G wagen transplant m117 engine rebuild

[nathan]

the Gwagen 5litre m117 transplant is now officially making progress.  the mechanic has torn down the 1988 engine in preparation for reconstruction and is now tidying it up! he plans to convert this to K jet instead of the KE jet it had as its a simpler system and i plan to use my G infrequently as a submarine (ok, maybe not a fully submersed one).  couple of interesting points some of you may be able to chip in on
-post update 126s (with these 500s) came of two types, with outputs varying from 175kW or 195kW.
it seems i snared a higher out put one thankfully.  this is supposedly the case as it has
*the supposedly scarce tri y (two piece) headers (compared for one piece 'logs') which give an extra 15kW or so.
*on the engine block you can see after the number, symbol 'epsilon' 10,0, my mechanic tells me this means the compression ratio was 10.0 cf the standard 8.8
*the piston heads are not the low compression variety,which are deeper on the surface concavity

anyhow, attached are some pics




tri y headers before engine disassembly (hence dirty)

[TJ 450]

That's impressive... I see there is no mucking around at all! :-)

That is one nice M117 with those Tri - Ys and the 10.0:1 compression ratio and yes, those pistons would be quite highly regarded as well.

Tim

[robertd]

HI Nathan,
Nice Pistons, you guys keep pulling me back in just when I think I'm going to get out!
Cheers
Rob

[TJ 450]

Mr. RobertD,

Surely you wouldn't be loosing enthusiasm for M-Bs, particularly with your impressive collection? 

Tim

[nathan]

my sentiments exactly TJ.  anyhow RD, u havent bought a car in at least 3 months, is something wrong?

[Big_Richard]

there is no way in hell someone with 3 6.9's can be classified as loosing interest in MB's

if he sells them all and walks away, ill eat my hat 

[Big_Richard]

young nathan, i could be wrong, but has that intake manifold and the external surfaces of the crank case been painted ?

If not, i want to know what the hell is involved to make it look like that, and i want to know now 

[oscar]

Yeah ditto.  The first few shots look ex factory and I can't believe how clean the pistons are if they're not new.

[nathan]

you obviously do not know the riddle of steel!

true, there is some paint there. klaus washes everything in something called the 'robowash' at the star shop, then paints the external block.  the pistons are not painted, they are hand polished only!
keep in mind, this 500 has only had ultimate 98 cursing through its veins for the last 8000km which im assured keeps these engines very clean (after klaus opened up my G wagens m110 a few years back after 30000km on U98 only)...
still looks slick as hell though, and stays that way too (PB, you can check out the w114s 250 next time)

when he put the necessary bolts back in, he wire brushes them on a lathe!

i like it!

[Big_Richard]

I dare not ask how much this rebuild is costing, as i fear i might choak to death, so ill ask in person next time we meet.. 

[robertd]

Hi Guys,
The enthusiasm of owning 6.9's is like the share market, one day it's up the next day it's down.
Recently with the dreary wet Victorian weather and lack of quality time has culminated in a shed full of neglected, dusty, slowly sagging, heavy metal battleships each waiting for their own little bit of TLC that only a fellow 6.9( and other) owner can relate to.

Today I sorted some cold start problems out on the Silverardo, swapped out the cold start valve and  warm up regulator from a South African 350 SE I found at the wreckers yard. Perfect fit and problem solved.
Yes, the shares are up again.
cheers
Rob

[TJ 450]

Yes, I know what you mean Rob and with that many 6.9s there's sure to be any number of things that need attending to even for just regular maintenance.

My 6.9 is about to go over the pits for a rego inspection... I'm sure to get a reasonable list of things that need to be rectified even after the last year and a half of weekends worth of work. OK, I might be slightly obsessive, but that is a lot of time and there are still a few problems on the 6.9 alone, not to mention the other cars!

Let the panic attacks begin. 

Seriously though, I really enjoy working on and owning these cars, to the point where I wouldn't consider anything else.

BTW, Nathan. I immediately start thinking about that 380 M116 sitting in my bedroom looking at those pics... hmmm, the potential. I'm going to have to enquire about this cleaning process.

As the W126 will be my daily driver, it is going to be treated to a complete bottom end rebuild.

The question remains though, what can be done to those Alusil treated bores? It is my understanding that they rarely cause trouble and if they do, the surface etching needs to be replicated using a special process. My M116 has some slight scratches through the Alusil in the bores (whatever caused them must have been pretty hard).

Tim

[nathan]

Howdy all,
swung by the mechanics tonight...some good progress has been achieved on the 5-double 0. the transmission fellow hasnt started my tranny yet (there is no urgency as i have to wait for the 'engineer' to find time to mount it all anyhow!)...i also need to get the paint shop to cut the holes in some spare quarter panels for the factory air intakes on later models (you can see in the pic of the silver w463).
in the pics you might also fault that i have the sedan engine brackets. i havent yet given the mechanic my custom (ORC - Stuttgart based 4wd/Gwagen company!) engine brackets to mount.
these are seen in the picture of my precious golden lumps/brackets
come to think of it, i dont need to wonder why im so poor when i tally all this crap up!
regards
nathan

[TJ 450]

That's mighty impressive. I got a sneak preview when I dropped in with the M116 block... I'm certain it looks even better "in the metal"!

Tim

[Big_Richard]

it must be a very pleasurable experience to take ones time and rebuild an mb engine properly from the top to the bottom with attention to every detail.