I’ll start by saying it’s November 2011. For a long time I’ve been toying with the notion of fitting a diesel engine to my R107 280SL. So now I’ve made a start.
Hopefully I’ll keep the words to a minimum and let the pictures do the talking.

Out with the old. It helps to have a two post hoist in the house garage. The easiest way is raise the car and leave the engine/subframe complete sitting on blocks.





The chosen new engine. An OM606.962 from a 1999 E Class W210 mated to a Getrag 717.412 ‘dog-leg’ box rescued from a W124 320TE complete with changer turret and flywheel/clutch.






Initial fitting determined the sump was badly fouling the 107 crossmember and that the easy way out would be to cut a largish chunk from the crossmember. Having just done that and welded up the damage I then discovered a recent upgrade to the UK annual vehicle testing regime (MOT) expressly prohibited modifications to any chassis member to within 12” of a suspension or brake mounting point. The car would never pass it’s test. Off to the breakers yard for another subframe and off with the sump for modifications and welding.



Despite being bolted back-to-back with a spare sump and having post-weld heat treatment the flange of the sump distorted more than ½” over it’s length. Back to the drawing board.

Construct new sump from 1” flatbar flange and 2mm steel plate. .




Note the exponential slope to the rear shallow part to allow for good oil drainage.



PortaPower hydraulic body kit and homemade press stand makes for easy metal forming.



With the engine now clearing the body and subframe a few tests with a straightedge shows that there is little hope of the original driveshaft being anywhere near close enough to align properly. There’s no choice but to make completely new engine feet and eventually a totally different design driveshaft.




Fabricated from 6mm and 4mm steel here are the new engine feet.







All sat on new mounts from a 500SL with new brackets to connect to the engine shockers.




And a new rear crossmember after I discovered some bad corrosion in the original..





More later...



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