V8
 

i see plenty of threads of people attempting to put diesel engines in a w111 witch to me doesnt seem like it will work out in the end because of the gear ratio...well...anyone know if anyone has ever transplanted a later model V8 like a m117 500 into a W111 body? my 220 6 cyl engine is in good shape but you know looking torwards the future..gear ratio is a 4.07 or a 4.16 i believe on this model..if not a v8 i might end up going the same route as my w108 and putting a euro M110.989 motor in...

Many people have done the switch. Graham has a 3.5 in a '62 w111. He's going to be putting in a 5.0 I believe (maybe a 5.6?) m117.

You'll need to relocate the brake booster as it'll be in the way right now. Kind of like how old 108's need it moved, but MB made a global change across all 108's when they released the 3.5 and 4.5 engines so a newer 108 doesn't need that done.

i have the early brake booster behind the headlight will it still be in the way?

You'll probably need to convert the remote booster. I don't know if it will be with certainty, Graham may be able to answer that better.

Tomguy, it's not Graham with the 3.5 (and soon 5.0) '62 W111 Coupe, it's me.

I've never heared of remote brake booster on these cars. But basically, with more powerful engines, you want better brakes. And brakes boosters are matched with master cylinders, calipers, rotors etc. So it's better to install a whole system when we upgrade a car. Luckily, parts are easily interchangeable. In our case, a W108 4.5 is the ideal donor for rear axle with diff, front axle, brakes, suspension and steering. This is the best and easiest way to go when upgrading to a V8.

If I were to Necrosavant, I would buy a W108 4.5 with good mechanicals and a shot body. They are plenty and they are cheap. And by experience when doing a swap, it's a must to have the donor car next to the other one. The easy option is to keep the 4.5 engine. An intersting variant, once the 4.5 rear and front axles, suspension, steering and brakes are in place, would be to fit a euro 5.0: lighter and more powerful. The 4.5 would still give th intake manifold so that the Kjet system can be replaced by Megasquirt re-using most of the Djet stuff of the donor car. Exhaust manifold out of a 560 SL would match the 5.0 heads well while clearing the W108 chassis and steering.

Sorry! My bad. I KNEW it was one of you but I didn't remember... I'm bad with names!

Agree about the brakes. Especially since you have rear drums right now I bet. Convert to front vented and rear discs directly from a W108. Swap the 108's axle in too. Hell, if your 108 has a good frontend, swap the whole thing from subframe wheels etc so you don't need to refresh kingpins and bushings etc - that way your engine mounts are pre-mounted to the subframe!

thank you much for the info, the 220 is running nice but i will deffinetly want to keep an eye out for a 4.5 parts car:D

You might want to start with the axle first and THEN go to the v8 later. It'll be much cheaper and may give you what you're after with less work. (Assuming a higher highway cruising speed is what you're after.) I plan to do this swap myself in the future. Then add the V8 if you decide that you want better acceleration.

In fact, keeping the std axle ratio and somehow adapting a smooth shifting modern 4spd overdrive tranny with a torque converter would be the most ideal scenario but has a whole slew of difficulties along with it and is probably beyond most people's comfort zone time and money-wise.

Just putting it out there, but, my 280s (108) has been fitted with a 350 chev. Was not a hard conversion, PLENTY of power but not exactly keeping with the theme. Cheaper and easier to get parts for!

Last week when I was digging around I found a '70 W108 with a small block Chev V-8. It was at Pull A Part in Baton Rouge, LA. I didn't pay too much attention since who ever did the conversion butchered it. What I did notice is that there is plenty of room, up top, for that engine. I didn't look under the car to see how the pan fit.

FWIW,

Found this website. Looks like they have experience in dropping American iron into a W108.

http://www.rodshop.com.au/mercedes/mercedes.htm

Yep, thats were i got the bits for my conversion. The mounts didnt work very well, had to make custom bits to move engine forward. But they do a custom pan and pickup and even have a speedo cable to go into the factory benz speedo.

I have a euro m110 engine in my 280slc that i plan to part sometime soon.

deffinetly wana stick with the mercedes motor i think the m117 5.0 is in the future for this car...i aslo have a m110.989 euro motor in my 68 280s

If you go that way I can give you a lot of information as I am currently (slowly) doing it myself. By experience, I really recommend that you buy a 4.5 donor car with good mechanics. I was lucky to have access to one, and I took quite a lot out of it.