E-man's FrankenBenz Project

[Yesmar]

Hell Yeah Man!!!   thats awsome!  your going to have a MEAN auto!!   i cant wait to see it finished!  iv been watching..hey when that thing is done we have to meet up.. i love the black. your doing a top notch job    keep us updated!

im a big fan of that 6.9 in an se.
Much Support!

[oscar]

Nice job on the engine mount.  Completely forgot about the dry sump set up too.   The "cut and paste" looks pretty damn accurate on the inner gaurd there.

[E-man]

Got  a couple more pictures of the engine bay....  right now the starter is being rebuilt and should hopefully be installed within the next week. 

[s class]

E-man, do you have self-levelling rear suspension in the SE?

If not, the hydraulic pump on the 6.9 motor will not be needed.  In this case, you should remove the pump and its 'donut' drive piece (don't leave it on the end of the camshaft to drop off into the chain area!).   Install a blanking plate over the aperture in the cylinder head.  Running the pump dry could result in it seizing and shearing its drive with potential damage in the chain area. 

[E-man]

No SLS on the SE... the 6.9's hydraulic system (what's left of it) is sitting in my garage waiting for me to get off my lazy butt and sell.   

[Big_Richard]

im interested in a decent, second hand non leaking hydraulic pump.  theyre all the same around that era upto the 90s

[E-man]

Fifteen quarts of oil.

Four gallons of coolant.

8 new spark plugs.

New cap and rotor.

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Muah-hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! 

[zedster]

Fifteen quarts of oil.

Four gallons of coolant.

8 new spark plugs.

New cap and rotor.

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Muah-hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! 

LOL

[Yesmar]

YES!! Im happy for ya man!

[Hemersam]

Man, I take my hat off to E-man for taking on a project as extensive as this! By the time of the last few photos posted, they'd have taken me off to the insane asylum (earlier, probably).   
Hemersam

[oscar]

Good to hear E-man

[Big_Richard]

Out of interest, how is the ride height of the car at the front, with that massive 6.9 in there, on 4.5 springs? Does the car sit level ?

[Mr AMG]

Hi e-man, it looks good and good luck with it,  if I can make a suggestion, don't put the levelling suspension out of the 6.9 in the 450, just get some good heavy duty lowered springs and some new shocks, get rid of the levelling all together and you will have a good solid car to drive without all the headaches and expense.
   Also have you seen the 6.9 on you tube thats looks like that one but with a turbo on it? The turbo sat exactly where the fire damage is on the right side of the engine. I don't think it's the one but it's worth a look.


  Anyway good luck and have fun wth it, once you've gone w116 you won't go back!!   

[1974450SEL]

Congrats!!!!  Enjoy the fruits of that enormous labor!!

[E-man]

Thanks a bunch guys, I too am very happy with the progress that's been made so far.  Of course I have to give most of the credit to my awesome mechanic Mean Gene for the bulk of the work and coming up with solutions for all of the tricky stuff.  This week the exhaust will go on, and hopefully I'll be able to drive it home by the end of the month.  Of course, that's when I'll have to start pulling out the interior and swapping in what's been pulled (and cleaned) from the 6.9's, as well as troubleshooting everything else (like why won't the windows go down, etc).  During that time I'll also be getting the exterior cleaned up too.... there's the annual Mercedes Club GTG in August that I want to have this ready for.  Oh yeah, and I'm also going to have the car dyno'd too.
Ride height is just fine.  From the research I've done the weight difference between the two engines is 50kg.  Then figure that we pulled out the air conditioner and air pump and a few other heavy bits that sits up front, and things balance out a little more nicely.  I also scored a euro-style front bumper from an early 70's 450 that we'll be replacing the front US-spec diving board-style bumper with, so I'm guessing that the final weight penalty should be pretty negligible.  Will get more pictures posted as soon as possible.
It also ended up taking 17 quarts of oil... after initially putting in 15 and then running it, since the entire system was empty it needed two more to top it off.  Don't think I'll have to change that oil for a looooooong time.