sides of the wheel fenders thingins for this process.
Ok, PB Garage.... do you review your comments..... sure, would like to know????
Oh, and yes, I have successfully completed replacing my alternator and replacing the power cable from the alternator to the starter...!
255mm and 295mm lengths
What were the bolts that you used for the cradle?
They are an OEM Mercedes part number, 9:45 is where I show it.
OMF Dude, please go and buy some car stands! My anxiety levels are over the roof watching those sissor jacks! 😳
I use the quick jacks now lol but the scissors were rock solid
@@PBGarage I feel better now thanks! 😅
Got a video on that DYI special tool?
If you mean the serpentine belt tensioner tool, I’ve got a video on replacing the alternator that you can check out. ua-cam.com/video/ocvqNg0jQpY/v-deo.html
@@PBGarage I meant making it or just showing it's components.
Those scissors look like dominoes ready to fall.
Surprisingly stable. I had them at right angles so if you push on the car on the short side of one jack it’s on the long side of the next jack.
That being said, I use my quick jacks now on the smart cars. Just gotta slide them under the car left to right instead of front to back.
do you need to remove the rear quarter panel to replace one of the rear tail light bulbs ?
No, you should be able to open the little window in the trunk area and pull out the bulb holder from there to replace taillight bulbs.
@@PBGarage Thank you. I am in Australia and looking at buying a 2011 451 on the weekend. Your video was very helpful on what to look for. I was a mechanic in my younger days, but past full on stuff these days.
@ChrisBrown-ux8jn I wish we had rust free Aussie cars to buy here! That’s the big killer for us.
@@PBGarage The main problem in Australia, is the availability of parts. In theory we should be able to get therm from Mercedes dealers but in practice its not that easy. I am going to attempt to get the frame lowering bolts you talked about.
@ChrisBrown-ux8jn we are having similar issues here now, the Mercedes’ dealers aren’t really supporting them since 2018. You can still get parts but prices are going up and so are delivery times. I’m sure the parts will start drying up soon too.
It was not easy to get the part number for the cradle, can you give it to me please?
Do you mean the part number for the extended bolts?
@@PBGarage yes the part number of the extended bolts
@@PBGarage I have not heard from you, it is the part number of the cradle bolts
@@enjoytodaylife I just watched the video and noted that he showed the bolts in question with the part number at 9:52 in the video. The part number is 450 589 00 62 00. I did a Google Search with the part number and found a listing for the bolts on eBay so it appears the number is still current.
@@PBGarage k
No part 2?
There’s a whole playlist on this car, or are you looking for something specific?
I’ll take anything and everything about this car… thanks… I will try and follow you and or look for that playlist… right?
Evilution suggests removing the rear boot hatch, to then remove the entire rear clip as one part
Rear boot hatch like the tailgate?
@@PBGarage yes mate
Have to try that next time.
No need, the rear bumper comes off, slides under the boot hatch
Aren’t you scared the car will full using these car jack instead of using stand jack for security ?
They're actually RV stabilizing jacks I've decided to use to lift my smarts. They're a lot beefier than the usual scissor jacks you'd use for changing a tire. They were always super strong but I've since started using my Quickjacks to lift the car.
Not very safe with the car resting on those jack. One bit of forward movement and down it will come. Otherwise a great helpful video.
The jacks are laid out on 45s, not perpendicular to the car. I gave it a real good shake before getting under it. That being said I use quick jacks now.
Is this like the 453 smart cars?
I haven’t done a 453 yet so I’m not really sure unfortunately. But I suspect it’s similar.