Put an M120 in it.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

I guess I would say put in the most modern and powerful one that you can do feasibly....but if you want to go that way it might make sense to sell off this one and buy one with the engine in it that you want...?

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

The newer the engine, more work you need to put into it.

To start with, how much effort are you going to need to just get the car running with the original engine?

You say 500 scrap, maybe 2500 running. That's a 2K difference. If I were looking at the equation, I'd assume a lot less than 2500 as a potential sale price. It may only be 1000 euros profit, I have not bothered to tally all the incidentals that add up when doing a project like this, but they are out there and they can be significant.

Now realistically how much time you need to spend assembling the car. Now add all those trips to get replacements for all those things that are lost/broken/wrong/etc. I know I can spend a lot of time doing this....

Now, divide the value change by the number of hours you will spend on the project. The result can be pretty low.... What's your time worth?

Now to change the engine. Even more work and expense.

Given your situation, I'd punt the whole mess down the road for whatever cash I could muster for it. I don't think you've got the time to do this if your move out date is near.... You can always find another car to love.

Good luck,

Jim

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14 E250 BlueTEC black. 45k miles
95 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 66k miles
94 E320 Cabriolet Emerald green 152k miles
85 300TD 4 spd man, euro bumpers and lights, 15" Pentas dark blue 274k miles

Ummmm....

I 'm not always good at playing by the rules. If you...

Lower the piston deck height,
Machine bushing adapters to install gasoline injectors into prechamber,
Install NGK 10mm thread spark plugs in glow plug hole,
Adapt throttle body,
Install crank sensor and electronic engine management (Megasquirt?) that controls individual coils,
and tune appropriately

Presto, change-o! Gasoline engine!

I'm usually good with puns but this took a couple of readings to catch. It was because my frame of reference is different. Over here, only the folks on the east coast and north of the Mason-Dixon line are Yanks.

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When life gives you lemmings... make lemmingade.

That's a lot of work to come up with a lackluster five in a row gasser.

OTOH, think of how cool a V-12 123 would be. This is the engine I'm suggesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS3A1jJCkIQ

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

True, by today's standards it will be low power. But it will make more power than the original diesel engine. And there's tradeoffs on either side of this one. A complete engine, trans, and management change with auxilliary controllers, wiring harness, sensors, and related accessories is a large project. With the conversion the original mounts work, flywheel matches, radiator, hoses, coolers can all remain stock. Original wiring harness can remain mostly unmolested. And when parts need to be sourced, stock replacements are the order for many cases.

M120 is very kewl but technically challenging transplant. Projects like that often lose steam and die before completion.

This started as diagnosing a problem and moved on to installing independent engine management...
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/sl-forum/293575-just-picked-up-sl600-pics-inside-please-help-diagnose-few-tricky-faults.html (no completion apparent)

This is one of the few completed swaps I found.
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/performance-paddock/178997-m120-into-560sl-pictures-40.html (two years to completion!)

Plus, with the OM617 to M617 change it's possible to re-install an OM engine fairly easily.

If going gas, I'd stay with similar vintage engines for potential ease in conversion.

__________________
When life gives you lemmings... make lemmingade.

The more I think about it I like the M110 idea. Its a "correct" motor for that car. The M120 would be pretty sweet too though. I remember seeing an R107 a few years ago with one shoehorned in and it was a bit insane.

Anyone with a few thousand dollars can go and buy a 280E. They're not bad or anything, but they aren't different or special. Now a one-off 600E would have quite the cool factor, along with also being stupid fast.

__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Here is a sleeper with some American Iron installed.


Mercedes 240d with ford v8 (oakland hills / mills)



1979 Mercedes 240d with a ford 302with ford tran with only 5500 mile run good, look good, seat look good but need repair make me a offer,
condition: good
1979 Mercedes Benz odometer: 163000 title status : clean

Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I'd never fool with an MB engine that was a gasser. Life's too short to mess with 'em.

Thanks for all the comments folks - this thread is quickly going in a direction where I don't really want it to go though!

It isn't really about what is sensible =>



I understand what you are saying Jim - but I'm now in a position that many fathers before me have experienced that the children end up living with their mother - I need something to do in my spare time - fixing up a W123 I've already got seems like a good distraction to me.

I know it is a lot of work. I know it is probably a waste of money. But if I don't have something to do I'll probably become a menace on OD! I'd rather be busy in the real world as well as on the technical forums.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

If sensibility is out the window then you need the M120 under the hood. /discussion

The rattle and tap tap of a M110 is reminiscent of an OM617 so it has a similar charm.

Before I started this thread I thought a M104 was probably powerful and silly enough considering the abilities of the chassis.

I'll be fitting the aluminium anti-dive trailing arms I have and upgrading to W126 brakes - wider more modern wheels and tyres (dressed up to look old with hub caps?) - eventually try and make an OM617 metal style valve cover for the M104? I don't know this could be a seriously fun distraction that doesn't get too too silly money wise.


A M120 is a few steps too far for me I think - and would probably be pretty dangerous in a relatively stock W123 chassis.

I get the feeling that the M104 is about the right combination of daft and sensible for me.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

That'll be enough work to distract you. (I know what you mean about having distractions in a divorce situation, though it was 40 years ago for me. I just tried not to think about my daughter being raised by my X). The daughter has turned out fine thankfully and the x is on her third husband.

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Much as I hate to spoil the fun, the right answer...the only right answer...is to scrap it and move on. The only other viable option is to let it mellow for another ten years.