new to me 92 500sl

[cth350]

Being a glutton for punishment, I couldn't pass up a good deal on a mashed 500SL so I can park it next to the 380SLC and the 6.9 in the driveway.

The car has 118k miles. It only needs a fender, hood, radiator support, radiator, bunch of fans (including the one on the motor) and a distributor cap.

A couple of questions...

- Anybody have a hood, a fender, raditor and radiator support handy?
- Anybody have a suitable fan for the motor? Mine is missing a few blades.
- Is that R129 CD still available and if so, is it worth buying?
- What's the sensor on the left (driver's side) valve cover up front towards the nose?
It got cracked from the hood support hitting the thing that was right in front of it.
- Anybody have that sensor, the wire connector to it and whatever that thing was?
What was that thing anyway?
- At 118k miles what should I be looking for that may not be obvious?

Thx -CTH

[suginami]

What? No pictures of this bad boy?

[PaulC]

Particularly of the sensor in question.

[cth350]

I haven't paid for the car yet. I didn't want to spook the seller by taking pictures.

Here's a pretty picture of an M119. The "thing" that broke the sensor is the critter between the thermostat housing and the PS resevoir with the light green band around it.



Thx -CTH

[cth350]

I've attached a photo of the nose, or what's left of it here.

A shot of the damanged sensor and cruise control bit are in this thread...
Need photos of a 90-92 500SL M119

-CTH

[alabbasi]

That's a healthy smack!

[cth350]

missed the bumper, but tore the bumper cover. The fellow that owns the body shop down the block is a Mercedes guru. He'll give me an hours estimate on Monday. My estimate on spare parts for the body is 2,000$. I've already ordered 200$ worth of stuff to address immediate motor issues.

Like they say, nothing is more expensive than a cheap Mercedes.

-CTH

[tecqboy]

I had a large stone hit my grill at good speed on the highway; had to replace just the grill. It cost $700 for JUST the grill. From the picture, I'd guess you have well over $10K in damage to a car that wouldn't be worth $10k if it was repaired. Just my opinion, but from a practical monetary view, an SL with that much damage is not worth repairing.

[RadioTek]

You might want to check with user Roncallo, to see if he has anything that could help you. He bought a totalled 129 and put the engine in a 107, but had a lot of good 129 parts left over.

[cth350]

The car now sits at a friend's body shop. After 2 days of research, it's like 2,000$ worth of parts. The only thing more expensive than the grill is the hood.

The open question at the moment is how many hours of labor are needed. My friend's young son says at least 40 hours of work, but less than 60. Lets see what his dad says.

-CTH

[alabbasi]

Not sure what the labor rate is over there but $40 hrs at $36 / hr (which is what it is at my local maaco who do pretty decent work) is about $1500. That's not bad. Factor $500 for materials and paint and the $2000 for the parts and you're still in it for only $4k.

[Billybob]

Originally Posted by alabbasi

Not sure what the labor rate is over there but $40 hrs at $36 / hr (which is what it is at my local maaco who do pretty decent work) is about $1500. That's not bad. Factor $500 for materials and paint and the $2000 for the parts and you're still in it for only $4k.

Not counting the price of the wreck itself!

[cth350]

NY labor rate is 99$/hour posted on the wall. Cheaper when you're the guy that supplies the shop all the parts when a stray W124 or W201 appears. Nick says his son isn't far wrong on the estimate. He's going to pull the radiator support away from the motor and deal with the worst of the crumpled sheet metal this week.

I have most of the obvious engine parts on the way. Next weekend, I will try and get it running. and we go from there. I will need to gerry-rig a radiator and an engine fan for now. I have spares from a W124 that will do short term.

I figure there are three ways to go here:
- Pull motor & transmission; sell off the rest of the car
- Fix the body and motor and drive a factory spec 500SL
- Fix the body and pull the motor; drop in an 6.9 M100 as I have a spare.

The M119: 326 PS (322 hp/240 kW) at 5700 rpm and 354 ft·lbf (479 N·m) at 3900 rpm.
The M100: conservatively rated at 286 hp (213 kW) with 405 ft·lbf (549 N·m) of torque.

No clue what the final drive will do with that or if the engine fits, but given a choice between my first, unknown condition, M119 and a well known (by me) M100, I'll take an excuse for the torque if I can find one, but option #1 (full part-out) is probably the most likely outcome.

-CTH

[cth350]

Can't push the car into the shop from their parking lot. It was in neutral when I dropped it off and then I put it park and took out the key. Now, they can't get it back into neutral.

Other than putting your foot on the brake, is there any thing I need to know about this car, especially when the battery is drained to nothing? How does one bypass the shifter lock?

Thx -CTH

[cth350]

With a well placed screw driver, we got it out of park (the cable from the brake pedal is disconnected).

They cut away the bent stuff and now it's a little short. I will get it back on Saturday and start on getting it running. Sheet metal from the dealer comes in at 1,300$ for each inner fender and 300$ for each of the headlight buckets, compared to a yard in Trenton that will sell me the nose framework for 200$.

I already picked up a used fender and headlights. I still need the radiator, that nose framework, hood, grill and front bumper.

I found a friend of friend that will do the work in Maryland (some 4 hours away) to the tune of 45$/hour, so if I can get it running and the hood & grill aren't too expensive, it will be a drivable car before xmas.

-CTH