I've been looking for ways to get more power out of my 1988 300ce with little sucess. Is it possible to fit a v8 from a 93-95 e500/500e? I know with any amount of money, anything is possible, but I was wondering if cars having the same, or similar chasis, would make a swap something reasonable, beyond the cost of the motor/tranny/etc itself. Thanks

 

If you want more power get a 400. A Mercedes is not much of a "mod-able" car as opposed to a Japanese or American car. As much I don't agree with air pollution, you can try removing a cat or two to relieve backpressure on the engine. That's where the power loss is. Don't waste time with intakes, chips, and crap.

 

I don't advise modifying ANY modern car with a motor, unless you're talking about dropping in a crate motor with a carburator. Besides the block, theres's a number of sensors, wiring, and the computer that need to be dealt with. You may get the engine to run, but some of the sensors may be mismatched or not calibrated for your set up. Plus, it's a good bet the check engine light will be useless and you'll have no capability of retrieving error codes should problems arise.

It's considerably less trouble to simply sell your car and get one with the 500 engine.

 

I'd love to sell my car and buy a 500, however, they only make the CE (coupe) with a 300 (88-93) and 320 (94-95). I agree with you that moding my current motor will yield little gains. Although I love my w124, the only real solution I see to my problems is looking for a similar car, however one with more power, to replace mine - the w208 CLK430 being the ideal choice. Thanks for you're help though

 

It is basically impossible to but the V8 in the 6 cylinder chassis. It doesn't look different from the outside but the internals are all reworked.

 

time to boost

 

hmmm, boost sounds nice, but how practical is it? It seems ive seen you post about turboing your car, any details how you're doing it?

 

Talk to Steve at Bergwerks
www.bergwerks.com

He's put a small block Ford V8 into a W124. Actually I think it's a twin cam V8. You'll have to ask him. Though it is complicated, I do understand the attraction. I can't stand how poorly though out MBZs are under the hood - By this I mean biodegrading wire harnesses, flimsy motor mounts, failing oil tubes (M119s), etc.

It would be great to have an LT1 or LS1. Those engines are very reliable, get great gas mileage and are cheap and easy to fix (relative to MBZ V8s). There are LOTS of parts available - this includes entire engines. If someone had a kit that was not too expensive, I'd do it!

I do LOVE the sound and feel of my M119, espcially under hard acceleration, just that I'm tired of the expense envolved and would like to get a few more MPGs.

 

I started a V8 Porsche 914 conversion in the '80's. There are many benefits of the conversion today but not when it was a new idea and the "bugs" weren't worked out. Internet forums, bbs, and 20+ years of development of these kits make the 914 and many other models a reliable and powerful car. The w124 is fairly reliable compared to a sbc. Cost is not too bad until you look at rebuilding the motor or getting performance mods. This is where many conversion enthusiasts made a choice to go sbc. Stock performance is good for the 300E but ultra-performance is distinct to the 500 series. Someone who auctioned a 500E motor said the crossmember and motor mounts is the same. If it went into someone's 300E or CE, you would still need the suspension and brake upgrades. Even if it went into a 400E it still wouldn't have the porsche suspension improvements. If a sbf dimensionally fits then the sbc should fit better since it's shorter. There are many but not overwhelming challenges to overcome in a conversion. You just have to be willing to be one of the first and devote the time and money, lot's of both. I still find new problems to solve on the 914 and I've have the best people available on the net (owner of a conversion company, ME's, race car builders, etc.) It's still hard to compare with a team of german engineers, the facilites, and R&D budget even if it was 15+ years ago. One more note: The owner of the conversion company has a car that equal performance of a twin turbo 996 but he has installed 55k in parts to achieve that. That's alot of money for a 30 year old car but then you can embarass a car costing much more...there's the value if you're weighing the costs!

 

Here's a link to RENNtech...
http://www.renntechmercedes.com/spla...classw124.html