M119 Can I replace a 4.3 l with the 5 litre motor
 

Hi everyone, :sun_smile

its me nucman up in canada...whew its hot!!...anyways...i want to know from the experienced people if you can swap the (5 litre) M119 moter into a 400e, w124 chassis with little modifications. I have already read some similiar swaps but wondering if there big mods($$$) to doing this job. This a future project im wondering if its worth all the fuss... oh...and why would i do this ...i think the w124 chassis is the best platflorm i have driven and would like to keep it going for another 13 years....


dpf :)

since the w124 came equiped with the 5L i would say that yes, it probably fits without too much modification. I am obviously no expert on the subject, but I would say that it would probably be easier (and maybe more cost efficient) just to find a nice 500e/e500 (with the 5L m119) that way the swap is done, you get the awesome interior/suspension/transmission etc. of the 500e.

Actually,

It would be enormously difficult to put the 5.0 liter M119 in your car.

The 500E had hundreds, maybe thousands of modifications to get the 5.0 liter engine and tramsmission to fit.

I was under the inpression that dimensionally they were identical, ie a chevy 283,327,350, 400......

From what I've read, the M119 is longer than the 400E's current powerplant and required major front bay modifications to get it to fit.

The 124 500E subframe was built by Porsche... It is a totaly different animal under the skin.

It is do-able but it may not be cost efficient. It would depend on how much the donner car cost you and the final cost of all the modifications to the chassis.

There is a write up of the basic project outline in the 124 Owners bible... it does sound involved.

[QUOTE=A264172]The 124 500E subframe was built by Porsche... It is a totaly different animal under the skin.

QUOTE]

Yeah I was aware of that, but I thought alot of it was to improve handling, not so much to enlarge the engine bay. But Im here to learn! :D
Chris