I just looked at a 1974 280 coupe, 97,000 miles, white, no sunroof, camel color interior, interior is a 9 out 10..beautiful!!!! Original paint, about a 4 out 10..looks nice but usual cracking and chipping...however, the body is 99% rust free !!!!! a couple of very small spots that would be easily buffed out.

THE BAD..

the engine and tranny are not in the car..the head and block were rebuilt..only saw the block and had new pistons..the other parts are in the trunk..most of them anyway..owner said he had the head but didn't get to see it..So the engine is pretty much disassembled and has a bucket full of nuts an bolts to go along with it..not sure what is missing.

My question is: Could a guy with no engine rebuilding experience, that would be me..be able to sort through the parts and get the engine back together.. I would like to add that I am a Porsche guy with an 87 944 and do most of my maintenance work..

So I'm sure with the proper maintenance guides and rebuild engine instructions I could understand them.

I found a few sites that sell rebuilt Mercedes 114 engines..for a whopping $5 grand !!!!!...

I called a local Mercedes repair shop and I asked them "If I pulled up in my truck with all these parts and said build it" they said they would walk away from a job like that...it would be about 100 hours of time to do it too..

So I offered $ 500 down from my original offer of $800 and he's asking $2000..Surely I would make my money back if I parted out the interior..which is probably worth $2000 for the whole thing..believe me it is near mint...

I offered him lower because basically not running or able to start it..it is a parts car..Do you think..

So if anyone wants the info on this car it is on ebay..also it is a salvage title as well..

So do I want this car...beautiful interior but no engine...am i looking at just scrapping the engine parts and go with a trusted rebuilt engine for $5000..and none of the other parts I don't know if they work or not..so looking at rebuild kits for everything else..opinions please!!!

Would this be a nice project or BIG nightmare...it's almost a ground up restoration..I'm not worried about the time involved..just the headache..LOL

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It looks really nice. The coupes are the most nearly collectible of the newer cars excepting the sports cars, which really aren't all that collectible either. That one with a nice rust free body and decent interior is probably worth fixing.

If you were here you could take the engine over to my favorite machinist and he would figure out how to put it all together and make it all right. He could also check the work done already and see if its done correctly. The body alone is worth one or two thousand to someone who wants one, I think.

But get it for whatever you can but be prepared to invest at least four or five thousand. A benz motor is not a SBC and takes some exacting work. There are a lot of parts too. I wouldn't say its impossible for you to do yourself but the odds are a bit long. Its a lot of work.

Nice car though, definately worth saving but not a car that you can make a lot of money on, just a nice old car in decent shape with a nice color combination.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Let me give some advice on "rust free" Arizona cars. Any car which has sat outside is highly susceptible to rust here in AZ. The reason is our sun and climate just cooks the rubber window seals. When it does rain here it comes all at once. You know that. The water pools in the trunk and floorboards and due to the heat it just dissolves the sheet metal.

Check the windshield and rear window seals for cracking. Check the floor pan in the rear foot well for rust thoroughly around the seam where the floor boards meet the seat riser. The rear sub frame mounts attach there. Check the front sub frame mounts themselves. Check for cracking and rust at the steering gearbox mounting area. Check under the battery tray. It's normal to find rust there but you can make it a bargaining point. For some reason the coupes seem more prone to rust around the rear mounting cups of the front sub frame bracket. Check the fenderwell beneath the master cylinder. Lift the trunk liner and poke it with a screwdriver. Rear window seals leak into the trunk and the water just lies there cooking away.

It's a $500 MAXIMUM car no matter what you think you can make on the parts from selling them. The salvage title is pretty much the deal killer. I imagine if you checked the serial number against the original build sheet you would find the interior has been replaced. Probably a flood damaged car written off by the insurance company. I can think of no other reason to have rebuilt the M110 at 97K miles.

Can you rebuild it? Yes, but you're in for a long involved process. I'm in the process of replacing the head on my '74 280C so if you do decide to buy the car I'll do a pictorial and everybody here on the board is great with helping you out.

Hey thanks for the advice..I have decided to scrap this idea right into the salvage yard..after figuring some costs.. it would ba a $10,000 makeover on a $500 35 year old car..there are just too many unknowns and I dont knows..I think if I new more about this car and the works I could make a better decision...I may offer $500 and just part it out..it really is in great shape and I checked under the mats to the floor board and didn't see any rust..I was amazed actually. So a friend of mine said, "why didnt they finish the engine rebuild" and I was told that the previous, previous owner just didn't have the time to finish it and either does the current owner...leads me to believe that when they were in the remanufacturing process of rebuilding the head and block they may have found something wrong..crack or warped or something and abandonded it..i thought it was a little odd to have a rebuild at 97,000 miles..unless it's really 197,000 miles...Thanks for the input greatly appreciated......Would you buy this for $500 and part it out?????? Let you know what happens....

Despite my advice against it, yeah I would. BUT, I have 2 other 280C's I would use the parts on. I wouldn't buy it for the restoration. I'd have it stripped and at the crushers in a couple of days before the temptation to restore it got to me.

This is an extremely simple engine to work with, assuming it doesn't have the CA smog stuff. If you get the Haynes manual for the 280 engine (#63025), you will get very good instructions on how to put the engine back together. Get a free EPC subscription to help identify parts. Once together, bolt it to the transmission and drop it in. Believe me, the pieces will sort themselves out as you go along.

Probably the biggest risk is that you will get it all together and find that the transmission is dead.

I have found that the most enjoyable projects are the "science experiments" where you truly don't know how they will turn out.

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Chuck Taylor
Falls Church VA
'66 200, '66 230SL, '96 SL500. Sold: '81 380SL, '86 300E, '72 250C, '95 C220, 3 '84 280SL's '90 420SEL, '72 280SE, '73 280C, '78 280SE, '70 280SL, '77 450SL, '85 380SL, '87 560SL, '85 380SL, '72 350SL, '96 S500 Coupe

Are the M110's really that easy to rebuild?
I've been looking for an engine builder for my rebuild with no luck....should I just tackle it myself (maybe with some help from a local named Chuck Taylor?) :-)

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Nathan
'74 280C - gone to a new home for the finishing it deserves.
'64 356SC
'74 914 2.0

I'm amazed...at how many would destroy that time capsule ! How hard could it possibly be to find a running rust bucket with the right engine ?

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There's no substitute for cubic inches

Those 110 engines with carb should be easy to locate, I think they are better than those fuel inj.one's. 1st thing to check out is the head on a rebuild or on a used engine. between 1-2 they have had cracks have had 4-5 and they seam to be weak there . To make it come to life thought, you need to upgrade spark [benz electronic]
, and carb [holly from jam eng].

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30 yr's still in love

How similar are the 1977 - 1981 280 engines [Haynes manual #63025] to the 1974 engine Bigcigarjeff is refering to and in my own self interest to a 1975 280C? Thanks.