I love the ride of my 63 220SEb cabriolet but am not impressed with its passing and hill climbing performance. Has anyone got any suggestions on how to hop up a type 127 engine i.e. aftermarket turbo, cam, exhaust? I don't know of an aftermarket performance supplier for the older MBZ. I would even comtemplate an engine/Overdrive trans swap with an American Ford or Chev V8 if has been done before with any success. Positive or negative comments welcomed.

I see you haven't had many replies to your question.
Being an Old Street Rodder, I would suggest you go to the news stand and thumb through the Street Rodder magazines.
There are bueatiful Rods out there and yours could make one too.
You would probably replace the front suspension and steering as well as the eng/tran.
Then a Chevy350/350turbo tranny.
How much power depends upon how much you want to spend.
Go read and dream; then make some phone calls.
Then DO IT!
Happy Trails Beep Beep from Houston!!!
Donald, El Cheapo

The M127 doesn't lend itself to hardly any performance gains. Find a later MB with V-8 or very late I-6 in the junk yard & consider that swap. Engine & trans.

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Yeah, about the only thing you can do is the Euro "o9"
cam from the 113 -230sl and an up-grade to electronic ignition.[ Crane Cams]
But , as said, that won't help much.
The later M130, 280 will bolt up and in the SL version gets you 185HP with some more cubes.

See what happens when someone replies to your question!
All of the helpful helpers pop up from out of the woodwork. Let's see what other things are presented?
I still think it would make a terrific street rod and blow the doors off of the other old Benzs.
Happy Trails Beep Beep from Houston!!!
Always the oddman out.
Donald El Cheapo

My dad tells me about a neighbor he had (back in the 70's) who had an 70something SL280 that he had a 6.9 put in. It would blow my dad's E-type Jaguar off any day of the week and really surprised all the pony car guys.


Jason M.

Gregg, The 63 220seb cabriolet is a wonderful car. I'm sure you're not impressed with its power, it wasn't meant to impress. There are a few things you could do as far as swaps go. Like the others said, you could do a V8 chevy swap or a MB V8 or inline six. Depends on if you want to retain the factory look or not. I would go with a Chevy 350 and 700R4 transmisson combo. A Chevy V8 can be built however you want. You can go mild and still get very good fuel economy(much better than the stock engine) and it would still make great power. The 700R4 trans is an overdrive unit. They are plentiful. Another thing you could do is think about a Chevy inline six. A 292 Chevy inline six with the 700R4 trans. With a little inventivness, you could make it look like a factory MB inline(at least at a glance) You could also get a turbo unit for the six. I saw one in a recent issue of Hot Rod. Whatever you do decide on, just do a very good job. You have a great car. andy
Also, Do a search for MB HOT ROD. Cool car.