Just bought 500E for $5000!!
 

Hello everyone,

It's been a long time since I posted on this board, since I sold my pearl black 500E about three years ago. However, this morning I was looking through the local Ann Arbor paper and found a local fellow selling a champagne/black '92 500E for what seemed a very good price. Long story short, I ended up purchasing the car for $5000. I am so excited!! I will be picking the car up later next week and posting pictures then. The car has 300K miles on it and the motor runs really rough, clear title though. The body has a few dents on it and the wood trim is missing aroung the shifter, but everything else is complete.

The main question is, where can I get a M119 long block from? I thought that the only difference with the 500E from the 500SL was the induction system and that the motors were otherwise identical. Is this true?

I figure with a good engine, new transmission from MB, new bushings, lots of Renntech parts, and some minor clean up, it will be a good car :)

So does this seem like an okay deal?

Peter

...
 

All i have to say is, You better have A LOT of money... :D

I agree that it will cost a bit to fix up, but I am a certified Master technician and I can do all of the mechanical and body work myself. 30% off dealer list also helps. Finding the right parts for the right price is usually the hardest part (as far as used goes).

Since you're a tech, I would think it would make much more sense to pull that motor apart and see what needs to be done. It very well could be that rings, bearings and headwork along with completely renewing the timing chain and components would get the job done.

My $0.02,

Hi pls10,

Are you wanting to go with a rebuilt engine or a new one?

I haven't thought too much about rebuilding this motor. I just figured that with 300K it needed a complete overhaul with pistons, rings, etc. and that would be more money that buying a low mileage motor. I will teardown this motor and see what's wrong, though. I have seen price quotes around $5K for a rebuilt long block 119. It would be nice to complete the engine for around $2500 or so. If I did want to go the rebuild route, where would be the best place to source the parts, i.e. pistons, rings, bearings, etc. Also, can the 119 block be bored and honed with oversize pistons? I haven't done any research on this yet.

500E
 

I am just curious how much 500E`s usually cost in the US? Here in
Switzerland I´ve seen a number of those cars for sale. The one´s I saw seemed to be in good condition, had about 130k miles on them and were priced around USD 12-13. If only gas was a bit cheaper over here I would have definitely bought one.


Check out: www.autoscout24.ch (Switzerland)
and www.autoscout24.de (Germany)

Don't know how much it costs in U.S, but in Canada, I've seen several for Cnd$ 20K( 14K USD) in Toronto, all in beautiful condition, when I was looking for a Mercedes this August, there was no 500E in the market, other wise I would have bought one instead of my current 400E.

Wow... thats cheap. Stateside I have only seem them for 22k+....

Impressed
 

If the lower end has never been apart, 300K is very impressive. Considering that it is a hot motor.

I talked to the previous owner about this car. Did you know that all of the control units were missing? When he told me that, I ran! I can't imagine how much all of the throttle, engine, traction,DM and BM modules would cost.

I would fix the engine myself. You CAN"T hone the bottom end. I'd bet there is little wear on the cylinders. They usually held up very well. You might want to do the rings and all other things related to the timing chain slippage though.

:eek:

Was it a parts car? Wow. Sounds like one hulluva project...

Congrats on the 500e purchase!

...surely as these cars get older, this may not be such new territory for the 500e/e500...

keep us up to date on your progress!
-fad

Also in Ann Arbor
 

Hey Peter,

Congrats (I hope!) on your purchase. It does sound like you've got your work cut out for you.

I also live in Ann Arbor and have a 1992 500E (pearl black/gray) with 52k miles. I've owned since 11/00 and have put just over 4600 miles on it since then.

Let me know when you take delivery of the car--maybe I could come by and check it out. BTW, where do you work? AutoStrasse? I'm looking for a new tech. I have used Tim Pott at Eurotech for ten years, but I'm not sure how much experience they have with Benzes...

Kirk

Supposedly you can get a factory MB 6.0L M119 V8 for approx. $10K.

If you're missing the ECU, I would put in an Electromotive TECII ECU.

Best of luck,

:-) neil
1988 360TE AMG
1993 500E