Peter,
I hope you are young, because what I'm reading in this thread points to a 20 year project with a lot of thrown tools and strings of profane language. The 560 engine will make the car lighter, because it is an all aluminum engine compared to the cast iron block 450. As Peter says unless you incorporate the lambda controlled computer system, that car will be a dog. Also it will be a pain in the ass to start and keep running on cold morns, because you will be in open loop with no warmup devices available. You'd be better of putting a blower on the 450. I had a friend who put one on his 560SEC. That thing screamed until he got greedy, upped the boost pressure, and blew it up.

Peter

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Auto Zentral Ltd.

Again, the control arms and shocks are probably the same parts.

There are probably sport suspension parts available for that chassis, but remember you are going to sacrifice ride quality for performance. Benz usually gives you very decent handling with very comforatble ride -- most likely you need new bushings all round (possibly including the trailing arm bushings), new track rod mounts up front, and new shocks.

You may be surprised when you get done with that. Otherwise, you will get the most milage, so to speak, out of heavier sway bars and no other changes.

Peter

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1972 220D ?? miles
1988 300E 200,012
1987 300D Turbo killed 9/25/07, 275,000 miles
1985 Volvo 740 GLE Turobodiesel 218,000
1972 280 SE 4.5 165, 000 - It runs!

autozen, yes I am young, 18 so hopefully by 38 Ill have the project done. We can only hope. I was planning on parking the car next to the parts car 560SEL and just transfering everything over. I dont know what all I need to do and to be honest, Ive never tooled around under the hood of a 560. If that engine is going in there, everything needed for it to operate well will be incorporated.

psfred, I agree that the ride quality changed extremely with sport suspensions. I got the chance to ride around for a year in scott's (6cdnmbz) 300e. The before and after were significant and I much prefered the ride quality of the sports suspension. Also lowering the car a little bit is needed. The wheel well gap is huge. I do agree that on a 30 year old car, if you are switching out major components, you might as well replace as much as you can. Bushings, new track rod mounts and shocks and springs are prolly on the order list. I also have a noise up front when turning the wheel and I would like that to be fixed.

It looks like that a full power steering rebuild is soon to come. I am leaking the fluid out after about 10 hours worth of driving. I have also looked into how to retighten the steering box so I might do that as well.

Peter.

How many Peters are there in this post? Im starting to get confused.

You can't replace track-rod mounts on a car that doesn't have any. W116's are one of those examples that don't have them. I think that's the biggest difference between the 116 and the 126 suspension.
Thanks
David

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2000 Honda Accord V6 137k miles

1972 300SEL 4.5 98k miles

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They did not make lowering kits for w116s, but if I am reading this right, the w126 suspension should fit. I checked through and I know that the rear is exactly the same to a 380SEL and the front seemed to match up closely as well. Could anyone confirm that.

I was thinking about getting new bearings and cv joints along with as many new boushings as I can. Where would I get a stronger and thicker sway bar from. I figured that new boushings would make a huge difference already.