Hey this is my first time posting here but i have been a reader for a while.

Ok let me tell you my situation. My father currently drives a red 96 r129 sl600 and he just put in his order for a brand new sl63. He totally surprised me by asking if i wanted to take his sl600!! im currently driving a 99 pathfinder so i didnt hesitate on saying **** YEA:zoom: The only thing he requested was that i keep my pathfinder and split time in the cars. Then i asked him if i could tune it if i put my money into it and took responsibility for any repairs and i got the thumbs up!!! to make this even better ive been saving up for a car so i have a good amount of money that i am not going to need for a while so i really want to achieve a goal that i have had for a while and tune a beast. The only problem with this is the lack of available performance parts. I did a basic search of google and looking through forums but being a older rare car it isnt that easy finding. From reading the boards i know there are many knowledgeable members, so can anybody help me find performance parts for a 96 r129 sl600?!?!

First of all let me just say how sorry I feel for you, Picture a thousand violins playing a slow tune.

Now your only hope of performance parts for this engine are Rentech, Barabus Kleeman etc. The 1996 SL600 is worth somewhere under $20K. Anything from any of those companies for the M120 engine cost close to or more than that.

Now if your hoping to do something yourself, you have to remember the engine is fully integrated into the car. The computers talk to the transmission, wheels and a bunch of other crap I'm yet to find out. The computers are also vin coded to the car. Therefore replacing the main computers with an after market ECU means at least making up your own transmission electronic controller or replacing the transmission with an early model 4 spd of fitting the car with some other transmission like a 6 speed Chevy Camaro standard trans.

See my thread on M120 into 560SL for many discussions on my plans of working around all these.

John Roncallo

If you are not happy with the performance of the the stock 600SL, do yourself a favor and sell it fast. The only thing that car does quickly is become a money pit. Trust a seasoned MB tech, just keeping a 600 on the road can cost thou$and$ at a time at the repair shop. There are no off the shelf hi-po parts that wont cost a fortune. If I were in your situation and wanted to build a mean car, I would sell the 600 and buy a 500SL and supercharge it.