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E-man's FrankenBenz Project

Started by E-man, 12 January 2009, 11:53 PM

Yesmar

- Ramsey

E-man

The donor 6.9 stripping has finally been completed...  there's almost nothing left of use or value on the car, so it will be hauled off to the big junkyard in the sky within the next week.  Next up my mechanic will be bringing in the 450 to begin drivetrain removal, and I'll be cleaning up the interior bits (mostly seats and floormats) which we'll be swapping.   

Squiggle Dog

Wow, interesting! My 3.0 liter 300SD seems like a fast car. I wonder what it would be like to drive basically the same car only with a 6.9 liter engine. I live in Tacoma, so you are somewhat local.
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1967 W110 Universal Wagon, Euro, Turbo Diesel, Tail Fins, 4 Speed Manual Column Shift, A/C
1980 W116 300SD Turbo Diesel, DB479 Walnut Brown, Sunroof, Heated Seats, 350,000+

oscar

E-man, fantastic project.  Haven't seen a 6.9 transplant into an SE before.  Can't believe how much you've done already. Great stuff  8)  I was amazed to read the 50kg difference in weight between the M117 and M100.   Then again, trying to lift 50kg's (or close to it) of cement bags in the past, it's heavy.  But I reckon most would've thought the difference to be a lot more.
'
Good luck with the project.
1973 350SE, my first & fave

Zuendfolge

Wow what a great cars!
Too bad for the 6.9, but it's good that it did not burn to the ground (blame those hot Kathalic converters!  >:( )

I always loved that brown tan interiors!! Here in Europe most cars are Blue of Black inside. The newer 6.9 also features the coloroud Dashboard in Brown with the loudspeakers up top. But I can understand all the work needed to exchange.
Hope you don't miss to much cables that were burnt...

Good luck and thanks for sharing!!!!

Zund
450SE 1977

Zuendfolge

Hi,
Another thing.
I noticed that your 450SE does not seem to have the special struts on the back axle that prevent the car's back from diving in while accelerating (koppelachse).
I know that the 450SE is supposed to have them, as also you can see on the pics of mr Bateman (revising his back axle).

Was this not featured on US models?



Here they are just behind the wheel mounting centre:

s class

The anti-squat/dive linkage would be useful.  I would suggest transplanting the rearsubframe in entirety, to get the antidive/squat, plus the 6.9 LSD.  The 6.9 sideshafts are also more heavy duty than the 450's. 


[color=blue]'76 6.9 Euro[/color], [color=red]'78 6.9 AMG[/color], '80 280SE, [color=brown]'74 350SE[/color], [color=black]'82 500SEL euro full hydro, '83 500SEL euro full hydro [/color], '81 500SL

E-man

Sorry for the lack of updates...  I was out of town for a couple of weeks, and unfortunately the paperwork to get rid of the body hasn't shown up yet.  It should be in this week, so once that's gone we'll have room to put the 450SE in the shop and start pulling the engine/tranny.  Hopefully in the next week I'll get some updated pictures of the cleaned up seats as well.  Stay tuned!  :)



E-man

Finally... some progress!  The hulk is gone, and the stripping of the 450SE drivetrain has begun. 

Here's both driveshafts right next to each other... the 6.9's is on the left.

This is the 450's tranny.  It has since moved to my garage.  Heavy. 

Here's the 450's differential.  Also now in my garage.  Also heavy. 

The 450's engine, now liberated from the chassis!

The empty engine bay, waiting for the 6.9!

chinny4290

Tuned in. Great project!!!

I'm with you on W124s. If you were curious, I have a 1994 E320 Coupe, b/b and love it!
1975 W116 280S - SOLD
1994 W124 E320 Coupe - Gone

CURRENT - 1974 450SEL

1974450SEL

Best of luck with that.  I just went thru a semi restoration on my 450 SEL.  It looked rough but came out of the body shop looking near new.  Luckily mine had a solid power train and I've only been fixing the typical little things that go wrong with a 35 year old car.  I've recently pulled the old Becker Radio out and put in a temp CD player till I can send it off for restoration at Becker of North America.  I Must say though the CD player does sound alot better, but the old Becker looked alot better.  I've kept all the various connections to splice back in when I decide to restore the radio but for now, I'll enjoy quality sound.  My next project is restoring the entire interior starting with the seats.  I have covers over those now but I've purchased some really good leather conditioner to restore the old MB Tex.  Anyhow, I do feel your pain and love for this car.  Its too bad you had to put 4.5 in the 6.9 but all of us have a budget and I understand that. 

E-man

I don't think you read my post correctly.  I'm not putting a 4.5 into a 6.9 car, I'm putting a 6.9 into a 450SE. 

1974450SEL

Aye, your right sorry about that.  That will be very nice when complete.

E-man

Once again a combination of being out of town and 6.9-specific technical difficulties have lead to a few weeks of slow progress, but things are back on track for now, so I've got some updates!  :)

This little bugger was what caused all the trouble...  a broken engine mount bracket.  Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but this one was aluminum.  Not sure why it's aluminum since the engine sure isn't, but oh well.  My awesome mechanic Mean Gene found a place that could take care of it, so we were back in business. 

Here's the 6.9 motor sitting happily (and quite snugly) in its new home! 


So the engine and tranny are hooked up, and it appears that the driveshaft will need to be shortened by about 2 inches before it can be connected... hopefully this won't take as long to find a solution as the bracket.  :)

E-man

Lots of updates, and a couple of pictures!  The driveshaft has been cut to size and installed, so the entire driveline is ready to go.  The radiator has been installed, as well as the steering and starter. 

Here's where the auxiliary oil container will reside...

...and here it is in place!
Next up is the engine wiring and all the other plumbing goodness... stay tuned!  :)