If you are really serious, do the body work AFTER completing the swap. Would be a shame to invest that time and money on the front end and have something throw a wrench in the plan where it cant be done and ends up a bunch of parts.

Many vehicles have gone to the yard frozen at that stage

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So all they are doing for body work is fixing my rust problem. So rockers, rear quarter patch and like 6" of floor boards. I am waiting to re paint the whole car because the paint is okay it's not the worst looking paint for now

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I agree with JB3, I wouldn't even look at a sanding disc until the swap is complete and in good running order.

To use making a hamburger as an analogy, you're putting mayo and mustard on ground beef that's still raw in the package at the store.

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617 swapped Toyota Pickup, 22-24 MPG, 50k miles on swap

Are they cutting out and fully welding around the patches or tapping down and using body filler?

Cutting and fabricating all new panels from scratch


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ooof, that sounds like at least 2500 to 3000 dollar of rust repair. Would be the price around here


maybe get a yard 123 for part of the swap. I found that very useful on a swap project. Having a parts vehicle sitting there to test fit stuff really helped me.


If you had one there where you could get the cuts just right to fit the engine, and knew just what you needed to do on the nice one, you would save the nice on from destruction or mistakes which are bound to happen. Example if you got 80% into the swap and discovered a steering geometry issue you just could not work around, or other problems like that, you would not have cut into the pristine car yet. Also a parts vehicle would be useful for just extra parts, certainly for a 123 which are getting less common

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I found a small shop here in NH and they are doing it for $1200 I've gone through them before and they do great work

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I just have to find both front fenders for a good price

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wow that's a great price for welding panels on these vinyl coated PITA vehicles as far as rust is concerned

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And, . .rockers on these cars ( or any other unibody car ) are structural. If I was getting this fixed at 1/2 real cost, I'd want to see the gauge of material in person and repaired area not covered in anything other than primer.

There is a good chance they are just tacking metal in and covering with filler.

Yeah they aren't painting it just welding

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Then you should see the actual welds. If they are covered in filler, you won't know the quality of the welding.

So if you’re now thinking about a 4bt instead of a 6bt, I’m curious what the draw of the project is. The w123 chassis was commonly fitted with the turbo om617 engine, which while not as powerful in torque had more horsepower than an early 4bt. Are you set on a diesel or would you consider gas? I’ve always thought it would be neat to see a v8, like maybe the drivetrain from a ford panther platform stuck in one of these cars. It would certainly be faster than any of the engines offered as stock and could be an interesting build.

As to the concern many people have about twisting up the car, a cage could add some rigidity if connected to the right places and wouldn’t be a bad idea for general safety considering the extra power you seem to want to add. (And of course the natural need to use that power doing donuts, burnouts, drifting, etc...)

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'83 300D turbo diesel (334k daily commuter)
SOLD '80 240D 4 speed manual, #2 piston pitted from crushing a 10mm nut. Running it 'till it burns through.
'78 F-150 300cid 4spd od (with my great unkle's original sales receipt)
SOLD '66 Ford P-350 delivery truck (almost driveable)
'49 Dodge B1D (1 ton Pilothouse era truck) not running but all there, candidate for om617 and 4x4 conversion when money permits.

Want to keep it a deisel, and slowly build power and there are more after market parts available for a 4bt and over the years and as I slowly build this car. Eventually the car will get a roll cage. I'm not just throwing the engine in and slapping a big turbo on it and turning up the boost this is going to be a piece by piece and part by part build. Fist step get current set up up to par and daily drive able. Next is to fit air bag suspension and beef up other parts for the added weight and power. Then to do the engine swap. Next to put a roll cage in and slowly put more power in it. This will not be a track car it will purely be a fun build of stuff I want to do to the car.

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Have you considered later benz diesels as well? .

People get huge power out of the 60X series motors, and the benefit there is an engine already designed to fit in a car chassis with some excellent manual transmission options, instead of adapting something down that was designed for all the room in a bread truck.

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