Replace Engine in 380SL

[HMB]

I have a very nice 81 380SL. I also have a what used to be a very nice 2000 500S(it had a little problem with the car in front, hence used to be nice). Knowing the weak points in the 380 can be the timing chain and the trans, can the engine and the trans be swapped? How much work?? I am a very good weekend mechanic.

Howard

[mach4]

Very interesting question....to which the standard answer of "given enough time and money, anything is possible".

The simplest swap is probably the one I did in putting an OM 617 engine in mine. This was relatively simple in that the engine came in the W114 which happened to use the same subframe. 380SL Diesel Conversion Project

The problem with swaps in the 107 is the subframe. I have a friend that swapped in an OM 606 engine into his 107 and it required fabricating a completely different oil sump to make it fit...along with tons of other engineering mods. Build thread - Not "another" diesel 107!!

Roncallo swapped in a M120 V12 into his 107 fabricated a new subframe to make it fit. Also swapped in the complete electrical harness to allow the ECU and TCU to work. Build thread - http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/performance-paddock/178997-m120-into-560sl-pictures.html

So you will almost certainly have subframe issues on yours. Assuming you can get that issue solved so it would "fit" you've then got the issues of ECU...not trivial by any means. It's possible to go with something like a Megasquirt system for the fuel injection, but that's pretty complex. You'll also have to deal with the transmission. Certainly a manual swap is a possibility. And assuming the current automatic is a 722.6 you can get a stand-alone transmission controller which just recently became available.

Don't forget you'll need to integrate speedometer, tachometer, oil pressure and temp gauges. And you'll need to go system by system hooking up each - fuel, exhaust, vacuum, electrical, intake, cooling, and so forth.

Little things like fabricating transmission selector, throttle linkage, driveshaft, and on and on can chew up a tremendous amount of time.

If you do press ahead, make sure you take lots of pictures and document the process for those that come behind.

One more thing, don't forget smog issues - you may have to use stock control computers and have everything working, which also means you'll need to swap in wheel speed control sensors and maybe even some othe chassis components.