W116 questions

[OldMercs]

Got a line on a "good for the money" early 450sel, meaning it's an overall decent car with unknown engine problems going for cheap. Had some questions before I make the purchase though: This car has some rust issues at the fuel filler door area, which seem to have resulted from a water drainage problem. Is this a fairly common problem on W116s and how serious can it get? I'm also thinking of replacing the "broken" 4.5 with a 5.0 or 5.6 with some sort of EFI setup (Megasquirt or similar); will the 4.5 D-jet manifold/heads fit on the later engines?

[Wodnek]

I have 3 116 cars and none has rust near, around, or in the gas goor. Usually the rockers, bottom front corners of the doors and bottoms of the fenders are where they rust. The 450 is a very simple and long lasting engine. You should be able to find a running parts car to be a doner. I would keep the 450. What year is it?

[OldMercs]

It's a '73, the gas filler area rust seems to be prevalent on neglected cars parked outdoors. I believe what happens is the filler area gets filled with leaves/dirt which a lazy owner neglects to clean out which then leads to rust. Normally I wouldn't consider any W116 with rust in California but being that its a '73 (small bumpers, no smog), in otherwise decent condition and dirt cheap I'm inclined to overlook it's few faults.

[Wodnek]

My perfectly running 450SE parts car is a 73. I bought it right for $200, with a redone interior and a top end job on the engine. It was rear ended ay 35mph by an accord, so I got a good front bumper.

[OldMercs]

Well right now I don't know what the problem is with the engine. The current owner is a real flake and doesn't seem to know a whole lot about mechanics or these cars, or selling cars or interacting with people with schedules for that matter. Worst case scenario is building another engine for it, the current 4.5 may be useable upon deeper inspection however. From the "no replacement for displacement" point of view and due to the easy availability of later engines in my area if I did have to build another engine I figure the later/bigger the better. I'm also researching the idea of fitting Djet from an early (5.7?) Seville (yes Cadillac); this would only be in the interest of expediency since I no fabricating would be involved. The idea of using Kjet is not an option since I don't particularly care for the crudeness of the mechanical systems (no offense to any Kjet fans).

[cth350]

4.5's are cheap. Heck, want four? I need the space. Too bad you're on the wrong coast, or I'd say back a truck up to my driveway and take one. -CTH

[WINTS]

My 74 has rust around the gas cap. It had been parked outside by the beach for 7 years (it still is) and before that in Iowa! I fill the tank carefully and have had no problems.

I paid $800 for mine with 117K on the clock. The V8 runs like a train and there is not a rattle or a squeak in the cabin anywhere. I marvel at build quality and have not stopped smiling every morning for the last 8 months as I drive the 20 miles to work daily.

[OldMercs]

Well after jumping through a few hoops in dealing with the weirdo owner I finally managed to purchase the '73 450sel for $300. The big problem seems to be that the engine "just stopped" while cruising along according to the seller. His mechanic started to dig into it and from what I can see the timing chain guides are broken, so I'm thinking a piece got wedged into the works and stopped the engine. Hopefully the chain didn't jump teeth and do damage elsewhere. Aside from that the car has three isolated rust-through spots that need to be dealt with and the leather is dry and shrunken but not thrashed, overall it seems ok for the price. I'm starting another thread re the timing chain issue.