help locating a good cylinder head

[Wolfbane323]

hello, I have expanded my resources to include this forum and is my first post. here is the story, I cannot post pic of car unfortunately yet but heres the story.

its the end of the year 2016, august, my momma had a co worker who was selling a cool looking classic car, and then I found out it was a Mercedes benz 220S 1960 by simply looking at it and the lettering it had hah, anyway she sent me photos of the car and it looked very clean, apparently he wanted to fix it up himself (the coworker) but had no time. he found out I was studying to be a technician and asked my mom if she would like to buy it for 500. I said of course after going to look at it, she ran after dumping a little fuel into the carbs since the tank needed to be redone etc. but it ran! for 500 bucks, about 38000 miles and a clean looking car? id take it hah. he tells me the last time it ran was 37 years ago at the time and kept it in his garage sitting there the whole time, so we buy it and I get it towed to my highschool shop, it was the talk of the year, "some kid just got his hands on an old ass car." soon enough the first thing on my list which was what he told me was the fuel tank, long sotry short it was a mess eugh. ill never forget the smell. but then after that it didn't run and the whole school year I was trying to diagnose whats wrong (almost a year and it was a massive vacuum leak the size of a dime throwing everything up) and longer story short I got it to run and drive after 37 years and just recently put new tires on it after finding the conversion of C78-13 but it has a problem, it burnt oil. I redid the stem seals because the oil level didnt go down so i figured it was the stem seals and it worked for abit but then the car started burning again and I didn't know at the time, all the exhaust stem seals got pinched cause of the stupid hat design and I did the head on the car. I found that out after taking the head out to inspect the cylinder bores and engine block, the bores and pistons looked clean, a light carbon residue on top of the pistons but nothing extreme and it looked very solid inside.but then I clean the head up n whatnot and take it to a machine shop and it needed lots of welding. the head had multiple divots essentially and the waterjacket sleeved looked in rough shape, the machine guy picked it lightly with a pen and it fell out... needless to say that was it for them, diag done, new head needed. I was devasted, and ive been searching for a head since November of last year so for about 4 months-ish. I found one but of course it was warped 0.020" so no good and as it stands today its sitting without a head. I cant locate a donor car anywhere near me and I have started at looking at the option of just swapping the engine with a 2.8L or equivalent of some sort, something that's a direct fit, plug n play sort of thing, also while not breaking the bank. I don't have a lot to spend on this and I hate to see it sitting there as its ready to go, just a head (or engine if push to shove) and them some maintence items like trans flush and diff service etc, I already replaced brake fluid but anyway

if anyone has any information of a cylinder head for this engine please let me know, im desperate hah

[Benz Dr.]

.020'' is a lot of warp. Are you aware that heads can be straightened?

I've had lots of old heads welded up and new coolant tubes installed. If the head is heavily corroded it may not be worth fixing.

I probably have a head like yours around my place. What's the casting number on the side of the head? I think it should start with 180.

[Wolfbane323]

Yes, the machine shop said it was too much to be straightened.

Thats the issue with mine, mine was too corroded and couldnt be fixed

Mine is 1800106020

[Benz Dr.]

Originally Posted by Benz Dr.

.020'' is a lot of warp. Are you aware that heads can be straightened?

I've had lots of old heads welded up and new coolant tubes installed. If the head is heavily corroded it may not be worth fixing.

I probably have a head like yours around my place. What's the casting number on the side of the head? I think it should start with 180.

.020" isn't beyond the limit to straighten but if it's really corroded then it probably doesn't matter.

[Wolfbane323]

Yeah it was pretty bad, anyway did you find something hiding back there that was on the oine of the casting number like mine?

[oldsinner111]

try www.ebay.de alot of good stuff

[Benz Dr.]

Originally Posted by oldsinner111

try www.ebay.de alot of good stuff

Ebay is OK for some stuff but I'd be very careful when it comes to critical parts. You could end up with something just as bad but in a different way such as cracked areas or already machined below minimum.

[Wolfbane323]

I havent checked that type of ebay but i live in the US i think it might be alot to import something as big as a cylinder head into the US no?

[Benz Dr.]

Originally Posted by Wolfbane323

I havent checked that type of ebay but i live in the US i think it might be alot to import something as big as a cylinder head into the US no?

I ship stuff all over the world but as a used part it should be that much. I'm not that far from Detroit.

[Benz Dr.]

I have one! Same casting number and not corroded. I measured the thickness of the head and it's 84.54 so it's still within limits. Bottom surface has been milled so that's done but it will need the usual valve job and new valve guides - all old heads need guides.

Go to PM.

[Wolfbane323]

Thats great to hear! I still havent gotten anything in my pms though atm...

[oldsinner111]

they have alot of hard to find parts in germany,and totally rebuilt motors

[cth350]

Note that the 1st cylinder's guides are not there. The rest don't wiggle. That doesn't mean they don't need replacing. Also, I don't have the tools handy to measure warpage on either surface or overall thickness.

Drop me an email and I will reply with some high resolution pictures you can share with your machinist.

-CTH

[cth350]

BTW, rebuilding the motor is a good exercise in patience and mechanical dexterity. Hopefully mom is footing the bill, since the right parts will be hard to find at times.

Just off the top of my head... new head gasket kit, little metal bypass for coolant to the water pump, the hollow screws for it, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points, carb rebuild kits, heat riser rebuild.

It's the start of a great technical education if you remember that it's a benz, not a chevy. There are places where you can cut corners and spots where you can't.

Do you have the factory service manual yet? Have you read it cover to cover? (If you have, you're crazy, like me ).

-CTH

[cth350]

and no, you won't be doing a trans flush. Don't touch it until you have everything else functional. These transmissions are not anything like a modern automatic. There are different rules and lots of little specialized goodies that you have to take one step at a time. Read up on the double acting solenoid while the car is idle.

the arm chair mechanics here will point you in the right direction. Last bit of advice, turn mistakes into learning experiences. It beats crying. Doing this without any mistakes is not at all likely. Doing nothing because you don't want to make mistakes is foolhardy.

-CTH