M119.960 into a 560SEL
 

Recently my 560SEL started making a clunking noise from the engine which upon inspection turned out to be a wiped cam lobe. I've been wanting to do a project, so I decided that rather than repair the engine in the car, I'd replace it with a more powerful one.

At first I wanted to replace it with a Euro 560 engine, but then I discovered that it was possible to fit an M119 engine out of an early 500SL into a W126. Not only does M119 makes more power than a Euro 560, but it also gets better fuel mileage and has variable camshaft timing. I decided to also replace the transmission with a 500SL transmission at the same time.

I have already bought nearly everything I need to do the conversion. Just wanted to keep track of this project on here and post up some pictures and details of the process.

I'm planning on replacing the front and rear main seals on the engine before installing it. I also have to replace the rear transmission cover and output flange with ones off of the 560 transmission to be able to connect it to the stock driveline and transmission mount. I figure I'll replace the input shaft seal on the transmission as well. I'd hate to have it leak after installing everything.

What is the box w switch in your last photo. What does the switch do?

The box with the switch is the MAS relay. It replaces the fuel pump and KLIMA relays. The switch on top is to lock and unlock the relay from the connector.

Gotcha. Always wondered what it was for

I'll be keeping an eye on this. I want to put an m119 in my w111 220b sedan. Couple quick questions. Do the mounting arms from the m117 bolt on directly? Will the front corners of the valve covers be higher or lower than the originals? I'm Working on a manual transmission setup for mine. All in the planning stages still but it should be sweet at some point. Good luck with yours and keep us posted!

There is a gentleman in california that did this conversion to a 560sec. It's well documented online should you need to see it.

The M117 engine mount arms should bolt onto the M119 with no problem. I'm not sure if the valve covers will be higher or lower. I uploaded some pictures of the conversion completed in a 560SEC.

My inspiration to do this came from reading about Satish's M119 powered 560SEC. There is a PDF with the details of his conversion online. I tried uploading it, but it was too large to upload it.

Very cool. Where'd you get your engine?

That's good news. I have a w108 4.5 car I can use the mount arms from in my w111. The main obstacle after that is exhaust. There are four different driver and 4 different passenger side manifolds so I hope one will work. Drivers side should be ok but passenger is a very different shape. Headers would not be a lot of fun to build with 16 exhaust ports. I'll have to measure some stuff and really look at the car with an m119 car next to it.
Do you have a link for that build you talked about before? I can't find it.

I got my engine and most of the others parts for the swap from Stockton Auto Dismantlers.

Here is the link to that M119 SEC build: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwj-lp2O3bLKAhVGzWMKHSP6BNsQFggcMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.benzworld.org%2Fforums%2Fattachments%2Fw126-s-se-sec-sel-sd%2F494239d1360219022-w126-replacing-m117-m119-does-work-satish_sec.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGbm3Z0BtY2YcceFtjaBpQl-KsWRg&sig2=HCSOm38I-zPMWVgC4I4few&bvm=bv.112064104,d.cGc

I just wanted to post some pictures of the engine mostly put together. It now has the non-ASR throttle linkage and non-ASR cruise control actuator. I also put the air flow meter, fuel distributor, and air filter housing onto the engine.

Update
 

Just wanted to post an update on this. So, the old engine and transmission are out of the car. All of the wiring is out, as well as the secondary firewall. The wiring for the new engine and transmission is basically sorted. I just need to lengthen the wires going to the MAS relay and the x11 diagnostic port.

It has been interesting trying to figure out what each of the pins does on the X26 connector since there isn't a simple pin out for it. It required looking through nearly all of the W126 wiring diagrams. It was a bit tedious.

Anyway, the next step will be reshaping the secondary firewall and resealing the new engine and transmission.

I finally got the correct EZL for my new engine. These things are hard to find at a reasonable price.

So, I had to modify the engine mount arms after all. I didn't think it would be necessary, but the engine shock absorber mount on the engine mount arm for the passenger side wouldn't clear the M119 oil filter housing. I cut off the engine shock mount off of both arms, so that it would look symmetrical.