Mercedes 450 w/ Chevy 350 engine and transmission

[twr]

Just found this Mercedes with a Chevy engine at Yahoo Auctions :
ID #: 89742896

[boneheaddoctor]

Originally Posted by twr

Just found this Mercedes with a Chevy engine at Yahoo Auctions :
ID #: 89742896

I would have used a Fuel injected engine..........

[Cateaux]

Originally Posted by boneheaddoctor

I would have used a Fuel injected engine..........

I would have used a Mercedes engine. I'm tired of Chevy people putting their engines in every other make. I think I'll buy a '57 Chevy Bel Air and put an MB diesel in it, just to give them a taste of their own medicine

[boneheaddoctor]

Originally Posted by Cateaux

I would have used a Mercedes engine. I'm tired of Chevy people putting their engines in every other make. I think I'll buy a '57 Chevy Bel Air and put an MB diesel in it, just to give them a taste of their own medicine

Well you are entitled to that opinion..........

THe LT1 is a damned good engine....

[Cateaux]

Originally Posted by boneheaddoctor

Well you are entitled to that opinion..........

THe LT1 is a damned good engine....

I'm not saying that Chevy didn't/doesn't make some good engines (along with some bad ones). My grandfather was a Chevy mechanic from 1953-1984, and my mother had a '57 Bel Air 4 door hardtop when I was a kid. I loved that car! My problem is that Chevy people often yank original engines from cars that I think should be preserved. I once saw a 1956 Chrysler 300B that had its original Hemi replaced with a 350. At a classic boat show a few years ago, I saw a mahogany ChrisCraft runabout from the 1930s that had its original Lincoln Zephyr V-12 replaced with a 350. The owner seemed really proud of ditching that V-12, too. I just know that somewhere out there, there is a 300SL Gullwing with a 350 in it.

[boneheaddoctor]

Originally Posted by Cateaux

I'm not saying that Chevy didn't/doesn't make some good engines (along with some bad ones). My grandfather was a Chevy mechanic from 1953-1984, and my mother had a '57 Bel Air 4 door hardtop when I was a kid. I loved that car! My problem is that Chevy people often yank original engines from cars that I think should be preserved. I once saw a 1956 Chrysler 300B that had its original Hemi replaced with a 350. At a classic boat show a few years ago, I saw a mahogany ChrisCraft runabout from the 1930s that had its original Lincoln Zephyr V-12 replaced with a 350. The owner seemed really proud of ditching that V-12, too. I just know that somewhere out there, there is a 300SL Gullwing with a 350 in it.

Well I would venture a guess that a Zephyr V-12 is not exactly a common engine nor cheap for parts....

And the fact many of these people want usability rather than concours eligibility...

70's Rolls Royce with a CHevy engine makes since when you consider the cost of rebuilding a stock engine....(camshafts is in the $2,500 range)

[michael cole]

an absurd bastardization!defiling the pristine purity of the marque

[boneheaddoctor]

Originally Posted by michael cole

an absurd bastardization!defiling the pristine purity of the marque

Its not bastardizing if they car will never be a concours restoration and it is not worth dumping cubic dollars into rebuiling stock....

[t walgamuth]

i probably would not put any us v8 into a benz. the benz motors are the most durable part. putting a chebby into a benz guarantees you will never get your money back. also tons of interface problems with the benz systems.

now a chebby into a rolls, would make more sense. the rolls engine is basicly a copy of the chebby 366 cu in. (i believe it is that one) with an aluminum block. the rolls has a turbo 350 or 400 tranny, too. old sixties or seventies rolls are not worth much anyway, so no great loss. in a rolls though i think there are a lot of high maintenance sub systems such as wierd power brakes and such and prob not much trouble with the motors.

Oil pans on MB engines are generally far forward on their blocks. Most American oil pans are midway in between the block. The cross frame in our MB's makes great difficulty for engine conversions.

I'd love to see how they installed that 350 just out of curiosity. MB engines are far smoother too. But I'd admit, it's a cheap alternative!

[PatrickW]

Originally Posted by Cateaux

I'm tired of Chevy people putting their engines in every other make. I think I'll buy a '57 Chevy Bel Air and put an MB diesel in it, just to give them a taste of their own medicine

This guy put a 6.5L diesel in his Corvette.

How cool is that...!

- Patrick

[boneheaddoctor]

Originally Posted by BusyBenz

Oil pans on MB engines are generally far forward on their blocks. Most American oil pans are midway in between the block. The cross frame in our MB's makes great difficulty for engine conversions.

I'd love to see how they installed that 350 just out of curiosity. MB engines are far smoother too. But I'd admit, it's a cheap alternative!

75-80 Chevy monza was availible with a small block Chevy....in a front sump configuration......which is the pan and pickup assembly you want for a Benz swap...You can get deep sump versions with extra capacity at any performance shop.

[Ganaraska]

Chevy V8's are cheap and common... in every sense. Am I the only one who remembers the chevs with camshafts made of compressed tinfoil in the mid 70's? Every parts store used to keep dozens of cam kits on the shelf, they all wore out their cams in 50,000 miles or less. These same engines had crumby pock marked block castings that looked like they were made out of old slag and probably were. The last decent Chev engine was the 1967 327 .

Some years back I helped install 2 Target Master engines in a span of one month, brand new from the local Chev dealer. One was in a pickup truck, the other in a Camaro. The first lasted 5000 miles, the second 20,000. Both blew in such a big way there wasn't a salvagable part left. This is very common. I know lots of Chev fans who think they are doing well to get a year out of an engine they have spent $10,000 building.

Let's face it, even if they have improved their quality in recent years that engine is now 50 years old. There is such a thing as progress, I can't believe people are still buying that obsolete old hunk of iron.

Anyone who would consider it a fit substitute for a Mercedes engine is a meathead. Any Mercedes V8 is 10 times the engine the Chev ever dreamed of being. And there are so many old Mercedes V8's in good running condition, that you can buy for peanuts, that it would be a lot easier and cheaper to buy a whole car than do such a conversion.

[boneheaddoctor]

And the Mercedes engines that routinely puke headgaskets is what? Or the Benz engine that Self destructs when the timing chain isn't promptly replaced at just over 100K miles...Plenty of GM's see 250k miles without head gasket issues and on the original timing chains...My brother has a truck that saw 450K miles on the original 350 engine...and it was used as a truck its entire life...not a people mover.

[Ganaraska]

If you have a Chevy truck that went 450,000 miles on the original engine you should call the Guinness Book of Records. Around here the average Chev truck goes through 4 or 5 engines in its lifetime and doesn't go half as far as yours did.

I used to be a GM fan. They had to drive me away and force me to stop buying their useless overpriced junk. If you have a decent Chevy hop up I know right now it a) has practically NO original stock Chev parts in it and b) is probably made out of a block from at least 25 years ago, before they completely sleazed out.

As far as hopping up a Mercedes why would you bother? A 5.6 litre (345 cu in) Mercedes will blow away the best small block Chev GM ever built in stock form and will outlive it by about 5 to 1 if properly maintained. Those Mercedes with bad timing chains and head gaskets WERE NOT properly maintained, as far as oil changes and correct antifreeze/coolant goes.