W116.org

The short of it is that this 4spd manual 280 belonging to selfor50 came to a halt after being hit by a kangaroo.  Although destined for the track it wasn't supposed to involve much work but since that accidental skippy clash the challenge of turning the 280 into a race car has increased somewhat.

The plan is to use bits and pieces of that yellow 280 I wrecked for body parts and the red 280S for mechanical bits.  The panel work will be the hardest part to get right before it undergos the weight loss routine.  So here's some pics of where I'm at so far. 

The pick up


the drop off


the damage


the donors


not sure about adding a spoiler yet.


The progress

Gee Oscar, thats quite a project you've got there, and quite some progress already. 

It looks as if you are lucky that the front chassis leg is not damaged - is this the case?

Make sure you keep the aluminium VIN tag off the discarded cross member of this new track car. 

Is this a solo project, or is SELfor50 helping you?

AND - Im sure the best part is, telling your wife "you see - all those parts I kept - they are being used! - and soon after I stored them!" bonus points for you dude. 

That front chassis member is good.  I was trying to do a few measurements yesterday with dowel and comparing with the red 280.  It was a mazing to see that a 'roo did that much damage but typically, only the legs would've contacted the bumper.

Funny you mention the ID tag.  I threw that top rad support to the side on top of the other junk and thought about that tag.  "I must remember it".  I have to ask more questions later because this 280 isn't an Aussie delivered car but I'll get some info about it later and post to try and find out what year it is.

selfor50's about 360km away unfortunately.  So it's most likely that the next time we meet the car will be finished..  I don't think I've chatted to anyone on the forums that wasn't at least 2hrs away or more.

oscarette's response so far - "oh wow."  Not Oh WOW as if impressed.  It's more a case of out of sight out of mind.  I've still got a few more places for parts storage.  I haven't even begun to use the roof cavity of the house.

holy crap!
that is some serious force.  you are right into it. i think you need to go west Oscar...aside from the fact life is peaceful there, we need to see more of your crazed
116 antics over here.
interesting 280, must have been modestly quick.  oel cooled euro engine with 4 speed - where did it come from?

ryan, your comment about telling the wife made me laugh. last night i had to get the approval to make a bid on something i hope to have news on today...at 190cm or so, i
was trembling in front of my 155cm wife asking permission to buy another vehicle

jesus, did that kangaroo explode!! you guys are making me envious with your Manual 116s....., Is there anyway to make a 450 into a manual?

AFAIK, the only way to make a 450 a manual is to find a 350 manual and use its gearbox.  But nothing is impossible.  I shouldn't say "the only way".  I can imagine that with the right money and engineering expertese of pros that there may be many manual transmissions suitable but with signficant mods including the adaptor housing and connections to allow it to be slotted in.  Obviously the most sought after conversion would be to find something that would be as close to a drop in replacement as possible with little modification.  Who knows what might be out there.  In the end though it might be easier to do a whole engine and tranny swap from something else that may not even be MB.  Thought that would defeat the purpose of a manual 450.

Apparently the kangaroo was still on the side of the road rotting away but I forgot to go see how big it was.  It was a big one and luckily Cam didn't hit on the half volley otherwise it would have come back and wrecked the windshield, a-pillar and roof.

Nathan, as far as where it came from, it was owned by a Uni student in Canberra, or someone in Canberra, then onto selfor50 who only had it for four days before this happened.  If it wasn't a manual it would've been dispensed with I reckon.  But I don't know its origins and I'd love to know.  I'm not at home right now but the oel cooler is the same setup as the red 280s.  However, the red 280S has the Aus compliance plate and radiator support options code plate.  This manual one has no options code plate or aus compliance plate on the firewall.  From memory, the chassis code was 116 020 60, or 116 024 60  I can't remember what 60 means but I think it's to do with RH manual and one of those numbers means it's german made.  Although I can't remember which, the plate says "Made in Germany"

Oscar, I think that would be 116 020 60

020 is 280S, 60 means South African (6) built manual (0) - I *think* though I 'm happy to be corrected.  South African built cars do not have options code plates. 

Nathan, yeah, I know, its all about getting permission.  BUt it can turn around on you - I am wanting to sell my 450SL and the W140, and now she says - ah but I like that new one (ie the W140).  Now I need permission to sell it....

That's interesting.  Is there any other way to confirm SA build?  There's no documentation, only the ID plate.  I'll take a photo when I finnish work and post it.

If you look at the VIN on the firewall, on south African cars there is a gap after the VIN, then the paint code is stamped.  I guess cause there is no options plate to put the paint code on. 

My 280SE also has the paint code stamped into the cross member above the radiator. 

Wow, makes my centre console effort seem pretty lame, well done Oscar!

Regards,

Carl.

Thanks Carl, but given my experience of wrecking one w116, what's been done so far was admittedly pretty easy in comparison to the upcoming rebuild and making it look like nothing happened.  That's going to be a real test.

sclass, a couple of pics.  Haven't been able to find a paint code anywhere, but given the amount of overspray in various places I wouldn't be surprised if a tag was removed or stamped numbers filled and painted over.  None of the doors or sills have stickers and even the refuelling lid has had filler applied to the inside, sticker removed and repainted with no holes visible now that are usually there.




the firewall rubber cutout is just out of frame on both sides but there were no more numbers or letters.  There's no other similar cutouts either.

Sorry Oscar, I think I may have mislead you.  I've just checked up on my 280SE.

On the firewall is has :

VIN (space) CDA number (space) paint code.

The CDA number is the sequence number from the South African plant.  Now thinking about it, my car is a very late one - I don't know how long they had the practice of putting the CDA  number there. 

Oscar's doing a great job on this already!!

As he said, I had it for 4 days and was travelling down to Victoria to march on Anzac day..  Bout 11pm at night, foggy - and bam kangaroo was right in front of me.
Hit the anchors (hence the crazy flatspot on the tyre) swerved right, half off the road, he bounced across and made sure i hit him.  I spun into the ditch, and luckily there were no trees on that stretch in the middle of the road.

The roo is still there rotting, but in a couple pieces stretching about 2-3m along the road.

As for the 4 speed behind a 450, I know there was a guy I was going to buy that 5speed off that was hangin off the 450 M117 engine.  But he mentioned it had problems with being stuck in gear etc. He claimed it was only the linkages, and as I'm miles away I wasn't going to go and buy it off him.  Pretty sure it was a 280 5 speed with adapter plate sitting behind the m117.
Don't reckon a 280 5 speed would handle the torque of the 4.5L.  Probably same scenario with the 280 box, even being MB I dont' think it would be up to the stress of being thrashed with that much torque bearing down on the gears..

On the side Oscar, you know i'd actually love to come down your way one weekend (maybe on the way to sandown?!) and help you work on the beast.  It's the least I can do!!

On the way to Sandown??  I'll be driving it there    No I wont. Would love to though if it was ready but not sure what to do about registering it if at all.  It's a PITA that distance prevents more of a joint effort on whatever cars need attention but anyway.  I'm just hanging out to throw tools at it again.  3 more days of work to go.

Bit of an update.  Spent most of the afternoon degreasing, high pressure hose, degrease, high pressure hose and no matter how hard I try, some gunk just don't want to come off.  But it's an improvement. 

I also cut up the spare front and test fitted.  Tomorrow I'll do some fine tuning with the grinder to make surethe piece fits as close as possible to being perfect.  The innerguard is going to be the most challengin part.  Too much off and it will look crap and need filling.  Butt joins all round is what I'm going to attempt to do.

Before and after



more of the engine



Test fitting the front